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Talke and crew belong to: www.furaffinity.net/user/ressie Character themselves: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5327705/

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Talke was having a good day today! And why shouldn't he? He and his crewmates had just completed a small, albeit slightly dangerous race with their areoplane, the Lexicon, and had won a lucrative amount of prize money in turn. Sorting out what would be spent to both fuel the plane and feed the crew for a while Talke had come to the realization that there was more than enough money left over to take a mini vacation for a while. And it was because of this that now Talke, Jess and Eisser were well on their way towards a known rest stop to relax for the weekend...or the week, whichever suited the small three man team. Talke snickered somewhat as he let his thoughts bounce back and forth between to just how well he knew his crewmates. Knowing Jess, who currently manning the controls of the areoplane as he always was, the raccoon was probably thinking about how much he wanted to relax inside of an air conditioned room with a bunch of quiet music playing in the background while he lounged carelessly on a plush bed after just coming out of the shower. The raccoon had a way of making being carefree seem like a way of life rather than a hobby as he could easily set himself up anywhere he wanted and be comfortable.

Considering that the other was working with two spectacularly gay guys with himself being straight, well if Jess couldn't find ways to relax then he'd probably have gone crazy about now, Talke thought to himself with an amused chuckle.

Eisser, who Talke guessed was down in the lower hull of the ship - more than likely taking a nap if he wasn't going over the ship's current manifests - would probably try and find some cute guy to flirt with and then go about trying to get into said person's pants. Though the other didn't openly admit to it, Eisser was more composed about wanting both attention and adoration, unlike Talke who could make a room go quiet just by his presence alone. Between the two of them both Eisser and Talke had a small bet going on as to who could entice the most guys in a single day. So far Eisser was in the lead with almost thirteen guys coming to admire/feel over the striped feline's impressive muscles and fur in an attempt to try and get the tiger into bed. Talke didn't want to let his engineer know that he had long since passed the other with having an entire leisure center of guys worshiping his muscles when the big blue wolf strode into a random gymnasium/bar while he and his crew were off duty. Flexing and straining his body while giving the others there his best charming looks, Talke had managed to score twenty-two guys wanting to touch/feel/lick/kiss him before he called it a night. There was no sense in bursting the tiger's self-assured bubble after all, and besides, the competition was good to keep Talke interested in something other than just randomly working out.

After all, it took a lot of care and maintenance to keep up the Adonis-like body the blue wolf possessed.

Going over what his crew/friends/partners might or might not do for a little longer Talke found himself sighing idly as he rubbed the toes of his right foot over and along the cleft of his left thigh. While normally one might expect the captain to be most at ease at knowing that things were going to slow down for a while the big blue wolf's slightly glowering face said otherwise. Looking out from one of the viewports at the white clouds drifting by, Talke's former cheerful demeanor slowly disappeared in the face of thoughts and feelings and decisions that he didn't allow either Eisser or Jess to be privy to as his mind whirled with things better left unsaid. Gold eyes took in the sight of the crimson shaded ocean sparkling down below in the waning light of the sun, yet none of this seemed to reach the Talke where he was inside of his own mind right then. It was during these quiet introspective moments that the blue wolf wondered if he should give it all up, sell the areoplane to Jess, break bread with Eisser and then return back to his home to build up a home for himself.

Blue furred muscles flexed with every breath that the powerfully built wolf took as Talke leaned against the wall of the areoplane while favoring his left leg. Though the wolf refused to take conscious notice of the soreness radiating up the side of his calf there was no way for Talke to hide the fact that he was in a touch more pain than he would have liked to be in at the moment. Although, considering what had happened to cause his injury, his light wince and murmur of discomfort was not something unexpected as the wolf tried to ease as much pressure as he could off of said leg by leaning his body more against the hull of the Lexicon. Golden eyes closed gently as Talke recalled the moment when he had gotten into a slight 'altercation' with some gentlemen...ok so they were brutes that didn't like to believe that his pilot could actually beat them out fair and square in a race and wanted to start some static on the subject. It was bad enough that the asses had tried to take their frustration out on one of Talke's own, but to actually cause him lingering harm was something that the wolf was having trouble coming to grips with.

That was another reason for this little vacation/detour. Talke needed the time to think and really feel out if he wanted to keep on doing what he was doing. Personally, he was in some of the best spirits he could have been in, given that both of his teammates were alive and well and, above all, still willing to work with him. However, at the same time, Talke just wasn't sure. Of either himself or the possible future to come.

Not so much because of the throbbing annoyance constantly whining up at him from down at his left thigh. Heck, all these muscles didn't just come from waking up one morning and suddenly being gifted with a powerful built physique able to lift four to five hundred pounds on a given. Talke had worked hard to get where he was now, both physically and monetarily so - although the later meant that he was more often than not in debt - and he was proud of his ability to make it through the hard and rough spots without coming out worse for wear. No, the thing that kept bothering the Talke so much was the fact that he had failed in his duty to his crew by letting one of his own get hurt in such a way. And looking back on state of affairs that led up to everything, it had been such a small miscalculation on his part that led to the happening in the first place that the blue wolf was having trouble forgiving himself for it, even though the person he had been trying to defend had come out relatively ok. Hell, better than he had actually when he thought about it.

And yet, it still burned inside of the wolf's mind that the entire incident had happened in the first place. Talke couldn't have cared less about what happened to him, but nobody, NOBODY messed with either his friends or his partners. The big blue wolf's primal self would not allow such a thing to be gotten away with. It went against the whole of whom and what Talke was. And that was what hurt the most.

Remembering the sight of Jess in the state he had been in - already worn from piloting the Lexicon and winning the race - with those assholes trying to haul the raccoon out of HIS ship and then clubbing the other over the head had sent a rush of rage surging through Talke, the likes of which the wolf had actually felt proud of himself for feeling as he thought back over things after having beat the living crap of those guys. The brawny blue wolf let an unconscious growl slip free from his throat as he recalled the sight of seeing his raccoon friend being hurt in front of him. The memories, those cursed recollections, still made Talke's blood boil as the wolf went over them again and again and again. Tail flicking behind his back somewhat wildly, Talke felt his muscles clench up tight as he let the memories slowly drown out his sanity.

What he would have given to have those guys in his paws right now. The blue wolf was sure that he would have killed each and every one of them if he had been given a second chance. It was only because he had been so focused on making sure that Jess was alright that had saved the lot from death. Worry mixed with adrenaline had turned Talke into a true animal and upon thinking over what had happened and what he had done, the wolf wondered if it was all worth it. Again, it was one thing for him to be hurt. As both captain and leader Talke expected it, hell he actually wished for it over having either Eisser or Jessie getting injured. But for his teammates to be injured? The very same men that put their trust for their lives into his hand, such a thing was unacceptable. And though the raccoon had told him, over and over, that he was alright with the less romantic requirements of the job they had undertaken, Talke still wished that he...

Warm arms encircled around the blue wolf before he could finish said thought and when a playful nip touched at his ears Talke jumped slightly on instinct. Turning his head Talke found himself just in time to see Digby wink saucily up at him with a look of unbridled lust clouding the pink male's green eyes. Gulping thickly Talke felt his crotch give a slight salute in respect for the sexiness that was the feline holding onto him. While not quite as muscular as he was, Digby could almost have rivaled Talke in the physical prowess department as the pink lynx's impressive muscles flexed and strained while holding onto the slightly shivering bulk that was the blue wolf with the purple star in between his pecs.

"Hey now, don't go off too far otherwise you'll end up freefalling through the skies." The husky purr of the sky pirate lord put a smile on Talke's face that was both sincere and lecherous as he looked back to his friend/business associate.

"Yeah, sorry. I just..." A pair a warm lips pressed heavily onto his throat muted whatever words Talke was about to say as Digby nipped and kissed the other man into silence.

"Don't, just don't." A nod from Talke kept the blue wolf in repose as gold eyes looked to the jade green orbs that the sky pirate possessed. While they would never be 'lovers' in the truest sense of the word, Talke would always respect the passionate way the pink lynx was able to draw him into deep introspection without damaging his own sense of self-worth. The two were soon making their down the hallways of the Lexicon with Digby acting as a slight crutch for the big blue wolf. Walking was still something that Talke was having trouble with, and running was all but out for the time being, however, he refused to let it slow him down from doing what he had to do.

It was kind funny in a way on how Talke's stubbornness gave an open invitation for Digby to stick around with him to help the blue wolf out with small things around the ship. Something that annoyed Eisser to no end, if the slightly glower the striped feline gave the pink lynx was anything to go on. The snickers Talke shared with Jess over this was something that the raccoon and wolf would laugh about for weeks to come after Digby returned to his own ship and professional life. And it was in times like this that Talke realized that everything he was doing was worth the minor 'hassles' that he and his team had to deal with.

So at the end of things, as stated before, Talke was having a really good day!

--six days prior however, the story was a might bit different--

The race had been a close one, but Jessie was too much of an expert to lose to a bunch of wannabes trying to make a name for themselves in this year's air derby. Flying the Lexicon throughout the course set by the sponsorship, whose name Talke didn't take much notice of, the raccoon had a manic smile placed tightly onto his lips for the entire time he gracefully danced the areoplane around his competition. Drifting the large metal machine through the electrogates to mark his time, moving the Lexicon over and above the hindrances that had been set along the course, and then driving the areoplane down and around the other too unsure of themselves to know how to handle the wily raccoon, Jess took almost euphoric pleasure in showing off his piloting skills as he weaved through the floating course while making excellent time by the judge's count.

Many of the other planes had fallen short at the beginning of the race and were forced to bow out, and those that hadn't were losing their nerves to Jessie's premier piloting skills. It was easy to tell by the way the rest of the planes were making more and more careless mistakes that Jess was intimidating the other aircraft flyers as he smoothly flew lap after lap around the course without falter. With Jess almost hungry to win the contest, and subsequently to prove himself more capable than the others who were becoming nothing more than black dots behind the tail of his areoplane, Talke realized that the raccoon must really have been pushing himself as both he and Eisser looked down along the ground at the holographic screen highlighting the Lexicon's movements. None of what the other man was pulling Talke had seen before. Some of those moves actually made the blue wolf wonder how in the hell Jess was doing what he was doing as he weaved around the airway track like a phantom. Spinning the Lexicon upside down and then shooting past another obstacle both Talke and Eisser had to wince when another flyer slammed into the obstruction and then got zapped by a small electric jolt.

The other areoplane stalled and then went down a second later; putting them out of the race completely. And somewhere in his mind the blue wolf knew that Jess was probably laughing his tail off at the rookie.

In the end, after passing through the last leg of the course and ducking under a few airmines, Jess managed to shoot the Lexicon through the final ring of the course sending the electronic buzzer screaming to let everyone know that Talke and his team had won first place. The fans watching from the ground, via the same large holographic screen, cheered avidly as the excitement from race finally came to its climatic end. Those resounding shouts of elation quickly became white noise in both the wolf and tiger's ears however, because just as soon as Jessie touched down onto the ground reserved for the aeroplanes both Eisser and Talke were darting over to the Lexicon to check on the raccoon. Once they got to the aircraft a somewhat tired raccoon shakily made his way out of the Lexicon, only to end up tripping and then falling into Talke's open arms when he took a misstep coming down the ramp. Eisser, being the concerned tiger that he was, hurriedly checked on Jess to make sure that the Jessie was alright, while asking the other man if he needed anything. Once he was assured the raccoon would be alright, after hearing the other grumble halfheartedly, the striped feline gave the pilot at few pats on his shoulder and then messed up his cohort's hair by running his broad hand through the raccoon's brownish mane.

Talke on the other paw, well Talke did what the big blue wolf always did when he got excited...he glomped.

Already holding Jess in his arms gave the muscular blue wolf an open invitation to squeeze and nuzzle his nose into the sweat soaked hair of the raccoon as Talke happily yapped his praise over Jess' victory. Bear hugging the smaller raccoon into his meaty chest and then swinging the other around wildly, Talke made a good show of drowning the other man in affection. That was, right up until the point when Jess began to wildly swing his arms around while muttering something about the need to breath and the lack of oxygen there was in between the burly wolf's arms. Talke was quick to pull the somewhat dazed raccoon from out of his embrace before he smiled sheepishly at Jess. The green eyed pilot merely glowered and then sighed as he tiredly swatted the bigger male onto the arm. Taking a step back so that he could look at the judges coming their way Jessie tried not to look as pleased as he felt so as to put on an air of humility about himself.

It worked, given the raccoon's exhaustion and all.

Taking the money that the officials had to offer with genuine smiles of gratitude, both Eisser and Talke helped Jess to lift up his tired arms so that he could wave at the crowd as they let everyone know just who had been the victor for this year's air derby. The wolf and tiger helped Jessie to egg on the fans watching all the way until Jess finally passed out between the two of them. At that point everyone realized that the show was over and that it was time to head for home. Or rather, back to the areoplane to put the tired pilot into bed.

It was Eisser who lifted Jess up and then slung the raccoon over his shoulder while Talke grabbed the bag full of money as the three men were walked inside of the Lexicon. Thankfully for all involved, the blue wolf was able to pilot the areoplane well enough to take the machine off from the contest grounds and then over to a large spit of land made out for those who had participated in the race to get their aircrafts repaired, if it was needed. Having that taken care of Talke made his move to check on Jess, even though he was sure that Eisser had put the tired out raccoon into his bed already. What he found was, exactly as he had expected, Jess sleeping like a babe with his slim, but muscular frame curled up underneath the sheets of his hammock while Eisser watched over the other with a vigilance that only a tiger could possess.

"Is he ok?" The blue wolf asked in concern, even though he already knew the answer, what with both sight and scent relaying to him that the raccoon was just fine, if just worn down to the quick. Sunlight drifting from in from the porthole over and across the lightly snoring form of the other man, Talke let his golden eyes survey every inch of his pilot as he looked for anything out of place with the raccoon.

"He's alright. Just a little tired is all." The tiger grunted before chuckling somewhat as he rocked himself back and forth on the only chair inside of the small room. "I don't think our dear Jessie has had to push himself that hard in a very long time." More chuckles came from the striped feline as Eisser thought over something private. When the raccoon began to murmur in his sleep and then turn away from the other the tiger realized that it was time to close his yap and exit the stage. "And I think that's our cue, or rather mine anyway, to leave." Eisser rose up from out of his seat and then stretched before letting out a feline yowl of a yawn. "Jeez, I wasn't even piloting this thing and I feel tired as all outdoors. Think we should go and get a drink while Jess is out?" The hope in Eisser's voice was easy for Talke to hear.

Talke took one look at the sleeping raccoon and then looked down at the bag of earning that Jess had won placed on the table in front of Eisser. Golden eyes gleamed with unspoken thoughts, many of which had to do with problems that the blue wolf wasn't ready to share with his companions, as of yet, and then Talke smirked. "Sure. This'll give Jess more than enough time to rest up for a bit before we decide what to do next. We also need to get some supplies and check over the manifest for the recent shipments we're supposed to be hauling. Plus..." Eisser could see that Talke was getting into 'captain' mode and knew he had to do something before that hope for booze turned into extra work detail.

"Alright then, let's head out!" Eisser walked his way over to the beefy blue wolf, tapped Talke onto the purple star centered in between his impressive pecs with the back of his fist and then herded the other man out of Jess' room so that the raccoon could sleep in peace. On their way down the ramp of the Lexicon both Eisser and Talke began to converse in earnest about what the crew would end up doing in the coming future, most of it having to do with dropping of their already delayed shipments and then counting up how much money they would have leftover to spend on other things. As they made their way out of the areoplane onto the ground neither Talke nor Eisser noticed that someone was watching them as several eyes glittered dangerously up at the grayish-silver aircraft that had just won the race. Had they, Talke might not have felt so comfortable with leaving Jess by himself, despite the blue wolf making sure to lock up the areoplane good and tight before heading into the nearby township.

Much to Eisser's surprise, Talke did not immediately go to the nearest bar to try and liquor up, as the tiger had somewhat expected/hoped his boss would do. Instead, Talke went to the dock master's station paid for the crew to be able to stay a few days on shore of the town, and then went to the nearest guild to look over some small odd jobs that the three of them could take up while in town. Even though they already had a job at the time it was such a small one that the tiger could already see where the money they would earn would be spent before long. Eisser had to admit, silently anyway, that he was slightly surprised by the maturity that his captain showed while he went about his business. Never once did Talke seem to begrudge his duties as the leader of their little group as he negotiated information out of the members of the guild nor did he seem annoyed when some of the guys there tried to give him the runaround by playing the 'how much it's gonna cost me' information game. A few twisted wrists made lips loosen and Eisser couldn't stop himself from snickering at how easily people mistook Talke for some kind of pushover because of his cheerful demeanor.

Being the crew's engineer it was the tiger's job to constantly remind Talke about the maintenance the Lexicon needed, not to mention the amount of fuel Jess would need for full run to different locations in order to make their already dubious shipping service happen in the first place. That might have been one of the reasons why taking on the air race had been something both Talke and Jess had been so hard-pressed to take on and win. Constantly being broke was something that put a slight damper of making aeroplanes like the Lexicon run afloat, but somehow, be it luck or just good fortune, Talke always managed to come through when things seemed at their most uncertain. And despite some of his cappers bridging the edge of insanity whenever the blue wolf had a scheme hidden up his sleeve, everyone ended up having food to eat and money to spend at the end of the day.

Sad to say that in these somewhat peaceful times it was getting more and more laborious to go about making a decent living. Well a decent and 'honest' living. Smuggling for corrupt companies skirted the edge of the big blue wolf's line of honor, but more often than not the crew usually ended up taking things like expensive catnip to restricted cities or fruits and vegetables to representatives of emperor's that needed certain specific pieces of produce to make high quality dishes without having to go through the proper channels the shipping and trading guilds had put into place. More often than not, when things got really bad, Talke ended up taking on bounties and tangling the crew up with air pirates just to make ends meet. It wasn't something the wolf preferred to do, but when you had mouths to feed sometimes you had to look the other way when it came to moralism. Especially when some of the pirates that the Lexicon crew found themselves coming up against proved to be some of the most heinous scum on whichever side of the hemisphere they happened to be on at any given point. More than a few brigands had found out the hard way that Talke could not be bribed or swayed to go too far against the law, or his own code of ethics, no matter the amount of money he might be offered. Digby notwithstanding.

That guy, Eisser thought to himself silently as he watched his boss go about taking on several bounties notices from off the guild master's board while imagining the pink eye patch wearing lynx in question, he really should consider a better line of work before someone ends up putting a bounty on his head. The tiger shuddered as he tried to imagine what would happen if the wolf and lynx ever had to cross one another in a real confrontation. Not that it would happen, Eisser was sure Talke would hide the other man in his ship until they could get Digby's bounty removed before letting the other come under harm, but on the off chance that it did happen the tiger didn't like where his mind led him as he thought of his captain and the crew's sometimes business partner getting into a fight. With both the strength and ferocity the two men could show when angered Eisser knew that somebody wouldn't come out alive from a fight between the both of them.

"You ready to leave?" The tiger found himself blinking as he noted the blue wolf in question looking at him from across his shoulder. When had Talke made it to the door?

"Y-yeah!" The two men found themselves making their way throughout the town for almost two good hours as they both shopped for supplies and then grabbed up some booze to take back to the ship. Eisser noted that much of what Talke spent the wolf seemed to use more for the benefit of everyone rather than just frittering away the well earned wealth that Jess had sweated his soul out for. It was times like this that made the tiger proud that he was working with the bigger wolf. While Talke had his ways, some of them infuriating to the point that they could drive a lesser man to madness, at the end of the day the other always kept his mind on his duties and his crewmates. That was worth a lot in this world when many would stab you in the back if the times called for tough decisions to be made.

Working with Talke, while it could be rough and somewhat demeaning with the things they had to do to eat, was something that Eisser would never come to regret as the engineer promised himself that he would always have the blue wolf's back when push came to shove. Heck, the muscles he had worked so hard for weren't just for show. And while not as big or beefy as Talke was, Eisser knew that he could handle himself in a fight. He had before anyway when Talke's drinking had boiled over into a number of bar fights. Though, in his defense, not every time was the big blue wolf responsible for starting something. Sometimes others just needed a reason to have someone crack their heads open.

It could have been called kinda ironic that as Eisser was thinking over past circumstances that had led to many an altercation between the two men against several others that situations were evolving that would test the validity of his oath towards Talke within the next ten minutes time.

Walking down the street with their arms full of bags both Talke and Eisser happened upon a conversation by two guys passing them by on the street that made the both of them freeze in place. Now normally, neither wolf nor tiger were very much fans of ease dropping in on other people's discussions, however, the topic of this particular conversation caught both men's attention almost immediately.

"Did you hear about how those new guys won the race?" An anthromorphic rabbit said to a much taller giraffe.

"Of course, I was there after all." The giraffe scoffed slightly making the lapin roll his eyes.

"Yeah, well, get this. I heard some of the guys from the runner-up team are pretty mad over their loss since they had been training all year for this race."

"What's so important about that? You win some, you lose some."

"Yeah, but when you lose this 'one' that your sponsor specifically tells you to win it makes things kinda complicated. If you catch my meaning?" Obviously the taller male didn't because he just gave the lapin a 'look'. "Well from what I heard, some of the guys from the other team are looking to rough up that raccoon that won the race."

"Think they'll kill him?" The giraffe asked with an ease that was rather too cool to be for real.

Talke would never know what answer the rabbit gave to his long-necked friend because by the time the floppy eared varmint opened his trap to answer the giraffe the blue wolf was taking off like a shot back to the areoplane field. Eisser was hot on his heels and several people almost literally got bowled over as the two made some serious tracks in order to get back to Jess. When they finally did get back to the Lexicon Talke and Eisser were just in time to see a pair of hooligans struggling to drag a somewhat off kilter Jessie out of the opened and damaged door of the areoplane. The raccoon, who seemed more haggard than he had been after the race but ok otherwise, grunted and snarled as he used every drop of energy his tired body had recovered to make sure the thugs trying to haul him out of the plane wouldn't take him with any ease.

Seeing this, Talke found himself getting pissed off on a whole new level as he coiled his muscles tight in readiness to charge over there at the group. However, as mad as he was growing it was only when one of them, a large rhino with a recently healed scar over his eye, clubbed the raccoon over the back of the head that the shit actually hit the fan.

If there was one thing about Talke that someone could say was his most endearing trait it was that he didn't allow too many people to fuck with either him or his crewmates. Usually, nobody messed around with Talke anyway unless they were seriously looking to brawl and possibly get their heads stomped in. Not many people wanted to test the big blue wolf to see if all those muscles were for real or just for show. However, sometimes drunks in a bar didn't take the hint at seeing the quietly thrumming strength that the Talke kept held in check under his somewhat loosened control while the wolf was trying to make himself inebriated and things just happened. But nobody messed with his crew. Especially not with Talke present to intervene in the situation. There had been a few times when Eisser had gotten into a couple of bar fights just for the hell of things and Talke had been there to throw a couple of punches on the tiger's behalf, but that had only been because both males had been bored and just itchin' for a chance to let off some steam.

Trying to lay hands of Jess on the other paw, well the last guy that had tried ended up in the hospital. Not just because the raccoon had beaten the living tar out of them, something that had surprised both Talke and Eisser when seeing the pilot in action, but because after Jess had been escorted away for a customary drink of triumph by Eisser, Talke had gotten his hands on the guy. From what the tiger had heard off the grapevine, the poor ass would never be able to walk right after having his kneecaps shattered the way he had.

So upon seeing the brownish raccoon hitting the ground with a thump and then bouncing once everything kinda slowed down as Talke let the bags in his hand fall to his feet. To this day Eisser only knew that he heard a thundering growl in his rounded ears before catching sight of Talke sprinting over to the others. Had he been able to look into the golden eyes of the wolf Eisser might have developed an instinctive fear of his employer as hellfire danced wildly inside of the blue wolf's gleaming orbs. The first thug to meet Talke's fist was another wolf, that would be the one thing Talke would recall about any of the guys because after cracking the bone of the guy's nose with the flat of his balled up knuckles the rest of the fight kinda became a hazy blank to the enraged wolf. There were screams and shouts and weapons being drawn, but out of the six men that were left only two of them got lucky enough to have Eisser drop them with his own brand of punishment. The other four, they weren't so lucky. Especially the rhino who had clubbed Jessie.

As big as he was it should have been impossible for Talke to move as fluidly as he had, but still anger coupled with protective instincts had a way of making one do the improbable. The blue wolf punched and kicked and headbutted and drilled his knees into anyone that wasn't Eisser. It was only the luck of the devil that kept the salivating wolf from using his fangs to rip into the idiots that had hurt one of his crew, but the temptation would still linger for days to come afterwards as Talke would developed a strong urge to crunch down on anything hard between his fangs. Eyes dilated to almost the size of pinpricks Talke both saw and scented his enemies without really sensing them as the sheer need to drive danger away from Jess made the world dial itself down to 'them' verse 'him'. A knife found itself buried into the blue wolf's thigh, but Talke barely registered it as he lifted up his foot and then stomped his hand down onto the annoyance behind him.

The resounding crack that chased after a resounding wail of pain was music to Talke's ears and the wolf didn't fight the smile of feral delight that crossed his features as he ground his boot into the now useless hand of the person he hadn't been looking at.

To say that the authorities who arrived on the scene were shocked would have been an understatement. The five uniformed officials actually failed to do anything at first when getting to where the fight had broken out as the look on Talke's face was just too ferocious for anyone to know how to handle. The blue wolf was beyond words at that moment. With his fur stuck out of place from both sweat a few drops of blood staining his chest and torso, not to mention the red line going down the back of his left thigh like a small river, combined with the clenching tightness of his already massive muscles drawing his figure up even higher to where the wolf stood like a giant, not a soul around was prepared to go anywhere near the wild looking Talke. It was only when the last of the thugs were down on the groaning, moaning or curling up in pain that the feral glow in Talke's eyes dimmed down just a touch. Turning on his heel, a slight shudder going up his spine where the blade still stuck in his leg unsuccessfully twitched to try and get him to slow down, Talke went over to see about Jess and then did the expected lupine thing that was done when one's pack member was injured. Talke lowered himself to the ground, ran his nose over the raccoon's face, arms, neck, and chest on down to the other's groin and then began to lick the pilot in an effort to rouse the other from his painful unconsciousness.

When green eyes fluttered open it was to the sight of a disheveled looking Talke staring down with a desperately concerned look strapped tight over the normally chipper face. It took Jess several seconds to figure out what was going on, but at the radiating pain coming from the back of his head the raccoon quickly figured out what had happened. Wincing and then lifting himself up slowly Jess was treated to several whines from Talke before the big wolf quickly started to shower the other in loving and healing licks with his tongue.

"I-I'm okay, Talke." Jess grunted while saying this, something that caused the blue wolf to whine even more as he licked his crewmate over the nose on down to his chin and then back around to the rising lump growing along the raccoon's skull. "It's ok, I'm good now." Jess looked around at the beaten men and let his eyes grow wide as his nose caught the scent of blood, pain, and piss filling up the area. Turning to look at his employer the raccoon didn't think that Talke even had a clue that he probably just put several of these bastards into traction. Not that they didn't deserve it, Jess thought, but I really hope he didn't kill anyone. Before the other man could follow that line of reasoning Talke's big arms wrapped themselves around him to pull the raccoon into a tender, but tight hug and then curled himself protectively around the other to shield Jess from the world.

Least to say, Eisser had to do some fast talking when the authorities, finally, braved the danger of coming over to ask him what in the Sam hell had gone on with this strange clusterfuck. The tiger gave his report and then told the men on duty that he would handle his boss as no one wanted to go anywhere near the wolf nuzzling his nose into the raccoon's nape. At that point Eisser carefully make his way over to the blue wolf and then tried to talk the big blue wolf down from the feral high that he was still sailing off on. The untamed glare that Talke sent to the men dressed in uniform was one that the tiger hoped never to see again as it frightened the striped feline on a level that went past words on down to something more primeval. Thank goodness he's not looking at me like that, Eisser thought nervously. Since there was no longer any threat to Jessie's wellbeing Talke climbed down from his feral zenith, albeit it very slowly, as golden eyes began to droop slightly from exertion. It was only when the massive blue furred body of the other man leaned heavily onto Jess, making the raccoon grunt to hold both of them up, that Eisser breathed a sigh of relief. It was when the tiger helped back Talke off of Jess onto the ground that things took a turn for the worse.

Looking at his captain and seeing Talke shivering for no apparent reason, especially given how warm it was outside, Eisser found himself confused as to what was going on. That was right up until he tried to shake the other man awake and got no response from the normally boisterous blue wolf.

Not understanding what was going on it was the scent of blood -- Talke's blood -- that caught both the tiger and raccoon's attentions. Turning his head down to look at the still bleeding wound gushing liberally around the knife planted deep inside of Talke's thigh Eisser let out a primal scream as fear for the big blue wolf's life swelled up inside of his chest. The tiger's roar quickly brought officials, and the medics that had just arrived on sight, over to the distressed engineer. After that, well there was a lot of movement and talking and bandaging and then things kind of spun out of control from that point. With Talke placed onto a gurney and then shipped to the local hospital, and Jess getting his growing headache treated with some pain meds and an ice pack, the raccoon and tiger were able to get their statements written down and then offered a ride to the healing clinic to see about their injured boss. Upon getting to the hospital, filling out forms, and then having to wait an hour to hear the verdict on Talke's condition from the doctors on duty, both Eisser and Jess breathed a sigh of relief as, despite the close call, the blue wolf was brought in and stabilized in just enough time for his life to be saved. Apparently, the dagger that one of the thugs had buried into their boss' tight just missed a vital artery, but had ruptured both muscles and veins there in causing the wolf to bleed out somewhat excessively.

It was only thanks to Talke's high adrenaline and him keeping the dagger inside of his leg that stopped him from passing out from either shock or a heavy loss of blood. Because the wolf had such a common blood type the staff was able to get him a transfusion and now he was well under his way to being right as rain, or so the doctor, a female mouse with large brown eyes, said as she looked over the concerned men that had come in with her newest patient. With Talke taken care of there was not much either Eisser or Jessie could do but wait things out in the hopes that tomorrow the world would start to make sense once again.

So with Talke laid up for an unknown length of time it only made sense that both the tiger and raccoon decided to stay in the hospital in wait for their employer/friend to be released as neither wanted to be too far away in case Talke, being Talke, tried to either sneak out before he was well or needed something that only the two of them could provide. The nurses there were polite enough to give them blankets to use when night came; neither man having so much as left their uncomfortable chairs in the clinic's waiting area except to take a piss because of their worry over the big blue muscular wolf. And so there the night found the crew of the Lexicon with Talke upstairs slumbering while a hooked up to various machines while Eisser and Jessie slept side by side on a large plush sofa, with both men eagerly awaiting their captain's revival and release.

Morning found Eisser and Jess blinking bleary eyes to the sight of Talke staggering down the hallway with the lady doctor from before and two orderlies trying to get the other man back into bed.

"I'm fine I'm said." Talke grumbled as he limped his way down to the waiting area with a thick wad of bandages wrapped securely around his left ankle. From the looks of him though, it was easy to tell that the wolf was not 'fine' as he would have liked to make the others believe, however, it was a little known fact that Talke despised hospitals. The sterile smell and feel of the entire building made the big blue wolf uncomfortable on a psychological level that Eisser and Jess were sure Talke was unconscious of. "All I need is to get back to my plane and then get into the air. I'll send you payment for my treatment just as soon as I get the money."

At this both Jess and Eisser were throwing their blankets off and charging over to their captain. A lot of noise was made about the big wolf's health when the two were standing mere feet from him, but Talke simply waved his crewmate's fears away with his normally chipper, if not somewhat manic smile set into place. "I'm as healthy as can be!" A flex of his impressive muscles followed this disclaimer, but nobody in their right mind was buying that cock and bull story.

"Boss, maybe you should stick around a while longer, just to be sure of that." Jess said with concern showing in both his green eyes and on his black mask of a face.

"I agree. You need time to heal up Talke and going out as you are right now will not help with that." Eisser stated with a warning growl as his eyes narrowed up at the taller wolf.

"Guys, seriously, I'm ok." Talke's conviction would have gone better had Eisser not walked over and then bent down to poke the wolf in his calf muscle. The bolt of pain that shot up through the blue wolf's spine was enough to make Talke howl as he nearly collapsed in on himself. It was only because of Eisser having snapped up to grab the other man into his arms that kept Talke from meeting the floor. There was no way the orderlies present could handle the blue wolf's bulk and they all knew that.

"Right. Talke, I mean as a friend when I say this: get your ass back to bed!" Eisser growled in front of the wolf's muzzle and for the first time since the crew had been united the wolf shirked in the face of the striped feline's anger. Normally Eisser couldn't actually 'make' Talke do anything he didn't want to, more often than not the tiger had to ease the sometimes stubborn wolf either into or out of a decision he had already made, however, this time proved to be the exception. "Until the doctor here says otherwise, you're bedridden." And with that Eisser pulled the other man around into the direction he had just came from and then all but dragged the whimpering wolf back to his room.

"But...but..." The big blue wolf tried to mutter out a plea of clemency, but Eisser wasn't having it.

"I don't want to hear it! Do you know how close you came to scaring the living daylights out of us?!" It was a rhetorical question, but Talke being Talke, he actually tried to answer. "Never mind!" Eisser cut the other man off before he could form a retort. Good thing to because the tiger looked like he was all but ready to smack the blue wolf across the head for being an idiot.

The lady mouse was somewhat confused as she watched the orderlies guide the arguing Eisser and Talke towards the elevators back upstairs as she had never seen such a display of friendship turned anger before while in her hospital.

"Don't mind them," The mouse's head whipped to the side as her large ears caught the words coming from the raccoon. "They're very close to one another, so sometimes Eisser has to act as a guardian to Talke." Jess smiled as he looked to where the wolf and tiger had just gone, his face taking on a kind of glow that could almost be called maternal, even though he was all male, both inside and out.

"I...see." The rodent doctor twitched her muzzle and whiskers at this before chuckling somewhat demurely. "It's good that he has the both of you to watch out for him." Her words were guarded, but the raccoon caught the meaning anyway.

"Are there anymore forms that need to be filled out? We are Talke's legal powers should he be unable to handle any legalistic affairs." The charming smile Jess gave the doctor, whose name turned out to be Emilia Valentine, made the mouse's heart go a flutter as she bashfully looked towards him.

"Just some legal vouchers so that the hospital can annul any costs that came from the operation. From what, Talke, was it, had to say, you three are somewhat...broke."

"That's true." Jessie saw no reason to lie about the financial situation of the Lexicon crew, not given what he knew were going to be slightly high medical costs for Talke's operation. "Can you show me to those vouchers, please? I'll get them signed while Eisser deals with Talke."

"Of course," The mouse said somewhat shyly. "They're right over here." Jess followed in step behind the other woman as she led him to a receptionist's desk. The mouse doctor retrieved the forms and then walked the raccoon through what he needed to sign and though he smiled and spoke with Emilia in a polite and charming manner on the inside Jessie's mind was upstairs wishing his captain all the best so that the big blue wolf would get better soon. Even as he suspected that Eisser was all but tying the other man down to keep Talke in bed.

Two days later...

While Talke had been bedridden, against his will as he liked to state, sometimes very loudly, both Jess and Eisser had frequented the hospital both off and on in rotations to check up on the blue wolf. Bringing the other man what he liked to eat was always something that Talke would love the two men for as the taste of what the hospital considered to be sustenance was a vulgar deviation to the terminology called 'food'. For the most part Talke just took it easy as he laid back and let his blood reticulate throughout his body while his muscles and tendons and such healed themselves enough for him to get around without limping...too much.

For Jess, well in the time his boss was healing the raccoon managed to score a date with Emilia on the woman's off hours. Having more than enough money left over from what Talke and Eisser had spent Jess wined and dined the single mother of three and then shared a special dessert of chocolate cake with whip cream at the doctor's house to round off the evening's fascinating choice of topic discussions. And while Emilia didn't understand much about aeroplanes, the dangers of trading across the skies, or racing for that matter, she did know how to be a good listener. In Jessie's opinion that made the little female all the more attractive as both raccoon and mouse continued talking all the way until it was time to call it an evening. To say the least, Jess didn't make it back to the hospital before dawn since Emilia was off of work the next day.

For Eisser, well the tiger didn't stray too far from the hospital, though he did go back to see about the Lexicon with Jessie as neither hadn't been sure that they had closed the aircraft after the incident with Jess' would-be assailants. When the tiger engineer found out was that 'someone' had managed to come along and get the Lexicon hauled to a much more secure location and then paid for repairs to be made to the plane's broken hatch the tiger was somewhat confused as to who this person could have been. That was until the said generous 'someone' turned out to be a friend of Talke's who the tiger had rather mixed feelings about dealing with. Digby, while a notorious air pirate lord, was one of the few men that could both equal Talke in the annoying category as well as be a rival to the crew as far as turning Talke's focus to both elsewhere and other matters. In Eisser's mind the pink lynx was trouble with a capital 'T' but since Talke liked the other man the tiger prudently kept his opinions of the would-be ruler of the skies to himself.

"I'm just glad I could be of help." Digby purred as the eye patch wearing lynx looked to the tiger while the both of them had been standing inside of the hangar of the Lexicon.

"I bet you are." Eisser hissed quietly while looking over the manifests of the shipments he and the crew still had to drop off. He silently hoped that their contacts wouldn't be too mad about the lateness of the arrival of their deliveries.

"Awww, what's wrong? Are you jealous about me coming down to see my good friend when he's injured or are you upset that I could probably get much closer to him now then you would be able to with him laid up as he is?" Digby whispered in the tiger's ear and Eisser had to fight to hold in his growl. The pink lynx had no clue as to how close to a real 'cat fight' he was easing both himself and Eisser into with his playful taunts. It was a known fact that Digby did NOT want Talke in the manner that he was alluding to. If he did then blue wolf would have quickly had the pink male bent over and spread out under him at the drop of a hat. Likewise, if Digby really had wanted to court Talke then the air pirate lord would have long since made his move by now to claim the treasure that was the muscular wolf with the purple star on his chest. It was in the lynx's nature after all, to get what he wanted, consequences and obstacles be damned.

It took a lot of patience for Eisser not to throttle the muscle-bound pink menace, but in the end Eisser's control won out. If just barely.

"Look, Talke's in the hospital right now, so let's not fight and end up joining him, ok? I thank you for taking care of the Lexicon, but I really don't need this right here or right now." The tiger pleaded, though his azure eyes spoke a promise of pain if the lynx crossed the line he had just drawn.

Digby was quiet for a few minutes, the pink nuisance taking in the other feline's words with some serious introspection, before he then moved over to the other feline and then brushed his hips into Eisser's. "I like the way you are so protective over him," Digby admitted quietly. "It lets me know that I don't have to worry about anything with you around our big blue captain."

"Huh?" Eisser took a step back from the other and then just looked at the pink lynx as though he had lost his mind. "What are you..?" A raised hand silenced the tiger.

"Don't worry about it. Just keep standing by his side and let me do the worrying over the other little things that happen, ok?" The sky pirate didn't have anything more to say as he winked at Eisser and then turned his head to look over the crates filled with shipment that had yet to be delivered. Eisser watched the other man with a confused eye for several minutes before finally shrugging and then returning his focus back to the task at hand. It would be a while before he was done with everything, but that would give him more than enough time to clear his head before he went to see Talke for the evening.

He also had to make sure that he stopped by the local butchery and pick up a few steaks to cook for dinner tonight. Talke had been complaining that the meat the hospital served was just too 'bland' for him to even taste when he rolled the flesh over his tongue. As a tiger, Eisser could completely understand what the blue wolf meant by this. Not having meat cooked in a certain way just made it taste...yuck!

-- And that had been for days ago --

Today was showing things to be working out much better for everyone as the areoplane glided across the sky and cutting a straight path to Xealembar: city of trade, information and sin. Though not exactly in that order.

"Thanks for all of your help by the way, Digby." The muscle-bound blue wolf said as he looked to the pink lynx wearing the ridiculously revealing outfit he had chosen for this week.

"Not a problem, consider it a...investment...in you and your crewmates, if you will." The devious smirk followed by the playful tease of words made the wolf freeze in midstep as a rather loud warning bell began to go off inside of the blue wolf's head.

"What are you up to now, Digby?" Talke wasn't sure he wanted to know as some of Digby's cappers could be called manic at the best of times and outright insane during the others. It was funny, people often said the same about me, Talke thought bemusedly.

"Well, I'm thinking with you in the condition you are in with your leg that you and your crew might want to do some light work for a change. Just until your leg heals up, of course." The lynx chuckled in a way that had the fur along Talke's nape rising in unreserved terror as he listened to the pink furred feline.

"Define...'light'...work."

"Oh, I'm thinking about maybe you, Jess and Eisser coming to work for me as partners in a contract I've taken up."

"What's this contract and why do you need all three of us to help?" Suspicious was something Talke had learned the hard way to be when dealing with the air pirate lord.

"Well you see, I've got this job where I'm supposed to be modeling for a new trend of clothing coming out. But that's not all; you see the gig I'm working is one that part modeling and part advertisement so the company wants big guys to take part in things. Basically walking around, going out to fancy places and meeting with important people while wearing their brand of clothing." The reassuring up turn of Digby's lips did very little to calm the rising sense of peril Talke was feeling all of a sudden.

"What aren't you telling me, Digby?" Golden eyes narrowed at the other man who playfully smiled up at the big blue wolf.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." The air pirate patted the other man onto the star in between his pecs and then smoothly sauntered his way down through the corridor of the Lexicon, his tuft of a tail bobbing slightly behind him, leaving Talke to wonder...

A day later found Talke, Jess and Eisser dressed up in what could barely resemble 'clothing' as the three men were fitted with more leather and straps and belts and buckles than any BDSM magazine could try to think to advertise.

"Digby," Talke called out to the pink lynx trying to bottle up his laughter and lust as he looked over the three other males standing around the dressing room. "When you said the job was for advertisement, just what exactly are we supposed to be advertising?" The muscular blue wolf asked as he looked himself over in the full length mirror in front of him. Both Jess and Eisser were somewhat confused as well, though Jess more so than Eisser, as the tiger looked his black striped self up and down while flexing his chest and arms while showing off for the mirror in front of him. Out of the two of them, the raccoon seemed very much out of place as he had on a much tighter, but no less fitting leather getup that showed off all of the lines and contours of his well fit brown and black furred body.

The patient blush on the raccoon's face spoke volumes about his feelings at being in such a revealing outfit. Though from the casual looks he was sending the sky pirate lord Digby was going to make double sure he locked his door tonight before going to bed.

"Why..." The pink lynx began...