Chapter 5 - Episode: Drip

DRIP.

As Eric tried to figure out what could be behind him, he came up with a blank. Nothing but the sound behind him echoed between his ears.

DRIP.

He shifted his weight on the ladder, and slowly turned. 

DRIP-LOP

He blinked as he saw what was sitting on the pipe, rather connected between two pipes. It was the color of a sky on a clear day in the country. It gleamed from the light of the that refracted across the room. It shifted and slid downwards-

DRIP

-with a drip as it suckled what looked like a patch of green and grey water from the roof of the room. Another leak from the Green Floor, a part of his mind managed to file away.

Then the slime attacked.

And the slime killed him.

Kidding.

The slime did lunge at him though, with the elastic speed of a slime. However, Eric simple raised his hand and caught the thing in the palm of his hand. He rolled his wrist in a pattern that confused the Slime. Its sense of direction disrupted, it clung to his palm as he slowly stepped down from the ladder and observed the creature in his hand.

The Slime shuddered and shifted in his palm. He didn't crush it or strangle the thing. It was a blue. The most harmless and least offensive kind of slime. He looked it over and saw no pattern in its surface, no 'watermarked' mitochondria, or any indication of a store bred Slime-Pet. So it was a wild stray, or someone's 'pedigree' slime gone missing. 

Either way, he'd have to explain this to Anna. He sighed as he shuffled his fingers to keep the Slime from growing restless in his hand and headed for the elevator.

"What the fuck!" He heard from beside him. He cocked his head to see Gene, dressed in a baggy shirt and sweatpants, carrying a grocery bag. She was pointing at the slime in his hand, which shuddered from the noise. "What the fuck is that?"

"A slime?" He answered, rhetorically, "I think this is the drip, Cornelia was hearing." He summed up and she nodded.

"Are, are there any more?" Eric shook his head.

"Not that I could see, and blues need at least three to breed so the little blob isn't gonna sprout any daughters anytime soon." Gene nodded at his words and quickly passed him to her own room before shutting the door. Eric figured she'd probably want him to shower before their next 'show', just to ease her mind. He looked down at the Slime in his hand and could see the darkest patch of surface was concentrated at the top, 'looking' at him. "Alright, little girl, let's go tell the boss you're what's been bugging the nice Officer."

WURP

The sound from the Slime rolling in his hand almost sounded like assent. He laughed at the idea and let the smile linger as he traveled downstairs and to the office. He passed by tenants, from the other floors. A few paused to watch him handling the slime, and the others hurried along their way. Slimes were common as 'pets' in the less polluted regions of the world, but in the cities and places where the recycling technology hadn't gotten any traction, they were much more utility, and the ones that went rogue or got loose were dangerous. 

The office door was open as he reached the lobby. He stopped at the threshold and knocked on the frame. Donna looked up, and her eyes went wide. "I found your drip." He held up the slime as way of demonstrating. Her jaw dropped.

WURL!

The Slime's shrill cooing battle cry usually preceded a leap to the face. But in this case, it rose up proudly in Eric's hands before settling back down. 

"Oh, I'll um... Anna?" She called into Anna's cracked open door.

"Wha?" A drowsy voice came from through the space in the doorway. 

"You might wanna look at this." Donna didn't take her eyes off the slime.

"Damnit and fuck." Anna swore as she exhaled and after a short moment, emerged dabbing her eyes with the edge of a waded up tissue. She tossed the spent tissue in the trash, beside the door. "What's the problem?" She looked at Eric, the slime, then back to Donna. "Donna?"

"Um, the slime?" Donna pointed at the blue blob.

WURL! 

Again the blob rose up, proudly. 

"I found Cornelia's 'drip' in the laundry room."

"Looks like some rich kid's lost pet."

"My thoughts, boss, unless its a wild one or from an illegal breeder."

"Take that up with Officer Woolrick, this is her beat anyway." Anna yawned and winked at Eric, "Good work, Eric."

"Thanks, Belle." He smiled back and his boss's smile grew, and the slime wobbled in his hand.  "Ah, I did leave a ladder and some work kit in the laundry room. There's another Green floor leak going into the Laundry room." He held up the blue slime. "She was suckling on the runoff."

"Pretty smart for a drip." Belle nodded. "Well, I think- Oh! Here comes Officer Woolrick now." She mused as through the clear walls, Cornelia could be seen in some smart looking civilian slacks and blouse walking out of the elevator. Eric leaned back in the doorway and she smiled when their eyes met. He nodded at her, and careful to tilt his body so that the slime in his hand was hidden until she was right on them.

"Good morning, Erich how are, OH." She stopped short as she looked at the blue slime in his hand. She paused, her eyes narrowed and her smile flattened. "Don't tell me,"

"Cornelia," Eric held up the little slime. "Meet Drip." He named the little blue slime and it purred in his hand.

WURL!

"A fuc-" She paused and shook her head, "A little slime's been what's keeping me up?"

"A hungry one," Eric added, and went on to explain, again, how there was a green floor leak above the laundry room. He further explained the pipe he had replaced in the green floor, already. A quick inventory search by Donna confirmed they were the same part, installed on the same day. 

"Donna and I can handle the clean up and part swap." Anna thumbed to herself and Donna, who looked up with a classic expression of 'wait what'. "Cornelia, I know its your day off," She started, and Cornelia held up a hand.

"No worries, Ms. Stewart. Making sure stray slimes don't go causing problems is part of my long, long, list of responsibilities. "Hand her here, Eric."

"Oh he's going with you." Anna gestured between Eric and Cornelia, "I did say we'd be fixing up the leak. Plus it looks like little 'Drip' likes Eric too much to just hand her off." She smiled and the blue slime nestled cozily in Eric's palm. 

"Right then." Cornelia agreed with a smile, "Mount up, Mister Wyre, you're with me." She said in a stern, professional, tone. Eric's posture strained up and, in his palm, Drip rose up a bit too.

WURP! 

Eric let out a whistle of appreciation. once he got a look at Cornelia's car. It was a smooth piece of classical engineering; right from the cusp of the new energy movement. The Duke Charger was a powerful machine that kept some of the best styling from the old days and wrapped it around a sturdy chassis and renewable fueled engine. 

"Yeah, it was my mom's." She smiled as she held her hands up to frame the beautiful machine. "She told me I wouldn't get any free passes, being her daughter, but this was still one hell of a birthday surprise." She walked around and got in.

"She in the force?" Eric asked as he opened the door and Drip rippled as he sat in the form fitting seats.

"Whole family." She closed her door, and Eric shut his, before she started the car and engine purred to life.

WURRRRRRRRRRRRRL

Both of them looked at Drip and laughed. "I think she likes it." Cornelia suggested.

"Yeah, I think so to." He rested his hand down on his leg so Drip was almost on his knee, but the slime stretched upwards. "Oh, you want to watch where we go?" he brought one leg up so his knee was resting at dashboard level. "There you go." 

WURL

"She's a good little girl." Cornelia observed as they started driving. Through the surface, Eric could see her 'eye' patch darting this way and that as she watched traffic and other points of interest as the passed by the car.

"I think she might be a pedigree, gone missing." He sighed as he already felt a silly attachment to Drip. 

"That is the most logical conclusion. I don't really keep an ear to the 'lost pet' circuit." She leaned back in her seat and enjoyed the ride as she drove through the district. "It's a bit early to ask how you're liking the building, isn't it?"

"It is, but Gene's 'first impression' was, well."

"I saw, not a bad performance."

"Not bad?" Eric cocked an eyebrow.

"Well you were tired, like you said."

"I've got a perfectly normal refractory period, I'm not a porn star."

"And Gene is?" 

"Not saying that, just."

"Relax, you still rocked her socks off."

"Damn straight."

"So what was up with your, ah." She motioned at his chest. Eric squeezed his eyes shut and scratched his chin.

"Yeah, that's a long story," He said, as they pulled up the the precinct building. 

-

"Officer Woolrick!" A surprised looking Sergeant asked from the desk. "Thought this was your time off. What brings you back?" He chuckled before looking at the slime in Eric's hands. "Whoa. Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to remain calm." More than a few people were eyeing the slime with some concern on their faces, mostly the civilians waiting in the lobby. The officers had mostly just giving a passing look and been on their way.

"It's fine, Sergeant," Eric's voice said with some authority, "I know how to keep a slime calm. Officer Woolrick brought me in to see if we could find this little girl's home."

"That's an unmarked Slime, sir."

"Right, so she's either a pedigree or stray. Either way she's perfectly well behaved." 

"There a problem Sergeant?" A Stern voice with a metallic ring drawled. Eric looked at the speaker and was surprised to see a Gynoid in a sharp cut pantsuit walked from a nearby hallway. The metal of her face shifted from stern to concerned as she scanned the room. Her optics flicked from the Sergeant, to Woolrick. "Cornelia, I appreciate your dedication but this is your day off," Drip leaned to the side to get a better look at the speaker and the Gynoid's optics focused like camera shutters on the slime. "Ah."

"Morning, ma'am." Cornelia smiled. "Remember that 'drip' I was complaining about, at home."

"This is her?"

"This is she, yes." 

"Huh. Well, go down to Regional and see if there's any reports of a missing slime, and if there's not its on, ah." She looked up at Eric. Her optics dilated, focused, and he realized his face was being run through 'priors' when she frowned. "Mister Wyre. If there's no family found you'll have to decide the little slime's fate." She said with professional neutrality. 

"Ma'am." He assented with a curt nod. 

"See you tomorrow, Cornelia, bright and early."

"Yes, Ma'am." She turned to Eric, "This way."

As it happened, there were no alerts for 'missing slimes' and a test of her biomass showed no registration RNA or any kind of tags indicating that she was owned. For all intents and purposes: Drip was a garden variety pet-slime that was without any branding or watermarking whatsoever. When it came to deciding Drip's 'fate', Eric didn't hesitate to register as her owner and, on their way back, picked up the various supplies and containers that made for a safe little habitat for a slime.

"She sure likes it here." Eric smiled as Drip bathed in the sunlight. She was settled in a basin, inside a sealed habitat that let her play around, without the risk of her slipping out and escaping the apartment.  Still, he had the door to the habitat open. She was a good girl.

"Yeah." Cornelia drank some water from her cup and set it beside Eric's. "Normally I just spend the day goofing off. This has been a fun little distraction."

"Speaking of work, I should see if Anna has anything else for me to do today." he said, with a smirk at the edge of his lips. 

"Your probably should, but," She ran a hand down his arm and pressed her chest against his. "I think there's another 'drip' that needs your attention." She pressed her lips to his and with her other hand pressed him down onto his back. He returned her kiss, and felt her hand travel over his chest and pull off his shirt.

Exposed, he lay there as her lips continued to pass over his, teasing him with brief passes as her fingers traveled over his waning bruises and healing cuts. Cornelia bit her lip as her hands ran over his thick abs and then under the hem of his pants. 

"Is something I can help you with, Officer?" Eric smiled as she felt him up through his boxers, under his pants.

"Mmm, yes" She purred as she pulled down his pants and his tented erection throbbed in her grip. "I'm a bit behind on my community outreach quota." She straddled his legs as she began to pump his cock through his smooth underwear. "I don't suppose you could help with, oh!" She moaned as his hands skirted up her blouse and cupped her breasts from below. "Very good," She murmured as he began to work his fingers over the sheer material of her bra. Her nipples hardened under his calloused finger tips and her skin flushed a rosy hue as he fondled her breasts and squeezed at the soft flesh. 

His cock sprung free of his boxers as she pulled the hem down and she licked her lips at the thick organ. "That'll fill my 'quota' nicely, I think."

"You think?" Eric chuckled as she slid her pants off. "Oooh, Pink." He smirked and got a soft bop of the nose for his jest. "Soft" He whispered as she slid her silk covered slit up the shaft of his cock. She stopped as the head pressed against her covered lips and slowly rocked her hips left and right. Eric was silent as his breathing grew heavy and his eyes focused down on where a sheer layer of fabric was the only thing between them and a raw fucking. 

Ah. Something in his head clicked and, despite the previous nights raw dealings, he reached for a familiar ring that, when he applied pressure, grew a thin but elastic material that would stretch across his flesh.

"Good boy." She whispered in his ear, before she quickly snatched it from his hands. She sheathed him in one hand and pulled her panties aside with the other. "So good." She exhaled as her hungry pussy swallowed his cock in a single downward push. The hot slap of her ass on his thighs punctuated the motioned and for a moment they just held there, and enjoyed the feeling of each other.

Then Eric got to work, and with his feet braced on the floor began to thrust upwards, and deeper, into Cornelia. Her eyes squinted shut as she grit her teeth and bore a feral smile. "YES!" She growled and he put his hands on her hips to pull her down onto him in time with his thrusts. "MORE!" Her hands found his shoulders as she curled over him, her breasts swayed in the air in front of his face. Large and full, nipples erect and taunting Eric for stimulation.

He obliged, taking one into his mouth and letting his good hand grope the other as he continued to thrust up into the off-duty officer. Her arms curled around his hand and pulled him into her cleavage as she held on for dear life. Eric's cock hit the 'mark' on the way in and dragged along the walls of her pussy on the way out. He rolled her onto her back, and her legs hooked around his back and held him close as his thrusts became shorter and harder.

Their eyes met as he pulled up from the valley of her breasts and Eric pressed his lips to hers as he thrust one last time, the head of his covered cock kissing her the entrance to her womb.

The expulsions of seed were contained by the condom. The passionate kiss he unleashed on her lips was not.

He rolled to the side and pulled her close, even as his body insisted it could 'go another' he pulled out and brought Cornelia into a close hug. She looked up at him, sweat matting her hair across her forehead, and smiled. He smiled back, and they kissed softly again.

WURP! 