Oljas fumed as he slung his bag onto the cushioned seat next to him. Clutched in his hands was his well-used travel mug filled to the brim with strong black tea with cream and sugar. He sipped the steaming liquid, letting the warm brew travel down his throat.
All around him was the bustle of Mesozoica State University’s student center where students, Human and Mesozoican alike, mingled to study, socialize, grab meals from the dining hall or sundries from the convenience store.
He tried not to stare at the numerous Mesozoicans, their prehistoric appearance being a stark contrast to the Humans. Sure, he had seen pictures of the raptors (either dressed in shawls or with their diapers in plain view), but he had never encountered an actual one until he arrived at the university. He recalled his attempt at making a good impression by comparing one of Mesozoican RAs in his dorm to a Golden Eagle. It was intended it to be a complement, given how the Achillobator had the lean, powerful build of a bird of prey and even the same light-brown, almost golden plumage. It was after the introductions that the RA had taken him aside and politely informed him that while well-intentioned, it was inappropriate to compare Mesozoicans to birds and that other Mesozoicans may not take such a comparison so well.
Since then Oljas had assiduously made sure to never bring up birds and Mesozoicans in the same sentence, lest an angry raptor quite literally take his head off.
He took a swallow of his tea as he pondered why didn’t his own date give him that same respect? Was it because he was Human and couldn’t make his displeasure known with teeth and claws?
No, that was also an inappropriate line of thought. His roommate was a Dakotaraptor with dusky red plumage and was a brilliant biomedical engineering student who made his displeasure known with polite, but firm rebuttals or sarcastic insults. Not teeth and claws like an animal.
So wrapped up was Oljas in his thoughts that he didn’t notice someone approaching.
“Mind if I sit here?”
The Human’s heart leapt into his throat as he was confronted with a straight-on view of a Utahraptor’s toothy muzzle.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” the Mesozoican said.
“It’s okay. And sure,” Oljas said.
A gentle crinkling noise was heard as the raptor settled down across from him on the specialized chair. They took a swig out of their glass bottle, which was filled with something that looked like beer.
Oljas sniffed the air. Aside from the faint scent of baby powder, he was able to smell something that reminded him of flowers mixed with tropical spices.
“So,” the Mesozoican began. “I noticed your accent. It’s very distinctive.”
The hair on Oljas’s neck stood up. He had heard those exact same words from his last date when they first met and it left a foul taste in his mouth. “Thanks,” he muttered, staring into his mug. Despite that, he couldn’t keep the scowl from his face.
The Utahraptor immediately noticed the change in demeanor. “So, uh, what’s your name?”
“Oljas,” the Human replied, between sips of his tea. He noticed a Mesozoican-Human couple a few tables down with a significantly smaller raptor sitting in an elevated chair while the Human gently petted their muzzle. He averted his eyes as to not be caught staring.
“Krklzlas,” the raptor said.
Oljas rolled the name in his mouth. It was a bit rough to pronounce, but strangely enough, it didn’t seem that foreign to him.
Krklzlas opened his mouth in the loose “Mesozoican smile” and chittered in amusement. “Well, kudos for getting my name right on the first try.”
“I’m from Kazakhstan,” Oljas said. “Your name has consonant clusters that are somewhat similar to those found in Russian and Kazakh.”
Krklzlas nodded as he took a drink of that brew he had in his glass bottle. “I see. So, I noticed you didn’t seem happy when I asked about your accent. I’m sorry if I was being rude.”
Oljas recalled how patient his RA was with his faux pas of comparing them to a bird. Albeit a dignified, powerful bird that was the symbol of his country — it was even on the flag — and the Asian steppes. He figured the least he could do was return the favor. “It’s okay, I get that a lot, but lately, I’ve become kind of uncomfortable hearing it ever since...” He trailed off.
“Bad date?” Krklzlas asked, placing one of his clawed hands on the table.
Oljas’s eyes widened as he choked on his tea. After a few coughs, he quickly regained his composure. “How did you know!?”
“You’re not really doing a good job at hiding your moods; the look on your face really says it all.” Krklzlas said. “You got time?”
Oljas fished his cell phone out of his pocket and checked the schedules. “I don’t have a class until the evening.”
“Anyways, I guess we have something in common.”
Oljas nodded as he took another drink from his mug.
“What are the chances two guys who both had dates go bad meet up with each other?” Krklzlas added with a sigh.
“Let me guess, she left you?” Oljas asked.
“I wish he had stood me up instead.” Krklzlas sighed and capped his drink bottle.
Oljas scratched his chin. “I don’t think I quite understand. He left you standing?”
Krklzlas shook his head. “It’s a figure of speech. What I meant to say was that I wish he had just not shown up and left me there at the coffee shop instead of what he did.”
“Oh, so you wish he abandoned you? What happened?”
The Utahraptor glanced back at the diaper with its playful, yet mature fern-leaf print that was wrapped around his hindquarters. “Well, he was, shall we say, very interested in that.”
“I can relate,” Oljas said. “Not to the diaper, but the…interest.”
Krklzlas chittered as his tail flicked back and forth. “Guess we have something in common. Let me guess, date with no boundaries?”
The Human nodded as he watched the Humans and Mesozoicans in the student center. He noticed a large banner hanging from the second floor and announcing an upcoming Claw-On-Claw tournament in the stadium. “Yes,” he said. “I met her in organic chemistry and I finally got brave enough to ask her out two weeks ago and she accepted.”
He shuddered. “The first thing she talked about was my accent how she thought it was hot and she kept focusing on it. And then she made a weird comment about my healthy uranium glow. I ignored it since maybe that’s how flirting is done in the US.” Oljas rubbed his forehead. “I should have known better.”
Krklzlas nodded. “It’s okay. She’s the one who exploited your own ignorance of US dating customs. Out of curiosity, was she a Human or a Mesozoican?”
“She was a Human. What about you?”
“Same thing.”
Oljas looked at Krklzlas. The large raptor’s plumage reminded him somewhat of a tropical bird with brilliant blues and greens with some splashes of red. “So we both got dates that cared only about a part of us?”
Krklzlas nodded. “Yeah, then it got worse. Much worse.”
Oljas snorted. “Can’t be worse than me. By the second date, she was making jokes about potassium, asking me to say things like ‘Very nice!’ and ‘Not!’ And I overheard her friends making worse jokes. ‘Jokes’ about me living in a shack or if my sister was a prostitute. I grew up in the city of Shymkent and I don’t even have a sister!”
“Borat?”
Oljas gritted his teeth. “A movie made over fifty years ago and I, a Kazakh who was born in the 2050s still gets to hear those jokes!” His hand trembled as he clenched the metal cup of tea. “I told her that those jokes weren’t funny and she just laughed it off, saying that I was being oversensitive.”
He then relaxed. “But the sad part, I don’t think she was being purposefully racist.”
“And you still dated her after that?”
Oljas nodded and sipped his tea. “She promised to do better, so I gave her one more chance.” He shook his head. “And she lost it.”
***
Two days ago
Oljas sat outside MSU Brew Hub, one of the many local coffee shops that dotted the area around Mesozoica State University. As with any university coffee shop, it was crowded with students studying or just socializing. As he watched the flow of customers, he noticed it was a roughly even mixture of Humans and Mesozoicans. He even saw a Human with a Compy perched on their arm in an imitation of a falconer and their bird. At first, he wondered if there was a falconry club at the university, but a closer look revealed that neither of them had the proper accoutrements (except for the gloves) and that the Human was just helping the Compy reach the counter to order.
He slowly nibbled on his Mesozoican-friendly scone, finding the distinctive aroma and flavor of roasted nuts to be an interesting take on pastries.
The Human looked around and saw a woman with brown hair approaching him. Realizing that was his date, he waved her over.
“Hi, Oljas!” she said, hanging her bag over the back of the chair as she took a seat. “I’m so glad we could make it.”
“It is good, Cristina,” he said. “Now, do you want to order something and maybe talk?”
After several seconds, Oljas noticed that she was staring at him with an expression that he didn’t quite recognize. “Cristina, do you want to order something?”
“Oh right,” she said. “Why don’t you order while I watch our stuff?”
Oljas nodded and stood in line to order. He then returned to his table. “So,” he said. “I’m not sure what is a common hot drink for Americans, so I ordered something popular in Kazakhstan — sweet hot tea with milk — and some of those Mesozoican scones.”
He placed down the tray containing two ceramic mugs containing a steaming milky brown liquid and a plate of two scones.
“Thank you!” Cristina said. She picked up a mug of tea and one of the scones.
“So,” Oljas said, taking the second mug and the scone. “What’d you think of today’s organic chemistry test?”
“Tough.” Cristina took a sip of the steaming liquid. “I studied, attended office hours and even used the models, but I’m not sure I passed.”
“I’d be happy with a minimal pass. That section on enantiomers really got tome.”
“Enantiomers, huh? My bane was the nomenclature. It starts off simple and then quickly goes crazy. Like where the fuck do I even start counting the carbons?”
Oljas took a bite of his scone. “Anyways, onto other topics, what do you think of the scones?”
Cristina washed down her bite of the scone with a sip of her tea. “It’s different. I’ve never had a scone that tastes so nutty until I got to Mesozoica. So, what about the tea?”
He then took a sip of the liquid. “It’s kind of like Kazakh tea but a bit too sweet. The next time we meet up, I’ll make us some traditional Kazakh tea with fennel and cardamom.”
“That would be lovely!”
The duo continued enjoying their scones and milk tea as they watched people shuffle in and out of the coffee shop.
“So is this your first date in the US?”Cristina asked.
Oljas nodded. “What about you?”
“Well, it’s not my first date. But it’s my first time dating someone from where East meets the West.” She then smiled and sighed as she gave him a flirtatious look. “I’ve always wanted to date someone from the steppes. They’re so masculine.”
Something about the way Cristina looked at him made Oljas’s hair stand up on end, but he decided that her phrasing was just a complement that landed flat. That, and he was thankful that she stopped with the Borat comments and talking about his accent. “Well, Kazakhstan is part of Central Asia and we do have significant cultural influence from Asia and Europe.”
Cristina then leaned in close with a smile. “Did I tell you that your eyes are gorgeous?”
“Thanks, you’re quite beautiful yourself.” A slight blush painted his cheeks at the praise.
She gently enveloped his hand in her own. “But nothing compares to your exotic beauty. Familiar, yet so mysterious and far.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him as she gazed into his dark brown eyes.
The way Cristina talked about him sent a spike of nausea through Oljas’s stomach. He was deeply aware that his Eurasian looks were definitely foreign in Mesozoica, but until this point, he didn’t think it mattered. He swallowed. “Thanks, but, I’m not just a Kazakh,” he said. “I’m also an artist and a future biologist. So, since you also took organic chemistry, I’m just wondering, what are you majoring in?”
She gets one more chance, Oljas thought, sipping from his steaming mug of tea. “Chemistry,” Cristina replied. “But that’s not important right now.”
It was then a mixed species group of students approached Cristina. “Hey Cristina,” a Deinonychus said. “We’re doing an orgo study session here if you want to join.”
“No thanks,” Cristina said. She glanced at Oljas. “I’m on a date with Oljas.”
Oljas nodded. “Hello,” he said to the Dein. “My name is Oljas.” Recalling his etiquette guide, he held out an open palm for the Dein to sniff.
The Dein sniffed his open palm. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Oljas. I’m Nkrkithl”
Nkrkithl nodded. “I see, well, I guess we should leave you to your date. By the way, nice catch, Cristina.”
“I know you think he’s hot, Nkrkithl, but you’re going to get a Borat, not a Golden Khan!” Cristina said, winking at her friend.
That did it. Oljas got up from his seat and faced his date. “Cristina,” he said calmly. “I don’t think this is going to work out.” “But things were just getting—”
“Cristina, stop,” Oljas said, cutting her off. “I get you’re trying to complement me, but the comparisons to Borat and your sole focus on my Kazakh heritage are making me uncomfortable. Good bye.”
He picked up his backpack and headed out of the coffee shop, leaving his unfinished mug of tea behind.
***
“I don’t know what was worse,” Oljas said. “The Borat jokes and talk about my accent on the first and second dates, or the third date where it was very obvious she was…” The man trailed off as he searched for the proper English word.
“Fetishizing you?” Krklzlas offered.
“That’s the word! Thank you.” Oljas saw Krklzlas’s tail suddenly twitch and then hike up. Realizing what the Utahraptor was doing, he took a sudden interest in the contents of his cup.
“Is something wrong?”
“Uh…” The Human trailed off, not sure how to say, “I just saw you using your diaper” in a way that wasn’t too explicit or impolite. “Uh, your tail, is something wrong?”
Instantly getting the message, Krklzlas shrugged — a very Human gesture that Oljas found strange coming from a Mesozoican with their non-Human horizontal body posture. “Ehh, every Mesozoican has accidents; it’s why we’re all wearing diapers. Just don’t be weird about it.” He gestured around and true to his words, not a single person paid him or any other of the Mesozoicans any heed.
Oljas nodded. “I see. So, I shared my bad date story. What about yours?”
Krklzlas shook his head and sighed. “I met a guy from my Physics 101 class. He was a cute guy, maybe a bit awkward and we got to chatting. And the next thing I know, we were on a coffee date at Hell Creek Java. Literally the first thing he complements me on is how cute my Cretaceous Comforts are. Ehh, not offensive, but a bit of an odd thing to lead with.”
The Human nodded. “Yeah, kind of like how the first thing my date talked about was my accent. Let me guess, things got more awkward?”
“Actually, no. He then complemented me on my plumage, saying how colorful and shiny it was and asking me about what wash I used for it. And then he steered it straight back to diapers by saying how well my Cretaceous Comforts diapers complemented my plumage.”
Oljas rubbed his forehead. “Kind of like how my own date kept asking me to say various things in Kazakh, Russian, or English? Or repeat lines from Borat? Or kept making jokes about potassium or the Soviets?”
“Yeah.” Krklzlas flicked his tail as he sighed. “I should have broken it off them. Hell, even on the second date, he asked how many diaper brands I’ve tried and if I had any particular favorites. Like I chalked it up to him not grasping Mesozoican etiquette out of ignorance and not understanding that while diapers are a big thing for a lot of us Mesos, there is more to our lives than diapers and we have other interests.”
The Human chuckled. “We both got a bit desperate. But if he was asking about your diapers, why didn’t you break it off then? It sounds kind of personal.”
“Well, diapers are basically clothes to us and it’s a normal conversation topic like asking someone about their shirt. And yeah, asking about someone’s clothes on a first date is weird, but it’s not an instant deal breaker.”
Oljas blinked as he tried to process how something so intimate could be so casually discussed, but then he reminded himself that he was in a different country and he was interacting with a different species.
Krklzlas tapped his clawed fingers on the table a bit. “And then the third date is where he really showed his colors.”
“Like mine?”
The Utahraptor nodded. “Yeah…but maybe even worse.”
***
Two days ago
Krklzlas casually strode into Hell Creek Java where he had his past two dates with Georg. The aroma of coffee, tea, pastries, and various other exotic drinks mingled with the scent of Mesozoicans and Humans, providing the coffeehouse with its signature olfactory mark. He was instantly able to pick up the scent of his date and the Utahraptor wound his way through to the crowd. In the corner was a young man with a mug of coffee that was topped with whipped cream. Unlike some of the other Mesozoicans, he opted not to wear a kvuthir as he didn’t feel the need to conceal his diaper to make the Humans comfortable. “Glad you could make it, Krklzlas,” the man said, offering his palm to Krklzlas in the appropriate Human-to-Mesozoican greeting.
Krkzlas reciprocated with a sniff to the offered palm. “Likewise,” he said.
The man then gestured to a plate of what appeared to be miniature Cornish pasties. “Care for some pasties? They’re Meso friendly.”
“Thank you, Georg,” Krkzlas said, gently taking one of the pasties between his claws and popping it into his mouth. The dough was made of almond flour like all Mesozoican pastries, giving it that nuttiness that was a signature of Mesozoican baked goods. The pasties themselves were filled with ground chicken that had been seasoned with fermented soybean paste.
“I wasn’t sure what you wanted to drink, so I decide to wait until you came in.” Georg brushed a lock of his long brown hair out of his face.
“That’s no problem.”
“Anyways, I’ll go buy something for both of us. What would you like?”
“Hot ginger tea would be nice,” Krkzlas said, taking a seat. The seat in question was a bench made for Mesozoicans, with ample cushioning for them to rest their torso on as well as the appropriate cutouts to accommodate their pubic boot, diaper, and tail. As he settled into the bench, he felt a stream of urine gush out into his waiting diaper. The raptor gave a slight sigh of relief as he felt his diaper soaking up his flood, the cushion pressing the swelling padding against his pubic boot and groin.
“Sure thing!” Georg said, his eyes lingering on Krkzlas’s rump.
“Thank you.”
As Georg stood in line to purchase drinks, Krkzlas reached inside the saddlebags next to his seat and pulled out some study notes for his physics class. Soon, the noise of Hell Creek Java and the warmth of his diaper faded into a calm haze as he worked over formulas and equations.
“And here you are, hot ginger tea for you and a latte for myself.”
Krkzlas looked up to see Georg placing the mugs on the table. He put down his pencil and carefully pulled the mug towards him, the spicy scent of ginger, cardamom, and black tea tickling his muzzle. He carefully dipped his tongue into the hot liquid and nodded. “You really should try this some time,” he said.
Georg looked at him over the rim of his mug as he sipped at his latte. “So,” he said. “I noticed that you used your diaper.”
Krkzlas’s plumage promptly flattened as he quickly checked himself and the bench. Everything was dry. “Uh thanks for the notice, but I didn’t leak.” Wow, this guy is rude, he thought.
“No problem. I thought it did because of how full your diaper is.”
The Utahraptor took another pasty. “I appreciate your concern, but can you not do that?”
“Do what? I thought Mesos appreciated a heads-up on their diapers?”
Krkzlas sipped his ginger tea. “Only if we’re leaking and you’re discreet about it. Think about, would you want someone casually and openly pointing out that you have a hole in your pants and they can see your dick and balls?”
“Sorry,” Georg said. “It’s just that…I’m new here.”
“I understand, just hold a normal conversation. Don’t think of me as a diaper-wearing raptor that happens to be a person, but a person who happens to be a diaper-wearing raptor.”
Georg nodded. “So, about Hell Creek Java,” he said. “You come here often?”
“A few times a week,” Krkzlas said. “They’ve got that hot ginger brew with a shot of blackstrap molasses.”
“It’s a bit strong for my taste, but once you cut it with some water, it’s just right.” Georg spooned up some whipped cream. “Whipped cream?” he asked, gesturing to the Utahraptor’s steaming cup with his spoon.
“Not a fan of whipped cream.”
The conversation continued along the usual lines with Krkzlas and Georg discussing everything from classes, campus activities, local events in Mesozoica, and even general hobbies. And much to Krkzlas’s relief, diapers were not mentioned once.
Soon, the pasties and ginger tea had their effect on the raptor’s digestion and he could feel things moving inside his belly. His tail lifted and his snout wrinkled slightly as he involuntarily defecated into his sodden diaper.
“I have to go to the bathroom. Can you save me a pasty?” Georg said.
“Sure,” Krkzlas said, adjusting his position so the sizable, firm lump of raptor dung gently settled into his diaper in a way that didn’t press the mess against him. He noticed that Georg looked rather happy, but he simply chalked it up to the lively conversation the duo had about an upcoming Mesozoican music performance. He watched as Georg got up from his seat and passed behind him.
The Utahraptor adjusted his position slightly as he continued sipping his tea. As the minutes slowly ticked by with no sign of his date, Krkzlas wondered if the Human used the pretense of needing to use the bathroom to simply abandon him. He finished off his ginger tea and ate the last pasty, now cold.
Guess it was to be expected. Guy’s not a local, he thought. It was the same story he heard from other Mesozoicans who dated non-local Humans: they accepted the fact that their date was an incontinent diaper wearing theropod and then promptly abandoned the date once they saw said diaper being used for its intended purpose.
Those hopes were dashed in the most horrifying way possible when he heard Georg whispering “Such a stinky hatchie with his full pamps!” The Human wasn’t nearby, so he was apparently expecting his date to not hear him. But he had apparently forgotten that his date had inhuman hearing.
Krkzlas scrunched his muzzle in disgust at the infantilizing and degrading statement. He picked up his saddle bags as he got up from the seat. Before he could don his saddlebags, he felt a hand groping and pressing his full diaper against his rump, followed by Georg’s utterly inappropriate commentary: “Looks like those pasties and tea went right through you! What a good raptor, making a nice, full diaper for me!”
“Georg,” Krkzlas said, without turning around. “Get your fucking hands off my diaper before I bite them off.” The feathers on the Utahraptor’s body quickly fluffed out and he fanned out arm feathers and crest as his tail began to lash back and forth, making his displeasure obvious to all. He heard a grunt as his angrily lashing tail smacked into his date.
He then promptly turned around to face Georg. The man looked utterly mortified, but it was the mortification of someone more embarrassed about getting caught than the mortification of someone who found out their innocent action was socially inappropriate. Krkzlas glared at the Human, who was frozen in place at the predatory glare and the bared teeth of the angry raptor.
So stunned was Georg, that he could only stay rooted in place — hands still frozen in position as if he were still feeling up Krkzlas’s diaper — as the raptor loomed over him.
“We’re through. Never contact me again,” Krkzlas said, voice taking on the low, rumbling growl of an angry raptor as he donned his saddlebags. “And word of advice, if you want a Mesozoican — or hell, a Human — date, stop being a fucking creep. And that diaper check you just did…do that to the wrong Mesozoican or Human and you may need to have your face put back together after it’s been clawed or sliced off.”
Georg watched as Krkzlas —feathers still fluffed out in anger — turned around and exited, leaving the Human with two empty cups and a plate with some crumbs on it. Of course, he couldn’t help but stare as long as possible at the Utahraptor’s tailwith the way it swished back and forth and how that bulging, well-used diaper with its cartoon dinosaur prints swayed in such an alluring manner.
As he continued staring until the raptor exited, Georg also noticed nearly all the Human patrons carried elaborate curved knives that looked more like works of art and accessories than weapons at their hips. He would have waved it off as a pathetic attempt to imitate the claws of the Mesozoicans without any edge, had he not seen a Human draw their knife and effortlessly slice a sandwich up to share with their Compy date.
***
“That’s horrible,” Oljas said, utterly failing to keep the look of disgust off his face.
“He was very clearly getting off to the idea of me having accidents in my diaper. And I am almost certain he fantasized about changing my ‘nice, full diaper’.” Krklzlas’s feathers visibly rippled and his snout twisted in an expression of disgust as he remembered the blatantly fetishistic nature of the man’s interactions.
Krklzlas sighed as he held a clawed hand to his muzzle and shook his head. “Really I don’t know who got it worse. You, whose country is only known for a nuclear test site, a space launch site, uranium, steppe nomads, and an obnoxiously racist and sexist fictional reporter. Or me, a species whose bodily functions, incontinence, and diaper dependency seem to be free fetish material because the most famous member is a diaper-loving, perverted freak!” The Utahraptor lashed his tail in agitation, making a passing student step back to avoid getting struck.
Oljas nodded and touched a hand to his forehead. And you can’t even be bothered to learn the names of those two places, he thought. “I was offended that Cristina didn’t see a person, but some exotic steppe nomad fantasy,” he said. “And that her idea of flirting was to make jokes about an obnoxious fictional reporter or keep asking about my accent. But at least she didn’t start making explicit comments on my bodily functions.”
“Just you wait,” Krklzlas said with an amused chitter. “She’s probably going to bring up that old stereotype about Asian—”
“No.” Oljas glared at the raptor.
Krklzlas immediately got the message and then changed the topic. He tapped his claws on the table as he pondered everything. “I think both our peoples got defined by their most infamous examples. On the other hand, Borat is a fictional character. Brcklcas is not.”
“Brcklcas?” Oljas asked as he looked at his empty travel mug before placing it back into his backpack.
Krklzlas sighed. “The most famous Utahraptor and one of the most famous Mesozoicans in the world. And a major exhibitionist.”
Oljas racked his brain. He remembered seeing a massive scarred-up blue and gold Utahraptor while he was walking through one of the residential neighborhoods. Said raptor waswearing naught but a well-used diaper with infantile prints that seemed incongruous with their fearsome appearance. And they had their tail lifted, exposing their full diaper for passersby to see, many of whom averted their eyes.
Even though he tried to forget that thoroughly uncomfortable scene, he recalled how that display had ended: an equally large Utahraptor with orange-yellow plumage and wearing a clean diaper physically grabbed hold of the other raptor and dragged them off.
“So, this ‘Brcklcas’,” Oljas said. “What did they look like?”
“Blue and gold plumage, covered in scars.”
Oljas’s stomach dropped as he realized what he had just seen. “Oh…I’ll make a note to avoid them in the future.”
Krklzlas chittered in amusement as they took on a relaxed, open mouthed expression that exposed his teeth. “Good luck. He practically finds you.”
The Kazakh flinched slightly at the numerous serrated blade-like teeth that were visible, but he recalled from his etiquette guide was that what he was seeing was the “Mesozoican smile”, an expression of pleasure or amusement, not a sign of anger or a threat, despite the numerous exposed teeth. “Any tips to avoid him?”
“Watch out for his smell. And if you smell it, run. He won’t chase you.”
Oljas blinked. Did this raptor really expect him to recognize someone by smell!? Was he aware that as a Human, he simply didn’t have anywhere near the same sense of smell as a Mesozoican? “Right. Run if see him,” he muttered.
Krklzlas took out his cell phone from the saddlebags at his feet and checked the time. “Oh, I have a physics lab in ten minutes.”
Oljas nodded. “I’m going to be checking out the Business District. Maybe see if they have any interesting souvenirs.”
The two college students got up simultaneously, but before they headed their separate ways, Oljas spoke. “You know, it was actually a pleasure talking to you. And I was thinking maybe we could meet up to talk every so often?”
Krklzlas nodded. “Sure thing! Why don’t we swap phone numbers?”
The two traded phone numbers.
“So is this a date?” Oljas asked with a chuckle.
“Could be,” Krklzlas replied.
A pleasurable warmth suffused Oljas at the reply as the large raptor looked him over. In an attempt to break the tension, he made a joke referencing the commiseration the duo shared: “So, if we do date, we know the boundaries?”
Krklzlas slung his saddlebags over his back. “Yes. No creepy ‘steppe nomad’ or ‘diapered raptor’ fantasies. No ‘Borat’ or ‘hatchy’ comments.”
Oljas nodded. “Sounds about right. Same time next week?”
“Sure thing!”
The duo then headed their separate ways, both feeling the start of a potential friendship blossoming.
When a Human who has been fetishized for his heritage meets up with a Mesozoican who has been fetishized for his biology and the two commiserate over their shared misfortunes, the two find common ground in their experiences.
On a side note, see if you can spot Brcklcas, the Mesozoican Utahraptor OC of :fa!thetikiman.
