Hotel Cafe

2008 Gren Drake

The small cafe was situated just to the side of the hotel's lobby. The border between the two was lined with short potted trees, that created a division despite not blocking someone from seeing in or out. The cafe itself had only a dozen small round tables, each perhaps suitable for four, at least if one didn't mind being cramped, but with spaces between large enough that no customer would have to bump into another.

Only one of the small tables was occupied; Angie sat with her back to one of the pillars that were scattered about the lobby. She stared despondently at the walls as she picked at the salad she had ordered. Along with the barely touched salad was a paper cup still full with coffee. It wasn't very hot anymore, but that hardly mattered; it wasn't like she had been drinking it.

It was only her second day staying in the hotel and already it seemed as if she would go out of her mind. A paperback sat on the table, but at least so far the book was no better than staring at the walls.

She needed a vacation. Not from her job (her employer was shut down for the season), but from her life. It had been too many years of the same thing; she needed something that would add spice.

She sighed, then picked up the book once more. With luck, it would get better further on, but she held little hope of that.

"Pardon," a voice said. The accent wasn't local, nor could she immediately place it. She looked up from the book, then nearly dropped it. The speaker was one of the sakin, a species of reptilian bipeds-sometimes referred to as lizards. He didn't look particularly lizard-like to Angie, though. Angie had seen sakin on occasion of television, or sometimes even in town at a distance, but she had never seen one up close. He had long ears on the back of his head, the tips of which seemed to twitch as she watched. His hands had small black claws that were obviously filed down. Despite having always heard that sakin smelt bad, the specimen before her didn't seem to have any noticeable odor.

Angie guessed that the sakin was male; she knew of no real way to tell, but the series of red spots on his shoulders were present on males more than females.

His chest was wrapped in a leather harness that concealed nothing. Several bags were hung from it, suggesting it was present more for its pragmatic value than anything. A tight cloth band was wrapped around the top of his stomach, and this had a few wide pockets in it as well.

Most of the sakin on television either wore trousers specially designed to accommodate their thick tails or various styles of loincloths. The one in front of her wore something that looked like nothing so much as a leather skirt wrapped around his waist. She supposed it did accommodate his tail.

He stood a couple of feet back from the table, holding a plate of chicken wings and a cup of steaming coffee.

"Hello," she replied.

"Would you mind if I joined you? There is no shortage of tables free, but some company would be nice." He was being a lot more polite than she had heard sakin were. Mind, from what the media said one was lead to expect callous lechers who would spit on politeness, so she had rather expected they were exaggerating.

"Sure."

The sakin set the plate and cup on the table. "I'm Nzin."

"Angie." They shook hands and the sakin sat down.

"Enjoying your book?" he gestured at the novel she set onto the table once more.

"Not really. I haven't been able to get into it so far, but I keep hoping it'll get better."

"I wouldn't count on it. I read it on the train last week."

"The train? Were did you go?"

The sakin barked (the word didn't really describe the sound, but Angie could think of nothing better) and his tail swished gently for a bit as he spoke. "Here! I come from the FASS." He picked up one of the wings, tossed it in his mouth and swallowed it whole. Angie could see the lump it made in his throat as it went down.

"I should have guessed; it's not like there are a lot of your kind here."

"I'm here for a month or so; my employer is considering opening a branch here."

Angie wasn't really sure how to respond; she didn't want to be unfriendly, but she wasn't sure having large numbers of sakin move into the area was a good idea either. "Good luck," she said finally. "You don't have to work today?" It was a thursday, a bit past one in the afternoon.

"I did," he said, and he swallowed another of the wings. "I'm on half days until I get used to the scheduling you use here. I'm finished for the day."

"What's wrong with the schedule?"

"You keep your waking hours bunched together; in the FASS one works twilight ris-, ah, morning and evening."

"I can't imagine how you stand it. Having to go in to work more than once a day!"

"So what are you doing here?" He tossed another wing into his mouth after he spoke.

"My home's being fumigated. I'm stuck here for a week or so." She wasn't sure she should have told a strange sakin were she was living for the week, but she supposed she could always change hotels.

"Fumigated? Ah... So you had an insect problem?" His tail swished gently a couple of times as he continued. "It is funny that both of us are staying in a tourist-place, but neither of us are on vacation. Have you finished your day already as well?"

Angie tried to remember what she could about sakin body-language, but only drew a blank. "No," she said. "My employer is strictly seasonal. I'm off for a couple of months this time of year." She smiled at her table companion and watched him eat another of the wings.

"Another new schedule," he said. "I had not heard of seasonal work. There is not much in the way of seasons in the FASS."

"Must be nice having summer all the time. I hate winter, myself."

The sakin nodded, and Angie noticed that the end of his ears drooped slightly and his tail stilled. "It is deadly," he said. "If my company does expand here, I would not be surprised if they hired your kind for at least part of the year. There is no point in killing employees to maintain a traditional schedule."

"Its not that bad!" This wasn't the frozen north; many winters it didn't even snow.

"You're human. My kind are cold-blooded; what is unpleasant for you is deadly for us." He glanced at his watch. "There's still a couple of hours or so. If you don't have anything planned, would you like a have a drink?" His ears perked up as he spoke, and one eye was focused on her.

"It seems like it'd be a bit early; A couple hours until what?"

"Until twilight fall-oh. Right. Sorry, I'm still not accustomed to the way you track time." His ears dropped slightly and his tail was tucked under his chair. "I really do need to get a local watch."

Angie shrugged. It was rather early, but she had nothing else planned for the day. It'd certainly be better than the book she was reading. "Sure."

His ears perked up and his tail started swishing continuously. "If you tell me what you want, I'll pick up both our drinks."

"Some rye and cola if they've got it, thank you," she said. He stood and walked over to the mini-bar in the cafe. She watched his backside as he did, the swaying of his tail surprising appealing and almost hypnotic. She turned her eyes back to the table as he returned, not wanting it to look like she was staring at his crotch. She didn't want to seem sex-starved; indeed, the idea of having sex with this Nzin was vaguely (if nonspecifically) unpleasant. She wasn't one of the restrictionists to say such things should be limited to one's own species, the idea just seemed too strange.

He set the drinks on the table as he sat down. He had a wineglass half-filled with a deep-red colored liquid. She sipped at her rye and nodded.

"So what is that?" she asked.

"This?" Nzin gestured at the wineglass. "Small-flower tea. Its made from the flower of a vine from Razaz Nudar."

"Any good?" She asked.

"I think so. Like many of the drinks my kind developed, though, most anyone else finds it rather strong."

"Do you think I could try some?" she asked.

"I doubt that it would be a very good idea, especially since you've already had some alcohol."

"Really? Its that strong? Now you've made me curious."

Nzin sighed, his ears drooping ever so slightly. "Fine. I'll get another glass and a bit of water; best not to try it straight until you know how you'll react to it."

"Thanks," Angie said. She watched as he stood and waited until he was facing away from her. Then she touched her finger to the liquid in his cup-she wanted to try the real thing, not a diluted sample. Quickly, she stuck her finger into her mouth, tasting the drops that remained on it.

She nearly gagged. Strong was not the word she would have chosen to describe it. Overwhelming would be closer. What little of the taste her tongue was able to taste was extremely bitter. She couldn't imagine how he could drink such a thing, let alone enjoy it.

Then it was as though her mouth was on fire. She downed her cold, untouched coffee trying to cool the heat, but that served only to spread it down her throat. Nzin was returning, but he would not be back soon enough for her. Nothing would be soon enough; it was as though her throat was melting. Her breath was coming in sort gasps and she could feel sweat running down her brow and soaking her clothes.

The moment Nzin had returned she downed the partial glass of water. She had trouble swallowing it with the way her throat was constricting. Nzin was a blue before her as it seemed the world was spinning.

Then she collapsed, falling limply to the ground.

---

Angie woke suddenly, coming to awareness immediately. She was laying on top of the bed in her hotel room. Memories of what she was doing there struggled to come to the surface, but no explanation was surfacing. Why would she have fallen asleep on top of her bed, still fully dressed? At least she'd taken her shoes off first.

She opened her eyes. Through the window she could see the sky had turned a brilliant shade of red. Sunset then. She had been talking with a sakin. Nzin. They'd had a drink. Doubt hemmed in around her. Had he done something to her drink. She struggled to remember what had happened.

It took a moment for her to reach a conclusion. He had done nothing. After he'd turned away she'd tried some of his own drink. It was after that she had collapsed. Sitting up, she looked around the hotel room.

"You're awake," Nzin was sitting at a small table at the side of the room reading a book. For a moment she thought he'd gone through her things and taken one of her books, but then she realized it wasn't in english. It couldn't be one of hers, then.

"I hope you'll forgive my intrusion," he said. "I wanted to be sure you'd be all right."

"Sure you did."

He shrugged. "I did tell you I didn't think it was a good idea."

That was true, she thought. He had said that, hadn't he? "I have such a headache."

He stood and walked over to the bed, seeming overly calm. Angie wished she knew how to read skin body language.

"I am not surprised." He sat on the edge of the bed, his tail dangling limply off the side. "How do you feel? Are you hot? I can have room service bring up some ice. Any pain?"

Angie groaned. "I'm a bit hot, but it's not too bad." She forced herself to smile. "The pain is in my head."

His ears perked up a bit. "Good to hear. I was afraid you'd had enough to cause yourself some harm. How much did you have?"

"Just a few drops. I just touched the surface and-- wait, cause myself harm? Just what is in that stuff?"

"As I said before, its made from the flower of a vining plant. It comes from Razaz Nudar where it was originally used to purify water."

"And you regularly drink it?"

"Not regularly-it doesn't grow all that well this far north. Its too expensive to have constantly."

Angie shook her head. "Strange." She tossed her legs over the side of the bed, keeping on hand on the end-table beside it to steady herself as she stood. "So," she said after a moment. "How did you find the room?"

His ears perked up and his tail swished. "Your room key has the room number on it."

"It does?" Angie started to reach into her pocket to look, but Nzin surprised her by handing her the key. "You had it?"

"Actually, I'd put it on the table here."

Angie glanced at the table; her purse and her book were also sitting on it. Looking back at the key, she could see that it did indeed have a little tag with her room number on it. "That's stupid. If I dropped this, whoever found it could come in and take whatever they like."

Nzin took the key from her and pulled a large knife from behind him, deftly severing the tag from the key. The nice disappeared behind him once more.

"Won't the hotel complain?"

Nzin put an arm over her shoulder. "If they do, send them to me." His lips were parted slightly, revealing the numerous sharp teeth within. "I'm sure I can deal with them."

"Good. Say, where'd you get the knife from?"

"A little shop by were I live in the FASS, why?"

Angie grinned, and she shook her head. "Actually, I was asking where you hid it." It wasn't like he had a lot of clothing to conceal it in.

"Oh." Nzin stepped away from her, turning away from her. Then he took her hand in his and brought it to the band of fabric that encircled his stomach. Her fingers brushed against the fabric. It was incredibly smooth and she guessed it was made from silk. Beneath it, her fingers were able to trace the edges of the knife, but it had almost no visible impression.

As her fingers ran down the side of the knife, she was surprised to reach the bottom of the silk band without reaching the edge of the knife. Amazingly, the knife itself seemed to blend into the texture of the sakin's body. Its hilt was the same pale yellow-green as his hide and even had the pebbly texture of his scales.

"That's incredible," she said. She continued running her fingers along the hilt, and brushing against his hide.

Nzin gently pulled her hands away, then pulled the knife out once more and tossed it onto the table. "The handle is tightly wrapped in sakin-hide. This provides not only the right texture, but often even nearly the right color."

"Sakin-hide? You mean like this?" Angie touched Nzin's hide, running her fingers along its texture. "That seems so..."

"Callous?" He shrugged and turned to face her, pulling her hands from his back once more. "If it makes you feel any better, the, ah, donor died of natural causes."

"It still seems disrespectful."

Nzin shrugged. "Its not like he'll be needing it. Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop rubbing there. Its rather erotic."

"Erotic? There?" Her hands had been running along the base of his tail, just at the bottom of the small of his back, but she still pulled them away.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not built like you." His tail swished as he spoke.

"Really?" Angie said in her best sarcastic voice. "Imagine that. Still, doesn't that make it rather awkward to wear pants?"

"I don't wear pants." He gestured at the skirt; the band at the top ran ran quite low.

"I have seen some sakin were pants."

"I imagine one could get used to it." He shrugged. "I don't really care."

Angie took a couple of steps away from the bed, surprising herself by how bad her sense of balance had become, and by home much her legs trembled. After only a couple of steps, she felt her knees give way.

Then she was caught up in a pair of strong arms that kept her from falling to the ground. Nzin guided her back to the bed and lowered her onto it once more. He sat beside her on it and she leaned against him; he was short enough that her head rested mostly on the top of his head and his ear pressed against the side of her neck. She could feel the leathery texture of its interior as it brushed across her skin every time he moved.

"How long is this going to last?"

"Anywhere from a couple hours and up. The longest I can recall seeing myself was about a day and a half. Unless you have a weakened constitution its unlikely to be more than a quarter. Six hours."

Angie laid back on the bed, pulling Nzin on top of her. "You aren't at all what I expected."

"And what were you expecting?" He rolled off of her, instead laying on his side next to her. Angie threw her arm over him, running her fingers against his skull near the base of his ears.

"The media seems intent on making your kind out to be lecherous bastards."

"Its more profitable for them. You expect truth from them?"

Nzin ran a hand through Angie's hair, then looked at the long hairs that had caught on his hand as she spoke. "Thats cynical."

"Thats what a free press gets you."

"But thats a basic right!" Angie propped herself up on her elbow and stared at Nzin.

Nzin didn't seem disturbed. "None the less," he said.

They gazed at each other for a few seconds, then Angie rolled onto her back and stared at the roof. Nzin put an arm across her breast.

Although Nzin was nothing like how the media portrayed the sakin, she was not fond of everything about him. She sighed. He had opinions she didn't care for, but was much nicer to be around than her past few boyfriends, the last of which was doing twenty years in a state penitentiary. It would be a pleasant change to be around someone who was both armed and sane.

She rolled to face Nzin once more, one arm around his back and pressing him against her. "Hold me," she whispered into his ear. He wrapped his arms around her. Her hands slipped down his back, one rubbing the base of his tail, the other undoing his skirt. She slipped this out from between them, tossing away from the bed where it fell lightly to the floor.

"Are you sure about this?" Nzin asked.

"Yes! I need someone I can trust, someone honest." As she spoke she undid and pulled off her own pants, then her panties, both of which joined Nzin's loincloth.

She rolled Nzin onto his back; his ears flattened as the back of his head pressed into the pillow. She braced herself on one arm across his chest, the leather of his harness pressing into her arm. Her other hand quested down his belly, slipping between his legs. She froze.

There was nothing there. His hide simply continued until it reached his tail. She sat straight up, looking down; sure enough, there was nothing visible there.

"I thought you were male?"

"I am." He said with a bark, his tail swishing between their legs. The hide between his legs parted and a shaft of smooth flesh slowly extended outwards. "Like I said before, I'm not built like your kind; my kind keeps such vulnerable things safely away when not in use."

Angie run her hand down the length of smooth, tapering flesh. "It seems so... weird."

"Not the sort of thing one wants to hear about their genitals."

"It is!" she said defensively. "It looks nothing like a human's."

"It works the same," he said.

"Prove it."

Nzin flipped her over, rolling on top of her. "I will." He thrust into her, his tapering member pushing her nether lips apart, his legs pusher hers own open. She stared up at him; his eyes were focused on her, his ears perked up so strongly it looked painful. And although she couldn't see it, she could feel his tail positively lashing between their legs. Hs hands were on either side of her, holding him up as he thrust slowly into her.

Just as he'd said, his penis worked just as well as a human's. It didn't feel quite the same, but definitely worked just as well.

As he repeatedly pressed himself into her, Angie reached up and pulled his head down to hers, kissing the end of his snout. Her hands wrapped around his ears, feeling the stiffness in them and massaging their base. The insides had a leathery texture totally different than his hide.

Nzin balanced on one hand, the other running his short, blunt claws between her breasts and down her stomach, eliciting a shiver from her. When his hand reached the point of their physical union, it teased at her clit. He turned his head slightly, lightly licking her cheek and nibbling at her nose with his teeth.