came through the door.
"What can I do for you ma'am?" Yin asked.
"King Pen wanted me to give you a tour of the city."
"That would be fantastic if you could." Yin replied.
The dark brown Meregal bowed and left the room. Yin followed behind, excited to see the city.
They rode down in the elevator and waited on the curb for their hover car to make an appearance.
"I'm Yin by the way." Yin said, sounding rude and pushy in her own ears.
"I know." The dark Meregal smiled, "Are you afraid to live in Jasper?" She asked.
Yin swallowed hard, but shook her head no.
The car pulled up, and a black Meregal got out, "Enjoy your day out on the town ladies." He said.
The dark brown Meregal sat down and Yin did likewise on the other side.
"Do you like him?" Yin asked when her chaperon had pulled the hover car onto the road.
She smiled to herself, "He's just a friend."
Yin just raised an eyebrow in response, and looked out of the window until they arrived at a shopping center.
"King Pen wanted you to have the opportunity to do some exploring on your own." The dark Meregal said, pointing to a storefront with large posters, covered in fashion designs. "Here's your credit chip."
"What do I do when I'm done?" Yin asked.
The Meregal sifted through the compartment between the front seats until she pulled out, holding a small communicator. "Call me on this and I'll be here as soon as I can."
"Thanks." Yin said, grabbing it, and stepping out onto the curb. The car droned off behind her, and Yin made her way into the store. The door was much shorter than the doors at human stores, and Yin stepped down onto all fours.
"Welcome to Mereden Garb, can I assist you with anything?" A Male Meregal was lounging over the top of a counter beside the entrance.
"No thanks." Yin said, slinking behind a row of shirts. She held the credit chip and the communicator in her paw, and worried about the possibility of setting them down and forgetting. She went back to the Meregal behind the counter.
"Do you have anything I can store these in?" She asked.
The Meregal hummed to himself and pointed to a separate rack across the room, "You'll find everything on that rack."
"Thank you."
The Meregal nodded his head.
Yin padded to the rack, and started taking inventory: Arm pouches, belt pouches, side bags, neck pouches, and leg pouches.
Yin picked up one of the side bags. It fit snuggly around her midsection. Her possessions fit inside without too much of a problem, and Yin felt a little better about having something to carry her communicator. She pulled it off and went back to the counter, purchasing it directly.
She buckled the side bags around her midsection.
Yin left the store and headed down the sidewalk, along a row of Meregal clothing outlets. Why aren't things much different here than in Mentas? Yin asked herself. She'd been expecting something different, an almost jungle like experience, with vines and bridges, and all sorts of 'cat-like' enclosures and structures. Yin suspected it had something to do with the original Meregal/human integration that took place when the Meregals first came to planet Earth.
Yin stopped in front of a store called 'Furr' where pictures of stylish Meregals showed off different hairstyles in the windows. Yin peaked inside. Several Meregals were busy, clipping the hair on a few Females, who were lounging on large, rounded lumps, that reminded Yin of the human's jellybeans when placed upside down.
She walked on, staring at her foreleg. Would father care if shaved off a patch of fur? Yin asked herself. She had no reason to do it, but there was a definite pull to do so. Yin sat down in the middle of the sidewalk, and checked if the coast was clear.
Yin dashed back to 'Furr', and asked for the underside of her forepaw to be shaved. The stylist just raised an eyebrow, and led her over to an open space, next to a set of clippers. "How noticeable would you like it to be?"
Yin considered going all the way, but a voice in the back of her head told her to settle for her leg.
"Just enough to remind myself it's there." Yin replied.
The stylist took Yin's paw, and set about clipping a small line of fur, just enough to be felt, if anyone were to run their paw over it, but not enough to be seen.
"Is that satisfactory?" The stylist asked when he was done.
Yin nodded and handed him her credit chip.
"Where'd you get your side bags?" He asked, scanning the chip before handing it back.
Yin smiled, "I just came from Mereden Garb."
"A fine establishment if I've ever seen one." He said.
The air outside was warm from the heat of the sun, and Yin set about licking the back of her paw where the stylist had clipped her fur behind a large, concrete wall that faced out toward the expanse of grass just beyond the city limits.
Yin set about working on her front paws, slowly working her way back toward her back, her tongue pulling methodically at her fur. She was on the verge of working her way down her thighs, when Meregal made his way out from the open grass lands, leaving a cracked, and dented path behind him.
He pulled up slowly next to her, watching her make progress.
"Can I lick your nose?" He asked.
Yin rolled her eyes, and turned to look at him. "What are you doing?"
"I thought you would say yes if I asked you if I could lick your nose." Yin shook herself and rose back on four legs.
"I'm fine. You're quite strange for offering to lick my nose. Most Meregals would think you very weird." Yin raised her nose, and looked away haughtily. I think he needs a lesson on manners, She said to herself.
"I know." He looked at the ground, a puzzling expression of sadness and guilt.
"Did you expect me to say yes?" She asked.
He seemed a little uncertain, "I'm not sure."
Yin did her best imitation of a human eyebrow raise, "Well, sadly, I will not. As you can see, I am not interested in you licking my nose, and if I were to say yes, it would accomplish nothing."
He sort of waved his head off to the side, "I know."
"Well," Yin began, "What if, instead, you could show me around. I'm new here, and I'd like to get to know a bit more about the city."
"I'm not sure if I can do that, I'm not very good at showing people around. I live most of my life out there in the grasslands."
Yin opened her mouth in surprise. Maybe her vision of the jungle city of Jasper wasn't too far off. Perhaps the grasslands were the jungle in disguise, though it was true that there were far from enough trees, and practically nothing lived out there, now that the war had taken its toll.
"Could you show me the grasslands then?" She asked.
"Well, sure, I guess." He said, turning back toward the path he'd made. "Are you bringing anything in those bags you've got? It would be nice to know you're well provisioned before we go."
Yin shook her head, "There's nothing useful in here," She said gesturing to the side bags with her back paw. She felt herself become nervous as her situation began to sink in. She shied back from him, and felt as though her were pulling her into a trap.
"I have to go." She said, eyeing the street around them, and noticing they were alone. The Meregal watched her leave with pieces of regret and sadness, before turning back into the grasslands
Yin moved on, keeping her eyes forward, it had disturbed her to think this situation had just happened, but there had been something about him that had caught her attention; What had seemed to her to be a very strange, and distressing experience, he had taken with a graceful submission, almost as if the situation, and not him, was to blame for how she felt. Yin didn't know how to interpret this though, it occurred to her that his submissive spirit might just be what she needed in her life. She shook this from her head as soon as it came to mind. She didn't want to think about that male Meregal any more, she just wanted to get home.
Yin stopped out front of t
he Mereden Garb, and pulled out her communicator. "Can you come pick me up now?" She asked, when the line finally went through.
"Yes, Ma'am, just a second. Anything else I can do for you?" She asked.
"No, a ride will be enough." The communicator clicked off, and Yin put it back in her leg pouch.
Yin sat down on the curb and waited, her tail twitching idly. It was strange that the streets were so empty during the day, especially on a day like today, when the sun shined so pleasantly. And that boy, why had he interrupted me? Did he really think anything would come of his approach? It seemed likely that he was awkward, or homeschooled, and over sheltered. Yin dropped onto her side with a small huff, and looked at the sky, peeking through the towering structures of the city. There were clouds there, small ones that whipped across the sky in lines. If only things were as simple as floating across the sky, Yin thought, then I could drift across the world, without fear. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts away as the hover car returned.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," The Meregal said, pressing a button and opening the passenger door.
"That's fine, I'm not very busy anyway." Yin sat down in the car, reached back, and pulled the door closed.
"So, what did you get?" She asked, eying the bags, and turning the car back onto the road.
"Nothing." Yin said, her voice downcast. "I was interrupted before I began shopping for clothes, by a male, and I left."
"Why did you decide to leave?" She asked, concern clearly heard in her voice.
"Just because." Yin said, "He saw me cleaning myself, and he asked if he could lick my nose."
"Did you let him?" The Meregal asked, frowning.
"No, I told
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