Hirsune Pt. 17 - It's a Madhouse
(see the beginning of part 1 for the pronunciation guide)
Hirsune
Pt. 17 - It's a Madhouse
by argouru
Ky frowned, looking around at the crowd of both Hirsune and humans gathered in the town hall's meeting room.
*I'm getting real sick of this place,* he thought to himself with annoyance. *Maybe after the meeting I should grab someone and bend them over the councilmens' table. Build up a few -good- memories in this room!*
"Kylenus?" Lilly asked, threading her way through the crowd to reach him, dressed in a dark blue women's business suit and her hair pulled back unto it's usual meticulously tight bun on the back of her head. "We're about ready to start."
"Ok," he said, and began to move towards the center of the room to the councilmens' table. He had to make sure to look down as he walked, in order to avoid tripping on the power cables strewn across the wooden floor of the room, as the TV news crews readied their equipment to broadcast the meeting live to the world.
"Oh, Jason!" a female reporter said as he passed. "Make sure you get that one's bruise clearly on camera!"
Ky blushed slightly, embarrassed. *Great! Bad enough I look like hamburger, but now they want to glorify it for the whole planet to drool over! But still...* he continued as he made his way over to the table and took his seat in the extra chair set at the end, next to his father, *Maybe I can use it to invoke more sympathy for our cause...*
The humans from the US State department arrived, and everyone sat down for the meeting, introducing themselves. Lilly was serving as the legal representation for the Hirsune. The talks were long and tedious, with many back and forths. Kylenus added his input, as the cameras zoomed in on the bruised side of his face, the bright lights nearly blinding him.
The entire affair felt like it lasted for days. When they broke for a recess, Ky gratefully stepped outside into the cooler air blowing gently down main street. He didn't get any peace though, as reporters swooped down on him like vultures, harassing him with overlapping questions.
He turned left and right, answering them as best as he could, until a female reporter stopped him dead with her next question.
"How do you explain the open acts of incest among your people?"
"What?" he asked in shock, feeling the bottom of his stomach disappear.
"Well we've seen several people kissing and fondling each other in public. When we questioned them, they said they were directly related to each other. A father and son, and two brothers. How do you explain this?"
Ky sighed, realizing that it had been foolish to hope that this issue would stay under wraps until later. The lustfully open nature of Hirsune displays of affection were too strong to resist at times, and were an automatic part of their daily life.
Taking a deep breath, he started by explaining to the humans why they had such a strong phobia about incest. He made sure to explain it several times to them, running over the point from several angles before continuing onward, explaining the differences in human and Hirsune physiology and describing in detail why Hirsune lacked the same prejudice.
"...So To us, incest has never been viewed as something wrong or harmful. Since we have such a microscopically low rate of birth defects, we never developed a need to avoid sexual activity with our relations. To us, showing intimacy to family members is the strongest act of affection we can give. To us, it's really about family bonds, emotional support and affection. We love our relatives the same way that humans love their romantic partners, because to us, that's the closest thing we have to lifelong mates. To us, it's a vital part of our social structure.
"We're not saying that everyone should be like us," he said, shaking his head. "We understand that humans have a much different way of interacting with their families. All we ask, is that we be left alone, and our way of life be respected. We don't want to force our beliefs onto anyone else," he added, shaking his head as he spoke. "All we ask is that we be left in peace."
"But what about children?" a male reporter asked bluntly. "Don't you think it's unreasonable to force this kind of behavior upon them? Are you having sex with your children?"
"Are you trying to ask about pedophilia?!? NO!!! We don't do that!" Ky exclaimed, shaking his head again. He was making sure to show his feelings, as well as speak them. Ky knew well that there would be people who would try to re-edit the video footage to serve their own agendas, so he was being as careful as he could.
"A Hirsune doesn't becum sexually active until they reach puberty. Once they do, we wait until the offspring begins to show interest in learning about sexuality. Once the Hirsune asks his family for instruction in the arts of pleasure, his relatives begin to slowly teach him about sexual relations, making sure that the instructee is comfortable with the process. It's always initiated by the son, and -never- against his will. The learning process is one hundred percent consensual."
"So you're saying that you don't indulge in rape in regards to your children?" the reporter asked rudely.
"Certainly not! And I find that implication highly offensive! We Hirsune NEVER commit rape! To us, the act of sex is a sacred and beautiful thing! For us, sexuality forms the basis of our religious beliefs and social structure, and is -never- conducted without mutual consent from everyone involved in the act! To us, sex is about mutual pleasure for everyone who wants it at the time. The very notion of rape is repugnant to Hirsune!"
Just then, the call to return to the chamber was given. "Excuse me, I need to get back inside," he said, pushing his way past the reporters gratefully...
The next day, Lilly, the town elders and their families were all gathered in Pareus' large living room, watching the footage of the prior day's events on CNN.
A reporter was on the streets of New York city, getting impressions from the crowd. He was talking with two women with long hair.
"I think it's kinda neat," one of them said with a smile. "I mean, a whole people who aren't human, hidden away for centuries? It's just so amazing!"
"Yeah," her friend said, smiling. "It's mind-boggling! And that one guy they talked with..."
"Oh, the one that was all bruised up?" the first gal asked, sounding pitying.
"Yeah... He was kind of cute! ...Buuuttt, I guess I'm not his type!"
The girls broke out in giggles. The view changed to a business man in a suit, who looked openly hostile.
"I think it's disgusting! I've heard all about those creatures! Fornicating out in public! Incestuous things! It's revolting! This isn't the kind of country our forefathers fought and died for! It's an insult!"
The view changed to a man with long hair and beard, who shrugged. "It's kinda cool, I guess. I mean, who knew? Hey! I wonder if they're related to Bigfoot?"
"And what about their incestuousness? How do you feel about that?" the reporter asked.
"Well, it's kinda freaky, ...but after hearing that Kyleness guy talking about how they don't have birth defects, and how it's all just the way humans think... I can kinda understand where they're coming from. So, ...to each his own, I guess."
Next was a wealthy woman dressed very expensively. "I've heard all about them," she said in a lofty manner. "Truly beastly creatures! Their habits are absolutely disgusting! Have you heard, Dear?"
"What exactly is it about the Hirsune that bothers you?" the female reporter asked.
"Meat, Darling! I heard that they're ravenous carnivores! It's positively revolting!"
"Oh," the reporter said, with relief. "I thought you were talking about their social habits. It almost sounded as though you were implying something else, such as they were inferior to us humans."
"Well I don't know about you, Dear. Tell me... Do you eat meat?" the woman asked her.
"Well yes, I had a chicken sandwich for lunch."
"Oh... Then you're no better than they are. Marsha, Dearling!" the woman being interviewed said, calling to someone off camera. "Loving the new outfit! You -must- tell me who your designer is! Ta ta, Darling," she said dismissively to the reporter before drifting away.
The program returned to the vid bite of Kylenus explaining more about how Hirsune viewed incest differently from humans.
"You handled that very well, Kylenus," Lilly said, leaning forward on the couch to pat him on the shoulder as he sat on the floor near her.
"Yeah, I hope so," he said, frowning slightly.
"Well, I won't pretend that I'm not happy that the public learned about the incest so rapid-idly," Lilly said, pausing with a stammer as she saw Markano's hand rubbing the bulge in Davin's jeans as they sat next to each other beside her.
"Sorry," Mark said, pulling his hand away reluctantly.
"No, please," she said, raising a hand. This is your town, and I just need to get used to seeing things like that, is all. Don't let me stop you... All I -do- ask, is that you don't start whipping them out in front of me."
"Damn," Kav said, pretending he was pulling his zipper back up, and laughing at the shocked look on the human's face.
Kylenus spun around and smacked Kav's knee with the back of his hand. "Can't you behave yourself for five seconds! And to think -I'm- the youngest!" he added, turning to Lilly.
She smiled sympathetically at him...
There were several more meetings over the intervening weeks, both with the government and reporters. Wolf Blitzer did an expose' on the town and its people, interviewing Kylenus, Pareus, Welvayan and Doc Harian. Everyone in the world seemed to want to know all about the Hirsune, and the video of Kavarin's hatching was played so many times he swore he'd figure out how to invent a time machine just so he could co back and break the camcorder before it could ever be used to film his hatching.
Volnaro was released into the custody of the town council, but remained banished from their ranks. He rapidly became a hermit, rarely leaving his home for the rest of his days.
Steven Colbert came to the town as well, offering the world a stern warning about the dangers of allowing people to be happy and free, and comparing the Hirsune to bears as the number one threat to society, simply because they 'looked too happy...' "...suspiciously happy." Everyone was alarmed and offended by this, until Ky, who'd always been a fan of The Colbert Report, explained the nature of the comedian's satirical style of news reporting. Not everyone was amused, but Ky defended the comedian's bit, saying that by poking fun at something, it became something not to be seen as dangerous.
The council continued to defer to Kylenus when it came to speaking with humans, and Ky's face seemed to be a part of every single broadcast, newspaper and magazine article relating to the Hirsune. He wasn't sure how to feel about this. It was very confusing for him to be the center of attention like this all of the time.
A month after the day he soldiers left town, there was a celebration and award ceremony for both Lilly and Kylenus, where they each were given a plaque to commemorate the occasion. Ky's had an erect phallus upon it, whereas Lilly's - much to her relief - had an image of a rising sun breaking over the horizon of a forest to symbolize the bright new future she had given them...
It was the end of May when Kylenus heard the bell ringing in the four-clang pattern. His excitement rose, as Davin came running towards him across the field.
"Ky! Dad needs you!" He ran up, shoving a lemongrass extract pill into his brother's mouth and handing him a bottle of water to wash it down, Ky doing so eagerly.
Kylenus flung down his hoe, and began running for the breeding room, desperately striping off his overalls and flinging them aside as he reached the outer door. His erection rising in anticipation, he passed through the storm porch-like entrance, then through the inner door, which helped to serve as a buffer zone for anyone entering the room, so that the potent pheromones wouldn't overwhelm them instantly. He entered to see Ardenus sitting nude on the bed, breathing hard.
"I'm here, Dad," he said, moving to his father.
"Ah fuck, Ky! I can feel it cuming on, ...like A fire inside me, growing hotter and hotter!" Ardenus said, his breathing getting heavier as be began to sweat profusely.
Ky moved to him, and burying his face in his dad's chest fur, inhaled long and deep. He moved up to the parent's face, their noses almost touching.
"Do it, Dad! Let the power of Penis consume you! I wanna see it! I wanna see it in your eyes as it takes you! Do it, Dad! Go into heat for me!" Ky said, his eyes locked onto his father's as their lips came together.
"Ah yeah... PENIS! Claim me with your power! ...Ah yeah, Ky... I'm glad you're first this year... Ah shit! It...It's cu...." His voice trailed off as they continued to kiss, eyes locked together.
Ky felt the pheromones begin to affect him, and his phallus became rock hard. His heart swelled with lust as he saw the reason fade from his father's eyes, replaced with an insane hunger.
Suddenly, Ardenus growled demandingly, yanking Ky down onto the bed, their lips still locked together. Ky surrendered to the demands of his father's lust-fueled season, and he plunged deep into that open and ravenous hole, letting the power of Penis consume him...
And then he remembered nothing...
"What do you mean they can't be here?" Lilly asked with annoyance.
"Well," Pareus said, "Ardenus went into heat, you see," he finished with a shrug, as though it were a completely natural thing - which for the Hirsune, was very much the case.
"Heat?" she asked, looking at him in disbelief.
"Hirsune breeding cycles occur once a year, and can last for up to four days. It's a very important time for family, so Kylenus, naturally wants to be there with his family, so as to help his brothers tend to their father's needs-"
"Alright! Alright!" Ted exclaimed, holding up a hand in alarm. "We get the picture!"
"Well..."Lilly said, struggling with his new aspect of Hirsune ways. "I guess we'll just have to go on without them for now. I'll go tell the representatives that we'll proceed without them."
Shaking her head in disbelief, she left the Mayor's office. *It's a good thing I don't have a heart condition,* she thought to herself.
In truth, however, she was a bit angry with herself for being so judgmental. Hadn't she devoted her life to defending GLBT rights. *Guess it's GLBT-H-, now...*
Lilly thought back to the reason she had changed her life, effectively doing a one-eighty in order to defend those who were different from mainstream society. It was because of Rachel...
Rachel was Lilly's sister, but had been born as her brother Robert. Being an open-minded person, Lilly was the only member of the family who had supported Robert when he came forward to them with his confession that he wanted to undergo gender-reassignment surgery. Lilly had known Rob was unhappy with his life as a man, and had been living as a drag queen for several years.
Lilly had been thinking of her sibling as Rachel for several years already, and was the most supportive person in her life. Rachel had moved to Portland, where she worked two jobs as waitress and drag show performer, while she saved up the massive amount of money required to pay for her surgeries. She had undergone all but the genital reconstruction surgery and was eagerly, but nervously, looking forward to it.
While walking home after a late-night shift at the diner, she had been assaulted by robbers who had decided to add rape to their crimes. But after receiving a nasty shock when they tore off her clothes, they became enraged, and stabbed her. Sadly, Rachel had died on the way to the hospital.
Lilly was devastated, and then enraged at her family when they refused to attend the funeral. She hadn't spoken to them in the twenty plus years since her sister's murder, and had little interest in doing so, as the few times she had met with any of them, they had shown anger at her 'willful choice to torpedo her promising career as a lawyer.'
Lilly had never regretted the choice, even now. She resolved to work harder on being more openminded of the Hirsunes' ways as she entered the meeting room of town hall...
The next several months were a blur to Kylenus. He remembered undergoing body scans at a government-run hospital, Doc Harian there consulting with the human doctors and biologists who were examining him. He recalled some officials cuming to town to verify the authenticity of the Hirsune's historical documents.
He'd had to take a few days' break however, as he was invited to help deal with Roderal's season, where he enjoyed giving his seed to his greedy Sire, who was lost in sensation. After the fellow Hirsune's season ended, he was drug back to his duties in service to the community.
Washington DC was in an uproar. Much of the GOP and religious right decried the existence of the Hirsune, and insisted the documents were forgeries even after historical experts and carbon dating proved their factual nature. The pope accused the Hirsune of slander and heresy for their revelation about the churches' attempts in the past to exterminate the Hirsune from existence. The general public of the world was divided on their support of, or anger against, the Hirsune.
Predictably, the practice of incest was at the top of the list of the things about the Hirsune that were most controversial. Child rights advocates insisted upon a full investigation of the Hirsunes' activities in regards to their young. Child psychologists grilled the furry youths, trying to find evidence of abuse, but as the Hirsune children had never been raped or mistreated, and were indeed both well adjusted and happy with the way they were treated, there was only the prejudicial views of the opposition to work with. There were a few ugly attempts to take the Hirsune children away from their relatives, but the hatchlings fought harder than anyone else to remain with their families.
Lilly became a major face in the fight for Hirsune equality, working tirelessly to preserve their rights, and keep their children from being taken away. The matter rapidly went from the Montana Supreme court, to the national stage, and the Supreme Court of the US deliberated for weeks on the issue of whether or not to grant the Hirsune equal status to humans, and allow them to retain custody of their children. The public went wild, some in opposition, but many more in support. The GLBT community embraced the Hirsune, bringing some of the strongest support for their rights, and the term GLBTH became widely used.
The entire affair rapidly consumed the word, and businesses, seeing opportunity, set to work on trying to get a foothold in the small community. Several businesses sprung up, but it was understood that the Hirsune themselves would have control of those new businesses, including staffing of them, under oversight by the companies themselves.
Much to Ardenus' annoyance, the FDA and Department of Agriculture began to enforce the same laws upon Hirsune farms that existed for human ones. He relented, however, when he saw that it was more to help protect people, than tell him how he was allowed to run the family business he'd inherited from his father. Fortunately, there was very little to find fault with, as Ardenus ran a very clean and healthy farm.
Finally, the Supreme Court passed it's ruling by the narrowest of margins. The Hirsunes' rights were to be legally recognized, based in strong part by the fact that they had lived in North America nearly twice as long as the European settlers.
The council of elders nominated, to a single one, that Kylenus would becum the international spokesman for the Hirsune community. The vote was supported, to a lesser degree, by the other two Hirsune communities within the boundaries of the United States. Kylenus took to the road for the Hirsune cause, making appearances on many news and talk shows throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Knowing how much Davin had dreamed of traveling, Ky often asked him to accompany him on the tours, and while they were sad to have to be away from their loved ones for so long, they took up the challenge of educating the public about their people. He found a human agent named Murray to organize his appearances.
The other Hirsune communities of the world came forward to make themselves known as well, and the nations of the world came forth with their own voices of support or opposition, but in America, the matter had been decided favorably, despite heavy resistance from those who continued to view the Hirsune negatively...
"My fellow Americans, and all Hirsune who reside within the borders of the United States of America," the President said during an international address broadcast live on TV. "On Tuesday, April twenty sixth, a tragedy was narrowly averted. The Hirsune, a people entirely separate from humans, and living in the isolated community of River's Bend, Montana, were arrested without cause by an army platoon, acting under the orders of a rogue commander.
"These actions were engineered by a small group of individuals, within the United States government, acting without the knowledge or consent of the armed forces, or the rest of the US government. An investigation has been made, and those responsible have been brought forth to face charges. The Hirsune have existed in isolation, hoping to avoid the very events that transpired on the day in question. They feared for their very existence at the hands of people such as the late Col. Alistare, and they were right to do so.
"We must understand, that all peoples, no matter how different, are deserving of the same rights and protections as everyone else. These rights cannot just be applied to humans. The Hirsune are a people, different, but equally deserving of the same rights and privileges that we humans enjoy. They have a long history, and a rich and unique culture.
"There have been concerns expressed by many Americans about some of the traditions and practices of the Hirsune. Intensive studies of the Hirsune culture and practices have been made, and it has been determined that those practices have no negative impact upon the younger generations of their culture. The Hirsune have the utmost compassion and respect for their children, and therefore, their rights, beliefs and practices are to be protected.
"Now it is true that the differences between humans and Hirsune are great, and the Hirsune understand this. All they ask for is the right to live their lives in peace, their cultural heritage and traditions unchanged.
The Supreme Court of the United States, has studied all of the evidence, including verified documentation that the Hirsune have lived in this land for over four hundred years. It is the Ruling of the Supreme Court that the rights and freedoms of the Hirsune are to be protected. The Hirsune have also expressed an interest in integrating into the United States of America, under the condition that their religious and cultural beliefs and practices remain unchanged.
"We must all work together, both Human and Hirsune, to preserve the principals that this great country was founded upon. The Hirsune communities of River's Bend, Montana, Cutter's Fork Pennsylvania, and Green Field, Kansas that exist within the boundaries of the United States of America are hereby recognized as being under the protection of the United States government, their rights to be preserved..."
Almost a year later, Kylenus was waving goodbye to the applauding talk show audience, blinking away the colored spots from his eyes the bright studio lights had left there. Davin stood waiting for him.
"Not too shabby for the national spokesman for the Hirsune," he smiled.
"Yeah, I always did like John Stewart," Ky said, as the audio tech removed his microphone set from his shirt.
"So are we free now? Can we go tour the city? I want a bite of that big apple everyone talks about," he said, making the tech smile.
"It's the city that's called 'The Big Apple', and yeah, I told Murray we were going."
"I hate that guy! Can't you get a better agent?" Davin said, frowning.
"Hey! You're wounding me here!" Murray said, walking up to them. "Nice to see you too, Davin. Ky... What's all this about you wanting four months off? Barbara Walters wants an interview, and you're putting her off 'til June? It's Barbara-freaking-Walters here! You can't just blow her off like that!"
"She's a -woman- Murray! I wouldn't blow her no matter how famous she is!"
"Haha! Another sex joke. What's that make, fifty today so far?"
"It's been a slow day."
"Besides," Davin said, glaring at the human, "I'd've thought you, of all people, would be used to sex jokes by now."
Kylenus sighed. Murray and Davin got along as well as fire and ice lately, and he was getting a bit sick of the bickering, which had begun last week when they'd told the human agent their plans for the springtime. Murray was fit to be tied.
"Can't you just put it off? I mean come on, Ky!"
"Sorry, Murray," Ky answered with annoyance, "but breeding cycles don't have snooze alarms! Springtime is family time, I explained that to you when I hired you to be my agent!"
"Besides, I want to try for a kid, and Ky needs to be there!" Davin added defensively.
"Yeah, yeah. You'll make a fine mother," the human said dismissively.
"FATHER!" Davin snarled.
"Fine! Fine! Whatever!"
"Enough!" Ky snarled, mad at both of them. "Murray! June! Period!"
"But Barbara wants to do it in April!"
"Yeah, the -last- week of April... Right when I go into heat, Murray! Why not have her drag her whole crew into the breeding room while you're at it! I'm sure she'd love that! Won't be much of an interview, though, seeing as how I'm not much of a conversationalist then! I'm afraid I'll be too busy concentrating on getting my canal plowed continually to think properly!"
An intern nearby stared at Kylenus in shock, her eyes wide, and Murray winced.
"Do you really have to be so graphic about that?" the agent said, squirming.
"Yes!" Ky and Davin both said, almost in unison...