“I said-“

Bristling, Alzu stood up and stretched to his full height,
glowering down at the target of his ire. His easy, relaxed manner had vanished,
as had his accent, and he made certain to pronounce each word very carefully so
that there would be no hope of a “can’t understand you” blow-off.

“Do not touch them. They do not like that, they have made it
clear, and you will respect that.”

The source of the problem, an unpleasant male human who had
gotten far too grabby, visibly blanched at being told to back off by 7+ feet of
pissed-off Lyca. There were too many people watching for him to back off,
though, so he did his best to stretch enough to match Alzu. It failed entirely,
of course. “What do I care? It’s a damn suit of armor- supposed to be something
you wear,” he hissed, then reached
out with one hand, planting it firmly on Almul’s arm.

“Wrong answer,” Alzu snarled, and lunged- shoving the human
away and putting himself in front of Almul. Hunching his shoulders and lowering
his head, he opened his mouth and curled his lips in a snarl, displaying every
fang in his long, long jaws. As he spoke, he prowled closer to the human, fur
bristling in a thoroughly intimidating threat display.

“When I said respect
that, I meant fuck off.”

On the last word, he lunged, snapping his jaws shut so close
to the human’s face that his front teeth nicked skin.

That did it. The
blood drained entirely from the human’s face, except in the shallow scrapes
welling bright red, and he just about tripped over himself turning to run.

Alzu watched the human flee with no small amount of
satisfaction, then turned away from the rest of the bar, ignoring the stares
and mutters. “There we go. Got rid o’ ‘im. Y’okay, Al- ah, no, not okay? A’ight,
easy… I gotcha. C’mon- don’t smell so nice here anyway,” he muttered, pushing
his muzzle against the side of Almul’s helmet, and nuzzled softly until he got
Almul standing. “Easy- get on up. Gotta leave, an’ yer heavy. ‘Sides, I figure
you don’ wan’ me carryin’ ya.”

It took some nuzzling and gentle pushing, but he managed to
get Almul standing, gently steering them towards the door. “G’on.”

Almul was trembling, but they obeyed, albeit clicking
rapidly and almost pushing back against Alzu. They didn’t want to be moved, but they absolutely wanted to go
the way Alzu was suggesting, and- oh, they wanted to leave, they wanted very
badly to leave.

Alzu stayed close and nuzzled Almul’s scruff the entire
time, crooning gently, and tried not to touch too much aside from the necessary
steering. Almul tended to walk in a fairly straight line when upset like this,
and they needed to be somewhere off to the side. “G’on… trees, see? Gonn’ go
over there an’ sit, hm? Shh, shh- gotcha.”

Once they were behind enough trees to be hidden from
passers-by, Alzu sat down with his back against a tree and crooned enticingly,
patting his legs and trying to lure his friend down. “C’mere- y’wanna touch?
Nice’n soft- c’mere, pet me. Tha’s good, right?”

Yes.

Clicking very softly, Almul fidgeted for a moment, agitated,
then crouched in front of Alzu and reached for him. Making an agitated scraping
noise, they tucked their frame into Alzu’s lap, folding into a little ball and
stroking at his arm with both hands. No, no, no- why? They had been enjoying
things at the bar, enjoying all the people, and then someone had insisted on touching them- hadn’t
listened, hadn’t backed off, had just grabbed-

Almul flinched as two hands slid up under their cloak, but
gradually relaxed at the familiar, slow petting, slumping further against the
soft-furred frame. Alzu was soft, nice- so, so soft. Didn’t feel like before, like the humans who had caused
this, just felt like Alzu. Safe,
comfortable, not about to try anything, just… holding them, trying to comfort,
trying to make them feel better. Nuzzling their helmet- all soft, gentle. Nice.
Almul leaned into Alzu’s snout, clicking in appreciation, and lightly stroked
at all the thick fur on his front. They were still shaking, though, claws
trembling against his frame as they tried to shiver away the sensation of hands
grasping at them, forcing buckles apart, sliding up inside them and manipulating them-

Squawking a harsh sound of metal on metal, Almul shuddered
violently and kicked out, claws scraping on the tree behind Alzu as they tried
to claw away from the memory and the sensations.

“Oh, hah, shh- easy, y’a’ight, shh-“ Alzu crooned, sliding
his hands up further to grip firmly just below where Almul’s cloak was
attached. This was a good spot to touch, it didn’t seem to upset Almul, and
that- that was important right now, he needed to make this better.

Tail waving as much as possible given the position, Alzu
shifted until he could rock slightly, continuing to speak gently and pet
Almul’s frame. “Shh, ‘s a’ight. Ain’t anyone tryin’ anything. I gotcha. Ain’t
gonna haveta worry ‘bout that any more, no one’s gonn’ make y’ do anythin’.
Promise. Ain’t gonn’ let anyone do that t’ ya.”

Alzu continued to rock and croon for several more minutes,
licking gently at the side of Almul’s helm then sighed and shook his head when
it failed to be effective. “This ain’t workin’, huh? A’ight. Bet we can find ya
some water- y’ wanna get washed off? Yeah? C’mon- that’ll help ya. Up, up-
c’mon, shiny, I gotcha. There gotta be near a river here. Always rivers near
human stuff. Up, up.”

Almul rasped unhappily the whole way up, protesting at being
moved, but followed Alzu when he started walking. Alzu could smell water, Alzu
could find water, which meant Almul could get clean, and they wanted that beyond what they could express.
Whining an unpleasant sound of metal quavering against metal, they pressed up
close behind Alzu as they followed, pushing their face into his back now and
then. He smelled like warm fur, sweat, leaf litter, and dead things, not at all
like humans, not like the cloying scent that had taken what felt like weeks to scrub free of their insides-

Hands sliding up under their own chestplate, Almul clawed at
the inside of their plating, trying to scrape away the sensation of sticky heat
and the stink of a furless mammal in
a closed space, and they sped up to get past Alzu and at least try to find some kind of water. Alzu was
not moving fast enough.

“A’ight, I gotcha- c’mon, fast.” Alzu muttered, ears going
back at the sounds, and sped up to just under a run. He wasn’t certain how fast
Almul could run with both hands stuffed into themself, but this would have to
work- that amount of distress was unacceptable.

The river was easy to find, upstream of town judging by the
lack of human-smell, and he wasted no time in stripping off everything he was
wearing in order to get in. “Go on, then, I gotcha, be right in, jus’ go an’
make y’self feel better.”

Almul did not wear clothing, and they would not have cared
if they did. They just plunged directly into the river, wading out until they
were almost submerged, and spread their plating apart far enough to start frantically
scrubbing their insides. The cold of the water pushed away the remembered
sticky heat, but the smell, the texture, was
still there, and it needed to stop, they
needed to get it out-

 

Once the pack was off his back, Alzu went digging around
until he found two items: a bag of coarse sand, and a large, rough cloth.
Pouring some of the sand into the cloth, he folded it a couple of times, then
called out a soft noise and waded into the river. “Shh, hey- gotcha. Uh- gotcha
if ya come out jus’ a li’l bit more, yeah? Y’ in too deep t’ scrub properly,
c’mere where I can see what ah’m doin’- yeah, there we go, c’mon.”

Standing chest-deep in the gently flowing river, Alzu
pressed softly against Almul’s back, stroking and nuzzling gently for a few
moments before touching low on his friend’s stomach. “Hey- lemme in? Jus’ fluff
tha’ plating out, lemme scrub ya clean. Yeah? ‘s okay, though, don’ haveta-
jus’ maybe lemme help? Ah, yeah- there we go, oh, good Almul, tha’s it, good- lemme help.”

Almul obeyed, chirping softly in distress, all the plating
along their front floating apart to let Alzu’s hands in. A quick shudder at the
sensation of armor being pushed further apart, but then it was a touch of fur rather than skin, coarse pawpads
rubbing softly before the cloth was brought to bear. The sand didn’t hurt,
being used like that- in fact, it felt good. Invigorating. More importantly,
cleansing. Rough and firm and familiar, Alzu
trying to make them feel better, Alzu caring
about them, praising them-

Another shudder, softer this time, and Almul went limp
against Alzu’s front with a quiet hiccupping noise (and gesture) that spit fire
from the gaps around their helm. Whirring quietly, they turned their helm to
the side and leaned it against Alzu, their hands slowly coming back out from
their own innards in favor of reaching back to touch Alzu’s sides.

“Yeah… tha’s it. There we go… tha’s better. Good, good… so
good o’ ya t’ lemme try this. We feelin’ better, yeah? Good- gotcha. I gotch- ow, okay, I still gotcha, bu’ could you
move a li’l? Yer leanin’ yer shiny ass on m’ dick, an’ normally I would not
complain ‘bout somethin’ like this, bu’ you are made outta metal- there we go,
thankya. Okay. Still gotcha. You lean all nice on me- ain’t that heavy. Hol’ still, lemme scrub.”

Tongue lolling in a deliberately casual expression, Alzu
leaned the side of his muzzle against Almul’s ‘face’, rubbing his cheek against
the open spaces. He kept scrubbing, as well, shifting around to get at
different spots. The insides of Almul’s chest and abdomen, first, then up into
their shoulders before going down to clean around the insides of their hips. No
sexy comments, though. For once, Alzu was not in the mood for sexy comments.
Nor would Almul want that, of course. Other times, sure, it would be funny. Now,
heck no.  

Right, Alzu was naked. Almul shifted to not lean on any
sensitive parts of him, pushing their face into Alzu’s muzzle, and whined
gently as they began to settle. The sensation of their insides being scoured should probably have been unnerving, but it felt good, and it pushed away
every other feeling in favor of something nice.

After a few minutes, they chirped quietly and nudged Alzu’s
arms until he withdrew, then settled the plating on their front, turned around,
and flared the plating in their back. Pressed chest-to-chest with Alzu, they
waited until his hands were back inside them, this time reaching in to rub at
the inside of their chest, then put their arms around Alzu and squeezed. They
had no voice to speak with, not really, but they purred as softly as possible
and nuzzled into his throat in an effort to make their thanks known. Alzu had
protected them, then brought them here and made them feel better, and it was good. They were thankful. Did- did Alzu
know that? It seemed very important to make sure that Alzu knew that.

Crooning as softly as they could, Almul began to knead at
Alzu’s back, trying to offer their thanks for what he’d done for them. Hopefully
it would be understood, even without words.

“Ah, yeah, I gotcha. Yer welcome. Shh-shh, gotcha- good,
good Almul. Yeah. Feelin’ better now, huh? Y’know, ‘s a good thing fer those
folks who hurt ya that they’re already dead, otherwise I’d’ve killed ‘em all
messy by now. You know I would, right? Yeah. I gotcha. Gotcher back- ain’t
gonna let anyone hurt’cha. An’ you don’ gotta put up wi’ that, ya know, you got fire.” Alzu reminded, letting a growl
slip into his voice, and tightened his grip just slightly. “Y’ can burn people.
Make’m back off. Make’m be dead. Ain’t
gonna be hurt like that ever again. I ain’t gonna let ‘em, you ain’t gonna let ‘em.
Not gonn’ be hurt again, promise. Shh-shh, good- relax. Ah, ‘ere- wanna get
out? Let’s go’n sit an’ be warm, hm? Sit in th’ sun.”

Good- Alzu understood. Almul rumbled in satisfaction, then
gently detached and backed off, turning away to get out of the water. They
paused to duck underwater all the way and flutter their plating, an
invigorating motion that rinsed them clean, then headed for the edge of the
river. It took them some effort, their boots were sinking into the mud and
there were what felt like large insects crawling on their legs, but they
managed to get back to the shore. Even if they had to stop in about a foot of
water to empty the mud out of their legs.

Once completely out of the water, they fluffed their plating
and shook, removing at least the majority of the water from their frame. They
wouldn’t rust if they stayed wet, but it was time to be dry now. Rumbling
softly, they stretched, settling themselves down, then clacked quietly and sat.
Okay- they could sit here, be in the sunlight, and just… relax. Much nicer than
a bar full of loud, grabby people. Less interesting for Alzu, but… this worked.
Right? Was this OK?

Hm, Alzu had vanished under the water and, from what Almul
could see, was trying to stuff something into his mouth. Apparently there was
food. In that case, this was probably fine by Alzu.

Grinning, Alzu raised his head and triumphantly held up a
crayfish, crunching on what were probably more crayfish, then popped the last
one into his mouth and waded back to shore. Pausing a respectful distance away,
he shook himself off, then loped over and flopped onto his belly near Almul. “There
we go. No more li’l noisy scumbags. M’kay- next town? I go to th’ bar an’ I get
drinks, then we sit in, like, a tree, an’ we enjoy th’ stuff an’ don’ haveta
worry ‘bout grabby folks. ‘cos fuck grabby folks. Eh?”

Perfect. Almul chirped in agreement, then edged over,
reached down, and roughly scuffed a hand up and down Alzu’s spine. Alzu liked
this, right? Ah, yes- wagging tail. Alzu liked this.

Their insides still tingled pleasantly from the scrub, every
other feeling had been pushed away in favor of the lingering sensation of rough
pawpads and a sand-filled cloth, and they were sitting in the sun to let their
frame dry. Plus, Alzu was with them, was happy, and specifically was happy
because of something that Almul was doing. That was… mm. That was very nice.

Thank you.