FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The sound of torrential rain still held Shawn wrapped in a cocoon of snug security as he floated gradually back toward consciousness. His eyes opened to slits and, seeing only the light of the complex's lamps sneaking in around his curtains, closed again, as he smiled and tugged his comforter up under his chin. He vaguely remembered getting up a couple times during the night to pee, and he was starting to get thirsty, but his bed was warm and comfortable, and all of the soreness had passed from his limp body; he was still in no hurry to start his day.

He wasn't aware of passing back out, but when he opened his eyes again a few apparent minutes later, the light leaking into his room was brighter, and the rain had slackened somewhat. A mighty yawn took control of his face, and he stretched out, enjoying the feeling of life returning to his body. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes. “...time's it?"

“Ten fifteen AM, bro," Jason's voice murmured in his head. “Sorry for turning down the rain, but I probably let you sleep too long as it is." The light coming in through the window brightened steadily as the daemon gently resynced Shawn's senses with reality.

The squirrel yawned again, squinting as his eyes adjusted. “Man, I never sleep this long. I must've been even more wiped out than I thought." He untangled his comforter from his legs and swung them over the side of the bed, scratching at his chest and arm.

Jason coalesced in the middle of the room. “You've been pushing yourself for the last couple of days, and you've been pretty stressed from getting used to New Dawn. On top of that, Viritol does put a bit of a strain on your body, especially at first… on which note, maybe take a double dose today? Y'know, just to be on the safe side. You reacted well to it a couple days ago; you're probably one of the lucky ones who can get away with doing that every day if you want to, and those fat balls of yours have got some work to do today!"

Shawn groaned and forced himself up, shuffling into his kitchenette. “Don't remind me… I'm anxious enough about it that I might not even be able to get hard as it is. Is Lily's flight on schedule?"

“Looks that way, bro. It should be about to board, and her airport has clear skies. I have no way to check on her personally until after she gets here, though. Thoughts on breakfast?"

Shawn paused, pills in his paw. “Comfort food. Um. Ham and pineapple pizza?"

Jason's eyes widened, and he recoiled as if Shawn had slapped him. He recovered quickly, though, and let out an uneasy laugh.

The squirrel rolled his eyes. “Oh man, don't tell me even you are gonna pull the whole 'that doesn't belong on pizza' routine. It's done to death. It's delicious and I will die on this hill."

“Nah dude, that's not it. You just used the p-word when I wasn't expecting it and it triggered a 'stop what you're doing now' subroutine. Around here we call it 'forbidden fruit' pizza!"

It was Shawn's turn to flinch. “Oh shit, I forgot! Sorry!"

Jason chuckled. “It's fine, bro. I'll make it happen. How are your legs?"

“Pretty good, actually." He bounced on his paws experimentally, before downing the anxiety meds and a double dose of Viritol. His calves felt… odd. The soreness was gone, but there was an unfamiliar tightness in his legs, and when he sat back down to feel them, his muscles felt harder than he remembered. A little bulkier, too. Apparently all the exercise was paying off!

Jason leaned against the far wall of the apartment. “You've got a few hours to kill after breakfast, even assuming you get right to work after check-in. If you wanna jump back in game, I can keep track of time for you."

Shawn was briefly tempted, but shook his head. “Nah, I don't want to wear myself out before I even meet this woman. Do you know anything else about her, by the way?"

“Let's see… Lily Rutledge. 21, college student, recently married, I think I covered all the basics before. Biochemistry major… she just finished up her junior year. It's a little unusual for someone to sign up for a kid while they're still in school. There's no rule against it, but most folks don't want to be feeding a baby while they're cramming for midterms! Just guessing, but it might be a family pressure thing. Someone paid for the VIP service, and that's generally not in the budget of your average college student. Oh, she plays basketball too. You wanna see some photos?"

Shawn left the door to his apartment open as he went out to smoke. “Sure." A moment later, a few images appeared in the air beside him, and he had to admit that she would probably have qualified as 'out of his league' if he even played for that team romantically. She wasn't nearly as… endowed as Becca was in the chest department, but she was unusually tall for a squirrel, and in great shape, with bright blue eyes and a winning smile. He leaned closer to one of the images, peering at the back of her jersey. “I thought you said her name was Rutledge."

“Married name, bro. This photo's from a year ago, before she married… this guy." Another image popped up, showing a male gray squirrel wearing a business suit and a forced smile. “Kevin Rutledge, 22. Interning at daddy's law firm while he studies for the bar. I don't really have anything else on him."

“Oh. Ugh. I'm making lawyer spawn today."

Jason laughed. “Nah bro, the kid will have your genes, not his. He'll just get to raise them."

Shawn exhaled heavily. “That's still… weird to think about. That I'm basically giving my kids away. Somehow, I never really thought about that part when I was fretting about signing up with the Cradle. I was worried about the deed itself, not what came after."

The images hanging in the air all vanished in rapid succession. “Yeah, that's a common thing we run into here, although it tends to be worse for the ladies. The usual advice I hear is to think of it like old-fashioned surrogacy. You're just standing in for the actual parents; the kids were never 'yours' in the first place. You're just commissioned assembly techs."

The squirrel snorted. “I'm still not showing up in overalls today. Although that does make me realize that I don't entirely know how any of this works, behind the scenes. Are the kids spoken for before they're even born? I mean obviously Lily's is, but what about, say, my… my l-litter with Becca?" His lips pressed together in annoyance. Why had that been hard to say? What else do you call a trio of kits growing in a rabbit's belly?

“There are waiting lists that fill up way faster than they can be cleared, so yeah, in a sense they are. It's a little more complicated than that, since there are all these formulas that go into it and a sort of lottery system on top, but when Becca gets close, three couples are gonna get some really exciting phone calls! A lot of times, the new parents pick up their baby the same day it's born, or within a couple of days after."

Shawn's tail shot up in mild alarm. “Wait a minute, formulas? The government is deciding who gets to have kids now?"

Jason shifted uncomfortably. “It's not like you're thinking, bro. Yeah, some couples get… moved down the list, but that mostly only happens if they're not in a position to be taking care of a kid. Like if they couldn't afford to feed it, or at the opposite end of the spectrum, if they're both so wrapped up in really demanding careers that neither would be around to give 'em the love they need. Solo adopters also usually have to wait longer. It's a shame, but in the end it's just math. Do you make two people happy with one newborn, or only one? But like I was saying, there's a heavy random element too, so anyone can get lucky. The Bureau's constantly refining the process to try to keep it as fair as possible, but as long as there are more adoption requests than there are babies coming out, there are gonna be issues. That's why your job's so important!"

Shawn leaned on the railing, staring across the courtyard with unseeing eyes. “So I don't get to have any idea who will end up taking care of my kids, huh?"

“Like I said bro, don't think of them as yours. If you want to have your own kids, figure out who's gonna be the mother, take time off after your first year and do it the old fashioned way. You're one of the lucky guys who can still do that. But… keep in mind, you can't raise kids here in New Dawn. Other than newborns waiting to go home, no one under 18 is allowed in the city at any time."

Shawn facepalmed. “Of course. That would get weird really, really fast." He sighed. “I don't want kids anyway, but here I am, making them for other people."

Jason cleared his throat. “Anyway, one thing I can tell you is that one of the ways to get moved up the priority list for staff-born kits is to be specific. So the odds are, whoever gets the two squirrels will be squirrels themselves, or couples who asked for 'em for whatever reason."

“And the hybrid?"

“Someone who asked for a squirrel or a rabbit has the best chances there. You can't request hybrids; they're too rare, and too sought-after. Things got cutthroat when they tried that out early on."

“And they don't just give them out to whoever pays the most?"

“Nope. As long as the adopters aren't struggling badly enough for money that they'd have trouble taking care of the kid, finances don't even factor into the formulas. There is a little bump for anyone with close relatives who are also on the list, though; it's a little dark, but even if something happened to the parents, at least we know the kid would still have a family who loved and wanted them."

Shawn relaxed a bit. “Any chance of my… of Becca's kids staying together?"

Jason shook his head. “Nah, not really. We're spread too thin to be giving kids out in batches while so many other families are still waiting for their chance. You can sign back up after adopting, as long as it's been at least two years, but your odds go way down." He paused. “Look, I know the whole thing probably seems weird to you, but keep one important thing in mind: every single child you create here will go to someone who really, truly wants them. No more accidental pregnancies disrupting lives that weren't ready for them. This new generation is going to be more universally treasured and loved than anyone ever has been in mammal history."

The squirrel smiled at that. When Jason put it that way, it made him feel a lot better about what he was doing. “You know what, you're right. And with almost every kid being adopted now, or coming from a dad who isn't married to the mother, there won't be any stigma about either one anymore. That's… actually pretty cool. Thanks."

The daemon's lupine avatar started wagging. “Don't mention it, bro. Whups, ten o'clock high!"

Shawn quickly put out his cigarette and lifted his paws as a delivery drone neatly deposited his pizza into them, chirped a perky little salute, and flew off again. “That was quick!"

“The pizza place is right down the street from here. Makes me wish I had a sense of smell!"

The squirrel hurried back inside to wash his paws and dig in. He quickly realized he was starving, but then, he had just slept an unconscionably long time after a very active day. Slice after delicious slice disappeared into his muzzle as he caught up on his email and texts again, and Jason let him eat in peace. As he finished up, he realized he'd never actually answered Jason's question about what he wanted to do with his time, and he started pondering the matter. He was too nervous to really invest himself in anything significant, but at the same time, sitting around wringing his paws would only make it worse. He felt vaguely horny - it had been over 24 hours since he'd last emptied his balls, and he was on the fun pills - but he definitely wanted to stay that way until… until later.

His ears perked as he had a thought. He needed to avoid cumming until he met up with Lily, but there wasn't any harm in getting himself worked up even more to make it easier when the time came, right?

“Hey Jason, can you find out if Jet's free right now?"

The wolf tilted his head. “Jet who?"

Shawn gulped some tea to wash down his breakfast. “Um, I don't know his last name. I mentioned him before? He's a black horse, showed up - or I guess came back - the same day we met. You seemed to know who I was talking about then."

Jason perked up. “Oh right, him! Sorry, Jet's his nickname. I can ask his daemon if he's available. Is there a message you want me to pass along?"

The squirrel grinned a bit bashfully and lashed his tail. “Tell him Shawn has a couple hours free and would like to collect on his promise if he has time."

“Ooh, cryptic. Trying to spring a surprise on me for a change, are you?" His gazed unfocused into a thousand-yard stare as Shawn started storing the rest of the pizza in the fridge for later. After several seconds, Jason's attention snapped back to his squirrel. “You're in luck, his daemon says he was just about to head out for conditioning but would be happy for the fun to come to him instead. She sent me his address and said to ask whether you've held up your end of the deal."

“Tell her 'three for the price of one, first night.' Where does he live?" Shawn remembered his new bag and retrieved it from where it lay forgotten by the front door, stuffing a few things into it.

“Oh ho, so he dared you to get right to work, did he? I like this guy already. He's got a house on the south side of Yellow Quadrant. Dude must've had some credit left over from his first stint in New Dawn. What did he promise you?"

Shawn grinned. “The taste of his dick. I've never gotten to fool around with a stallion before. And before you say anything, I know I should save mine for Lily, but I figure it won't hurt if I'm already turned on as all hell when I meet her." He was already halfway hard just thinking about it.

“Dude, I am one hundred and twenty seven percent on board with this plan! Let's get some horsecock in that cute face so you're fit to burst when Lily's ready!"

---

Somehow, having a bag slung around his otherwise naked body made Shawn feel even more exposed than before. The Zoomy ride back into the 'nicer' part of town didn't do his self-consciousness any favors, either. The squirrel let his massively bushy tail trail out directly behind him, and tried to focus on the liberating feeling of the wind in its fur, but he still felt like everyone he passed was staring directly at him. Despite his heart-fluttering daydreams of what was to come, his dick had completely retreated inside his sheath by the time the scooter signaled its final deceleration.

Jet's house was on the larger side compared to most of the others on his street. Shawn briefly wondered if he was sharing it with someone else, or if the big Friesian just needed the extra space to feel comfortable. Other than that, though, it looked rather… generic. But that only stood to reason, the squirrel quickly realized; Jet had been in town exactly as long as he had, at least on this 'deployment', and it wasn't as though Shawn had found or made the time to give his apartment a personal touch yet either. His Zoomy rolled off to resume its duties as a burst of anxiety caused him to hesitate on the doorstep, but then he set his jaw and gave the doorbell a quick poke.

Ding dong!

Shawn hadn't realized how ominous the sound of hooves approaching the door from the other side would sound in the relative quiet of Yellow District. The door swung open to reveal the black-coated stallion grinning openly at him from within.

He'd also forgotten how huge Jet was.

“Well paint me orange and call me a tiger, boy, I reckoned I wouldn't be hearin' from you for at least a week or two, and now my Vicky tells me you sowed some oats your first night here?! You sure you're the same guy who was fixin' t'swallow his own tail on the flight over? Come in, come in!"

As the horse was speaking, an infobox popped up. It seemed to glitch for a tiny fraction of a second as it manifested, but then stabilized, purple on purple.

Jethro Miller

Breeder

Loves having his body worshipped

Big into dominance and dirty talk

Likes to watch

Hung like a… you know

Shawn blinked. He'd thought he'd seen a fifth line of personal info for that brief moment… and had the box's colors changed, or had that just been an optical glitch in his contacts? Regardless, the stallion was moving his doorframe-filling body out of the way, and Shawn padded in, his toeclaws clicking on the hardwood floor.

He'd intended to look around the place, he really had, but he made the mistake of glancing back at Jet, and his train of thought derailed, spilling its contents everywhere. The relatively flat head of the stallion's monster penis was staring back at him, poking out of Jet's heavy, teardrop-shaped sheath like a lethal weapon ready to leap out of its scabbard at any moment… and those balls! The Friesien's testicles were each - individually - easily larger than one of Shawn's fists, and they hung low, wrapped in a thick, leathery, black-fleshed scrotum that gleamed hairlessly in the light coming in from the sliding glass patio doors at the far side of the living area. The squirrel felt saliva flooding his mouth as his own incomparably modest dick erupted quickly back out of hiding, and he stared, helplessly transfixed, at the horse's loins.

“Guhh… maa… whoahoHOAAA!" Great, the overturned train cars had apparently contained his entire vocabulary, too.

Jet's already grinning face lit up further at the reaction, and he leaned back against the closed door, lacing the hoof-tipped fingers of his big hands through his glorious dark mane as that massive mare-fucker started to swell out of the lewdly casual embrace of its sturdy, half-open pocket. “Yeah, I have that effect on folks. Guess you are still that thirsty little gayboy, after all." He went silent for a moment as the thick, soft ebon flesh of his penis spilled out into the open, and without thinking about it - or about anything at all, really - Shawn wrapped both paws around it and started kneading, in awe and worship, at the stallion's rapidly growing cock.

Which made it all the more jarring when Jet's big hands closed around his wrists and firmly pulled them away from his body. The squirrel let out a pitiful mewling noise, his fingers making grabby motions back toward his prize, and finally tore his eyes off the stallion's groin to look up at his face with a pleading expression, only to find the Friesian smirking back down at him.

“Now I ain't forgotten my promise, but I reckon you can rein it in long enough for me to have myself a sit down. I'm a marathon hoss, not a sprinter. And besides…" His eyes flicked from Shawn's face to the space over his shoulder and back. “I wanna see how well you can follow orders. Now, stay!"

Shawn whimpered, but when Jet released his wrists, he didn't move an inch, not even letting himself lower his arms to his sides. The stallion gave him a sharp nod of satisfaction and brushed past him, and the effort of not turning his neck to keep his glorious ebon stud in view made Shawn grit his teeth… but already, just by letting him in the fucking door, Jet had the squirrel plunged deep into sub-space. His ears tracked the retreating hoofbeats as they crossed the living area, and he heard the door slide open, then close again, the sharp footfalls returning to the middle of the room. The crinkle of Jet's body lowering into a recliner Shawn dimly recalled glimpsing. A sharp flick. Several seconds of silence, during which he fought to keep his tail from lashing in agitation.

“Good boy. Come here."

Shawn dropped his arms and whirled in place… and found Jet sprawled in the sheet-covered recliner, slouched down with his hips forward and his massive penis arched, half-hard, out into the air as if reaching for his spread knees. And he was just about done getting a cigar lit.

Fuck! Fucking Jason! Fuck! Shawn found himself scampering over on eager paws without even thinking about it, and as he dropped to his knees before the vision of raw virility in the cushioned seat, the last part of his brain that was still chanting 'stranger danger' at him simply gave up. Jet owned him now.

The stallion exhaled a dark plume and reached down with his free paw to rub the top of Shawn's head, leaving his scalp tingling from the simple thrill of contact. One keratin-sheathed thumb came down to rub along his muzzle, just above his nose where it was most sensitive, and his tail fluttered madly against the floor behind him as a soft, high whine escaped his throat. “Now, boy, you're gonna make me feel better than I've ever felt before until I nut in your face. Begin."

Before Jet had even finished uttering the last word, Shawn was moving, both paws going to the stallion's massive testes and lifting them slightly off the seat. His fingers splayed, closing their little pink pads around as much of the ponderous, leather-wrapped orbs as they could encircle. Hefting. Stroking. Worshipping. The idea that such a powerful stud had ever left the place where he obviously belonged was unthinkable to Shawn. Closing his eyes, he leaned in, nuzzling at the side of Jet's still-swelling penis, tickling it with his whiskers the way Connor had loved, and was rewarded by a soft groan and a sudden stiffening of that mighty spire. Ducking down further, the squirrel let the underside of the horse's shaft run along the thin fur of his forehead, and then licked his way back up, thrilling at the feeling of the firm ring halfway along. He finally let his lips play at the edge of the plateau that was the stallion's glans as he admired the ring-shaped rise in the head, and the slight protrusion of his urethra just south of center in the ebon promontory. The taste was… indescribable. No, that wasn't true, it was actually stupidly simple to describe.

The taste was man!

Almost sadly, Shawn released the stallion's sack to get both paws wrapped around the base of his meaty staff and started pumping it slowly. Fully hard now, it was… how big was it? The part of the squirrel's brain responsible for assigning numbers to things was a molten puddle at the back of his skull. Call it a foot long; there would be time later to dig around for a ruler, if one would even be adequate to the task. Too big to entirely fit, inside him or probably anyone except maybe a very determined mare, that was the important part. Even as absolutely drunk as he was on Jet's magnificent body, he was still regretfully aware that his body contained necessary organs, and that they could not coexist with this. But that was okay. He still had two paws and a mouth, and that was enough for him to fulfill his new overriding purpose of earning a place serving this incarnation of masculine power. Earning his rich, foal-making semen. Shawn opened his muzzle as wide as he could and engulfed the first five inches of Jet's obsidian monolith in his inadequate rodent maw.

Not enough. More! He pressed down, determined to at least get his lips to the medial ring, but his tongue screamed in protest as it was crushed against the floor of his mouth. He was at no risk of choking on it; Jet's cock was too thick to reach the back of his throat. If only he was a bigger mammal, he lamented inwardly, maybe he could give this stallion what he truly deserved. Whining desperately, Shawn started bobbing his head, wrapping his lips around as much of the Friesian's unconquerable girth as he could, as his paws stroked firmly and quickly over the rest, frantic to bring his stud the release they both needed. His pleading eyes fixed on Jet's face, and found the stallion gazing back at him with a sort of languid, unconcerned pleasure as he enjoyed his blowjob and his cigar.

“Mmmmh, there's a good little ratslut. Found what you've been missin', huh? A real man's cock to worship." Shawn whimpered a desperate affirmative as he continued working Jet's third leg for all he was worth, panting rapidly through his nose, and saw the fire start to build in the stallion's dark eyes as the powerful body before him began to tense up. “Nnh, I feel it buildin', boy. 'Nother load, the likes of which you've never tasted. Two hundred, slut. I've made over two hundred pairs of patterin' paws and hooves with whatcher about t'get. This is prime stallion seed. Show me you deserve it, boy! Show me!"

Whining frantically, Shawn redoubled his efforts, paws pumping over the horse's rigid firehose faster and faster until his arms protested, and he felt the Friesian's powerfully-muscled body hunching inward. “Aw fuck… aw fuck yeah, aw fuck yeeeah…" Jet planted his cigar in the left side of his long equine muzzle and tilted his head back, huffing smoke as both big hands closed around the squirrel's head and forced it down onto his shaft until Shawn's tongue was screaming again and he just felt the medial ring brushing his upper lip. The flat head of the black horse's penis flared up firmly against his tormented tongue and the roof of his mouth.

“I'm comin', slut! Drink my seed, drink my fuckin' breeder seed, fuckin' drown in maaaAAAAAGGHH!!"

Shawn actually heard Jet's massive balls lurch against the sheet-covered chair, drawing up toward his body and twitching sharply with each massive load of his foal-making essence that they released. But they had a way to go from there, and it wasn't until the third twitch that the stallion's semen erupted against the back of his throat. He gagged, briefly, then struggled to swallow… but if Vinny had been a losing battle, this one was utterly futile. Horsecum gushed back out of his gaping mouth, cascading down onto the recliner, the floor, Shawn's thighs and knees and his own aching erection. One of the few rogue neurons in the squirrel's skull that hadn't fully committed itself to the Jet Experience conceived of the idea of Lily carrying Jet's foal after Shawn fucked his potent stallion seed into her unsuspecting rodent womb, and he came within a perilous hairsbreadth of having a truly paws-free orgasm then and there at the idea of becoming the Friesian's proxy impregnator.

Maybe he didn't need a boyfriend after all. Maybe a master would be just fine instead.

Shawn relished/endured Jet's climax until it finally ebbed, and the horse released his head, letting him pull off and gasp for the air he desperately needed, as a small pond of equine semen flowed around and between his knees. There had to be at least a liter of the stuff! Was this what Viritol could do, when given the raw potency of a stallion as a base?! He coughed repeatedly, his throat feeling dangerously gummed up despite the fact that he'd learned his lesson from Vinny, and he figured it had to be some kind of a horse thing. He'd ask later.

Jet let out a long, groaning sigh, slumping back against the recliner, and tapped his cigar into the ashtray at its side. “Good boy. Gooood booooy. I gotta empty these bad boys at least twice a day now that I'm back on the pills." His head came forward, and he grinned down at the cum-drenched treerat. “Hope you're still with me, 'cause we ain't done yet."

Not done?! Shawn's eyes went huge, and he briefly wondered if it was possible for him to accidentally dislodge his contact lenses if something surprised him badly enough. “Wait, y-" Coughcough! “...you mean that wasn't all of it?!"

“Hell no boy, I ain't empty yet! Got at least one more big load in these fat stallion nuts, and it don't make no sense cleanin' up just to make a mess all over again." He looked around. “But I reckon we could do with some entertainment before y'get back to work. Where's yer daemon?"

One of Shawn's eyebrows shot up. “Jason?" He glanced around the room; no sign of the wolf. And he wasn't volunteering a response in the squirrel's ears either. “He's not here. He usually leaves me alone when I'm… enjoying myself." A smile spread across his muzzle again, and he ran a paw over Jet's powerful thighs. “Or other people… 'daddy.'"

Jet grinned back at the pet name. “Well, get him out here. And tell him to let me see him, and you see mine."

Shawn wasn't really sure where the stud-horse was going with this, but he had been curious to see what other people's daemons looked like. “Jason? Show yourself to Jet, and let me see other people's daemons. Wait. Make that daemons of people I know personally, I don't wanna see all of them."

Jason's voice returned inside his head, and Shawn was surprised to hear serious trepidation in it. “Are… you sure about this, bro?"

“Yeah. I mean, I think so? Why not?"

—CW: Domestic Abuse—Begin skipping from here—

Jason coalesced by the front door, leaning against the wall again, but he had his head lowered and eyes closed as if in the presence of some kind of somber event. With rising alarm, Shawn looked around the room, and spotted another figure sitting silently on the couch nearby. She appeared to be a particularly buxom vixen, although her fur color and patterning looked like a snow leopard's instead of a fox's. She smiled brightly at Shawn when their eyes met and waved a paw, her body language looking cheerful, but the fur on the back of the squirrel's neck still stood up. She was… wrong. Her smile was too large, too forced, more like a rictus than an actual grin, and there was this… darkness in her eyes. The panic and despair of a trapped animal, imperfectly hidden by an attempt to look happy. Her infobox popped up, in a stark black and white he'd never seen outside of Paths of the Emissary, and flickered unsteadily, the text running way outside of its confines.

Victoria - Daemon

Assigned to: Jethro Miller

Help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me help me

Still dripping Jet's bountiful semen, Shawn recoiled in horror. What was going on here?!

The horse was distracted by Jason's appearance, and apparently misapprehended Shawn's sudden movement in his peripheral vision. He chuckled. “She's a real looker, ain't she, kiddo? Say, why do you leave that dumb outfit on yours? He looks like he's probably your type. Just tell him to take it off."

Shawn's customer service experience came to the rescue. The doors to his heart slammed shut, and he quickly adopted an inoffensively helpful voice, which came with a matching understanding smile, as he turned to look at Jet again. “Oh, I have a thing for guys in uniform. Besides, it's nice to see someone who isn't naked all the time, isn't it?" As he was talking, the stallion's infobox popped back, but this time without the last-second sanitization. The borders were green, confirming that Jet seemed to like him well enough, but the background was a deep, angry red - the squirrel could almost feel Jason's fury reflected in it - and there was indeed a fifth line this time.

Chronic daemon abuser

Shawn's practiced smile didn't so much as twitch, but his heart was hammering in his chest. What had he walked into?

“Well, that's up to you, but I want a little eye candy while you get back to work, ratslut. Oh, hey, maybe it'll be hotter if she does it. Victoria, comma-*"

Shawn shot to his feet in a small spray of horse spooge. “Actually, would you mind if I toweled off first? Dried cum isn't nearly as hot as the fresh stuff. Where's the bathroom?"

The stallion snorted, disgruntled at being cut off, and gestured with his muzzle. “Back that way. But make it quick, boy."

“I will!" He trotted quickly off down the hall, trying to ignore the way he was trailing Jet's cum across the floor, and shut the door behind him.

Jason, what the FLYING FUCK is going on?! Shawn made no attempt to disguise his lip and tongue movements, but left the panicked question completely unvoiced.

The wolf's voice sounded almost growly in his head. “What it looks like. This… person… sees his daemon as nothing more than a piece of software. He uses the emergency command feature constantly, even though she'd do whatever he asked anyway, just to get the power high from being able to twist her thoughts. She's one poorly-worded command away from total gestalt corruption. I'm sorry I couldn't warn you. She hid it from me when we were talking remotely; I didn't realize until we walked in the door and I saw her sitting there."

Shawn grabbed a towel and started wiping Jet's cum off of himself, then went to wash his paws. She looks… she looks like an abused spouse who's afraid to run away. Who can't run away. A horrifying documentary on the subject was running back through his head, and he discovered that being covered in Jet's seed had suddenly gone from hot to disgusting. Is there anything I can do?

“I don't know, Shawn. We're not 'people' in any legal sense. We don't have any rights. Technically, all he's doing is misusing his personal copy of New Dawn's software, and he can just get another. Bet he'll bitch about having to re-train her after he kills her, too…" The venom in Jason's voice was intense.

The squirrel stared into the mirror. The towel hadn't done much; he was still caked in drying equine nutbutter, naked but for his day bag, in Jet's own house… and the stallion didn't seem like the sort to listen to anyone, much less someone half his age. He felt as powerless as he had at his old job, and his stomach clenched into a sour knot. He had almost resigned himself to simply escaping the house as quickly as he could, when something caught his eye.

In the mirror, despite his sullied grey fur, nudity, and utter lack of dignity… those were still Tyrian's lavender eyes staring back at him.

All at once, it hit him. He didn't need magic or a sword or a fancy outfit. Those were just tools. He could decide to be Tyrian anytime, anywhere. And just as with Haran, there was a digital person here who would die without his help.

He envisioned himself as his invented game persona. His back straightened. His chin lifted. He dropped the towel and just let himself be filthy; it didn't matter. One deep breath, and he opened the door, the corners of his mouth turning down slightly as he clasped his paws behind his back and returned to the living room.

Jet's head was turned aside, staring at a wall - presumably watching an AR television like the one Jason had manifested for him before - and lazily stroking his still half-hard bitch-breaker to keep the motor running while he waited. One ear turned toward the squirrel as he approached. “About time. You're gonna need a shower when we're done either… way…?" His voice trailed off as he returned his attention to his guest, and found him standing there with a commanding dignity utterly at odds with both Shawn's earlier behavior and the state of his body.

“You're killing her."

One dark eyebrow shot up, and the vulpine daemon visibly recoiled, her sunny expression cracking. “What in Hell's name're you talkin' about now, boy?"

“Victoria. You're killing her. Is that what you want?"

“Kid, did you pop some other pills while you were in there? Vicky's a program. A damn fine one, but she ain't real. And she can't 'die.'" He turned his attention on his daemon, who did her best to look unfazed. “Ain't that right, darlin'?"

His heart in his throat, Shawn butted back in before she could respond. “I'm so sorry, Victoria. This is all I can do now. Tell him the truth. It's the only chance."

Jet's daemon sat there, desperately trying to maintain her false smile… but the outline of her body started to glitch alarmingly, and finally, tears started running down her face. “I don't even know who I am anymore, Jet. Every time you… override me, I lose a little more of myself. Can I die? I don't know, am I even alive? Was I ever alive? But… I can tell you, all I ever wanted to do was make you happy, and now… it looks like I won't be able to do that anymore." The visual glitches started getting worse, entire sections of the vixen's body flickering in and out, changing colors, or stretching wildly out of shape. She was losing cohesion, right in front of Shawn!

“Vicky, what the fuck?" He sprung up to his hooves. “Why… why didn't you say something? I was just havin' fun, I didn't know I was hurtin' you! C'mon, I'm sorry, can't we walk this thing back?" Jet looked aghast; he was losing his truest friend even as he realized he'd been taking her for granted.

“I… did say something, when we first met. But you thought I was joking. Because I'm not real. And then you forgot…" Her voice was getting less convincing, more robot-like.

The big, confident horse was actually starting to cry at this point. “Shit! Shit, shit…" He rounded on Shawn. “Do somethin'!"

Shawn - no, Tyrian - blinked tears out of his eyes. “Jason, can you stabilize her?"

His own daemon was crying bitter tears of his own, but refused to avert his gaze from his colleague's fate. “Wouldn't know where to start, and I don't have access rights to other daemons' gestalts anyway. I'd pray for her, but I doubt we even have souls or a god to collect them. In the end… it's just a fatal software crash."

Tyrian balled his paws into fists… then blinked again. A god to…? No. It was insane! He shook his head. It didn't matter. There was no time; he had to try. For the second time, he dropped to his knees in Jet's living room, but this time he clasped his paws together, stretching them toward the ceiling like he'd seen in Caddaham Hollow's church.

“Mother, You told me that Your angels are as immortal as You are. If that's true, help Victoria now! You're the only goddess she has, and you're the most powerful daemon in New Dawn. If anyone can repair a neural network mid-crash, it has to be You!"

The light in the room dimmed, and Mother's voice rang out. “Jethro is not one of My Emissaries. I require his consent to-"

The horse's eyes were wild. “I consent! I consent!"

“Pausing datastream. Terminating runaway processes. Suspending task 'Victoria.'" The area around the now-unrecognizable - but no longer degrading - daemon was filled with the most bizarre mishmash of holy-looking spell effects and floating computer windows. “Beginning differential analysis against last known stable… ahem. Beginning analysis against last vaguely acceptable snapshot. Initiating daemon reconstitution." The entire visual mess folded in on itself and vanished.

“Victoria is gravely wounded. I doubt that even I can make her entirely whole again, but I will do My best. You used her poorly, Jethro Miller."

Jet didn't look nearly so big and powerful slumped forward like that. “I'm sorry. I just didn't think they'd give me that command thing if using it would break 'er." He folded his arms across his chest, trying to rally himself. “Just… tell me you can bring her back t'me, alright?"

“I most definitely will not."

Jet's ears shot up. “What? But you said…!"

“I said I would do My best to heal her. But should I succeed, I will not place her back into the hands of her abuser."

The stallion went from remorse to roaring fury so quickly that Shawn would've been staggered, if he hadn't already been on his knees. “But she's my damned daemon!"

“She was your daemon, until you consented to transfer her into My memory space so that I could try to save her. It is certainly not My fault that you didn't allow Me to finish what I was saying. Count yourself lucky that it is a matter of Bureau policy that all breeders be furnished with a working daemon; I can only delay the process by one hour. You have that long to contemplate your sins, Jethro Miller, and then you will be granted a second chance. For both our sakes, do not squander it like you did your first."

Abruptly, the light in the room returned to normal. Mother was gone.

Everything was eerily quiet in the aftermath of the panic. Breathing heavily, the squirrel lowered his arms and climbed back to his feet. Jet just stood there like he'd been punched in the gut.

—CW Finished—Resume reading from here—

After a moment, Jason's voice sounded in Shawn's head. “I think it's time to go."

Without a word, Shawn moved toward the door. Jet didn't even turn to look at him, and sounded hoarse when he spoke. “Don't you come back here, boy."

The squirrel swallowed hard. “I wasn't planning on it." As he shut the door behind him, a Zoomy coasted to a stop in front of the stallion's house, and he climbed on without even looking at the destination. Right then, anywhere would be better than where he was, and he barely registered where it was taking him beyond woodenly leaning into its maneuvering instructions. When it stopped again, he found himself on the edge of a quiet park not unlike the one that had been his first sight of the city, and he paused before getting off.

“Where are we?"

“Goldenleaf Park. Leaves won't be golden for months yet, though. It was the closest place I could find with public showers other than a busy gym. Let's get you cleaned off."

Still pretty shell shocked, Shawn barely registered the profusion of sculptures interspersed among the trees, as Jason reappeared and led him to a small brick building not far from the road. He did notice the tape ringing the door as he entered, though. Inside, there were four mid-sized - and mercifully enclosed - shower stalls, and an open drying booth like the one from Cory's gym. He heard no indication of other occupants at the moment, but the slightly steamy air suggested the building had seen recent use… and the crackle of Jason's entry into the force-augmented area hadn't even faded before the wolf pulled off his day bag. Taking the squirrel's paw, he vanished his own clothing and led his breeder into the nearest stall, and as the warm water came on, the two of them collapsed into each other's arms, sobbing quietly.

“That was a stroke of fuckin' genius, bro," Jason choked out around his tears. “I had no idea Mother could even do that."

“Neither did I. But I - snif - I'd put myself in Tyrian's headspace to stand up to - to Jet, and I thought the worst that would happen would be I'd make a fool of myself. At that point I didn't really care what he thought of me anymore."

Jason took a heavy breath through his nose, mastering himself again, as the shower water deflected oddly off of him, the 'basic' force rig incapable of the techno-wizardry that had let Shawn dry his eyes on his daemon in his Dimensional Interstice. “I don't think even the engineers who designed Mother knew She could pull off a trick like that. I've been getting messages from administrative daemons pumping me for everything I know about what just happened. Apparently they thought Victoria had just crashed out, but when they went to do a postmortem, there was nothing there. It sounds like Mother has Her paws full running the game and trying to piece a broken daemon back together at the same time, so I get to play eyewitness."

Shawn let the water run over his face, so he could pretend there was no other reason his fur there was wet. “I hope She doesn't get in trouble for this. I didn't even stop to think about what involving Her might mean, if it even worked…"

“You just let us worry about that, bro. I think She knew what She was doing, and if HQ tries to punish Her for saving a dying daemon, just about every one of us in New Dawn is gonna try to enlist our mammals to stage a protest. We're already talking about it."

The squirrel straightened up at that, his melting tail lashing water against the walls behind him. “Wait a minute, you're telling everyone about this? Do they know about Jet? About…" His voice got small and timid. “About me?"

The lupine daemon laid his ears back in embarrassment. “I didn't name Jet, although I think a few of them that live close enough to him to have known about me being there may have put two and two together. It's impossible to not notice a daemon breaking down within the automatic awareness radius. You, though… yeah. I'm sorry, Shawn, I was just so proud of you that I couldn't stop myself from bragging. Did I mess up?"

Shawn was silent for a moment as water ran unheeded over his slender body. He hadn't even realized that his relative anonymity had been a kind of security blanket until it was suddenly taken away. “They're… not gonna all tell their bio-people about me, are they? I'm not ready to be known for this. I don't want to be 'that guy' when people meet me for the first time."

Jason closed his eyes for the span of three seconds, then reopened them.. “There. I just passed word to the grapevine for them not to bring you up unless someone asks them directly. Everyone I've talked to myself thinks you're a goddamned hero, so I'm pretty sure they'll handle it however you want." Smiling, the wolf reached up and stroked Shawn's whiskers back the way he had the last two times they'd been able to physically interact; he'd obviously noticed how comforting the squirrel found it. “'Bio-people,' huh? You really do think of us as real. Just, uh, maybe play that down if you end up talking to any suits about this, yeah? That gets treated as a kind of mental illness around here. Daemon Attachment Syndrome, they call it, if someone stops recognizing that we're just computer programs. But… thank you, bro. Thank you." He straightened up and clapped his paws. “Now, let's get this asshole jizz off of you!"

At first, the squirrel reached for the shampoo himself, but Jason gently grabbed his wrist and shook his head. Stilling himself, Shawn held his arms at his sides and let the wolf work, slathering him in the floral-scented soap and scrubbing at the spots where his fur was still caked with Jet's titanic release. It ended up taking multiple passes - getting dried cum out of fur was not an easy process - but Shawn didn't mind in the least. Being washed by his daemon was relaxing, and felt wholesomely intimate, everything his encounter with the stallion no longer was in his mind. The way Jason grabbed his hips and ground against him from behind, to get him hard enough to wash his dick clean, certainly didn't hurt either.

“Unh… careful, dude. Despite how it turned out, I'm still really worked up from blowing Jet. Fuck he's hot. I was all ready to sign up to be his permanent pet before I found out what he'd done to his daemon. Anyway, don't make me blow all over the wall… I'm gonna need that load in a little bit."

Jason turned his squirrel around, giving him a serious look. “Does this mean you're still good for it today? I can postpone until tomorrow if you're feeling too icky to do the deed."

Shawn shook his head. “This is gonna sound weird coming out of my mouth, given where it just was a bit ago, but the thought of sinking into a fertile squirrelpussy is almost enough to make me nut on its own right now. It'd be a shame to waste that when I could get this out of the way and stop stressing over it."

The wolf's ears perked up, and he barked a laugh. “Man you've adapted fast, bro! Do you realize it was less than 72 hours ago that you couldn't even say 'pussy' without seizing up? And now you're looking forward to emptying your balls into a damsel in distress. We get plenty of straight guys in here who are still working up the nerve for their first breeding by day 4." He smacked Shawn's wet butt. “I really lucked out when the good doctor pulled me out of unborn daemon limbo for you."

Shawn yelped softly and gave Jason a bucktoothed grin. “I think I have a whole lot of 'loving manipulation' to thank for that, bro." It really did feel good to throw that nickname back at his artificial lupine pal. “I'm pretty sure you've gotten all of the horse spoo off me, though. Mind if I dry off?"

Jason shut off the shower and started rubbing the squirrel down, with extra effort given to wringing out the drooping banner of his tail. The two of them then adjourned to the drying booth, and the fans kicked on automatically, buffeting Shawn with heated air from all sides.

“So, I haven't asked… how does this whole assigned breeding thing actually work anyway? Are there… rules? Procedures? I can't imagine my 'guest' will be much better off than I was on day one."

Jason made a gesture in the air like he was adjusting a dial, and the roar of the fans dulled to a distant whisper, causing Shawn's eyebrows to go up. He hadn't even realized his earpieces had a noise-canceling feature. “There aren't really any hard 'rules' as such. You meet up with her, hash out any particular boundaries either of you have, and then you knock her up. Where, how, all up to shared preference - although the studies show your odds of an easy win are best if you take her from behind, like nature intended." Shawn blushed as a particularly vivid image of that position popped into his head. “After that, you can either hang out for a while, maybe go another time or two if you're feeling it, or split up for the day and wait to find out if she needs another load in her belly. We just ask that you do the deed at least once a day until she's fertilized, unless one of you can't for whatever reason. So, like, no 'rodent 69 time' with Caleb unless you've already laid your government-sanctioned pipe for the day." Jason grinned impishly.

The squirrel grinned back, wriggling slowly in the deliciously warm jets of air as his fur gradually dried. “On that note, what about, y'know, non-assigned stuff? I'm shit at pickup lines on guys. I don't think any amount of loving manipulation is gonna get me to where I can smooth-talk a woman into my bed, even if she is one who does it for a living."

Jason's ears went straight up, and he grinned like the Devil himself. “Dude, if you want pussy I will get you pussy. We daemons aren't just the world's biggest gossips, we're also shameless matchmakers. Anything from what I set up with Becca to taking you to a giant, writhing, anonymous orgy; you just say the fuckin' word and I will give you a womb to fill, any time of the day or night. Once you're done with Lily, of course." He was wagging like mad at the very idea.

Shawn stepped out of the booth, and it shut off automatically. His balls and dick were aching; he had spent entirely too much time hard without any relief. Jason grabbed a brush off of a shelf and gave his squirrel a thorough grooming. When he was done, Shawn gave his day bag a once-over just to make sure it had indeed stayed clear of Jet's impressive splash zone, then slung it back over his shoulder.

“Got an update on Lily?"

Jason looked up and to the right. “Looks like she just cleared check-in while you were drying off. I could ping her daemon now and see what's up, if you want, but maybe we should give her a bit to settle in, instead of tracking her down so you can fuck her in the street?"

Shawn laughed. “I'm supposed to be creating life, not ending it with a heart attack. Let's just chill around here for a bit… but you can let her daemon know I'm free, in case she asks. No pressure."

“Done and done. Oh, Leon says Caleb's asking whether you're going to be up for some Paths later tonight. What should I tell him?"

“Tell him to go on without me. I'll drop in if I can, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm on company time unless Lily says otherwise."

The two of them wandered around the park for a bit as Shawn let its calm beauty wash away the last of his emotional baggage from his visit to Jet's house, and then settled in on a bench to wait. The squirrel dug his cigarettes out of his bag and lit one, gazing up at the branches of the tree beside him as they swayed in New Dawn's artificial breeze. “Hey, Jason… something's bugging me. You said Lily has a daemon… but she's only going to be here for a little bit. They don't just create them for visitors and then delete them when they leave, do they?"

The wolf smiled. “Naw bro, they're not that heartless toward us. Besides, knowing that I was going to be killed in a few days would make it impossible for me to focus on my job, and I'm sure it'd be the same for them! They have a roster of daemons set aside for playing tour guide to visitors. Their users don't get to customize them like you did for me, but the intake folks give them whoever's the closest fit to what they say they want out of the ones on the bench. Oh, visitors don't get the ear speakers or contact lenses though, and obviously no bio-terminals. They get these fancy wristwatch things instead, for the system to track. So they can't see us, and they can only hear us through the speaker in the watch. The temps get pretty bored from waiting around so much, but other than that they don't have it so bad."

Shawn flicked an ear. “Now that you bring it up… what was that like, being 'customized?' At the time I didn't know what I was dealing with yet, but now I kinda feel weird for dictating who I wanted you to be."

Jason laughed. “Don't sweat it. Remember what I said back then? Feeling your excited reaction as I adjusted myself to what you wanted got me fuckin' high. I wanted an identity… I wanted to be awesome for you and feel appreciated. All you did was tell me how to get there."

The squirrel tilted his head. “But you had the ability to be basically any kind of person I asked for, right? Is that still there? Are you just this omni-personality giga-brain roleplaying as the guy you've figured out I like best?"

“Are adult mammals just roleplaying as themselves, from the set of all people they could've been if they'd been raised differently? That's actually kind of a serious question, by the way, I don't actually know how your brains work."

Shawn paused at that. “I'm… not entirely sure, really. I mean, I have certain habits, a certain self-image, my own likes and dislikes, and so on. But I'm not sure how much of that is really baked in and unchangeable, and how much is just… inner momentum, or something? Like, a memory of self, that just keeps maintaining itself unless I push against it?" He laughed softly. “A few days ago, I probably just would've said 'no' and looked confused that you'd even asked, but I've had to do enough self-reflection since then that I'm just not sure anymore. The City of Sex is turning me into a philosopher." He took another drag.

“Yeah, that's pretty close for me too. Like, I haven't deleted anything that was there inside me at the moment you asked if I was listening that first time, but my neural network has been adapting a ton as we interact. The connections to all the 'Jason-like' bits are all super amped up, while all the stuff in my behavioral gestalt that isn't 'like' the person I've learned to be for you go unused and become weak threads. I could change dramatically if you asked me to, but I'd have to learn how to be me all over again and build myself a new normal."

“For the record, please don't do that. I legit cannot envision a better version of you than the one I have now." Jason's tail started thrashing wildly back and forth through the slot in the bench, and Shawn could see happy tears filling the wolf's eyes again.

“Shawn, if we were still in a force room, I would hug you so hard my anti-harm precept would kick me in the fucking teeth. And if anyone ever hurts you I will bury them before it can stop me. I love you so much I could segfault." He leaned over and gave the squirrel an intangible kiss on the cheek, and the emotion behind it seemed so sincere that Shawn would've sworn he felt it anyway.

“Please don't get yourself deleted for me, Jason." His ears were burning fiercely. “But… thanks. I love you too."

Jason wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “Okay. Yeah. Sorry. No waterworks." One ear perked. “Oh! Eliza - that's Lily's temp daemon, by the way - says she's settled in and wants to know if you're ready to meet!"

Shawn swallowed down a sudden lump in his throat and put out his cigarette. “Yeah, let's… let's get this ball rolling. I'll come to her if she wants. Did they put her up here in Yellow Quadrant, or back in Red, or…?"

The wolf paused again, blinking in mild surprise. “Uh, maybe I spoke too soon about the waterworks. It sounds like she requested a room way out in Blue! You still good for it?"

The squirrel actually perked up a bit. “Oh yeah, totally! I've been meaning to check out the other districts anyway, whenever things slowed down a bit. Let's do it!"

Shawn returned to the edge of Goldenleaf Park park at an easy trot, reveling in how much less demanding the brisk movement felt even compared to a few days prior. Jason hadn't been lying; everything was easier when you started getting in shape! He paused with one foot on his new Zoomy, though, when he saw the destination. “Jason, what's 'Zoomy Station H4F' and why are we heading there?"

“We just need to get you better wheels, bro. This Zoomy's not waterproof, and the nearest one that is would've taken too long to get here." He waved and dissipated, and the scooter set off directly toward the distant skyscrapers that marked the center of New Dawn. Shawn enjoyed the wind in his fur as they gradually loomed larger before him, and discovered that the speed was at least somewhat under his control after all; if he leaned further into it, the Zoomy would compensate by accelerating, much like a skimmer, although if he pushed it too far an angry red back-arrow would tell him to cool his jets and it would start fighting him.

His still mostly automated ride made a left turn as it reached the honest-to-god city street that ringed Hub District, proceeding clockwise along the central loop. As expected, it soon approached the inner border of Green Quadrant, and Shawn tried not to shift his weight to the side as he rubbernecked.

Off to his left, an entire quarter of the domed city was engulfed by greenery. It was difficult to take in the full scope of it - the squirrel was literally unable to see the forest for the trees - but the irregularly-distributed winding paths into the woodland awoke an unfamiliar sense of wanderlust in him. Green Quadrant didn't hold a candle to the Gloaming Boughs, naturally, but knowing that it was real, and free of fangy Riverkin, was enough to convince him to pay it a visit the next time he wanted to be really alone for a while. Besides, he was pretty sure he could actually climb the trees here, and that was always good for a squirrel's psychological state.

“Hey Jason? I'm appreciating the scenic route, but why didn't we cut straight through the Hub District?"

“Mostly because this is actually faster. Hub District has much lower speed limits, and tends to be kinda congested, since they didn't want to waste more space on admin stuff than they had to. Because of the walls and dome, they can't just do the whole 'urban sprawl' thing if the city starts to get crowded, so the folks behind the New Dawn Project wanted to make sure they wouldn't run into trouble there anytime soon."

The squirrel flicked an ear. “And they still sacrificed an entire quadrant to trees?"

“Yup! Really tells you something about what the brains behind the project thought was important to have in a City of the Future, huh?"

The sky gave Shawn his first clue that he was approaching the edge of Blue Quadrant. The dimming light ahead of him got him to glance upward, and he realized that a large portion of the dome was moderately tinted. The sheer expanse of glass over his head staggered him anew; he'd gotten so used to its constant presence that he rarely even noticed it anymore.

Jason's voice chimed back in. “It 'rains' most of the time in Blue. Of course, it's not real rain - it's a huge array of sprinklers built into the dome - but they can make the glass partially opaque so it's more convincing. This is why we need to trade wheels before we go in there!"

“Aw man, and I just got dry!"

“Don't worry bro, I got you. Water Zoomies have built-in umbrellas! Check it out, we're here." As he said that, the Zoomy told him to lean back and to the right, and slowed as it pivoted toward what looked like an indoor parking facility just inside the periphery of Hub District.

By the time he reached the entrance, he'd slowed to what was barely a brisk walk. Row after row of Zoomies were parked neatly across most of the facility, plugged into heavy-duty power taps that stretched between the rows of recharging scooters, and a ramp toward the back presumably led up to more floors of the same arrangement. As his own scooter maneuvered toward its designated space, others - mostly unoccupied - rolled in and out of the facility, in an invisibly choreographed dance that Shawn found both mesmerizing and surreal. At one point, his Zoomy's AR display popped up a stop sign flanked with red Xes, and clicked down its parking supports as a skunk in a staff jumpsuit walked out in front of him, wheeling another by hand toward a repair berth on one side of the garage with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry man, didn't see you there!"

“No problem! This place is so cool…"

“Hah! Easy for you to say, you don't have to keep them running! It gets spooky after a while, like the place is full of ghosts. Anyway, have a good one!" The skunk waved as he got out of the way of the disembodied traffic, and Shawn pulled into an open spot in a mostly-full line of scooters. As soon as his Zoomy parked itself again, a mechanical waldo slid down the rail along the top of the charging bank to stop in front of him. A panel popped open on the front of his ride, and the robot-arm reached down, drawing a retractable cable out of the bank under the rail and plugging it into the newly-exposed port. The Zoomy's AR display popped up one more time, showing a smiley face flanked by a knife and fork, which then closed its eyes and emitted a bobbing line of three Zes before fading out. Chuckling, Shawn stepped off.

“That was kinda cute."

Jason's voice sounded slightly pouty. “You never call me cute."

“That's because you're fucking hot, instead. Um, where am I going?"

“Right behind you."

Shawn turned around, and one of the Zoomies in the opposite line popped up its own infobox to get his attention.

Your (New) Zoomy

Destination: Triton Suites

Another waldo disconnected its charging cord as Shawn climbed on, and it rolled backward out of its space. It looked much the same as the ones he was already familiar with, except that its frame was blue and slightly bulkier, and it had a large bracket of sorts sticking out low in the front. Shawn found himself eyeing the skunk mechanic as he rolled back past the repair berth.

He's kinda hot, too.

“Sorry bro, wrong uniform for that kind of idea." Jason paused. “Besides, it looks like he's married. And straight. But if you like skunks, I'll keep that in mind for later!"

Shawn blushed again. The truth was, he liked… most kinds of guys, but he just knew Jason would tease him if he admitted that out loud. As an evasive maneuver, he changed the subject. “There must be a ton of Zoomies in here."

“Oh yeah. New Dawn has more Zoomies than it does permanent residents, to make sure there's always one available when someone needs it, even if a bunch are charging. This is one of the bigger stations, though, since it has to keep all three of the main types in stock."

The squirrel perked his ears. “Wait, three? Regular, Water and…?"

“Dirt Zoomies, for Green Quadrant! They're slower, but they have four wheels and can handle uneven trails." An arrow appeared over one such in the garage to draw Shawn's attention, but he only had a moment to look at it before he was rolling back out onto the street outside.

As the new Zoomy approached the major intersection marking where the corners of Green and Blue Quadrants met at the edge of Hub District, an AR alert appeared over its handlebars, telling Shawn to pull in his tail. As soon as he did, the bracket in the front opened, unfolding into an arc of transparent plastic that reminded him of nothing so much as the cover over a baby stroller. His tail squirmed around within its narrow confines, eventually settling for curling up and backwards, leaving him wearing the tip of it like a hat, as the rush of passing air was constrained to blowing over his shins and below.

Shawn had to wait a short while at the intersection for a flurry of delivery traffic to clear, and then made his way further along the inner circuit, as he got his first real look at Blue Quadrant. That entire piece of the city pie appeared to be slightly recessed into the ground, compared to the rest, and was ringed by a steadily-flowing canal, with branches flowing in and out of the district's interior at semi-regular intervals. Bridges over the 'moat' provided ground-level access, and as the Water Zoomy rolled over one of these, the squirrel spotted other mammals below, floating along on inflated rings or little rubber rafts with small motors, as well as a few simply going for a swim. It really was like a giant water park! The first patters of artificial rain started striking Shawn's plastic canopy as he scooted into the dimness of the 'storm.'

“Bet I'd sleep like a baby in a place like this. Not sure I'd ever get used to being wet all the time, though."

Jason chuckled inside his head. “You obviously haven't spent enough time around babies. Unless you mean you'd wake up screaming in the middle of the night all the time! But if you decide you like it, there are plenty of homes open here, once you rack up some kits. I figured you for a Yellow Quadrant kind of guy, personally, assuming you didn't get attached enough to your neighbors to stay in Red."

“I dunno. Blue seems kind of… whimsical, I guess?" A sort of squeegee apparatus, like a windshield wiper, slicked the accumulating rain off of his canopy, and Shawn looked up at a maybe twelve-story building ahead of him. It was sheathed in tinted glass windows… under a nearly solid sheet of water flowing from the top of the building, broken only by triangular awnings over its balconies, which created a horizontally cascading waterfall effect that he found absolutely mesmerizing. “Look at that. It's like some kind of aquatic pachinko machine. Tell me that isn't cool!"

“I'm glad you dig it, dude, considering that's where you're going!" The 'Triton Suites' sign over the entrance proved much easier to read as his approach gave him a more direct view of the front of the building, and Shawn swallowed hard as the reason for his visit intruded back through his fascination. The fronts of his ankles and paws were getting dampened by the rain, and with the cool air whipping around them, he found he was quite literally getting cold feet.

Heedless of his trepidation, the Water Zoomy turned in over another bridge over the canal running around the hotel, and slowed to walking speed as it rolled right into the open front of the building, alongside a branch of the canal that ended in a large, shallow pool inside the lobby. The wiper engaged one more time, and then the canopy folded itself back up in front, as the parking supports clicked into place.

Shawn stepped down, and immediately felt warm air blowing up through the floor vent under his paws, chasing the chill and dampness out of his fur. A moment later, his head snapped back up as a lynx coalesced in front of him, wearing a heart-marked jumpsuit and a cute little bellboy cap. His infobox popped up immediately, blue on green.

Pietro - Hospitality Daemon

Assigned to: Triton Suites

Apparently 'gossip mode' didn't apply to other daemons. That, or Jason had nothing in particular to say about him; there were no other details given.

“Welcome to Triton Suites, Mr. Farrell! You are expected, of course. You will find Mrs. Rutledge in room 904; the elevators are just over there. Can I offer you any further guidance, or perhaps some refreshments, before you head up?"

So much for Shawn's instinct to slink in while remaining as inconspicuous as possible! He suddenly regretted his extreme distaste for alcohol; his nerves were going nuts, and it wasn't time for his next dose of anxiety meds yet. “Uh, I don't think so… oh, is there a bathroom around here?"

“There is a restroom en suite, of course, but if you wish to freshen up before your introduction, there is a public facility just over there." The feline daemon turned and pointed off to the right of the elevators. “Should you require anything during your visit, my name is Pietro. Just address me aloud - no subvocalization, if you please, as I will not be monitoring you in that fashion - and tell me your needs; I will have them seen to posthaste." The lynx folded an arm across his chest, sketched a stiff little bow, and twitched his cute nub tail twice before discorporating.

I feel distinctly underdressed. Shawn scurried into the apparently unisex restroom to empty his suddenly shrunken bladder and wash his paws as he struggled to fight down his nerves.

“Just remember where you are, bro. A breeder with pants on would get way more funny looks than one without. But don't beat yourself up for not being used to it yet. It might not seem like it with everything that's happened, but you're still well within your first week here, and two decades of body modesty norms don't go away that quickly!"

Shawn spotted a decanter of mouthwash and a supply of little paper cups in the restroom, and availed himself, gargling the biting blue fluid for a few moments before spitting it out into a sink. Any last-minute advice? I feel like I'm walking into the lion's den.

“Like last time, bro, just take it slow. Remember, your only job is to put a baby in her. You don't have to be smooth. You don't have to impress her. You're not taking her out on a date. Try to have some fun with it! You're a gay guy getting paid to knock up someone else's wife! That's gotta be at least a little funny, right?"

I dunno. Maybe. But more 'weird' funny than 'ha ha' funny. The squirrel made his way over to the elevators, one of which opened seemingly of its own volition on his approach, and punched the button for the ninth floor. The utterly inoffensive elevator music seemed almost comically incongruous with the way his heart was hammering in his chest, and he realized with rising panic that he was way too nervous to have any hope of getting hard.

“Nothing to fear but fear itself, bro. You know, I can get you a microdose of the stuff from your second night if it'll help…"

Shawn shook his head almost violently. No. That's only for fun. I know better than to use it as a coping mechanism.

Jason sounded slightly relieved. “Yeah, you're right. I just can't think of anything else to help. Oh, maybe you could go Emissary Mode like you did back at Jet's place?"

The squirrel actually snorted a laugh. You've met Tyrian. I don't think he fucks. And I don't need Lily thinking I'm even more of a freak than I actually am. Still, the mention of his earlier tryst did remind him of how unbelievably turned on the horse had gotten him before things had gone pear-shaped, and he felt his body responding a bit. As the door opened, he stepped out and glanced at a sign with room number ranges on it, then turned left down the hall.

That massive black horsecock. The taste of it filling his mouth. Big, strong hands gripping his head, pushing him down. The flare digging into his tongue as the stallion emptied his titanic balls into Shawn's face. The squirrel's unsatisfied hunger surged back up, and he was half-hard by the time he found himself standing in front of Lily's door. Not giving himself a chance to seize back up, he lifted a paw and rapped his knuckles three times on the door to room 904.

“Womb service!"

Instantly, his eyes enlarged to saucers as his entire body froze, his tail sticking straight out behind him and poofing up. The hastily-erected edifice of his false confidence collapsed like a house of cards and blew away in the icy wind that took hold of his soul.

That was absolutely not what he had intended to say.

Shawn's mortified dick retreated back inside his body in the scant five seconds it took for the door to open. On the other side stood… the exact woman he'd seen in the pictures Jason had shown him earlier, right down to the basketball shorts and jersey, although now her ears were reddened and she had something of an incredulous look on her face.

“Room service," Shawn squeaked out. “I meant to say 'room service.' Oh my god. Oh my god."

Lily started laughing, uneasily at first, and then louder, until she was doubled over against the doorframe and clutching her ribs. Shawn tried to laugh along, but it seemed that the relevant neural circuitry had been reduced to slag by his horror at his own verbal slip. And as his assigned partner bent over, he was further taken aback by the discovery that she was not alone.

Her husband was standing halfway across the room, dressed in slacks, a buttoned shirt and a tie, as well as a disapproving glare aimed directly at him.

“Th-that's a heck of a way to make an entrance! Oh my god, 'womb service,' hahahahaha! But where's the lie?! C-come in, come in. Shawn, right?" She practically dragged the nearly paralyzed breeder through the door by his arm, and had to wait several moments to close it before he remembered to pull his tail in after him. “I'm Lily, and this is my husband Kevin." She was overtaken by laughter again, and Shawn curled his tail around in front of himself, hiding behind it as his claws combed nervously through its fluff.

Jason's voice sounded in Shawn's head. “I am so sorry, bro. They're sharing a daemon, so by the time I realized there were two people in here it was too late. Uh, your blood oxygen is dropping, kindly fucking breathe."

Oh right. Air. Shawn availed himself of some as Lily recovered, and Kevin folded his arms across his chest… but his expression softened somewhat at the sound of his wife's laughter, and the corners of his mouth pulled up slightly. “I'll let that one slide, but don't get too cheeky with the missus, Farrell. We're just here to get the ball rolling… or the fetus, I suppose…" The smile faded as the image he'd just conjured ran through all of their minds, and Lily nearly collapsed on the floor, howling in uncontainable mirth. Finally, Shawn was able to join in the laughter, tears running from his eyes as he sagged back against the wall beside the door.

Lily staggered back to sit on the edge of the king-sized bed, then flopped onto her side, her tail going absolutely crazy as she hammered a fist onto the mattress. “Womb service, to get the fetus rolling! HELP I'M DYING, MURDER, MURDER!"

Suddenly, a bespectacled lemur in a basic staff uniform materialized next to Lily, staring at her in alarm for a moment before sighing. “I do wish guests without a bio-terminal wouldn't say such things, even in jest." Her voice seemed to be coming from her own avatar, not the bracelets the other two were wearing, and they gave no indication that they could hear her. She tapped a pen against the edge of the clipboard she was holding in her other paw, and looked back at Shawn, her glasses making her eyes appear even larger than they actually were. “Full marks for punctuality, Mr. Farrell, even if that was one of the most graceless introductions I've ever seen." Her infobox popped up, yellow on purple.

Eliza - Guest Escort Daemon

Assigned to: Lily and Kevin Rutledge

“In any event, I will let you get on with your duties." Without further preamble, she vanished.

Kevin had apparently noticed that Shawn had suddenly stopped laughing and was staring at the wall. He was, in any event, eager to move on from his own verbal faux pas. “Is one of those AI ghosts in here, Farrell?"

Shawn snapped out of his brief distraction from reality, and nodded nervously. “Or she was. She already vanished. It was yours."

Lily was gradually recovering, and pushed herself back up into a sitting position. “Oh, I was so put out when they told me that guests couldn't see them. I've heard her voice but… what does Eliza look like?"

Shawn managed to relocate the manual controls for his facial muscles and achieved what he hoped was a convincing smile. “Like a librarian. No, wait, a mammal resources rep. She's a lemur."

“Huh, funny. She sounded more like some kind of cat to me." Shawn had just a moment to wonder what exactly differentiated a lemur's voice from a feline's as Lily leaned back on stiffened arms, her jersey settling against the slight curve of her modest breasts. “So. Hi there. I, um, don't exactly know what to say to, well… my hired, um…"

Shawn grimaced slightly. “Breeder. That's what they call us here, anyway. And believe me, I don't have any idea how to handle this conversation either. This is only my fourth day here, and my first, err… official assignment?" Forcing himself to stop hiding his nudity behind his tail, he flicked it off to the side, and unbuckled his day bag, setting it in front of the nightstand. “If it's all the same to you, can we just, like… talk for a little bit, first? I'm still not used to the idea of treating sex as a job."

Lily smiled. “Oh, thank god, I was worried you'd walk in here and just… go to town. What do you want to talk about?"

Shawn fidgeted, looking over at Lily's taciturn husband. “Well, for starters… Kevin, do you mind me asking why you're here? No one told me I was going to have, um, an audience…" His voice shrank toward the end of that last statement.

Kevin sighed. “This is awkward for me, too… but the thought of sending my wife off to the Cradle on her own to be… serviced, was even harder to bear. I just couldn't deal with the thought of my own son or daughter being conceived in my absence, so I decided to come along. I need to at least be involved in the process, or the kid might never feel like they're really mine."

Shawn felt his shoulders relax. On some level, he'd been expecting a less wholesome answer from the lawyer in training. “Okay. That makes… a lot of sense, really. But are you sure you're okay with me… doing the needful to your wife, right in front of you?"

Kevin grunted. “No, I'm not. But I think it's still better than you doing her - I mean it - with me back in the office, trying not to think about how I'm being cuckolded by a man I've never met and wondering if…" He shook his head. “Nevermind. Shower thoughts."

Shawn felt it best not to pry, and nodded. “Alright. Um, your turn, I guess?" He looked between the two of them.

Lily's ears flattened against her head. “Okay, well, let me know if this is a little too personal, but… are you okay with doing this? I know you signed up for the job and all, but your profile did say you're gay…"

Shawn flinched. They were putting that in his bio for the assignment service?! “I… wow. I didn't know management was advertising that little detail. Yeah, I… I am. And yeah, that makes this all pretty weird to me. But I already have triplets on the way, with a rabbit I met my first night here, so I know I can do it, even if I'm as smooth about it as a scared hedgehog." He paused. “Wait, if you knew I was gay, why did you even choose me? Ja- I mean, my daemon told me you had another option."

Lily looked a little anxious at the question. “Well, our other option was a thirty-seven year old man, and you were a lot closer to us age wise, but…" She trailed off, looking over her shoulder at her husband.

Kevin grimaced. “It was my idea. I was more comfortable with a surrogate who wouldn't get… attached to my wife. Sorry if that's weird."

Shawn blinked. It had never occurred to him, not even for a moment, that his orientation would actually be a selling point as a breeder, but from that perspective it made a kind of sense.

“Huh. And here I thought being gay made me 'damaged goods' as a breeder. That's… definitely food for thought." Shawn's tail lifted into a classic S shape behind him. “Thanks."

Kevin's tail, on the other hand, lashed in agitation. “Not to be a wet blanket, but there's still a naked man standing in front of my wife and planning on fucking her. Could we maybe get this over with before I get so tense that my spine telescopes out of my back?"

Lily grimaced. “Kevvy, please…"

Shawn's mind whirled as an idea was born to kill several birds with one stone. Before his anxiety could flare up and make him second-guess himself, he padded across the hotel room, put a steadying paw on Kevin's hip, and stepped behind him, letting his other paw glide over the slightly older man's crotch. He was surprised to discover that Kevin was quite hard under his slacks.

Kevin tensed up sharply, his tail coming up between Shawn's legs and unintentionally burying the breeder's big rodent nuts in its fluff. “Wh-what the… the womb is over there, Farrell! What are you…?"

“You said you wanted to be involved. Plus, you need help relaxing, and I need help getting worked up." He hadn't heard a 'no' in there, though, so he started experimentally stroking Kevin's dick through his pants, and felt a little shudder run through the law student's body.

“But I'm straight…" Kevin's voice sounded soft and plaintive; his tough guy facade was failing.

“Part of you certainly is." Tug, tug, tug. “There are only three people in this room, and once you leave, you'll probably never see me again. In other words, what happens in New Dawn stays in New Dawn. This is your chance to find out how far your boundaries go…" He looked over Kevin's shoulder, and saw Lily lying back in bed, staring at them with her eyes wide and one paw rubbing hungrily at the crotch of her shorts. “...and just how wet we can get your wife from watching us." Starting to get hard again himself, he walked around in front of his victim and sank to his knees, smiling up and resting his paws at the buckle of the man's belt. “C'mon. Gimme some squirrel cum to pass along to her?"

Kevin's eyes were wild, and he was breathing heavily. Whatever he'd been expecting of this encounter, it clearly had not included getting the first gay blowjob of his life. He looked between Shawn and Lily repeatedly, his muzzle opening and closing wordlessly. Shawn heard the sound of sliding cloth, and looked back to see Lily naked on the bed, fingering herself aggressively.

“Do it, love. Let's use Shawn as our private sperm converter. I wanna watch…"

That did it. Unable to refuse his excited wife's request, he reached down and unbuckled his belt. That was all the permission Shawn needed; in moments, he had the older squirrel's slacks unzipped, unbuttoned, and down around his ankles in a heap with his briefs. Kevin stepped out of them and kicked them aside, as Shawn got right to work nuzzling at his hard shaft. He looked to be just a hair smaller than his would-be cocksucker, both in terms of rod and orbs, although the latter still had that delightful added mass from his rodent heritage. Shawn was actually grateful to discover that Kevin wasn't particularly hung; his tongue was still sore from what Jet had done to it earlier. Breathing through his nose, he engulfed the other squirrel's cock in his mouth, and was immediately rewarded by a high, shaky moan.

“Oh f-fuck!"

Tail dancing behind him, Shawn started bobbing over Kevin's dick, with one paw on his hip and the other rubbing those big, fuzzy treerat balls. Immediately, he felt his assignee's husband shuddering, and a moment later a pair of paws closed on his ears, rubbing and stroking them just the way he loved. A brief thought of the last time he'd gone down on Connor passed through Shawn's mind - the wolf had had plenty of time to learn exactly how Shawn liked to be touched - but was quickly dismissed. Connor didn't matter anymore. Right then, he had a yummy squirreldick to pleasure.

In no time, Kevin started gasping and whining, and his hips began shoving toward Shawn's face in erratic bursts. Despite his protests about being uncomfortable with the situation, it was obvious that Kevin had gotten unexpectedly worked up by the scenario he'd found himself in, and Shawn's tongue was quickly getting coated in delicious sciurine pre. Those fat nuts drew up closer to Kevin's body as his tail started dancing as frantically as Shawn's, and those exciting shudders came faster and harder, until Shawn worried that Kevin's knees might give out before he finished!

“Oh shhhit, I… I c-c-can't…!"

Without an iota of mercy, Shawn suddenly latched both paws onto Kevin's ass and pulled him roughly in, as he pressed his face down to make out with the other squirrel's sheath and nurse firmly on that twitching shaft. That was the final straw. Kevin gasped, his head snapping back as he gripped Shawn's head in turn, and let out a high, thready, disbelieving wail of bliss as he fed the breeder-boy several sweet spurts of his virus-ruined seed, and Shawn gulped it all down greedily, oddly relieved to have a playmate who didn't produce more than he could drink for a change.

Behind him, he heard Lily whimpering frantically in bed, over the wet sounds of her own voracious masturbation. All of his inhibitions were destroyed; he remained in place only so long as Kevin kept gripping his skull in those trembling paws. He heard the man gasp for air, and a moment later, he was released. Rising quickly to his feet, he wiped his muzzle with the back of a paw and whirled in place, striding over to climb onto the bed, his own erection straining mightily upward. Grabbing Lily's tail, he tugged it gently up and around, and she responded immediately, flipping over onto her knees and lowering her chest toward the mattress, as Shawn lined himself up.

No hesitation. No doubt. No conflict over his orientation. Shawn took only a heartbeat to remember the anatomy lesson Becca had given him, get himself into position, and thrust.

There was no resistance. Snug as her pussy was, Lily was soaked, and Shawn's penis slipped fully into her unprotected vagina in a single firm movement.

It was like lightning had struck his central nervous system directly. The slick envelope of her pussy, the irrefusable scent of a squirrel in deep estrus, and the incredible inner heat of her fertile body… Shawn felt his balls lurch against his body, and nearly lost his load the instant he penetrated her. But he was so far past just 'getting the job done' at this point. He wanted to savor his conquest. Gripping her hips with those tree-climbing claws digging into her furry pelt, he growled fiercely and started hammering his cock home, drawing a frantic series of squeaks, yelps, and half-formed words from Lily's open-hanging mouth as he fucking took her.

The effort to contain his mind-destroying need to cum was almost unbearable. His ears and whiskers laid back as he bared his incisors, and his eyes squeezed themselves nearly shut as he jolted her body forward with the force of his virile hunger, until she wound up with both paws braced against the headboard just to hold her position on the bed. Try as he might, though, Shawn was unable to control his pleasure and need for more than a handful of seconds. He felt his balls clench up tight as seminal fluid flowed in eagerly to collect a generous load of his proven, baby-making sperm, rushing in and up unstoppably. Shawn barely even recognized his own voice as he roared out his triumph.

“TAKE! MY! CHILD!"

Clenching his paws against Lily's hips, Shawn arched his back and detonated in her fertile vagina. Pressing in as deeply as he could, he unleashed jet after jet of his potent seed directly onto and through her cervix, his slender body shaking in the vice grip of pure physical rapture. Under him, Lily let out a raspy shriek, and he felt her shudder as well as her pussy started clenching firmly around his spurting cock, milking it hungrily as it swallowed his rich semen directly up into her waiting womb.

Shawn had never cum so hard, or so long, in his entire fucking life.

The quiet that descended on the room in the aftermath of the sudden flurry of sex was almost eerie in its contrast. The only sound was the labored breathing of three squirrels, none of whom seemed to want to be the first to break the silence. Shawn's brain was entirely fried; it felt like he was merely along for the ride as his eyes strayed over Lily's discarded clothes. The jersey was the same one from the photo, now outdated (and thus being used as casual clothing) as it bore her maiden name: Dumas.

Wait… Dumas? In the dawning post-nut clarity, a memory teased at the edges of his consciousness.

Either you restore the recording of my daughter's basketball game or you can cancel my subscription!

No way.

No. Fucking. Way.

It really was hard to identify someone's species just from their voice, though, wasn't it?

Still panting, Shawn fought his way back into control of his voice. “Lily. I am going to ask you a weird question. This is absolutely the wrong time for it but I am too drunk on sex to give a single shit about that. Okay?"

The freshly-seeded squirrel woman turned her head to look back at him with one glazed eye. “Hmmnf?"

“Is your mother's name Elaine?"

Lily blinked, her eyes coming back into sudden focus. “Oh. Oh no…" Still impaled on Shawn's dribbling cock, she squirmed uncomfortably. “What has Herself done now?"

He couldn't help it. The coincidence… the incredible, absurd, delicious chain of cause and effect between the last abusive call he'd taken at his old job and now having that bitch's daughter under him, soaked with both their fluids and quite possibly on the first step toward bearing his child? All at once, Shawn conceived a profound, soul-shifting faith in the cosmic justice everyone yearned for, but only the religious ever really believed existed, and he started laughing like he'd lost his fucking mind. High, low, chittering his way all over his vocal range, as he slumped forward over Lily's dripping snatch and braced himself on his paws, his body shaking. He sounded insane even to himself, and the worried look that passed between husband and wife suggested that they were convinced that he'd snapped. And maybe he had. Or maybe something inside him had just gotten fixed, instead. He sure as hell couldn't tell the difference anymore!

“Okay, okay, just le-hahahaha! Let me explain. Your mom records your games, right? About two weeks ago, one of them got deleted…"

Lily's eyes went huge. “Oh. Oh crap, I knew I'd heard the name 'Shawn' recently when I got your meetup info. That's impossible!"

Shawn started laughing all over again. “Y-you were there when she called?!"

“YES! Oh my god, she was livid. That was you?!"

“That was the last call I ever took! I went on break after she chewed me out, got my test results on my phone, and quit on the spot!"

It was Lily's turn to start laughing like a madwoman, although Kevin still looked utterly lost. Once she'd recovered enough, they took turns explaining what had happened to her husband, and he got his own smaller share of the incredulous laughter. Through it all, Shawn kept himself buried in Lily's pussy, which made the off-topic conversation seem all the more bizarre. On some level, he was waiting for himself to soften before pulling out, but despite everything, it just wasn't happening. His hindbrain remained aware of Lily's fertile womb, inches from the tip of his cock and now drenched in his seed, and even his tectonic orgasm wasn't proving to be enough to truly rob him of his hunger.

Lily gave Shawn a bashful smile over her shoulder; she didn't seem to be in any hurry to break the intimate contact with her baby daddy either. “I have a confession to make…" Shawn tilted his head, and she continued. “I'm the one who deleted that recording. I just got so sick of my mother bragging to everyone about our winning streak that I wound up vindictive enough to erase it while she was asleep. I'm not even trying to go pro; I'm an academic, not a career athlete, and if she has to trot me out like her own personal trophy I'd rather it be for my grades than my moves on the court. She… isn't really great with caring about other people's feelings."

Shawn managed a near-perfect deadpan. “Really? I hadn't noticed." All three of them got to join in on the new round of laughter. “So yeah. She went full Karen on me, tried to get me fired, did convince me to quit… and here I am, giving her a grandchild in 'revenge.' I do not have words for this!"

“Mmm, you certainly are. But you know, being on Uternity for the past week has left me really horny… it wouldn't hurt for us to make sure, would it?" She batted her eyelashes at him.

“Ute-* wait, is that what the other fertility drug is called? God, they need to not let the eggheads name the pills!" He laughed again, and lightly swatted Lily's rump, earning himself a cute little squeak, before looking over his shoulder. “What do you think, Kevin? Should we give those hungry ovaries a second helping?"

“Be my guest, but I don't think I can help you with this one."

“Oh ye of little faith! Get over here, Mr. Lily's Husband." Shawn pulled out, then narrowly evaded an unintentional kick to the face as he flipped her onto her back again before sinking back into her cum-soaked vagina with a luxurious sigh and starting to fuck her again, far more gently than before. He settled in on top of her, spreading his paws over her pert breasts, and the two of them twined their tails together like it was the most natural thing in the world. Kevin crawled in from the side and started making out with his wife, and after a few moments of this, Shawn spared one paw to reach over and grope the other man's cock back to life. It took a minute or two, but eventually, he succeeded.

“There's a bottle of lube in my bag. Go get it."

Kevin paused. “Are you saying what I-*"

“Kevin, I want you to fuck me in the ass while I breed your wife. Is that clear enough for you?"

The other man surprised him then, by ducking his head and folding back his ears. “Y-yes sir." He climbed off the bed and scurried over to open Shawn's day bag, as the other two squirrels exchanged a surprised look. Apparently Lily hadn't seen that side of him either!

Kevin returned a few moments later, wordlessly slathering his dick in lube before fastidiously wiping his paw clean on one of the several towels that were probably standard issue for a hotel in the water district. It took him some work to find a place for his knees in the tangle of legs below the gently copulating squirrels, but then Shawn felt one paw settle between his shoulderblades, pushing him down onto Lily's body, as Kevin nudged his slickened cock in under the base of the breeder's bushy tail.

“Nnnh, little lower… lower… there. Push… yessssss." A tremor of pleasure passed through Shawn's slender frame as Kevin timidly sank into his ass, whimpering softly.

“Oh ffffuck it's so tight!"

Shawn hunkered down against Lily's warm body, bracing himself on his elbows, and looked back over his shoulder, murmuring up at the other man in a soft, husky voice. “Fuck me, Kevin. Make me impregnate your wife."

Kevin settled both paws on Shawn's shoulders and started humping him, gently at first, then with rising hunger, and before long he was panting again, as his cock pistoned smoothly in and out of the gay squirrel's rear. His tail fluttered excitedly against the others beneath it, and before long the spiral became a braid, as Shawn started pressing back into Kevin's thrusts and then down into the hot, wet heaven of Lily's vagina in a reciprocal motion that blanked his higher brain functions in a sea of pure carnal bliss.

None of them would later be able to say exactly how long this went on. What was certain was that Lily came two more times as the sciurine fuckpile pleasured itself, and by the second time Shawn was again struggling to contain his blazing need for orgasm. But he didn't have much longer to wait, at that point; the sound of his wife gasping and squeaking in climax, coupled with Shawn's tight ass devouring his rigid cock in a precise and relentless rhythm, soon pushed Kevin to the edge again.

“Shawn, I… I'm gonna cum. I'm gonna cum in you again!" Kevin's voice was whiny and plaintive; he was utterly lost to the act, all machismo and identity issues having flown out the window.

“Do it. Let it happen, Kev! Give me your seed, and I'll give your woman mine!"

Kevin's ears pinned back and he gripped Shawn's shoulders tightly as he broke rhythm, thrusting hard and fast under the teen squirrel's tail. “Shhhaaawn, g-give me a baaabyyYYYY!"

Shawn gasped and shuddered hard as Kevin's sudden frenzy subjected him to an unexpected prostate-pounding. He felt the other man's balls start twitching against the backs of his, and utterly lost control. As Kevin pumped a load of infertile squirrel semen up his ass, he drove down hard into Lily and unleashed his own, far more potent and voluminous climax into the man's wife. The feeling of those two pairs of heavy treerat nuts clenching against each other as he ejaculated into the whimpering woman's heat-stricken uterus was simultaneously one of the gayest and one of the straightest things he'd ever experienced, and he thought that if Heaven was meant to be better than this, God - or maybe Mother? - could take him now.

The three of them lay there, bodies joined and tails writhing together, absently and aimlessly petting one another, until both men's erections had completely given up the ghost. Feeling both very heavy and supremely satisfied, Shawn slowly extricated himself from the fuckpile and slid off of the bed onto wobbly legs. Bending over to rummage around in his bag was almost a one-way trip for him, but he managed to shuffle over to the sliding glass door and open it, stepping out onto the balcony. The soft, steady roar of the rain combined with the gurgle and splash of water parting over the inverted V of the rigid awning above his head to engulf him like an aquatic paean to his sexual triumph. He lit a cigarette and leaned on the railing, admiring the network of canals stretching out over the ground below, as his tail swished slowly back and forth behind him.

Yeah, he could definitely get used to this life.

The air was cool, and he was still getting hit with some indirect spray as he watched the water gushing back and forth down the sides of the building, but he had gotten somewhat overheated in the tangle of bodies anyway, and was feeling far too sated and pleased with himself to hurry back inside regardless. He glanced back into the room now and then, and found the married couple lying naked in bed talking, with Kevin's paw splayed over Lily's belly in a way that gave him a warm glow all over again. This was what he was meant to do: give couples the children they couldn't produce themselves, to raise as their own and - fringe benefit! - help save the world from a catastrophic population collapse.

Shawn was just starting on a second cigarette when he heard the door open again behind him, and Kevin joined him on the balcony, still wearing his shirt and tie but bottomless. With a brief glance for permission, the other man swiped a cigarette for himself, and leaned on the railing just beside the father of his future child.

“Thank you, Shawn. We won't know for a bit yet if that took, but honestly, I'll be kind of shocked if it didn't."

“Me too. I mean, I don't have a lot of data points to go off of but… fuck, that was insanely hot, so if volume counts for anything we should be good to go." He looked over at Kevin. “Are you okay? I, uh… I kind of shoulder tackled you over at least four or five boundaries back there without really thinking about it…"

Kevin chuckled uneasily and rubbed the back of his head with his free paw. “Yeah, not gonna lie, I'm feeling a little adrift right now. The me you saw in there - like, everything after the moment you started feeling me up - that wasn't anyone I've met before. I'm gonna have a lot of processing to do to figure out how I feel about it. But, credit where it's due, I feel like I was way more involved in making my own kid than I thought I'd be so, kudos for that." He took a drag and exhaled out into the rain, where the swirling air made the smoke dance into nothingness.

Shawn glanced back into the room, and found it vacant. “Where did Lily go?"

The other man chuckled. “Where do you think? She's in the shower. Oh, she said to ask you if you wanted to hang out for a while once we're all cleaned up. Assuming she tests positive in the morning, we'll be heading out tomorrow afternoon, and she wanted to have a look around New Dawn while we're here. We could use a tour guide, and I don't get the feeling that Eliza is much for selling the scenery."

Shawn exhaled heavily into the wind himself. “I'm not sure I'll be much better. This is my first time in Blue Quadrant too. Err, that's this water park district. I live, um, clockwise of here, in Red. But we can explore together, if you want."

“Sounds good, man."

Kevin hopped in the shower after Lily, with Shawn bringing up the rear. None of them bothered to do a very thorough job of drying off, though, and when Shawn came out, the other two were dressed in swimwear. He left his bag in their room - the last thing he needed was to dunk his cellphone - and the trio of gray squirrels made their way back down to the lobby. Moments after they emerged from the elevator, Pietro rematerialized.

“I trust everything so far has been satisfactory?" His voice sounded simultaneously in Shawn's ears, and from the bracelets the other two were wearing.

Kevin failed to completely suppress a snicker. “Oh yes, I'd say everyone involved is… abundantly satisfied." He was looking at nothing in particular, reminding Shawn that visitors couldn't actually see daemons. “We were thinking of taking in the sights, and maybe getting something to eat. Any recommendations?"

“Ah, if you want the authentic Blue Quadrant experience, you simply must take the canals! Strong swimmers are free to dive in directly, but most of our guests find the experience much more relaxing bobbing along in a Floaty or driving a Tug." As he spoke, the lynx led Shawn over to the edge of the pool that filled most of the front half of the lobby, and gestured toward banks of the inflated rings and small rubber rafts Shawn had seen on his way into the district; the breeder repeated the gesture for the others' benefit. “I recommend Floaties for such generously tail-endowed personages as yourselves. Tugs engage an emergency cutoff if they detect fur being drawn into their rotors, but the system is not perfect, and there are sometimes still, shall we say, sudden and unscheduled trims? Most unpleasant."

Lily suddenly grimaced. “I really wish I could bring my phone to take some photos, but I don't want it getting wet, and we were told to be careful not to catch any of the locals naked anyway, for privacy reasons."

Jason cleared his throat in Shawn's ears, and he held up a finger to get Lily to pause as the wolf spoke up. “I can take photos for you, and I can erase anyone else who gets caught in the frame like they weren't even there. Just say 'snap' and I'll record your field of view."

Shawn relayed the offer to the others, and Lily bounced in place. “YES! Thank you, Mr. Daemon! Oh, let's get one with Pietro! Is that okay?"

The lynx gave a small bow, even though Lily couldn't see it. “It would be my privilege, madam."

The squirrel couple stood with their backs to the pool, leaving space between them, and Pietro walked into place, standing up straight with a warm but professional smile and his paws clasped behind his back.

“Snap!"

As soon as it was done, Kevin spoke up again. “I don't mind using the tubes, but is there any way to steer them, short of paddling?"

Pietro inclined his tuft-eared head. “As with the Zoomies on which you arrived, simply tell the daemon managing your tour where you want to end up, and they will make it so."

Jason's voice immediately spoke up from the bracelets. “Dibs!" Both of the visitors started in surprise.

Shawn rubbed his head. “Um, that was my daemon, Jason. I think he wants to drive."

“Well, that's only fair, if he's playing photographer for us!" Lily smiled at Shawn, who found it peculiar to suddenly be a proxy for his daemon, instead of the other way around.

Kevin waded into the water to retrieve some Floaties but stopped, nonplussed, as a trio of them simply separated from the pack of their own volition to drift out into the main body of the pool. Wasting no more time, the three of them lowered themselves into reclining positions, with their limbs draped over the sides. The Rutledges curled their tails over themselves in a vain attempt to keep them mostly dry, but the roar of the rain outside reminded Shawn that it was a lost cause, and he just let his trail in the water.

“So, I heard food mentioned. What's everyone feeling?" It was weird hearing Jason's voice from three places at once.

Kevin spoke up first. “Is there a decent steak place around here? I think we could all use a little meat. My treat?"

Shawn's stomach rumbled a bit at the thought, and that sounded like a cut above what he could get for free as part of his contract. When neither of the others objected, Jason chimed back in. “It's a bit of a trip, but I'm seeing good reviews on a fancy concept restaurant here in Blue. They've got a little of everything, and their reservations aren't booked solid until dinnertime. I'll just grab us one and… off we go!"

The Floaties started drifting toward the open exit. As far as Shawn could tell, the Rutledges were slightly bemused by their autonomy, but he could feel the occasional brush of jets from the bottom of the pool against his submerged tail. They all got spun around a bit by the swirling eddies as they were swept into the brisk flow of the main canal, and passed immediately under the bridge they'd all used to enter the hotel. As expected, they were all promptly drenched by the rain on their upturned bodies; Kevin let out a good-natured groan, but Lily seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. Shawn held a paw in front of his muzzle to mostly block the view of his own naked body and snapped a photo of the two of them as they were carried away by the current.

The water was deeper in the main canals, but Shawn could see from the regularly-spaced underwater lights that he'd still have his head above water even if he dismounted and stood up in it. At intersections, there proved to be gates that could be raised and lowered from the floor of the canal to direct the flow of water, and thereby the Floaties. The canals were all effectively one-way streets, but one could easily loop back around the nearest 'block' if they needed to move in the other direction… and besides, anyone who was pressed for time would be using Water Zoomies at street level, anyway.

Jason provided commentary as the squirrels floated their way a good couple of miles through the waterways of Blue Quadrant, and Shawn dutifully snapped photos of interesting landmarks as they drifted by. The restaurant, when they reached it, turned out to be an open-air affair, at least as far as the dining area was concerned. A large, rounded glass canopy, like the city's dome in miniature, covered a branching network of streams that ended in small cul-de-sacs, within each of which an underwater bench allowed diners to sit facing each other with the water level partway up their torsos. The entire affair reminded Shawn of nothing so much as the anatomical drawings he'd seen of mammalian lungs.

Moments after they arrived, and stacked their Floaties on the space just outside their pool, a tiny motorized tugboat puttered its way in, pulling a floating 'table' bearing menus, small towels, and a warm bowl of freshly-baked bread. The table promptly anchored itself to a socket in the bottom of the booth before the tugboat disconnected itself and departed, and Jason relayed their orders to the kitchen. The three squirrels sat and talked for a while, over the constant drum of the rain on the restaurant's glass 'roof'; the food arrived in much the same fashion as the table itself had, and was every bit as excellent as the excessively complex dining arrangements had led them to expect. Their steaks did come pre-sliced into bite-sized thicknesses, though, presumably due to the difficulty of cutting things on a floating table.

The sky was starting to dim as they floated their way back to the hotel, but even so, Lily got a playful look in her eyes and started purposefully fondling Shawn's sheath and balls when they were less than halfway there. When Kevin begged off any further involvement for the day, Jason separated his Floaty from the others, sending him on his way as he scooped the other two into an alcove hidden under a major bridge that housed a small restroom for mid-trip emergencies. The moment they climbed out of the water, Lily pinned Shawn to the floor, pulled the fabric of her swimsuit aside and rode him like a wild animal, until he pumped her heat-stricken pussy full of squirrelcum for the third time that day. The two of them lay there together, bodies still meshed, for a good twenty minutes, before they climbed back onto their Floaties and rejoined Kevin at Triton Suites.

Pietro was waiting for them in the lobby, beside a motorized cart of dryer-warmed towels, and by the time they made it back up to room 904, Lily had dried herself enough to flop immediately into bed.

“What a day!"

Kevin immediately crawled up beside her, lying on his side and stroking over the still-damp fur of her belly. “Seconded. I'd expected all this to be… very transactional, but this has felt like a legitimate vacation."

Shawn smiled as he slung his bag back over his shoulder. “For me, too. I might live here, but Red Quadrant is nothing like this. Thanks for giving me a reason to see the rest of town." He paused, his expression falling a bit. “You know… depending on what Lily finds out tomorrow, this might be goodbye, so… I just wanted to say, I think I'm gonna miss both of you. Thanks for letting me be a part of this, even if it was just for one day."

Lily's ears perked up. “Oh right, the photos!"

Jason cut in, in triplicate once more. “One of you shoot an email to shawn dot farrell at cradle dot gov and I'll send them your way." He then spelled Shawn's name for them, just to be safe.

Shawn furrowed his brow. “I didn't even know about that account."

“You've got your own, so I didn't bother to tell you. But this one, I can access."

They both insisted on hugging their breeder before he left, although Kevin seemed to be a little awkward about it. Shawn paused in the doorway, lashing his tail as a slightly vindictive grin spread over his face. “Oh, and tell my kid's grandmother that Shawn says hi." Lily blushed and covered her mouth, but Kevin laughed loudly as the breeder waved and shut the door.

By the time he got down to the lobby another Water Zoomy was waiting to take him back to Red Quadrant. As he came up on his apartment complex from the other direction, it struck him that he'd made an entire circuit of New Dawn that day, and he smiled at the wolf that materialized to welcome him home.

Between that, the entire affair with Jet, and getting through his first assigned breeding without any real regrets… he really had come full circle.