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Pairs of Pumpkins- Patches #1: An Estrangement Intervention at the Mason Memorial Inn

("Patches" are standalone, supplemental stories in the "Pairs of Pumpkins" Universe that exist outside of the chapters of the main storyline. They are intended to explore and detail ideas and characters in the world with some secondary or tertiary connection to the cast and events of the main story line, even if they are never bound to intersect with it.)

The heavy wooden door to the Mason Memorial Inn swung open for only the second time that afternoon and it did so with such violence to startle the young, canine barman. He jumped and nearly dropped the brandy sifter he'd been nursing in boredom before tucking the still-sloshing drink behind the counter. There were two new visitors standing in the doorway, their postures hunched down with exhaustion and annoyance and the barman straightened himself out to receive their guests. "Magdelena," he called out over his shoulder, through swinging, saloon doors behind him , into the kitchen. "We have visitors. They might be hungry."

"Don't let them order either of the specials. Or the salad," a sing-songy young woman's melodic voice called back out from the darkness of the doorway. "We're out of everything but the potato soup and the beef stew until tomorrow's delivery."

"Got it." He glanced up to the five items on the chalkboard menu and he pursed his mouth with thought. Dark brown eyes fell to the rag he used to clean it but a two item menu would not be fitting for an establishment of quality such as theirs. So he left it and turned his attention to the two new patrons approaching the bar, not the usual sort of travelers for adventure or commerce who would frequent this remote location.

He saw the female first, a striking but aging, white-furred, mink woman with sharp, triangle ears and a short, pointy snout. She was tall and her figure long and lean, befit of her species and she carried herself with poise below her low-slung head and a restrained sneer of irritation. Her headfur was white and short, cut into sculpted, fashionable bob with an asymmetry that reached below her chin on the longer side but whatever trauma they'd both been through had her hair frayed and neglected.

She, like the male walking in front of her, was postured as if they had come in from the pouring rain except they, like the world outside the windows, were perfectly dry. Drawing closer, it became clear they could both benefit from a bath and a wash as they dressed in a finery not fitting of travel, at least not outside of cushy caravans or stagecoaches. Both her long dress and his trousers, shirt and jacket bore signs of accelerated distress below the dirt and the mud.

The male of the pair was a rabbit of similar years, with an uncommon broadness for his species, suggesting some athleticism in his younger days, since grown soft and south with neglect and gravity. While his adornment spoke of an equivalent wealth to his female companion, his scowl seemed less out-of-character for his poise than hers did. His coat, where it was visible outside of his faded, bluish suit and half-buttoned, white blouse was a light brownish, freckled by spots of aged grey where the silver of his seemingly, once black headfur was further accelerated. The top of his head was barely shorter than hers and he could have cheated his way to a height advantage with his lapine nature but for now his long ears slumped, weighted down by their obvious troubles. As the pair shambled through the dining room, they both became aware of the peculiar finery surrounding them.

"What is this place?" the mink woman was the first of the two to speak, stopping to examine the white table cloth of one of the tables, round with chairs like a fine dining restaurant and not long and rectangular with hard benches for seats, that would be more expected from a roadside inn. The walls were white with paintings and tapestries hanging from them, gas lamps filling in the rare, would-be shadows where the ample windows in three of the four walls failed to bath the place with afternoon sun.

It was a few hours too early for a typical dinner time and late of lunch and the surprisingly opulent dining room was empty but for the canine barman and other patron: an older bull sat in a corner, focused on the steaming bowl in front of him that he ate from. In contrast to the finery of the dining room, he dressed like a farmer, which was the expected sort of local in this part of the land.

The bartender extended his arms out and open, his voice soft and silvery but confident. "Welcome to The Mason Memorial Inn, the finest luxury accommodations for the common traveler. We specialize in offering rooms and meals at Pauper prices at a quality that are fit for a King! My..."

"Not quite a King but it's nice," the rabbit spoke with a nasal voice and shrugged as he interrupted. His head craned casually, this way and that, evaluating the space around him. The mink was more polite and the young bartender caught her attention from across the room.

He was a good-looking, canine young man of an age dubious to be running this place at all. But there he was playing every bit the part and seeming completely comfortable in it, dressed in a white, silken, blouse draped over his tall and lanky figure while his waist was hidden mostly by the bar but it could be seen to be wrapped in a high, purple cumberbun. His coat was a sandy, blotchy beige which complemented his figure to suggest he was more coyote than anything else but his face, neck and inner ears bore ivory fur in a two-tone contrast uncharacteristic of the species. His bare hands at the ends of pressed sleeves offered a third shade of fur: black. The rabbit looked back and saw the mink's attention to him, however innocent and his scowl clenched further.

Looking between the two of them and the tension connecting them, the barman cleared his throat, otherwise undeterred and continued. "My name is Cormac. I will be your host and bartender for the evening."

"We need dinner for two, Cormac," the rabbit began. "Baths..."

"Separate," the mink interjected with a hiss and the rabbit continued without a hitch. "...A clean room, breakfast in the morning and enough rations for the road to make it home to Mudcrest".

"And drinks," the mink demanded. "Several. Stiff ones."

"For both of us," the rabbit flatly added.

"Of course. One bed for two?" Cormac turned his head in an anticipatory wince, his tone raising sharply.

"Two beds for one," the rabbit said with a glare at his scowling, mink companion.

The barman gave a single, sharp nod and fetched a bronze key with an oversized, wooden handle from behind the counter and placed it upon the bartop. "Room Three. That'll be five silver."

"Five silver?!" the rabbit and mink were both taken aback by the price and exchanged glances for the first time instinctively, both in some disbelief. The barman also recoiled at their reactions and his mouth fell open to stammer out words but the rabbit continued first. "I've never in my life, stayed anywhere so cheap. You weren't kidding about pauper prices. Kassina, pay the man."

A slow, open smile of relief spread across the barman's face and he gave a sigh through it, his entire posture relaxing once again. The mink was back to her sour grumble and she raised her hands before her to slip off a gold ring and place it on the bartop. "That should more than cover everything."

Cormac reached out unsurely and picked it up to examine it. He held it to the sunlight, then looked up at them, through it. "I'm not an expert but I suspect this is worth much more than what your bill will be. But I can't appraise it to where I could give you back the difference. Are you sure you don't want to pawn it to a jeweler and come back with the correct payment?"

The rabbit looked over his left shoulder, then his right. "A jeweler where? Mudcrest is the nearest city of any wealth and we're three days away," The rabbit waves a dismissive hand. "She has plenty more of them at home. We just need to get there." The mink gave a glare to him and her cheek swelled with a toothy snarl. Cormac's eyes moved between the two of them before he pocketed the ring.

"I'll hold it for a few weeks, should you want to come back and pay the bill with coin."

"Do whatever you want. We're not coming back to a highway-side Inn for a stupid ring," the rabbit grumbled to an eyeroll of his mustelid companion. He pulled himself up onto a barstool and she blinked with some irritation, looking back over her shoulder at the mostly empty dining room.

The barman's demeanor was unwavered by his gruffness. "What can I get you two to eat?"

They both examined the bartop, looking for menus before Cormac pointed to the chalkboard behind the bar listing the wine, the ales, the meads and five meal options.

"Beef stew for me, please," the mink spoke, resettling herself in her barstool.

The rabbit squinted and leaned in, taking a bit longer before he relaxed back and spoke: "Potato soup. And an ale."

"Wine for me, please."

Cormac gave a genial smile and nod. "Of course. We'll have that right out for you. Maggie, did you get that?" the barman elevated his tone, looking back to the kitchen's swinging doors.

"Coming right up," The sing-songy woman's voice called out from within and the rabbit perked at the unseen presence. He peered back into the darkness of the doorway while Cormac got to work, pouring the wine first and placing it in front of the distressed mink, who nodded graciously. Next, he pulled an ale and served it to the rabbit, who didn't.

The silence was too much for a room of four and the tension, uncomfortable so the barman decided to speak, without addressing their obvious troubles or trauma.

"So, what are your names?"

The rabbit was annoyed but the mink answered for them both. "I'm Kassina. This lovely fellow is my husband, Walter."

"Nice to meet you both."

The rabbit only grumbled in his metal mug, which amplified it. The mink at least, gave a small nod of her head. "It is nice to meet you too..." Her words fell away and she tried to pinch her sentence at the last minute to hide that she'd obviously forgotten his name, if she'd heard it at all.

Cormac made several more attempts to draw them into conversation without probing them but their only interest seemed to be in staring laconically at the various, unimportant details of the dining room. The plates stacked on shelves behind the bar and the glasses and steins hanging below them. A tapestry or a painting, some which might have been familiar to one of them or the other. The set tables and floral arrangements at the centers of them. Only on occasion did one of them steal a glance at the other and when they did, eyes would quickly avert. Sometimes, with an eyeroll, sometimes with a glance to the floor and a hasty pull of their drink. They were nearing the bottom of their third round and their eyes were slightly glassy when the swinging, double doors of the kitchen abruptly pushed open, jolting the pair of them.

Stepping aside and sighing with relief, the barman moved out of the way. At least the bickering couple would have some food in them before they got too drunk and whatever was seething within them exploded into a scene. It was but for a moment though as he watched the slumping couple come alive at the sight of the chef and server, a striking and voluptuous vixen whose coat and features spoke to a familial relation to the barman. These were reactions neither of them were surprised by when new, male guests saw her but Cormac had expected a less dramatic reaction from this apparently, once-dignified couple but the entire silhouette of both mink and rabbit shifted.

Their eyes widened and their jaws dropped in unison. She was eye-catching by any connotation, seemingly the same age as her brother, with the same tall ears, dark eyes and a triangular face under coarse, sandy fur. Her mouth and cheeks were a lighter shade of beige with a clear line between the colors as the contrast ran down the front of her soft neck to her broad shoulders, down into the conservatively high buttons of her custom-fitted, white, cooking jacket. Within it, her thickness ramped from plump to impossible extremes with the cooking-scarred top pushed far in front of her and out to the sides with the bloated curves of a massive, restrained bosom taking up much of her chest. They were wider than her ribcage by an open hand on either side, jutting forward enough to almost reach her elbows with her arms at full extension and they curved back in to her belly just above where her navel would be. From there down, the girl was all but hidden by the high countertop.

The female canine's smile weakened at this different sort of attention and she cast an uneasy look back to Cormac under her forced politeness. "Beef stew for the misses and potato soup for the good sir." She set the dishes down in front of herself on the bar before sliding one, then the other forward to mind her reach. Both wafted enticing steam from the heat of their liquids, enough to dampen the muzzles of the duo. The smell was enough to make the barman hungry despite having had lunch not long before. "Be careful. It's very hot!"

"You're related?" The mink was the first of them to find her tongue.

"This is my twin sister, Magdelena. We own and operate the Inn together."

"Do you two... have other siblings?" the rabbit spoke next, looking over Magdelena's face before his eyes fell back into the gravity of her pronounced chest. The mink noticed but a moment later and jabbed him sharply and obviously in the side with her elbow.

Cormac and Magdelena exchange curious glances before shaking their heads in unison. "Just us two," the sister said with a polite smile before beginning her nervous and obvious retreat. "I need to clean up before the grease dries. Enjoy your meals!" She dismissed herself back to the kitchen, brushing past her brother and through the swinging doors of a doorframe that she almost filled.

"That isn't a question either of us have been asked before. Usually the guests are remarking about my sister's uncommon endowments, in comments of varying quality and taste."

"Not that uncommon, apparently," the mink gave an annoyed gaze to the ceiling, tilting back her head and finishing half of her glass of wine at once, while her husband watched her with some apprehension. She slapped it back down to the counter and tapped the bottom of the glass for a refill before her eyes caught Cormac's posture, his head canted curiously aside. With a puff of a sigh, she explained. "The thieves who robbed us? They were twins and they both looked quite a lot like your sister. More vulpine than canine in features and with bold, white and incredibly soft fur. But they were similar in age, features and figure, especially in that abundant bosom. Strikingly similar. Smartly dressed and styled for bandits, cocky in their swagger. They were quite tall and smelled..."

Walter's eyes were sideways on her when Cormac interrupted. "You were robbed by two women?"

The rabbit was about to take his first sip of the steaming potato soup but his huff of a laugh blew half of it right off the spoon. "Women. You're being generous."

"Girls?"

"Only if girls can have balls bigger than my fist and a cock like my forearm!" The rabbit was growing larger with his animation while the mink had shrunk but she ignored it enough to take her first, shaky spoonful.

Cormac recoiled his head. "I've not heard of... any such girls. None that match my sister and certainly none with... anything extra for a woman. That's quite peculiar."

"What's peculiar is how little effort it took for the two of them to fuck my wife!"

Beef stew blew across the bartop from the mink's bursting cheeks, almost hitting the wide-eyed Cormac's shirt. His ears blew back at the revelation while the mink was shrinking in slow-motion, open-mouthed and disgusted while her head tried to disappear completely between her shoulders, as if she could become a turtle with just a little more shame. Finally, with a sucking inhale, she reinflated herself and found words to speak. "I've told you a thousand times, Walter: they used some kind of mind magic."

"Of course: mind magic," the rabbit parroted with sarcasm. "I saw the way you were staring at their codpieces from the moment they stepped out in front of our carriage." He slapped the bartop and eyed the still-frozen Cormac to elaborate. "These girls didn't just have men's tackle; they wore these molded codpieces over their pants to make sure everyone knew how proud they were of their dicks and balls, like they were carrying three coconuts in their boiled, brown leather cockslings. My wife couldn't take her eyes off them!"

"It's not exactly a common sight, Walter."

His eyes threw daggers sideways at his wife before he looked back to Cormac, who had taken a step back. "Beyond that, they were definitely girls, with waspy waists and wide hips to go with those incredible racks. Like a trimmer, fitter version of your sister."

"My sister is an innocent party here. Please leave her out of this," Cormac bristled suddenly, folding his arms. "It seems like your wife wasn't the only one who couldn't take her eyes off them."

"Ha!" the mink barked in agreement.

"Yes, of course," the rabbit gave a broad, dismissive wave. "So these girls step out into the highway, one of them with a sword and the other with a spear. They explain how they're taking our carriage and all of our valuables but all the while they can basically smell it on my wife. She's just aching for those bulging girldicks. They force us off the carriage and one of them checks our cargo while the other kept an eye on us. Then one of them searches us; the chatty, redhead one. Me first, then my wife. Thoroughly."

Cormac's muzzle slowly formed into a wince. "It sounds like you were both assaulted."

"They were strictly professional at first! But then she starts panting and groaning in heat when one of them patted her down and stripped away her necklaces. The fox searching her, the redhead said 'I'm going to need some help with this one' and the quiet one came over and stood behind her. The twins were grinning up a storm, eyeing me as they touched and sniffed at my wife, starting to grind themselves against her. She was shamelessly horny, like I haven't seen since our wedding night. She could barely look at me."

Kassina gripped the edge of the bar, her claws digging into it before she burst out: "What was I supposed to do, Walter? They had weapons."

"You didn't have to beg for it!" the rabbit burst out at his wife before turning back to Cormac. "They were groping up a storm. The redhead was hiking up her dress. She was watching me and grinning. She even asked Kassina if she wanted them to stop. She couldn't look at me as she shook her head.'"

Kassina stared blankly across the bartop, her second attempt at spoonful of stew still hovering over her plate, trembling and clearly holding back tears. But instead of breaking down, she snapped. "Oh, and you weren't oogling at those giant breasts of theirs all the while?! You barely noticed I was there once they held your eyes! As soon as these girls came out of the woods, it's like I didn't have a husband anymore!" she pleaded to Cormac. "His eyes only found me again once they were all over me!"

"Well, it certainly explains how you acted! Trying to make me jealous?!" His attention turned back to Cormac, who was glancing down at the waning intensity of the steam from his nearly untouched soup. "The redhead unbuckled her leather cocksling and she's hung like a horse, no exaggeration. This huge, veiny erection, slapping against the bottom of her tits and greasy with arousal. The kind I'd expect to hurt a woman if it could fit at all. She squatted down to line herself up, watching me the whole time! Then, torturously slow, she started to stand up and Kassina looked like she was going to cry for a moment. Suddenly her mouth falls open, her eyes go bigger than I've ever seen them and she's sucking in all the air in the forest. There's my wife, taking this monster of a cock like she's giving birth in reverse! It was like she was halfway between having an orgasm and pushing out a baby!"

Kassina hung her head in shame, with no attempt at denial and Walter seemed only encouraged by her silence. "Then... the other one... oh Gods the other one. Dark hair and cold eyes, quiet. I don't remember if she ever even said a word to us. She took off her codpiece and all this oil oozes out. Her cock was already greased up and ready to go, just as big as her sister. Like she's just walking around all day with a codpiece full of oil, hoping to find some tight, dry hole to fuck!

"My stomach sank as she pushed Kassina's dress up over her ass and backed up her hips. We both knew what she was about to do but all I could do was stand there and then slowly, she did. My wife was squirming and panting but she didn't say 'no' once as this girl starts to push her dick inside my wife too! She's creeping right up my wife's asshole, all that fat cock disappearing between them until they're hip-to-hip! How does all that even fit?!"

Across the room, the bull had craned his head and from the ghastly look on his face, he had overheard the story. Finished with his meal, he quickly downed the last of his ale. He slapped a small stack of copper coins on the table and gave a salute and a wince to the mortified Cormac, who acknowledged with hair of a nod. The couple was oblivious to him and the bull let himself out the front door. The rabbit was in the thrall of his hysterics while a fire smoldered behind the mink's eyes now and her demeanor grew increasingly tense.

Cormac rubbed his own folded arms with his hands, trying to remain objective. "So these twins: stopped you to rob you and succeeded... then you had sex with them?!"

"We both did!" Kassina burst out before Walter could answer. Cormac shook his head and blinked, his attention turning to the backpedalling rabbit.

He stammered for a long moment under his wife's icey stare before he made his case to his young barman. "Yes, after the damage was already done, I... I joined in. What else was I supposed to do!? I was sitting there watching my slut wife get sandwiched by a couple of girls half her age and cocks twice as long as mine. I could either sit there and watch or join in."

"Interesting reaction to infidelity," Cormac canted his head aside, studying Walter, who leaned back in his stool and shook his head, slinging his flopping ears about him. "You're talking like you're revolted by your wife's actions but if you were able to join in, it must have turned you on at least a little."

"A little!?" Kassina pops with a laugh. "Oh, he was more than a little turned on. We were standing up for a bit before we went to the ground and by the time I could see Walter again, he had his penis in his hand and he's masturbating. He jumped on one of their backs and did what rabbits are known for. Except for the actual breeding part because he was fucking her in the ass."

"The one on her back was shaking her butt in the air and looking back at me, licking her lips while she buttfucked my wife! Since my wife is a cheater already, what's the harm?!"

"I don't know if I've ever seen Walter as turned on as when he jumped on her. I could feel his every move through her and it got a lot rougher once my husband got involved. These girls were tough but her mouth was right next to my ear and I could hear she was really straining to endure it. Walter here seemed hellbent on shattering that poor girl's pelvis! He was so eager to be having anal sex with someone with a penis! Are you even straight, Walter?!" she glared over to him. "Because you've never tried to have anal sex with me!"

"You never wanted to!"

"You never asked me, Walter!" Kassina snapped with a hint of a snarl before her tears finally broke and she turned away, close to crumpling off her bar stool. "You never asked me."

Walter let out of a puff of breath and folded his arms with a pout, shaking his head at the ceiling. "Mind control."

Silence followed as Walter stared at nothing, Kassina convulsed in tears while Cormac couldn't help but notice that the steam rising from their meals had become thin and wispy while almost entirely untouched. He bit his lower lip and thought for a moment before he spoke. "It sounds like you were both quite taken by these girls. I guess it could have been some kind of magic. How long have you been married?"

"Seventeen years," Kassina spoke with a sniffle before her watery eyes fell back to the bartop. "Best years of my life until this week."

Walter sighed. "For me, as well."

Cormac's attention switched between the two of them and cracked the smallest of smiles. There was hope. "Seventeen years is a long time. How did you two meet?"

They traded looks before Kassina spoke, with a softer voice now. "It was the Spring Festival in Mudcrest. He was handsome and cocksure when he came up as asked me to dance with him. I'd never particularly fancied rabbits before him but he was so thick and muscled. He was built like a bear."

Walter gave a small smile. "I played a lot of sporting games and was quite fit back then. She made it easy for me to ask her. I could tell from the way she was looking at me that she was going to say yes."

"I love that! And this kind of thing has never happened before? For either of you?" Both of them shook their heads quickly.

"I love my wife dearly. I've always known I was a lucky man and she could have done better than me. Why do you think this hurts so much," His smile faded and he slumped again. Kassina pined to Cormac before she reached over to place her hand on her husband's shoulder.

"I also love you, Walter. I never stopped."

"Seventeen years is a long time, especially to stay faithful!" The coyote offered and Walter eyed him with skepticism, studying his lean, youthful face. He was barely an adult. What did could know? How much of life could he even have experienced? But in the stillness of the moment, he also made sense and the coyote had his full attention. Walter let out his tension with a heavy breath before Cormac continued. "But seventeen years is a long time to not tell each other everything you want either. Maybe there's more than certain kinds of sex? Is this the first time either of you has been attracted to other people?"

"Of course not," Walter spat. "It's completely natural to find other people attractive. But you're not supposed to act on it!"

"Sure and that's the ideal but people do. You're not the first. It's just usually more of a deception. But you still love each other and both of you did it."

"She did it first!"

"You're not children, Walter," the young barman scolded."That doesn't matter. You both did it. And it sounds like you both liked it."

Walter shrunk and swallowed.

"I don't actually think Walter is homosexual. I was afraid it might mean that I am," Kassina spoke and deflated as she did. "These girls were beautiful. Staggeringly so. Tall, with sharp ears, bold eyes, strong, lean muzzles. And such curves! I've... had feelings for women before but I was always able to push that aside, like other men that I've found attractive. I had a husband therefore I was straight. There was something about these girls being both male and female and so... impossibility abundant that was just so erotic." Walter's mouth pursed with concern and hurt.

"You know it doesn't have to be one or the other," Cormac spoke after watching both of their reactions. "Plenty of people are attracted to both men and women. I think it gets a lot more complicated than that! But if you like both men and women, I think it means you're bisexual."

"That word is for deviants and perverts!" Kassina recoiled, the suggestion lashing her.

"Those are only judgements to create guilt, shame and repression," Cormac explained. "But there is no shame in knowing yourself and admitting your needs." Walter's eyes moved between the two of them, skeptical again. "Kassina, you've already said you love your husband." She nodded. "Are you attracted to him?" She nodded again, unhesitating. "And Walter, the same is true of your wife?"

"Of course! She was the one who..."

Cormac interrupted. "You love each other and still find each other attractive after seventeen years. Amazing. You two have an amazing relationship that people the world over would kill for!"

They both gave small, conciliatory smiles towards each other. "But you both have needs that aren't being met and desires you're not being open about. So you can either let that tear your beautiful love apart for no good reason or you can explore these new and exciting feelings that have come to light. Together."

There was a long silence that followed before Walter reached over to hold Kassina's hand in her lap. She smiled weakly and swallowed before she spoke. "What do you suggest?"

Cormac chuckles and shrugs, presenting his palms. "That's something for you two to decide. Together. Be open about what you want and what is a fair and caring way to your partner, for you to find it. And similarly, accept that your spouse, who loves you very much, may have needs beyond what you can provide and that doesn't make you any less to them. Be honest with yourselves and don't worry about shameful labels and judgements."

"We already do that," Walter protested.

"I think the first step toward being honest is recognizing what you haven't been honest about. And I don't think you were being dishonest with each other. I think you were being dishonest with yourselves, like most people are. About what you want, about what you like. And perhaps even what you need."

Walter flung his hands out over the bar. "You have to give us more than that! After all of this!"

Cormac paused for a moment, nodding gently. "Alright. Well Kassina here clearly has some unexplored attraction towards women. And maybe the presence of male bits made that line easier for her to cross. And Walter, you had quite a strong response to seeing your wife with another lover. Or lovers," he gave a small shrug. "I don't know how easily it is going to be to find another woman like the two you've described but perhaps, once you're both fully aware of what you and your partner want, it won't matter so much. You have a potentially wonderful road of discovery ahead and there is no reason that you should not make that journey together. But you must always remember your love for each other in all of your explorations."

There was silence for a long moment before Walter gave a small chuckle and reached for his ale. He drank deeply then put the mug down with a rough clunk. "So, you're telling us to be swingers."

"I'm telling you that your partnership is more than the rules and labels that society had thrust upon you. And if you two can break the rules together, perhaps you can find an even higher level of love and happiness together!"

Kassina took Walter's hand and brought it to rest on the bartop, squeezing it. She looked over to him with a warm smile. "I'll try anything if it means I get to keep him."

It took a bit longer for Walter's resolve to break but it did with a heavy sigh before a slow lunge and he threw his arms around his wife. "I love you, Kassina. Let's make this work."

"I love you too, Walter."

They held each other for a long moment, eyes closed tight, cheek to cheek. Cormac put his hands on his hips in balled up fists, his posture high and proud. But it was fleeting and his contented smile waned as his eyes caught the bartop again to find that there was now a total lack of steam from both of their meals. He exchanged his gaze between the bowls and them, finding the moment safe enough to interrupt. "Shall I have Magdelena reheat these for you?"

The mended lovers withdrew from each other enough to look each other in the eyes, nose to nose. Kassina was the first to waggle her eyebrows and Walter's cheeks rose, forming a boyish smile and his ears perked similarly. "We're quite alright," the mink spoke. "I think I may have experienced a change in appetite. I think perhaps we'll retire early?" Her free hand ran out over Walter's thigh, eyes locked with his, her back arched out towards him.

The rabbit grinned crookedly and reached out to hold his wife's by her shoulders. "I think I am experiencing that as well. I don't suppose, my wonderful wife permitting of course, that the lovely, plump chef and barmaid offers... room service?"

Cormac half-smiled while his eyes went stern and with newly folded arms, he gave a small shake of his head. "We pride ourselves on being a luxury establishment but there are some services that we do not provide. And please: don't call her plump."

Walter nodded and chuckled before standing up from his barstool then Kassina, from hers. "Suit yourself," He said before rather abruptly leaning in and peeking over the bar. The mink looked to her husband curiously before lifting her chin to follow his gaze in a vantage neither of them had had before.

Cormac took a nervous step back at their curious gesture and his eyes darted between them with uncertain eyes before he traced their attention down to his loose trousers that failed to conceal a triumvirate of inordinately ample bulges suggesting a pair of testicles the size of grapefruits and a thick, diveted, third atop them: a sheath of a diameter that could house his entire forearm. He blushed under his fur, his jaw falling slight agape and aghast.

"And what about you?" The rabbit's eyes moved back up to Cormac's with directness before the suddenly embarrassed mink gave him a hit to the arm.

"Walter!?" she gasped.

"Only if you wanted to try, my love. We have a lot to learn about each other. And ourselves!" he replied, wrapping an arm around her and she once again melted against him.

"I'm afraid not," Cormac said a moment after visibly dialing back his indignation, his composure mostly restored. "I really think you two need some time alone to mend things before you start experimenting with any other partners."

In concession, the couple nodded and started to float toward the stairwell. "Wait!" Cormac called out as they reached the bottom step. The couple turned back in unison and he tossed something to them. Kassina swiped it from the air while Walter froze then she presented it before their eyes. "Room 1. Honeymoon Suite. Best room in the house,' the barman winked.

"Thank you," Walter said with a small bow before tossing the other room key back to Cormac. He set a foot on the stairs and Kassina started up them, ahead of him and holding his hand but the rabbit stopped once again and squinted back to him. "You're really sure you're not related to those two foxes? It's fine if you're covering for them. I know they're brigands. We'd just like to get ahold of them again."

Cormac shrugged. "Distant cousins perhaps? My sister and I are definitely coyotes, like both of our late parents were. This Inn is named for them: Gallagher and Marina Mason. Coyotes. Though people do tell us we look like foxes sometimes. I don't see it, personally."

The couple exchanged glances and smiled before Kassina opened her mouth, considering her words a moment before speaking. "Certainly. Though, have you considered that both your sister and you are quite gifted?"

Cormac laughed as if the observation was absurd. "No! I think coyotes are just naturally large. Like horses."

"Have you met many other coyotes?"

Cormac pondered a moment and considered. "Well, no. Just our parents. We're not indigienous to these parts of the world."

"And did your mother have..." the mink trailed off, looking to form a polite question but Walter picked it up.

"An exceptionally large bosom?" Kassina elbowed her husband again but he only shrugged.

In silence, Cormac glared and held his breath a long moment before answering with obvious restraint. "No. In that, I have gathered my sister is unique. At least until your story tonight."

The couple exchanged glances and stifled snickers before Walter spoke again. "Well, should these two vixens find their way to your lovely Inn, please let them know that Walter and Kassina Davenriddle who live in Mudcrest would very much like to see them again. Goodnight!" With that, the couple hurried up the stairs with childish giddiness.

Only when their footsteps had faded out into the upstairs did the swinging doors from the kitchen push open. Magdelena cautiously emerged and moved up next to her brother, perching her hand on his shoulder. "You have such a way with people, brother. You're wise beyond your years."

He looked to her, long muzzle bridging some of the gap between them. "Thank you, Maggie. I just say what I think might help them. Mother always said society is unkind in the way that it tries to define and control our hearts and minds. It'd be a shame to see a marriage end over something they clearly both enjoyed."

A few quick stomps alerted them both back to the stairwell, where Walter had returned and bent down just enough to call down to them and enough that they could clearly see his boyish excitement. "Sorry to bother again but... perhaps you have some oil? Maybe lard or other lubricant?"

Cormac chuckled. "I will leave a bottle outside your room in just a few moments." It was enough for the rabbit, who nodded quickly and hurried back upstairs.

Magdelena gave a breathy laugh and let her hand slip off his shoulder, watching her brother sideways. "Get to it, brother. There is no way I'm going up there. I need to get back to cleaning but I wanted to tell you, that you should be proud of yourself. You may have just saved their marriage, even if it's at the encouragement of some... unorthodox behaviors." She patted his shoulder and scooped up the couple's nearly untouched meals before withdrawing herself back toward the kitchen.

Cormac glanced over his shoulder as his voluptuous sister turned away with a twirl of her skirt before disappearing once again through a doorway that barely allowed free passage to her bountiful bosom. Alone again the bar room, he picked up his half-drank brandy sifter and sighed, staring at the room through its ruby viscosity. "Who am I to judge?"

THE END

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