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Lagomorphs

Copyright © July, 2015, FurryWurry

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Chapter 15 -- Explanations

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They lay on their sides, fully relaxed, facing one another, breathing each other's exhalations. He'd actually had sex with a Rab! In his excitement, to his regret, Jeff hadn't lasted long at all. His heart was still pounding heavily, though.

"That was nice," Cloudy murmured.

"Only nice?"

She snorted. "You bucks. You're always looking for praise. It was different, but really nice. Too often it isn't. Be glad."

"OK." He smiled.

They lay there a while longer. He caressed her arm, admiring her warm body and sleek shape, what he could see of it when looking from this angle. But that reminded him.

"Cloudy, do you mind if I ask some questions? About that Test? It's been puzzling me. I really don't understand what you were looking for."

"If you want. Don't your folk have one like that? It's not one of the nicest things we have to do."

"Why'd you have Gemma hug me? Wouldn't that have been dangerous if I'd been something you feared? Mightn't I have hurt her?"

"Of course. That was the point. She's just a kit. We have lots of them. Well, not right now, but we will soon. That's why she still has just a letter, not a name. Most kits don't survive very long, so they don't get a name until they come of age. Like Rainy. He got his name just a little while ago."

That was cold. Four-footed rabbits were easy prey, young ones even more so. It's why they had so many, ensuring a few would survive to adulthood, so they could have more. Apparently Rabs were the same. They had predators like the Raptors hunting them, and maybe worse. He hadn't seen any weapons, either.

"But hugging? How could that tell you anything? Many predators can hold off if they think the rewards might be greater. Like getting into the warren where there'd be lots more to eat."

"You really don't know? You really are from far away if you don't have Demons there. A Demon doesn't eat the way we do. Its entire skin is its mouth. It easts slowly, though, so usually you can still see parts of its last few meals sticking out."

"Oh." He felt sick. "So hugging...."

"It was a last resort. Nothing was sticking out of your skin and we really had to make sure. It's like stuffing food down someone's throat. There's no way a Demon couldn't have started to eat her, sucking her in right there in front of us. So we'd have known right away. And locked you out." She shuddered. "I'm glad we didn't have to."

"So am I."

They lay quietly for a while, each occupied by their thoughts.

"And what was that business about a tongue like a branch?"

"That's one of the first signs of being Tainted. Demons don't always eat their food right away: often they play with it first. Once you've been smeared with their juices they can make you Change. They usually convert folk into male sex organs stuck together every-which-way. The tongue is one of the first things to Change. All the fur falls out, too. And it's really contagious."

"Oh." Now he really felt bad. His depilation must have looked like a symptom, but Sky had befriended him anyhow.

"That's why Sky licked her. So we could see that his tongue was still flat. And because he likes her, of course, a lot," she explained.

"Of course. It might have been the last time he could, if I'd turned out to be Tainted or a Demon after all."

"Right." And that probably was why he'd flicked a strawberry into Jeff's mouth when they'd first met. It had been an excuse to see what kind of tongue he had.

Another quiet interval, then...

"May I hug you?" he finally asked.

"Of course."

They squeezed one another tightly. Two friends keeping each other warm against the cold, cruel night.