Part of a collaborative series between myself and N, here's a big heaping helping of feline Final Fantasy goodness!

Story by  BH15
Art by Yours Truly

<<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>

---

The day I walked into Final Fantacon ’16, I never considered that a chain of events would lead to a life-changing chance. Of course, no one usually thinks that way when they enter a con, but I digress. My name is Nanaki, although I still go by my nickname “Red XIII” when people say it, which is pretty much often. People don’t tend to call me Nanaki, at all. It’s kinda frustrating.

What is Final Fantacon? Well, it’s a convention celebrating Final Fantasy, obviously. It allows the stars of the games and the players to mingle, with many main characters having tables, while entire groups have Q&A sessions. I had just finished mine, and had the illustrious honour of being made to answer embarrassing questions. I was treated to such gems like “If AVALANCHE hadn’t intervened, would you have banged Aeris?” That one was my favourite from a long line of humiliating and perverse questions. It’s made all the more awkward due to me having to explain that I had to be turned into my feral form for the role. I was one of the few early non-human characters, and could only get the role if I was the team pet. I almost wanted to die during that session… oh yeah, my other favourite question was “Why was I wearing clothes?” Gee, I dunno, maybe because I don’t tend to run around naked? Ugh. Still, at least I got a few intelligent ones, like my age. Honestly, I acted older than I really was for the game, as that was my character. Naturally I am MUCH younger than my role.

But after that, more stupid questions. My only reprieve came once the Q&A was over. I waited behind, to avoid more awkward questions until the room was empty, save for me, and Cait Sith and his Moogle mount. He came up to me as friendly as ever, and gave me a gift: A Materia bangle. He didn’t tell me what Materia it was, as he chose to instead walk off on his Moogle. Its eyes glowed blue, something it never did before. It must’ve been an upgraded model or something. As for his gift, it was a simple metal bangle with the green Materia clamped in the loop. I actually did like it, and put it on, unsuspecting of foul play. Once I signed a few autographs (and a R34 sketch, Lifestream help me the detailing), I decided to wander around.

I didn’t find see anything of interest, until I came across the Q&A session for Final Fantasy X. Normally I don’t pay much mind to the proceeding games, but, well… I had one reason: Him. Kimahri Ronso, one of my few real crushes. I honestly can’t help it, since he was the second true anthro of Final Fantasy, after Freya from FFIX. I never felt my attraction to him made me gay, I just sympathised with the guy. Plus… admittedly he is pretty hot. Even after FFX-2, he still wore his traditional garb, and he kept himself in great shape. My eyes would trace over his arm muscles, those powerful pillars crossed over his chest. His sturdy legs looked like they could move the world if he pushed down hard enough. It sent shivers through me to, well, perv on him like this. A hot flush crashed over me as I enjoyed the sight of his soft belly. Clearly age was catching up with him, and it was pooling in all the right places. I had to yank at the collar of my shirt so I could vent a cloud of steam. I normally don’t get so worked up like this, but somehow that damn lion was hitting every one of my buttons, including those I didn’t know I even had.

I was so close to panting lecherously when I locked eyes with the guy. For a few precious seconds our gazes lingered, before I blushed crimson and turned to look at Auron (who was speaking at the time). For the rest of the Q&A I refused to look at Kimahri, despite my body urging me to do so. Oh Lifestream, what was going on? I’ve never gotten this worked up before, and it was killing me not to indulge that itch.

I sweated my way through the entire session, my mind elsewhere the entire time. It wasn’t until I came to that I found everyone had cleared out, well, everyone but Kimahri. He had been sitting on the edge of the stage, and was staring at me. “Welcome back,” he said to me.

Oh Lifestream, oh hell, how long had I been gone? “A-ah, hey!” I replied nervously.

“You are Red XIII, right? Kimahri is happy to finally meet you,” he said to me, and I nodded, not even bothering to tell him my actual name.

He smiled thoughtfully as he heaved himself off the stage, my eyes catching sight of his bouncy belly in motion. I got up too, and prayed that my underwear would be enough to hide my, err, “delight” at seeing him. (Okay, sidebar here: Finding a mate isn’t easy for me, since I can’t go out with a human due to the bestiality issue. So, at times, I might get a little pent-up due to lack of contact. It’s normal, alright?) “It’s nice to meet you Kimahri, I’ve always wanted to meet you too,” I uttered after too long a pause.

“Kimahri is honoured you wanted that,” he said, much to my surprise. “Kimahri was honestly a little worried you wouldn’t know him, but he is happy to know that the one who set the standard wanted to meet him.”

“Set the standard?” I uttered, not knowing what he meant, but my confusion at least distracted my other feelings.

“To have more non-human characters in the main party and having impact on the plot. If it wasn’t for you, Kimahri might not have even been in Final Fantasy X at all, except maybe as a NPC or just a bonus character like Quina,” he explained with a serious air.

“Oh,” I mumbled, not sure how to really respond to that. I mean, I was only hired to be a team pet, and that required me to run around on all-fours. Although, I at least had some storyline, not like Mog from FFVI who was just an optional party member. “Well, I didn’t think it was a big deal. I was pretty much just a dog for the game,” I admitted modestly.

He shook his head, and he placed his arms on my shoulders. I swear I almost swooned from his powerful grip, just as well he was holding on to me. It did hurt that I had to crane my neck just to see eye to eye with him “Kimahri doesn’t think so. You helped create more diversity in the character line-up, so much so that Kimahri and Freya have much to owe from you,” he said with total seriousness.

A lump formed in my throat, one that was impossible to swallow down. This was utterly surreal. The guy… person I had a crush on was showering me with gratitude, and I kinda wanted to use the Flee command. Even if I tried, I suppose I would have failed since this was a boss fight, and everyone knows you can’t Flee from those. “Well, I’m happy my efforts (and humiliations) got you to where you are,” I (finally) answered.

He smiled at me; it was pretty creepy really. His lips aren’t really capable of making an actual smile smile y’see? What happened next however, surprised me more as he yanked my arm towards him and hugged me tightly. Holy Lifestream was he tall, or maybe I’m just short, as I only came up to his shoulders. The height difference made things weird since my face was effectively smooshed into his soft chest. His fat belly rubbed against my own chest as I tried to hug him back. I could barely get my arms all the way around him, and they sank into his soft body as I squeezed him. I prayed to every Summon I could that he wouldn’t feel my real “affection” for him. Either he didn’t, or he just ignored it since he never brought attention to the matter once we broke apart. It made me feel a little sad, since I was actually enjoying the feel of his soft fur against my own.

As we stood there in silence, I began to evaluate a few things. I’ll be honest, with Kimahri I was expecting a lion, and instead got a pussy cat. It was odd, and at the same time, a real relief. He always felt so inaccessible, so aloof when I saw him. It was why I only ever watched him from a distance. But to know what a soft and grateful person he was, well, it felt really intimate, as if he really trusted me. This trust I felt is probably what possessed me to say what I said next: “Want to look around the rest of the con with me?”

His eyes lit up, and he grinned as widely as he could. “Kimahri would love to,” he answered eagerly.

And so, we did just that. Side-by-side we walked around, that was, until he brought his arm around me, and kept me close. It felt comforting to have his arm around me, even though I was being pressed into his chubby side, not that that was a problem of course. The looks we got, I think people thought we were a couple of something. Although, that didn’t sound like a terrible idea in hindsight.