Arishika pressed through the thin inter-dimensional film of the portal, vibrant and excited. Electric arcs trailed her clawed fingertips, whipping and snapping satisfyingly against the frame of the door before she pulled away. "Ahhhhh." Another day, another concert. Her tail flicked through the door after her and whipped off a few little sparks like waterdrops.

She grinned at the bustle of roadies and engineers unpacking her equipment. She knew most of them by their faces if not by their name, and as they spotted her they straightened up to wave. Some of them she knew ...other ways, and they had an especially bright smile for her. Her pointed ears perked eagerly as she decided which ones to toy with for the next few hours, while everyone got ready for the show. Roadies were always good for a flirt. She was just pulling her straight, black hair into a ponytail and walking over toward the rigging crew when a shorter figure with gray and black ears sprouting from a neat page-boy cut stepped into her path. "Ari - there you are, honey! Are you ready?" The raccoon woman tapped her pen against the clasp of her ever-present clipboard, then seemed to look up for the first time. Her gray-and-black-ringed tail bushed up excitedly behind her. "Ooooh.. wait. Do the spin! I just love the new outfit!"

Ari smirked in response and twisted through a slow pirouette, swinging her hips especially wide to show off the curve-hugging black rubber pants, slung low enough to allow her sleek tail to escape through the 'V' notched into the belt line and to show off the straps of her lacy pink thong riding high on her hips. For the moment, the only other thing she wore was a matching lacy pink bra, but a filmy black blouse and a pair of boots with killer heels waited for her on the dressing rack beside the stage. "You know, Yris - I bet it's it's even more fun peeling it off than it is just looking." She raised a suggestive brow and purred.

No matter how often Ari laid out the welcome mat, Yris was too much of a professional to flirt back (much less do anything more). Still, Ari couldn't help it. She waggled her hips and just managed to catch the 'coon ogling her ass before her black-ringed eyes fixed themselves to the clipboard.

"So... uhm. Sound check in fifteen, and showtime in two hours, okay, Ari?"

Ari's brows popped up in surprise, then knit together as she pouted. "That soon?"

"Yup! Sorry, honey, but the phase mesh for this plane was a little bit off kilter. And that's too bad, because I was actually planning on getting a few hours in with your recording engineer before the show."

"Yris! Stop pushing the recording already. That's, what - every day for the last two weeks? When I have good ideas for new songs, I'll let you know. I'm not gonna work with some "engineer/producer" who wants to spoon-feed me cliched hooks."

Yris frowned in consternation. "We've already pushed the next album drop date two seasons in a row - that's all I'm saying."

"And all I'm saying is that people buy Arishika albums for a genuine experience, not some over-engineered pop regurgitation. If we don't have a good album to release, then we don't release an album - It's that simple, right? And don't you dare go release another greatest hits without telling me!"

Ari noticed that she was stabbing the back of her manager's clipboard with one claw. Yris was cowed behind it, her ears laid flat back into her hair, her eyes wide. It only took Ari a moment longer to realize that the fur on her tail was poofed out as bushy as Yris', and her fangs were bared. In that moment, her mood passed; she wrapped her manager into a hug that buried her head between the cups of her lacy bra and stroked her hair until Yris' heartbeat had slowed. "There there, mon coeur. I'm sorry I snapped." She held the little 'coon tight against the bare skin of her chest just long enough to be sure she'd embarrassed her. Sure enough, when she let her go Yris' ears were flushed pink. Ari reached back to the rack and pulled the filmy blouse off its hanger. "So who're the locals today?"

Ari's manager flipped back the top papers on her clipboard and absently straightened her mussed hair. "Some kind of rodent-kemonomimi, I think. Short little things. Like, Mouselings... or-" she found her notes Yeah, Mousekins."

Ari's lip curled in confusion. She pushed her foot down into the heel of one of her boots. "Not that I mind or anything, but - Really? I'm popular with mice? I mean, really?" She held up her cat's tail as evidence, then began working on the other boot.

"Sweetie, if there was a dimension filled with peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich people, I think you'd be number one on their pop-charts, too."

"But I don't eat peanut-butter-and-jelly either. You know that."

"Exactly, Ari. So do they."

"Oh. Okay." Ari's grin returned and she stroked her fingers along the sleeve of Yris' blouse. "Hey." Her lids fell heavily over her eyes. "How about after sound check you give me a hand polishing this rubber?"

Yris made some clumsy excuse about checking the power feed before hurrying off in the wrong direction.

-

The sound check was just a formality. The sound booth guy was a backup, at best, and a payroll drain at worst; most of the shows he wore headphones and read comic books. Ari stood at the center of the stage and stretched out her arms to either side, then stretched out her senses beyond that. It took her a few minutes to figure out the theater's wiring and acoustics, but soon the air was crackling around her. She pitched the currents streaming from her to a simple C to start, but then moved up to sending scales, then harmonics through the air and floor and into the cables that fed the speakers. Deep pulses blasted into the walls and struts made her rhythm section. By the time she reached the crescendo of her sound check, the theater was filled with a fuller, more complex surround-sound experience than a provincial dimension like this would ever see again - unless they paid her enough to come back. It was for good reason that Ari always booked the biggest theater or stadium where her tour stopped, and always filled out her bookings. She pushed up the volume until her ears began to twitch, and dust fell in little ghost clouds from the ceiling. The power that coursed through her made her giddy, anxious, and excited for the concert, like it always did. Raw copper feeds offering hundreds of amps each criss-crossed beneath the stage floor; even with the plastic soles on her boots and in the rubber pants, Ari felt like she was wading in their magnetic fields. It was a better meal for her than peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich people could ever be. No matter how much energy she pumped through her body, no matter how extreme her acrobatics, Ari would end the show feeling as energized and excited as if she'd just woken up from a nap. She might feel like drinking a gallon of water after a show, but that was fine. And then, every so often, there was that nagging rumble in her belly. But nothing every really fixed that, not completely; all she could do was ignore it.

The sound check was something for her local fan club: a chance for them to hear her play something acoustic maybe, or to see her out of makeup with the overhead lights up and the stage lights down, or just to see for themselves how she created such a full sounding song with nothing but her own voice and an unplugged guitar. They were down there now, her fan club - a couple thousand little rodent-eared kids all packed together and beaming up at her from behind the metal barricade. Sound check was a chance for some of them to meet her, maybe even touch her. Ari enjoyed that, as long as they were respectful. After the check was done, she would ignore her security like she always did and press through the mass of fans gathered in the pit. The ones who were close enough to reach out toward her might get a little pulse - a current just strong enough that she could direct it down into their loins (or whatever body part it was that turned on this particular species of fans), leaving with a little pre-orgasmic spasm that charged them up for the show. If any of her fans got a little too handsy, it was easy enough for Ari to up the voltage to something that would leave them twitching on the floor instead. But all of her fans knew that - which meant almost everyone knew that - so it didn't happen more than once or twice a year. The only reason Ari's security even tried to stop her was because she told them to - it made her fans feel special.

Most importantly, the sound check was an opportunity for Ari to see the faces and bodies in her crowd before the stage lighting made that all but impossible. It made it easy for her to choose. Something else her fans knew was that Ari always brought someone up on stage during her concerts, and if she liked them well enough, she took them backstage afterward. What she did with them backstage was a matter of much rumor and was protected by loosely-enforced non-disclosure agreements, but it was public knowledge on the web that Ari's flirtatious stage persona was more than just a persona. The truth was that Ari always took her chosen one backstage, and almost always made a one-night lover of them. She needed them - needed someone - to satisfy her, and she more than repaid them, she thought.

So Ari whipped through a quick mini-set - a few fan favorites, a cover, and an old B-side that she'd been remixing (on Yris' insistence so she'd have something for that new album) - then passed off her guitar to a tech and slunk past her security into the crowd. Hundreds of voices screamed with excitement, and twice as many hands reached out to touch or be touched. Ari loved this part. She stretched out her hands and brushed them over stretching fingers, sometimes a tail or even lips, like she was walking through tall grass. Energy crackled in the air around her, leaving a wake of pleasurable moans to spread from the path she cut through the tight-packed crowd. The people of this world (or this capital city, at least) were just like Yris had described - short and rodenty, but in a lovable way. The tallest of them barely stood above her waist, and when they reached for her, their hands mostly grazed her ass and thighs and tail. That was nice; she swung her hips and tail especially wide with each step. All of these mousekins had big, soft ears like mice, and she found herself reaching out to roll the velvety skin of more than a few lobes between her fingers. Their tails were pink and hairless; hundreds of them stood out like whip antennas to balance the ones stretching hardest to reach her. Their hair was glossy, and their buck-toothed smiles irresistibly cute, and they had this way of wrinkling their noses and quivering their whiskers and ...saliva had begun to pool in her mouth. She swallowed hastily, and ignored the fact that her stomach had begun to twist on itself. Now that she was among them, the scent of these mousekins had flooded her nostrils. It was vital, and gamey, and ...and sweet like pastry. Her belly gurgled. It ached to swell around a squirming meal-

No! No. Ari breathed through her mouth until the scent was gone from her nose, and forced a smile. She continued to wind her way through the crowds while she pushed those thoughts from her mind; she needed to focus. Tonight she was looking for a particular kind of volunteer, and it wouldn't be as easy as it had been for the last few weeks. Lately she'd just been picking the eager beavers - the hand that waved the hardest or the voice that shouted the loudest or the one with with the pin that marked them as president of her local fan club chapter. Tonight she wanted - no needed - something different. It wasn't that she didn't like the enthusiasm, or minded playing the part of the sexual fantasy, but sometimes she just wanted someone to use.

So Ari was looking for a shy one. One with an eager, but apologetic smile. One whose eyes shot down to her own toes just as soon she saw Ari looking back at her. One who quivered with the excitement of being noticed, but made herself as small and inconspicuous as she could. Ari looked for the gaps in the crowd, the ducked heads and timid fingers that wouldn't quite bring themselves to touch her. She stretched out her sense of the currents running through the crowds; the shy ones felt different. And then-

Ari parted the crowd with her arms, and a disappointed murmur ran through the tightly-packed mousekins. She'd chosen. The crowd hushed as soon as her mouth opened, and hung on her words. "Bonjour, cheri! What's your name?"

"Stephie." The poor girl's response was too quiet for most of the crowd to hear, so more murmurs asking who and repeating her name bounced back and forth through the pit. Stephie was a bit short even for a mousekin. (Ari's dirty mind immediately drew a parallel from the level of the girl's face to the top of her thighs, and she had to hide her giggles.) Glossy chestnut hair fell in curls to Stephie's shoulders, and she wore an oversized "I [Heart] Ari" shirt like a dress with only a tight pair of leggings beneath. She worried at her tail with her slender fingers and clutched it to her chest.

Ari's lips spread into a wide, toothy grin. She took a step closer to the mousekin and casually extended a hand. It was a bit of a trick off when she was separated from the stage, but Ari amplified their conversation so all of the crowd could hear this time. "Do you want to touch me, Stephie? It looks like you might not have been able to reach."

The mouse-girl nodded, and her big brown eyes crinkled excitedly. Still, she was hesitant as she reached out to touch just a finger on Ari's offered hand; but even before the air could crackle Ari had caught her by the wrist and bent down to plant a kiss on her knuckles. Ari narrowed her eyes as she concentrated, directing not just a single current down between the girl's legs, but dozens through her body - enough to make every part worthwhile tingle. Stephi's eyes fluttered in ecstasy; she was standing on tip-toe and arching her back and the hair on the tips of her ears curled.

Ari had a sudden and disturbingly strong urge to flick her tongue out over those precious little fingers. Stephie smelled like the others - sweet and alive - and a burning curiosity had seized Ari by her gut; she just had to know if Stephie's skin tasted sweet, too. Somehow she resisted, instead uncurling the girl's stiff hand to place it open-palmed against her chest, just above the swell created by the lacy pink bra. She joined the currents flowing through Stephie into pulses that made the mousekin squirm and groan and smack her lips.

The crowd around them was so still, so silent, that Ari could hear her roadies working backstage. She let the currents fade - that was as much as she'd put poor Stephie through (in public, at least) - and leaned closer to nuzzle into the silky funnel of her ear. Even though she whispered, she kept up the amplification for the rest of the crowd to hear. "Will you do me a favor, cheri? Will you and your friends come stand up at the front by the stage tonight?"

"Oh-oh-ohkay..." Stephie gasped, still struggling to regain her breath and her composure. "Anything you want, Miss Arishika. But, I'm here at the concert by myself."

"Even better," Ari stage-whispered. "I'll have you all to myself!"

-

The show was spectacular. All of the effects - the lights, and the fog, and the pyrotechnics she couldn't control by herself - went off right on beat. Tens of thousands of pairs of wide eyes sparkled at her in excitement. The crowd was enthusiastic and involved; they knew her songs, and behind the drone strings of her guitar she could hear them singing along. As the first set's false climax fell away to the pair of ballads she was starting to get really tired of, Ari dropped the rhythm she had been pounding out from the metal substructure of the stage and instead returned the crowd's chorus voice as a pitch-adjusted harmonization with her own. Collectively they had a sweet, almost childlike melodic sound; by the end of the first ballad she was inscribing a mental note to schedule herself to come back to this dimension to find a choir for her next album. Hints of ideas flitted through her mind like moths in a midnight searchlight, but she'd find them again later. The mousekins cheered and squealed after each song as though it was the best thing they'd ever heard, pinning Ari's confidence to top-meter. These squelching rubber pants were starting to feel hot and tight as they trapped all the sweat from her stage antics - she was used to wearing gauzy robes instead - but she could tell in the monitor and the crowd's reaction that the svelte figure they cut was worth a little discomfort. She could smell the lust brimming in the crowd, and mixed with the sweet baker's shop scent of their musk it only made her rubber-encased loins feel even more squishy and more excited than usual.

When Ari finally reached "Head Over High Heels" (it was always the last song in the first set and the one with the real crowd-pleasing acrobatics) the air was as charged with the mousekins' excitement and anticipation as her electric currents. The sea of rodent-humes gasped collectively when she flipped up to play the bridge of the song in a handstand perched on the neck of her guitar, and when she performed her flipping dismount (the one where - just like every show - she "accidentally" caught a tuning key on her blouse and ripped it off, sending it flying into the front rows) the audience screamed with delight at the sight of her lacy pink bra. Whoever caught that shred of filmy black fabric would be a minor celebrity for the next week; she'd bought her own clothes back off auction sites for thousands just to keep the prices up. Once she regained her feet, Ari re-toned the screams of the audience and reflected them back out through her speakers, blending them with the come-down riff of her guitar. She spent the rest of the song in a cabaret hide-and-peek that drew more attention to her bra and made a scandal out of what amounted to less cleavage than half the female mousekins were showing. As the last notes of the song echoed through the hall, she covered herself with her guitar, flung the pink bra out into the crowd, too, and ran off the stage for the intermission.

The break was quick - just long enough for her to visit the wardrobe rack while the guitar tech tightened her strings (literally, though it had been euphemistic enough a couple of times) - and then she was out on the stage again, grinding into the lead-in of the K-rocker b-side from her last album. The audience was already back to a full, high-pitched squeal by the time she strode out through the fog, and didn't seem too disappointed that she was covered again, this time by a tight satin bustier.

Ari's eyes flicked through the stage-light blindness hiding her audience while she played, searching for Stephie. The second song was supposed to be the duet, but the poor girl wasn't front and center as she'd promised. Ari hadn't really expected her to hold that spot, as shy as she was, but she'd hate to have lost her; it would slow down the show- No, there she was, just a few rows back, with a smile so wide it was goofy. Her big brown eyes were full of awe and admiration and excitement - and lust. That last was critical.

Ari strummed the drones into a new key, and crooked a finger to summon her chosen one to the stage. Hesitantly at first, Stephie made her way through the aisle the crowd reluctantly formed for her. By the time she slipped through the opening Ari's security had created for her, she was running eagerly to the stage. And why should she? An Arishika concert in her own dimension was a once in a lifetime event for the mousekin, but being called to the stage... To blow that opportunity wouldn't have been shyness, it would have been stupidity!

Ari strummed the drones up into a minor key before beginning to clap her hands slowly over her head. Within a couple bars the audience had followed suit, converting their applause to a steady, rhythmic beat; just in time as a bass lowered down above Stephie's head. This part could be a bit tricky; but Ari was practiced enough to amplify and return the audience's beat and undertone it with the keynotes for the next song, all while positioning the guitar strap around the mousekin's neck and showing her how to place her hands and how to stand comfortably. "Don't worry, cheri," she whispered into the girl's big ear. "You'll know what to do."

She waited a count until the beat was right, then tapped the tips of her claws against Stephie's bare neck and sent the current - the very particular charge she needed. The mousekin's fingers snapped into position, left sliding up the fretless neck while she palm-beat the strings, and then she played. Everyone knew the riff, and the rodent crowd erupted in a wild cheer. Stephie was astonished, but beaming with proud delight. She nodded when Ari whispered into her ear again: "Don't think about it. Just let it happen." For a wonder, the supposedly-timid mousekin hadn't even noticed the spotlight beaming on her, but Ari kept her fingers on the girl's neck through a few more measures, as much to be sure the girl wouldn't bolt or empty her bladder as to reinforce the muscle memory she'd endowed her fingers. But Stephie was perfect. Ari swung her hips, her own guitar slung into position just in time for the power chord, and they played. The song was glorious.

-

An hour later Ari left the stage after her second encore. Randi, her assistant guitar tech, was playing her own song on the stage and doing a pretty good job of convincing the lingerers in the audience that it was time to go home. Ari sighed, rolled her shoulders, and ran her fingers through her sweaty ponytail and along the sensitive tips of her ears. This had been a particularly good show, she thought; the mousekin audience had been so invested that she just had to give it all back. And there was that chorus idea - she had to write it down before she forgot. And then there was Stephie - she had been such a champ on the bass that Ari couldn't help but teach her hands to play a beat for "Anything but Love", too, even if it did have that tricky bridge after the second verse. Stephie had left the stage with almost as much applause as Ari. Almost. Well, not really, but it was heartfelt.

But as happy as Ari was with the show, and as energized and stimulated as her body was with the overflow of energy from the sub-stage feeds, her mind was empty and numb. She needed sleep, but even more she needed to find that little mousekin waiting for her... She barely acknowledged her roadies as she hurried back to the doorframe surrounding the portal-

"Ari! Ari, honey - great show!" Yris popped out of a cluster of techs to squeeze Ari in a one-handed hug. She unconsciously wiped Ari's sweat off her cheek and brightly tapped her clipboard. "Post-show buzz is fantastic, as always. I'm thinking we could hit one of the other continents in a few months, maybe after that new album hits." Yris grinned suggestively. "For which we need songs. And speaking of which, I have your single-serving lover washed and waiting in your room already! I know I told you you'd have some extra time tonight, but if you get any song ideas from her we really need to get you across the table from my engineer, okay? Do you have a good feeling about her?"

Ari sighed. "Yris? Pushing me when I'm drained isn't going to make a good album. Whether or not I have a good feeling from her."

"Neither is procrastination, dear. But you do have a good feeling, don't you?" She gripped her clipboard with excitement.

Ari stepped back toward the portal, and let her tail flick and arc along the frame. "Like I always say, Yris-" a hint of a grin returned to her lips "-if you're so interested in my process, come spend a night with me. I -know- I can wring a song or two out of you, and you'll never forget it." She winked. "But not tonight." Ari closed her eyes against the bright flash, then stepped backwards through the doorframe and onto the marble floor of her own penthouse. She flicked the switch behind her and scrambled the combination, even if it wasn't much of a secret that Yris had a master code, then clop-clopped down the grand hallway to her room.

Beyond her gaudy gold and white doors, a room big enough to be its own flat stretched out toward the glass outer wall of the building. It was night beyond the glass, and the Kirian forests seemed to stretch forever; bunches of lights from towns and villages shimmered like galaxies from among the black of the trees.

Stephie waited in the wingback chair across the room, her legs crossed up beneath her since they couldn't reach the floor. Ari's red silk robe hung from her shoulders and pooled around her lap. She sat up straight as soon as she saw Ari between the doors.

Ari let the huge doors swish shut on their own as she strode slowly toward the mousekin, heeled feet criss-crossing and clacking against the raw stone floor. Her eyelids dropped seductively, and her tail flicked as if expecting a pounce. "Do you know what happens now, mon petite cheri?"

Stephie nodded. Her eyes were wide and excited, and she practically quivered in anticipation.

Ari slowed as she closed the last few steps, and ran her fingertips up her bustier and between her cupped breasts. "You've read what my other lovers have posted about their experiences after the concert, haven't you?"

Stephie nodded and nibbled her lip.

Ari reached out to run a fingertip under the mousekin's chin. She affected a pout "Aww... And I do so love to surprise. Tell me, cheri, have you been with another girl before?"

Stephie hesitated, then nodded slowly.

Ari laughed. "But not a girl like me, have you?" Her finger traced down the mousekin's jawline to the loosely-closed robe, then slipped between the two folds of fabric. "Mrowr."

This time, Stephie shook her head side to side.

Ari was already leaning against the base of the chair, casting her shadow over the girl, so it was only a matter of slipping her knees forward to straddle the mousekin's lap, to trap her between her thighs. Ari spiraled her pelvis like dancer, coming a hair's breadth from rubbing her glistening belly against Stephie's nose. When the mousekin's hesitant hands reached toward Ari's hips, she pressed them against her bare skin, then slowly (with much nibbling of lips and heavy breathing) slid them beneath the top of the her pants, and into the humidity trapped by the rubber. The girl's fingers slipped through her dewy, curling hair. "So you do you want to get into my pants, cheri?"

Stephie nodded again, and grinned.

With a quick feline leap, Ari was off the chair and leading Stephie by both hands toward the vast sea of bed tucked into the sunken windowed alcove. "C'mon, then, sweetie. Come let Ari tuck you in. I'll do a little strip for you before I take a shower, and then we can have fun." She batted her long lashes, and was just about to toss the mousekin into the nest of wadded comforter-

"No."

Ari was startled as much by the sound of Stephie's voice as by the word itself. She stopped and blinked at the mousekin, flummoxed. She could spend an hour teasing and cajoling her one-night-lovers to wrestle their fantasies from their lips, much less get them to give her a command. Stephie was just supposed to be an easy, yes-ma'am sub to get her off quickly and let her rest. Ari hadn't expected a backbone. She clicked her teeth worriedly; had she misjudged the mousekin?

"No, don't take a shower, I mean."

"But I'm all sweaty and gross, cheri. I want to be clean and beautiful for you. I want to give you a special night."

"But- Right now you're "concert Arishika". I'm sure if you take a shower you will be clean and beautiful "fantasy Arishika", but I want "concert Arishika" exactly as she is. Sweaty and everything. That's... that's the Arishika I fantasize about." Stephie's eyes dropped, and her cheeks and ears flushed a bright shade of pink. Her fingers slipped out from Ari's pants and traced lovingly over the catgirl's thighs, but her voiced muted to a squeak even Ari's piqued ears could barely hear. "But... I mean... I'm being pushy, aren't I? I'd read that you make your lovers' fantasies come true, and I just thought... Oh, but you probably need the shower to relax after that whole concert, and here I am-"

"Shhh..." Ari pressed a fingertip to the mousekin's lips. "Shush, cheri - If this is what you want... I just didn't expect you to be so ...kinky."

Ari closed her mouth as the little girl guided her backwards to sit on her own bed, and lifted each leg in turn to unzip and peel away her boots. Tender lips pressed against the skintight rubber pantlegs and rosebudded her bare toes as the boots were discarded, and clever, ticklish fingernails skittered along the arch of her feet until she was laughing and pleading for mercy. Ari decided that the mousekin definitely wasn't a sub; she was something better. She was a selfless little girl, or selfish in being the one to provide the pleasure. She wouldn't just let herself be used; she insisted on it. Her minuscule hand pressed firmly in Ari's belly to lay her down while she drew the long, long crotch zipper that split Ari's pants almost to the back, and she fold the teeth of the zipper away from Ari's skin ever so carefully before she buried her face and hands between the catgirl's thighs. She didn't even gasp a complaint when Ari threw her heavy calves over her shoulders and squeezed her head, or when Ari rolled them both over in a quick wrestling move and drowned her in the comforter.

Ari, for her part, just stared just stared down and purred contentedly, rocking and rubbing as she felt the urge but letting the mousekin do most of the work.

Despite a quarter-hour of turning Ari's insides to warm jelly, Stephie was barely tongue-tied when she stopped to ask, "Is this good for you, Arishika?" Her fingers slipped into the vacancy her mouth had left.

"It's 'Ari', cheri, and you were teasing me! Not only have you done this before, you're an expert." Ari brushed away a slick curl of hair clinging to Stephi's forehead, and tilted back to give the mousekin a chance to fill her lungs.

"You're just-" Stephi gasped a breath "-being nice." Her face flushed, and then drained again. "You'd really tell me if you wanted something different?"

Ari laughed and patted Stephie's cheek. "Mm-hmm. I don't take my pleasure lightly, cheri. I'd tell you nicely, and if you didn't get the hint-" she sent a current down through Stephie's chest, and the mousekin's tongue spilled out of her mouth and waggled wildly "-I'd show you." Ari giggled, let her head loll back behind her shoulders, and continued breathily. "Tonight, though, you're just what I need without any help at all." She could feel the little mouth smiling as she rocked forward again and pressed her weight down through her pelvis.

It took several more minutes before Ari drooped forward over the mousekin's belly to return the favors, but Stephie was stingy - she only allowed Ari to plant a first kiss in the plush of her mound before she crossed her thighs. "No, no." Her tiny voice barely escaped from beneath Ari. "Just relax. Let me entertain you."

Still, Ari couldn't be completely obedient, and she left her cheek resting in the saddle of Stephie's Y-shaped crease. She arched her back, pushing her weight back into the girl, and let herself purr. Oh, this was such a delight. And the perfume wafting up to fill her nose... But it wasn't perfume. She breathed deeply and let the scent curl through her nostrils. It was no euphemism to say Stephie smelled sweet. She wasn't acrid like sweat, or bitter like the musk of sex; Stephie smelled like candy. Each breath tickled Ari's memory; she tried to put a name to the smell, but she hadn't had candy in ages. (How could she? she chided herself.) Something sticky; something gooey and buttery. Her mouth began to fill with saliva, and it took the better part of her resolve to stop herself from swiping her tongue up the inside of Stephie's thigh. (Just one taste! Just the tip of my tongue is all I need.) When her stomach began to twist and rumble, though, she had to push herself back up to sitting. She tried to imagine the smell of something else: first rain on concrete ... incense .. gasoline. It didn't help - Stephie's smell seemed to soak the air in the room, and the ache in Ari's belly on grew worse. It wanted something; it needed something, and soon.

But Stephie was oblivious, and Ari really was close to climax - her thighs were sweating and trembling - that she could just stick to the regular plan, if she hurried. She nibbled her fingers and pinched her ears to distract herself for just a minute more, until Stephie had brought her right to the brink. It was right, right when orgasm was just another gasp away, right when Ari's muscles were loose and she was soaked with sweat and lubrication; that was the perfect time - the only time it would work, even with someone as small as Stephie. Ari held her breath as she denied herself climax just a second longer to spread her legs and forced herself down over the mousekin's face. Stephie seemed to have known it was coming - she really must have read all those stories online - because she took a deep breath and didn't protest as Ari scooped up the back of her head and forced it into her stretching channel. Ari screamed at the first orgasm.

It was only a matter of timing then for Ari, and keeping her wits while the orgasms came as regularly as labor pains. In the gaps between - when her muscles relaxed - Ari crammed the mousekin a few inches more up between her thighs and into her swelling womb. The little dear squirmed to help, and at the end she even pulled her own tail and feet in behind her. She was such a doll; Ari was too spent and distended to have reached, and it was always a bit of mood-killer to have a second tail dangling out of her.

Ari sunk back into her comforter while she came down, just groaning in delight and rubbing the slowly-shifting bulge of her belly. This was the closest she got now to the feeling of a deliciously full stomach - the closest she'd been in decades, when she used to bring her classmates over and- No! She'd locked those memories away. This was just a different kind of feeling, and if swollen womb wasn't as ultimately satisfying as a swollen stomach, it was still very, very pleasant - like an orgasm spread thin over several hours. She could feel Stephie squirming in her cramped interior, feel her lungs swell and contract every couple of minutes. Ari didn't know or really care what science let Stephie live and breathe inside her, but the mousekin was alive, if not exactly awake. Ari could feel the current that ran through Stephie's root-system of nerves and ran willy-nilly through her brain - there were lightning flashes that were probably dreams. The strength of her current was orders of magnitude less than Ari's own, of course, but after years of experience she'd found a safe way to tie their currents together and let them mingle. Ari sighed happily. It was an intimate experience, being attached that way to another creature. Strange feelings, strong emotions, even foreign memories could slip across that link and bubble up in the back of Ari's mind. For her it was almost like another kind of sex; she'd never heard any of her occupants complaining, either.

Ever so carefully, with her hands stretching down to cradle the bulge spilling out over her pelvis, Ari sat up and waddled to the bath suite joining her room, where a warm soaking pool already waited for her. Little jets swirled fresh, hot water into the pool in irregular pulses. Ari only had to finish the job Stephie had started, peeling away the last of her stage clothes, before she stepped in and let the warm water rise over her. She hooked her shoulders over the edge so she couldn't slip under, felt the warmth soak into her muscles, and let her eyes drift close as Stephie's thoughts bubbled against her mind like the little hot pulses.

-

By the time her fingers and toes had turned pruney, Ari knew Stephie from the inside out. Not the details, of course - that would take years - but she could see Stephie's emotional landscape. She knew what made her laugh, what scared her, what turned her on. She'd let her mind steep in the mousekin's, experiencing without analyzing. While she'd soaked, that gnawing hunger in her stomach had retreated again, shriveled back into those bad memories she kept buried deep inside, where sometimes she could forget them, at least for a little while. She was content. Even better, the beginnings of a song were flitting through her head now - nothing solid, just a few folky phrases with a catchy rhythm, but it was a promising start It had been months at least since she'd lifted a good idea from one of her one-night-lovers, but Stephie was special; she'd known that from the beginning, hadn't she?

Ari shifted in the pool tub and watched her tail swirl at the surface of the water. Her bulging belly floated her hips up from the bottom of the pool; she rubbed the stretched skin and felt Stephie stir. There were more songs tucked away in the mousekin, she was sure - songs even Stephie didn't know she knew - but Ari didn't have time for that now. Well, not unless she ate her. She could just stretch her jaw wide, just like she had her pelvic channel, and swallow that sweet girl down so gently she wouldn't mind at all. She'd have everything she could get from the mousekin in the few hours it took to digest her...

Merde! What was wrong with her? Ari hadn't had this much trouble controlling her thoughts since... well, since her last good record. Her stomach gurgled. She had to be done with this mousekin before she did something really foolish, but now the memory of Stephie's scent was tickling her's brain. Maybe if she just had a taste. A different kind of taste, but...

Suddenly in a hurry, Ari yanked the chain for the drain. The water level fell quickly - the whole floor could drain when she needed it to - but she couldn't wait; she began to push. Out was easier than in, but Stephie wouldn't be helping now, and now Ari was in a rush. She groaned as she squeezed, and didn't even give herself time to build up or enjoy the outbound orgasm, so it just kind of hurt. As soon as one of the mousekin's arms fell free she reached and pulled her out with a messy, squelching sound. Stephie plopped down into the inch of water still draining through the floor of the pool and laid there in that same daze they always had, limp and sluggish and disoriented.

Ari sat crosslegged behind her, pulled the girl into her lap, and began to lick her clean. Her stomach gurgled. Beneath the taste of her own fluids, she could just make out a bit of flavor in the girl's skin and hair - she was vaguely sweet, like her scent, and vaguely ...vanilla-y?

Ari's tongue wasn't made for grooming like her full-cat cousins - hers was flat and smooth and slick - but she couldn't help herself from licking the same patches of skin and hair again and again, even after they were clean. Mmmmm.. Behind Stephie's ears, along her neck and under her chin, down her chest... Ari buried her face in the shallow valley between the mousekin's tiny breasts and inhaled deeply. She could feel her stomach churning - her long-dormant stomach- Caramel! That's what it was the mousekin smelled of: caramel! She swiped her tongue up the girl's sternum for confirmation.

"What are you doing?" Stephie asked, still half-dazed.

That was Ari's cue to stop, mid-swipe, and hide her embarrassed grin. While the mousekin stretched, she scooped Stephie up into her arms and carried her back into her main room, toward the sunken bed. "It will be time to for you to go back to your world soon, cheri, before we shift the phase door. But there's still a little time, and you were such a sweetie I wanted to give you a little thank you present." Ari lowered Stephie into the comforter, then settled in beside her, letting her fingertips and long nails drift along the curves of the mousekin's back. Her hand slipped down over the girl's hip and between her thighs. She licked her lips.

Stephie squirmed. "Oh no, you don't have to do that."

"Shush. I want to do that, and I want to do it -now-. If I hear any more argument out of you, I'll just have to tie you up and gag you, and then I'll be able to do whatever I want to you, won't I?" Ari was surprised to see Stephie smile shyly before glancing away. "Oh, would you like that?"

Stephie shrugged, and meant yes.

"I see." She could spare a moment for that. Ari only had to stretch back to the edge of the bed to feel for and find the wad of satin she kept there, which she shook out into a half-dozen strips. With quick, practiced movements, she wrapped Stephie's wrists together above her head, thumb-tucked the tail of the strip, and led it up over the pillows to tie off to the bars of her headboard. She prowled back on all fours, slitted eyes fixed on Stephie, to steal a kiss from the mousekin's lips. It was just a quick one; she was already starting to get too attached - after all, once she sent the mousekin back through the portal, she'd never see her again. "Any last words before the gag, cheri? And don't tell me not to go down on you, or I'll make you regret it." She winked.

"Then definitely don't go down there!" Stephie giggled, then turned her head to stay Ari's hand a moment longer. "Really, though - take your time, Arishika. I know you have schedules to keep, but I'm in no hurry to go home. If I miss that window... well, I'll figure it out. Maybe you can hire me for your crew." She smiled, embarrassed but hopeful. "Oh, wait, there is one other thing." She nibbled her lips.

"Yes, cheri?" Ari's hand hovered just above the mousekin's mouth. Maybe she shouldn't have offered her last words. Saliva was pooling between her tongue, forcing her to swallow.

"Can you dress like last night? The boots at least? If I'm going to be tied up... well, you looked so ...wicked."

Ari cackled as she stuffed the fold of silk into Stephie's mouth. "Wicked, hmm? You like your Arishika with a dark streak, do you?" She tied the gag tightly in place, then poked Stephie's nose. "Wait right here."

Ari slipped from the edge of the bed, and Stephie's neck craned to follow her for as long as she could. Ari left last night's boots and pants on the floor where the mousekin had discarded them; they still reeked of sweat, and now that she was home she had a whole closet to choose from. Still, she didn't want to waste time - not while she was in a mood. Her eyes flicked around the room, and her fingers brushed along rows of clothes until they felt leather.

A few minutes later the clacking of heels announced Ari's return to the foot of the bed. Stephie lifted her head; her eyes went wide, then crinkled happily. Ari had slipped into a pair of knee-high PVC boots and matching gloves, and she'd tied up her long black hair into the same high ponytail she'd had the night before, and thrown on some dark makeup just for effect. She barely wore anything else - just this leather harness that was meant to go over a white catsuit (which laid in a crinkled heap on the floor of her closet at the moment). The harness did little more than pinch her ribs and squeeze her breasts together, leaving her belly and hips completely bare - that is, leaving them room to expand. She knelt on the bed, giving Stephie time to look her over, time to get just a little nervous, and then grabbed the mousekin's ankles. She wasn't particularly gentle when she threw Stephie's legs open, or slow or discrete with her lips and fingers. If Stephie wanted a domme, she could play that role easily, especially now that she'd forced her appetite to wait. The mousekin gasped at the suddenness of it, and yelped when Ari nipped at the skin inside her thigh. Soon, though, she was mewling and arching her back and clutching at the comforter and giving Ari all the cues she needed.

Ari cheated only a little, too, sending charges up through her tongue that enhanced what Stephie felt, followed by dampeners that kept her from getting too close to orgasm. Since she was the domme, she would decide just when and how Stephie was done. Beside, now that she had tasted more than just the mousekin's neck - she'd kissed her lips and... her lips, she couldn't stop. She loved the taste of caramel. She filled her mouth with Stephie and sucked and nibbled and licked as if the girl were candy. Ari had always loved the taste. It was like a mellow, tenor horn playing holiday songs. Half a memory came to her, a vague perception of winter vacation from school, and a belly stuffed with candy ...and a girl she'd met at school. The girl was still squirming through the mush of candy in Ari's belly. Ari hadn't known it was wrong then - her dad hadn't ever told her what happened to her classmates when she ate them. She just knew that it felt so good. Nothing - not even a stuffed womb, felt like a fully belly. Maybe...

It was an awful thought, but it stuck in her mind anyway. Almost apologetically, Ari redoubled her efforts between Stephie's legs, causing the mousekin to moan and grunt through her gag. But all that did was fill Ari's mouth with more of Stephie's flavor, which made her tongue all the more eager... The last of Ari's discipline was circling the drain in the flood of pheremones and hormones. She pushed the girl harder.

When Stephie finally screamed through her orgasm, Ari pounced up from between her thighs to her face and neck. Her impatient gloved fingers slid the gag from Stephie's mouth to cover her eyes. She ripped out the wad of saliva-soaked silk and flung it away, then shoved her tongue into its place before Stephie had a chance to gasp, "Ari, that was amaz-" They kissed long enough that both of them began to draw heavy breaths through their noses. For Ari, it was decided.

"You taste like caramel, cheri." Ari licked her lips.

"I do?" With her eyes covered, Stephie looked so innocent and helpless. "You taste like strawberries and peanut butter to me."

Ari snickered. "Are you really in no hurry to get back, my sweet Stephie? No one's going to come looking for you if you don't go home? I can keep you for as long as I want? Even forever?"

The mouse-girl's hands twitched, but she nodded.

"Gooood...."

-

Stephie opened her mouth to speak, but felt a gloved finger press against her lips. "Shh, cheri", she heard Ari hiss as the catgirl withdrew between her legs. "Don't say anything."

And then Stephie's toes slipped into something wet and warm. It felt sort of like last night, when Arishika had stuffed her up inside her womb. She'd read about that, but couldn't believe it was actually possible; it felt so warm and snuggly and comfortable in there, even if she had been balled up like a load of laundry. She couldn't remember the details - it got hazy after she had pulled her feet in, but it was like the memory of sex and a personal Arishika concert rolled into one, like Ari had been singing her the songs from her childhood.

But this felt different, almost like she was being pulled as much as pushed. Maybe it was just that she wasn't already swamped in Ari's fluids, or maybe it was the way Ari'ss claws felt inside those gloves. Maybe it had something to do with all of the currents of electric pleasure she felt shooting up through her legs. She squirmed - her ankles were clutched as tight together as her wrists, and already her thighs had been lifted from the bed to feed to Ari's belly. Stephie moaned happily, and let her body go limp so Ari could maneuver her however she needed. The ring of wet warmth traveled up past her legs, over her hips.

-

When Yris poked her head into the room, it was done with caution. The 'coon knew better than to disturb Ari when she was with a lover, but the schedules were her real boss. "Ari, honey? It's already six."

Ari answered by dropping her head back into the comforter and going back to rubbing her fingers over her distended belly. She liked the way the gloves felt between her fingertips and her own skin, and thought about wearing them more often, just because. Bits and pieces of dozens of songs crowded her head like happy party-goers.

"Ari! You gotta wrap it up, honey - let her out and clean her up. The clock's ticking! Beside, it always takes you an hour or two to get your tummy back tight, and we have this lycra thing we want you try on."

"No."

"No?"

"No. I'm keeping this one for awhile. She's not coming out - not yet."

"But your costume... And your concert!"

"I'm sure we'll find something that's more accommodating. That's what money is for, isn't it? Beside, I think my fans will be interested to see some confirmation of all the rumors, don't you? I'll play just like this."

"I... if it's that important to you..."

"It is. But... mon coeur?"

Yris' head popped back through the door, and she was smiling again. That nickname always got her. "Yes, honey?"

"Send in that recording engineer of yours in a few minutes, okay?"

Ari watched her manager grin brightly before she closed the door behind her, then sat up to wrap her arms around the squirming bundle of flesh in her belly. She wouldn't let her little cheri out - not until she had a nice adjoining suite prepared for her off her bedroom, anyway. Of course she couldn't bring herself to eat the little mousekin, but the fact that she came so close... and after so long without temptation... It was a feeling she hadn't felt in years; it made her feel alive, it made her lust. Maybe it made her love, but that wasn't a term she could use lightly. Either way, she could be forgiven for keeping this little mousekin around to tempt her, to torture her tongue and belly - as long as it sold records.