Author's Notes: With SoFurry back online I've had a chance to get my profile caught up with everything I've done so far and I've noticed that the two folders I have for sorting my submissions ("Origins" and "Rising") are very uneven. I keep rehashing older stuff I guess since it's "easier" or less intimidating because a lot of the initial legwork is already done, so I'd like to change gears and try to focus on penning some new material that way the "Rising" folder is not as empty. Granted, for the lot of you out there everything I post is "new" insofar as it's "new to you", but I'm trying not to be lazy with my work. It feels creatively dishonest, or something.

This short story is an idea I had that's (very, very) loosely grounded in personal experience. The setup and framing of the story is what I drew my inspiration from, based on a party I was invited to a few times about a decade and a half ago. That's about it though, from that groundwork the rest of it is spun off into a story that I think is interesting since I've never really seen a lot of written content out there for pool toy stuff. I'm guilty of contributing to that dearth myself though, as up to this point I've never even so much as outlined a story that catered to this niche before in all my nearly 30 years of writing furry stories. The closest I've come was proofreading a story by someone else, so with this submission that finally changes. I'd make a "popping" your cherry joke, but when it comes to pool toys I'm a very hardline "non-popper".

I should've been a comedian.

Erlan hummed along to the music blaring from the stereo across the porch as he carefully turned and handled the meat on the barbecue pit with a pair of metal tongs. He was an average-sized maroon-colored dragon with a curious body type that defied simple categorization; he wasn't thin, wasn't athletic, and he wasn't exactly overweight either. He was in a middle ground of being able to afford to lose a few pounds but well off enough that it probably didn't matter. Erlan was the type of guy who'd wear himself out pretty easily by lugging a bag of concrete mix around but who also had enough energy to play a few rounds of touch football with the guys. As things were though, he was manning the pit for the party he'd been invited to since the only thing redder than the dragon's skin tone was the meat-loving blood pumping through his body.

"Hey guys, wieners are ready!" Erlan called out to a group of three other guys chatting amongst themselves nearby.

One of them, a muted blue dinosaur named Jonas, glanced over for a second before excusing himself from the conversation.

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific than that," he said to Erlan in a teasing manner.

"It's an open buffet, Jonas," the dragon said with a wink. "You're the one who's gonna have to be more specific."

As Erlan spoke he playfully clapped the metal tongs in Jonas' direction a few times.

Jonas rolled his eyes as he grabbed the tongs out of Erlan's hand so he could serve himself. He was a little shorter than Erlan and overall just smaller than him in general in terms of body type and build. He was something of a mix between a velociraptor and deinonychus with perhaps a little bit of dilophosaur genes added for good measure; he didn't have any of the usual traits specific to any of the species though and instead resembled a sort of generic "carnivore dinosaur" caricature. His moderately toned body was predominately covered in soft pebbly light blue skin that was heavily subdued with gray to the point where its color looked more like treated steel. As far as party guests went, Jonas skewed toward the younger side as he was a few years younger than Erlan who'd already crossed 40.

Erlan stepped back a couple paces to let Jonas have first dibs on the hot dogs. The dinosaur chuckled to himself as he caught another glance of the grilling apron Erlan was wearing, the usual kitschy "kiss the cook" apron except the fabric of the second "O" had been intentionally undone and partially cut to spell something that gave the garment an entirely new meaning. The lewd remark would've prompted him to glance even further down the dragon's body, but the apron was long enough that it covered him to just above his knees. Still, he'd seen Erlan earlier that afternoon before he'd fired up the grill and even with the baggy swim trunks the dragon was wearing it was obvious to anyone that there was one more cut of meat he'd brought that you'd have to ask for by name in order to get it.

"Wow, your meat's really good!" Jonas said jokingly, his mouth still full of half-chewed sausage.

"You're one to know, yeah?" The dragon replied with a grin as he gave the dinosaur a playful smack on his rump.

The two reptiles chatted for a bit as the party around them continued on. The other guys Jonas had been talking to grabbed a bite to eat as well and as they left to mingle elsewhere and the other guests saw that the food was apparently ready they trickled in to help themselves too.

The party itself wasn't explicitly a hook-up gathering, but most of the guys there were open to the idea. The owner of the home was somewhere in the dozen or so men socializing, he liked the energy that came with putting on little get-togethers such as these and since his house was completely fenced off and had a nice pool it just wound up being the best venue overall. There was enough room to move around with the privacy for everyone there to unwind and be themselves with the other guys. Case in point, as Erlan and Jonas talked over their quick lunch elsewhere in the backyard were a few guys lounging in or by the pool and some others playing cards on the porch. Another was helping himself to one of the beers from the ice chests and elsewhere a couple had split off to give themselves some space in order to kiss and nuzzle at each other away from the busyness of the rest of the party.

"Hey, see the guys over there roughhousing by the pool?" Erlan said, gesturing toward the area with the hand he was still holding a half-eaten frank with.

"Yeah," Jonas answered. "What about 'em?"

"They brought some of their inflatables, obviously. They asked me if I was interested in fooling around with them a bit later, since I'd done it before. Thought I'd extend the invitation to you as well since I know it was something you were curious about."

"Fool around?" The dinosaur asked, his attention switching back to Erlan. "With... the inflatables?"

"Yeah," Erlan said with a nod. "A few of the ones they have are modified, like the whale that Jaxon is sitting on. The others are inside the house."

"O-oh... I don't know..." Jonas said, feeling his face flush slightly. "I get kinda nervous around a lot of guys at once like that..."

"No worries man," the dragon said with a reassuring smile. "I know you can be shy at times. Just thought I'd ask."

The two reptiles finished eating and conversed for a few more minutes, taking turns teasing each other while being casually affectionate. Erlan eventually caught up with Jaxon and the other guys hanging out in the pool and later that afternoon the group split off and retreated into the host's house where the rest of their inflatables were.

Jonas on the other hand mingled a little more, catching up with others over drinks until the party gradually wound down and those who were fit to drive back home did so. The dinosaur was one of the few who wasn't there looking for a quickie that same day, but rather just wanted to see what everyone else was up to and perhaps make future plans. He'd known a handful of the other guys there intimately at least once, though those were on his own time outside of the boisterous atmosphere of a backyard barbecue. As Jonas drove back to his home he felt the phone in his pocket vibrate a couple of times during the trip, no doubt text messages from some of the guys he'd been talking to earlier that afternoon, and also likely messages with a couple of tempting photos for him to enjoy when he got home.

The muffled sound of a ringing doorbell could be heard just outside the front door as Jonas pressed its ringer. A few moments later the door opened, with Erlan on the other side.

"Hey Jonas," the dragon greeted with a smile. "About time!"

"Sorry, you know how the road construction goes around these parts," Jonas said as he stepped forward to give Erlan a hug. "Every other day they've got a different lane or route closed."

"Ain't that the truth. Well, come on in!"

Jonas helped himself through the front door past Erlan who quietly closed it behind both of them.

"Can I get ya something to drink?" Erlan offered.

"Sure, I'll take your finest top shelf sparkling seltzer water," Jonas said sarcastically.

"Right, so beer it is," the dragon answered with a laugh.

A week had passed since the pool party the two men had attended. Jonas was no stranger to Erlan's house, it was a place he'd spent a lot of time at and one where he'd also made some fond memories. Both reptiles took a seat in one of the two cushioned recliners in Erlan's living room alternating between watching a couple of plays in the game on the TV and catching up while complaining over work woes. Of all the guys Jonas was close with, he felt closest to the dragon sitting just a few feet away from him. There was just something about how Erlan felt like a combination of a best friend, brother, and father all at the same time and each in their own ways. Spending the day at Erlan's house often led to spending the night there too, something Jonas was always willing to experience.

"So, I was thinking about the party last week," Erlan said, gradually changing the subject of the conversation.

"Yeah?" The dinosaur replied. "Was a lot of fun getting to see everyone again, always the highlight of the... semi-year? Or so, when they happen."

Erlan smiled and nodded in response.

"I was thinking back about some of the stuff you and I had talked about," the dragon said. "There's something I want to show you."

Erlan stood up from his chair as he spoke, gesturing his head to the side in the direction of his bedroom.

Jonas perked up at the gesture. Sometimes he and Erlan would fool around a bit during the day but more often than not those activities waited until the sun had gone down. Though, if the dragon was feeling in the mood for something Jonas was always happy to oblige.

Jonas roused himself from the other recliner and walked over to Erlan who gently stroked the dinosaur's shoulder and nodded his head in the direction of his room again. Jonas followed one step behind the dragon and as Erlan grabbed the doorknob to his bedroom he paused for a moment and flashed a grin at Jonas before turning the knob and gently pushing the door open. Jonas again briefly perked up in surprise as he looked through the doorway; sitting atop the dragon's bed was the inflatable killer whale that Jaxon and his friends were playing with in the pool.

"You... have one?" Jonas asked as he turned his attention to Erlan.

"No, but after me and Jaxon and the other guys cleaned up after the party I asked if he'd be okay with me borrowing one of his toys for a while."

Erlan continued. "I know how you can get sometimes when there's multiple guys around, so I thought I'd invite you over and let you try her out. Just you and me."

A thoughtful smile slowly spread across Jonas' muzzle.

"Of course, I'd love to!" He exclaimed, the excitement in his voice audible.

Jonas stepped into Erlan's bedroom, the dragon not far behind. As the dinosaur approached the bed he reached his hand out and placed it on the side of the inflatable whale, watching as it pressed down into the vinyl material ever so slightly.

"Gosh... she's even bigger when you're this close to her," he said as his eyes traced from the whale's snout to her fluke.

The toy filled out the entire bed with only a little bit of room on either side of it. Simply by standing next to it Jonas could tell she was easily a foot longer than he was tall. A smile gradually spread across Jonas' face as he took a couple of steps along Erlan's bed slowly running his hand down the side of the whale at the same time.

The dinosaur paused for a moment. He gave the whale's snout a playful squeeze before stepping back over near the middle of the bed and climbing onto it. Erlan's bed was just a stepping stone though as Jonas quickly, and awkwardly, also climbed onto the back of the pool toy as well, the whale's vinyl material creaking slightly as he settled atop her. Jonas chuckled to himself as he shifted atop the whale slightly to find a comfortable position prompting the material to again stretch and groan quietly. From his sitting position Jonas leaned forward a bit and this time ran his hands along both sides of the whale and gave her sizable dorsal fin a hug.

"Looks like you're already enjoying yourself," Erlan finally chimed in, smiling from the doorway.

Jonas laughed softly. He felt an awkward warmth in his face as he realized he actually was having fun "riding" the inflatable whale; outside of the water too, as silly as that was. There was something about how large she was and how she felt somewhat like a cushion while still being rigid enough to hold him up. It was exactly the kind of thing he was curious about.

"Kick your pants off at least, relax a little," the dragon said with a chuckle as he made his way over toward the bed too.

It wasn't until Erlan had mentioned it that Jonas noticed his pants did feel a little bit claustrophobic. He was too distracted by exploring the whale to notice, but he was already well on his way to becoming fully erect. The dinosaur shuffled off from atop the whale for a moment to undo his jeans and take them off leaving just his underwear making his growing arousal harder to hide.

"There ya go," Erlan said warmly.

As Jonas glanced up after taking off his pants he was met with the sight of Erlan having already taken off his shirt, the dragon now in the process of undoing the fastener on the front of his pants too. Jonas smiled to himself as he grabbed hold of the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up over his head to match Erlan's current state of undress.

Jonas climbed back onto the bed and atop the whale again, gasping as he felt the strange coolness of her vinyl spread across his legs as he sat on her back. He trembled softly as he laid forward pressing his chest against her and spreading his arms out as far as he could reach around her body taking in the same coolness everywhere else he could. The sensation lasted only a moment or two before he started warming the material with his own body's heat but that small handful of seconds was a strangely erotic rush unlike anything he'd felt before.

"She feels so nice to lay on like this... wow..." Jonas said, sighing pleasantly.

Without thinking about it Jonas began to slowly grind his hips against the whale, pressing the bulge in his underwear down against the inflatable as he felt his cock quickly finish firming up.

"It's a strange kind of sensuousness isn't it?" Erlan added.

Jonas closed his eyes for a few moments as he simply took in everything he was feeling. The tautness of the vinyl as he pressed against it. The very faint almost industrial smell of the material. The gradient of temperature as he moved his arms slowly onto part of the pool toy that hadn't yet been warmed up. He felt the whale shift a little bit, the material creaking slightly as it moved. The dinosaur glanced up from his position atop the inflatable to see Erlan standing at the foot of the bed. The dragon had placed his hands on either side of the whale's face and against her snout he'd pressed the very generous bulge in his underwear. As Erlan slowly moved his hips to grind his crotch against the whale Jonas realized that's what was causing the movement he'd felt a few seconds prior.

A low rumbling moan escaped Erlan's maw as the dragon slowly pushed his body forward causing his bulge to press downward into the whale's nose. Jonas let out a quiet moan of his own as he rocked his body against the whale too, the sound of Erlan enjoying it serving to heighten the pleasure he was already feeling.

Erlan made several slow passes against the inflatable's snout before looping his thumbs behind his underwear and tugging them down a few inches. The dragon's plump manhood throbbed eagerly in the air several times before he leaned forward once again, a little further this time, and began to continue slowly grinding and thrusting against the whale. Jonas glanced up again to see Erlan eagerly working his cock against the inflatable, her snout now lightly slickened with the dragon's precum. The sight of Erlan's thick shaft pressing against the vinyl along with the barely audible squeaks the material made as he thrust against it seemed to unlock something within the dinosaur. This whole "pool toy thing" was something he'd been curious about, that much he knew, but seeing something as sexually striking as that really cemented to Jonas that yes, this was not just something he was curious about but something he definitely enjoyed.

From atop the inflatable Jonas eagerly shimmied his underwear down and kicked them off, his position of sitting on top of the whale with one leg on either side of her not letting him only pull them down a little bit as Erlan had. Jonas sighed pleasantly as he resumed gently grinding against the whale while hugging her dorsal fin, enjoying the feeling of her smooth vinyl sliding against his bare scales and manhood.

"Now it looks like you're really enjoying yourself," Erlan repeated with a smile, emphasizing the added word "really" as he watched Jonas ride atop the pool toy naked for a few seconds.

"Yeah... it's surprising how good it feels to just rub against her like this," the dinosaur replied.

"Do you want to go a step further with her? Or, would you like to just keep going like this?"

"Further...?" Jonas asked.

He thought for a moment about what that meant, though just as it clicked in his head Erlan spoke again.

"Yeah, if you roll her over you'll see," the dragon added.

Jonas glanced down over the side of the whale for a moment and then tried to dismount the inflatable as gracefully as he could. From beside the bed he grabbed her fluke with one hand and slid his arm further up under her body. As he lifted the inflatable up and started to try and tilt it Erlan took a step back and helped Jonas roll the whale over by holding one of her pectoral fins and the side of her face.

The whale slowly rolled over atop the bed, landing slightly off of her side with barely a sound. As the inflatable's white underside came fully into view Jonas noticed that tucked along the reinforced seam going down the belly of the pool toy was a pair of conspicuously-placed holes. The dinosaur figured this had to have been the same whale that Jaxon had brought to the recent party, the one that Erlan had specifically noted was "modified".

"Well?" Erlan said with a warm smile. "Care to try her out for real?"

Jonas' gaze broke from Erlan's as he gave the giant whale a glancing over, pausing at the pair of SPH's that had been installed in her, before his eyes traced her body again.

"I... I don't know..." he answered, his thoughts a mixture of curiosity but also palpable nervousness.

Jonas ran his hand along the underside of the whale, his fingers gently grazing the vertical slit that comprised her faux female genitals. He pressed two of his fingers against one side of it, watching as the hole slowly spread open. The material that it and the SPH under it were made from was a very vivid pink, the color of which prominently stood out against the large patch of white surrounding them. The pink material was also vinyl, like the rest of the inflatable, just cut from a slightly different make of the plastic that felt slicker than the material used to make the original unmodified toy. As Jonas' fingers pressed into the whale's slit he also felt a little bit of soft resistance as the foam vessel for the SPH easily deformed around them.

Erlan watched from the sidelines as the dinosaur gradually sated his curiosity about all the things he wanted to know about this kind of play. He could tell Jonas was feeling nervous again, the dragon knew him well enough to have developed a sixth sense for it, but he could also see that same feeling of hesitation quickly start to disappear once the dinosaur began to explore the whale's slit with his fingers.

"You know where I keep the lube," Erlan said with a grin. He knew the answer Jonas was about to give before he could even say it.

Jonas seized up for a second and felt a very brief flash of heat in his face.

"...yeah..." he mumbled out with a chuckle.

Jonas took one step to the side and opened the drawer on the nightstand beside Erlan's bed. From it, he retrieved a half empty bottle of liquid emblazoned with a shiny purple label familiar to him, Erlan, and their friends. With the bottle in hand, Jonas climbed back up onto the bed and slowly straddled himself atop the whale again much in the same way he'd been before just with the inflatable upside down this time. As the dinosaur adjusted himself and the whale underneath him she came to rest fully on her back with her dorsal fin tucking under her due to Jonas' weight.

The dinosaur gave the bottle he was holding several vigorous shakes before flipping its cap open. He lowered the bottle down and tilted it just above the whale's slit and gave it a gentle squeeze watching as a generous amount of the syrupy clear liquid poured out onto the pink vinyl. Jonas capped the bottle and dropped it onto the mattress beside the inflatable before returning his attention to the whale and slowly running his fingers up and down her slit to spread the lube around. Everywhere the liquid touched caused the material under it to adopt an enticing sheen, especially the neon pink of the pool toy's feminine cleft. Jonas slowly pushed his fingers down into the whale to help spread the slippery liquid further into her. He gasped as he felt the cushioning on either side of the slit give way, his thoughts immediately switching to what it would feel like to push his cock into it instead.

In the few moments where Jonas had climbed back onto the whale and begun spreading the lube around Erlan had returned to where he was standing at the foot of the bed. Once again the dragon had his hands palming either side of the pool toy's wide face and was softly grinding against it again, this time with his shaft rubbing against the whale's underside instead of the top of her head. As Jonas withdrew his fingers from the inflatable's SPH the dinosaur glanced up at Erlan. The dragon didn't say a word, he just flashed a sly grin in response; over the course of a couple of minutes he'd seen Jonas go from excited to nervous to curious and all the way back to excited again.

Jonas heard Erlan's unspoken message loud and clear. The dinosaur focused his attention back down at the inflatable underneath him, tracing her delicate slit with his fingers one last time. He moved his slick hand to his manhood and gave it several slow strokes to work some of the lube onto himself as well. He shifted his position slightly, pulling back a bit to point his cock downward with one hand and slide its head along the slick pink folds. He pressed his hips forward slowly, pushing down a little more firmly with his hand. An audible gasp escaped the dinosaur's lips as he watched - and felt - his maleness slowly sink into the slippery vinyl. He sucked in a long slow breath as he scooted forward slightly atop the whale, easily sliding the rest of his shaft into the inflatable's SPH. The breath Jonas had taken in let itself out as a soft moan as he curled his toes slightly and took in the feeling of the slick taut vinyl tightly wrapping around his cock as the hole's foam backing conformed to his shaft and gripped it just a hair shy of too much.

"Oh... oh wow..." Jonas finally managed to say, his words separated by another quiet moan.

Erlan chuckled slightly, the dragon's laugh tapering off into a gentle moan of his own as his cock grinded against the soft vinyl belly of the whale in another patch generously slickened by his pre.

Jonas pulled his hips back a little bit and thrust forward again feeling a gentle tingle in his spine as the still foreign sensation of slick vinyl wrapping around his shaft teased his most sensitive nerves. Given how soft and pliable the pool toy was Jonas found it difficult to properly thrust into her, instead he quickly settled into a gentle rocking motion that pulled his length back just far enough for the resulting push forward to feel almost like a full pass into her. He rumbled softly as he tried to piece together how it felt; it wasn't better than real sex, but it also definitely was not worse either. The sensation almost defied categorization; the tight vinyl walls of the whale's SPH were their own unique thing incomparable to a living and breathing partner but also completely unlike the cybersleeves he and the other guys had fooled around with on lonely nights. It was very clearly not an analog for flesh, but it also wasn't trying to be anywhere close that at all. It was alien in a way, the feeling of which only served to intrigue and arouse Jonas further.

Jonas' eyes slowly closed again. The dinosaur arched his back slightly, murring softly as he continued to slowly ride the inflatable and feel her slit swallow his length in warm slick vinyl. For several moments he simply relished in the feeling of the whale's tightness and how his mixture of grinding and thrusting was punctuated with faint squeaks and groans. The gentle sounds of Erlan's periodic moans and sighs slowly brought Jonas back into the room and as he opened his eyes to look across the bed he saw that Erlan had also lost himself in a similar haze of pleasure grinding his cock against the underside of the pool toy.

The dragon stirred, his hands gripping the sides of the inflatable's face a little more tightly than when he'd started. The rhythm and pace of his thrusting had changed considerably. What began as long slow strokes had turned into slightly quicker little jolts; Erlan let out another soft moan and as his mouth closed the dragon softly bit his lower lip.

As Jonas watched, he knew exactly what was about to happen. Erlan made another few rapid passes against the underside of the whale before pushing his hips forward and holding himself there. The dragon murred audibly, his guttural rumbling turning into a pleasured moan as his cock throbbed and a thick rope of cum erupted from it leaving a trail of seed almost a foot ahead of where his manhood was. Erlan moaned again, grinding his shaft against the inflatable in quick bursts as a second and third jet of seed lanced from his member not as far as the first but still an impressive several inches away. The dragon's climax continued for another several pulses, each one releasing a dribble of his milky off-white seed onto the slick vinyl of the whale's belly.

Jonas was no stranger to experiencing such intimate moments with Erlan, but in the context of experimenting with this modified pool toy watching the dragon grind against the vinyl and blow his load like that was such a rush that it heightened the dinosaur's own senses too. Jonas trembled, he gripped the soft belly of the whale a little tighter as he felt his cock throb with need inside the inflatable's tight hole. His gaze was focused on the generous mess Erlan had made on her just a couple of feet ahead of where he was sitting. Jonas closed his eyes and smiled to himself, finally feeling his peak hit him.

The dinosaur moaned warmly as he pushed his manhood as far into the whale as he could. His cock throbbed several times as his load quickly worked its way through his system and an intense rush of pleasure filled the young dinosaur as he felt his seed shoot into her tight artificial folds. He held himself in place as his cum poured into the inflatable, her slick depths eagerly taking everything he was giving to her. As his release began to taper and the spike of sensitivity in his manhood relinquished its grip on him Jonas found himself idly grinding against the inflatable again, sliding his slowly softening cock into her over and over to savor the last little sparks of pleasure.

He looked up again to see Erlan was doing much the same, slowly pumping his length in his hand while admiring the amount of his emission.

"She's nice, huh?" The dragon asked with a grin.

Jonas felt his face flash with heat again.

"Yeah... I've uh... I've..." he started.

"Never felt anything like it before?" Erlan finished.

"Yeah," Jonas replied with a smile.

The two reptiles' eyes locked warmly for several moments, Erlan eventually breaking the silence with a knowing chuckle.

"Well..." the dragon started, "we should probably clean her and ourselves up."

Jonas returned the chuckle as he slowly pulled himself backward from his position atop the pool toy, watching as his flaccid cock withdrew from her tight slit. He very carefully swung one leg over to the same side as the other and climbed off of the bed as Erlan continued to speak.

"Got the whole day ahead of us. We can grab dinner somewhere, and maybe tonight fool around with our new friend some more. After all... she still has another hole you haven't tried yet."

"I'd like that," Jonas said in a more lustful and confident tone.

The dinosaur stepped over to Erlan as he spoke, tracing one of his fingers down the dragon's chest while glancing up at him.

Erlan tilted his head down a bit and gave Jonas a soft kiss.

"I knew you would," he said with a smile as he pulled his head back afterward.

Jonas smiled softly and wrapped his arms around Erlan for a brief moment to give him a tight hug before the two men made their way to the master bathroom to clean themselves up. With his curiosity finally sated in a low stress setting, Jonas wondered if the next time he attended a cookout and the inflatables were there if he'd have the confidence to join Erlan, Jaxon, and the other couple of guys in the privacy of one of the bedrooms to "play" with some of the other pool toys. The dinosaur shrugged to himself as he mulled the thought over, figuring it was a bridge he'd cross if the opportunity ever arose. For now, he had the rest of the day and evening to follow to spent with Erlan and the whale, and he was already looking forward to round two.