Tod and Tomboy, Trapped
A story commissioned by qovapryi in which a two foxes - a male and a female, coincidentally - find themselves locked in a very intimate kind of cage. After their captor presents his "challenge" to them, it seems that someone wants her to get knocked up, something that she's avoided so far. What happens next, I wonder? Can the two young vulpines resist the increasing effect of each others' scents and touch?
Jamie woke up to a clang so loud it made his teeth rattle. He had very little idea where he was, why he was there, or why he had such a headache. Startled, the fox sat up, or at least would have, only to bang his head against unyielding metal. He had been struggling to wake up, but the sharp pain had him there in an instant.
"What's going on? Who are you?" someone asked, and Jamie realized that he was laying on top of someone. A female fox, naked.
"Who are you?" Jamie snapped, with the pain still resonating through his skull. Though in a brief moment, he found himself blushing as he realized he could feel her chest squished against his. That, and her legs were spread, leaving him laying right between them. The situation was strange and uncomfortable enough that lust was the last thing on his mind, and so he tried to push himself off her. His back only met unyielding metal bars.
"-are we in a cage? What- who?" the woman stammered. "Get off me!"
"I can't ," Jamie hissed. He could only barely lift his head. He couldn't even reach back to see if he could get the "cage" open, but it certainly seemed that was what'd caused the loud noise moments ago. "Whoever put us in here can't be far away," the fox spoke, trying to keep his voice down. He was already feeling a little claustrophobic, and he wasn't one to normally care about small spaces. Being trapped in one, though, was an entirely different thing.
They seemed to be outdoors, in a grassy clearing of some kind. Surrounding them, trees clad in the brilliant colors of fall.
"I hear someone!" the vixen said, trying to look up and past Jamie, but all she managed was to rub her muzzle against his. Jamie himself couldn't even begin to turn around, but he did hear someone's footsteps rustling through the fallen leaves.
"Ah, good. You're both awake. Welcome to-"
"Let us go!" the vixen screamed, loud enough to make Jamie's ears ache.
"-to a little experiment. We don't have to get into the specifics, but..." the unknown voice rasped. Whoever it belonged to, he was male, and sounded like he smoked at least a pack a day. Either that, or he was ancient. "...suffice to say, you'll be allowed to leave once Cassie there has had three orgasms."
"Wh- you want us to-" Jamie growled. He wasn't one to _usually_decline the opportunity to mate with an attractive vixen, but the oppressive situation managed to keep his mind very far from any amorous pursuits.
The voice ignored their protests entirely. "Not to worry, she has some electrodes stuck to her, and the cage will unlock automatically once your task has been accomplished," he continued, sounding almost bored."Alternatively, it will unlock in three days, if you'd prefer staying together for a little longer," he chuckled.
"You can't seriously expect us to- who put you up to this?" Cass yelled. "I'm in heat, you bastard!"
That would explain the pleasant, tingling scent that Jamie had been breathing in for a while now. He tried not think about it. There had to be an easier escape.
"We're not expecting anything. A good scientist draws no preliminary conclusions," the voice replied, sounding fainter. Both foxes realized that whoever it was had turned around and was walking away. "You will be monitored. Cameras. Either way, you know the terms. Good luck."
He broke out in a coughing fit, and despite Jamie and Cass yelling at him to come back, soon his footsteps faded, leaving them in eerie silence, bar for each other's breathing.
"God! What's wrong with him? Does he really think we're going to..." the vixen finally spoke, only to trail off. She blushed. "...not that you're not... you know, attractive," she added, wanting to make sure the male didn't take it the wrong way.
"Yeah, but... can we really survive here for three days?" Jamie asked. He tried bracing against the bottom of the cage and pushing himself up, seeing if he might be able to force the cage. It didn't yield in the slightest.
"I hope so," she sighed. "Ugh, he won't actually keep us here if we just refuse, right? That'd be attempted murder."
"Well it depends on what his motivations are," Jamie replied. He tried to not stare at the vixen's face constantly. All he could really do was turn his head ever so slightly, or to close his eyes. But every time he closed them he became more aware of how soft and warm she felt pressed against him, and her scent. A delicate, feminine mixture of some kind of floral perfume - lavender, maybe - and the smell of her heat. "If he's actually doing some kind of research or if he just wants to record us and sell it."
She was quiet for a moment. "I bet my father put him up to this," she grumbled. "He's been telling me I need to settle down and have kits and..." Cass continued, and suddenly her expression darkened. She was utterly livid. "...and be more proper, a good daughter and feminine woman..." she snarled. Jamie could feel her muscles tensing and tightening.
"That sounds insane," was all he could muster in response.
"That's my damn family. Always so obsessed with keeping up appearances..." she grumbled. "They always thought I was too much of a tomboy. Even my grandparents nag me about great-grandchildren.... God, locking me up like this would be exactly what they'd do."
She did have short hair, at least. But on the other hand, going by how her breasts felt squished against Jamie's chest, she did at least have a fair bit of curves. Then again, that spoke precious little about one's mind.
"Have you ever thought about? Having kits I mean," Jamie replied. There wasn't much they could do but talk. That, and it helped him keep his mind off her scent. Despite his best efforts, though, he could feel his sheath beginning to swell, and the cold outside air against the tip of his peeking manhood. It was a purely physical reaction, he told himself. It wasn't really possible to avoid.
"I mean, yeah. But I'm too young for that," she sighed. "Maybe one day. Or maybe not. I don't really like children. But they keep telling me that I would if I 'just found a handsome man to give you some'. Ugh..."
"Yeah. I get it. I'm not ready to have children either," he replied.
That comment put her somewhat at ease. Yet, just like Jamie, she was starting to feel the effects of their forced intimacy. A warm, tingly sensation slowly growing in her loins. He did smell rather good. A clean kind of masculine musk, a naturally erotic scent that had much more of an effect on her than it normally would, thanks to her heat. She wanted to bury her nose into his neck and just breathe in. That, though, would send the wrong signal entirely.
"How about you?" she sighed. "A-any idea why you're here?"
"No," Jamie replied. "I mean I've not done anything unusual... uh, I did do one of those ancestry tests recently?"
"Oh, so you figure they thought you had the perfect genes to make a baby with me?" she snarked, as if reading his mind. She actually laughed, and for as melodic as her laughter sounded, it made Jamie blush a bright red.
"I-I just mean there's literally nothing else I can think of!" he huffed. "If your family is so influential they might be reading those results!"
She paused for a moment, the smile fading from her muzzle.
"...they would, but I don't think they are... right?" she muttered. Just how rich was her family, if she was entertaining the possibility? Was she some kind of heiress to a financial empire? Nobility? Jamie couldn't help but wonder. And if she was, why had they picked him?
He breathed in more of her scent, and it tingled in his nostrils. It seemed to be growing stronger, too, as the minutes and hours ticked by. Soon enough his resistance was eroding, there was no way to get out of this quickly. It wasn't as if he had to actually fuck her, even if that was starting to seem more and more appealing. But he could enjoy the closeness, and that amazing fragrance. At least it made him feel a little less worried.
Cass was painfully aware of the fact that she was getting wet. It was to be expected, being in heat, and this close to a male, even if she didn't plan on actually doing anything. The fact that he could - if they both wanted it - fuck her, though, was enough to set off all kinds of uncomfortable tingles of arousal. It was, without a question, a very erotic fantasy, knowing what'd happen if they just did what came naturally, and it left her increasingly damp, feeling her natural moisture soak into the short, soft fur around her thighs.
They couldn't let it happen, of course. A pregnancy was entirely out the question. She was beginning to itch to be touched, but Jamie's arms blocked her own from reaching her sex. Her only option to actually get some relief would be to have him do it. That was also out the question, wasn't it? Anything they did had a very real risk of leading to something worse. They might get carried away, and his semen could easily end up finding its way into her ready womb.
Then again, not doing anything might lead to that too, if they tried to simply wait...
"...maybe if we actually try doing what he said?" Cass asked, blushing even as she did. "Like, can you reach my... uh, pussy, with your fingers? So you could..."
Jamie felt his cock practically leap out of his sheath at that request, cursing himself for being so single-minded and trying his hardest to position himself so it wouldn't press right against her mound.
"Um, if you're sure, let me try," he mumbled, barely able to contain his excitement at getting to touch her. The cage was miserably narrow, there was certainly no way he could turn around or back down enough to give her more oral kinds of attention, but he could almost move his arms. He squirmed, trying to move one arm back, twisting it as much as he could. His elbow scraped against the bars of the cage. "I... think..."
He wrenched himself backwards as hard as he possibly could. His arms didn't move, but the motion did make his hips nudge forward, just enough so for the length of his shaft to slip up along Cass' damp petals, drawing a simultaneous gasp from them both at that sudden, electrifying touch of heat.
"N-no, don't- god," she moaned. "Can't you-"
"-I can't, I can't reach," Jamie groaned back, freezing in place best he could. He could feel her heat and wetness against his bare shaft, and the sensation alone was making his muscles twitch on pure instinct. "What if I just grind against you until you cum?"
"No, that's too risky," she panted. "You'll cum way too near my... pussy," Cass answered, seemingly struggling to say that word. But every time she did, it only egged Jamie on.
"Do you have any better ideas? With how you smell I'm going to end up humping you in my sleep," he asked.
"Well you don't have to cum, he said I had to..." Cass continued, her breathing very consciously slow and steady. "Do you think you could do that? Like, grind over my clit until..."
"I-I can try," he replied. "Just... have to be really careful."
He wished, desperately, that he could adjust his cock just a little. As it was, his pointed, canine tip was resting just against the fox's clit. He couldn't get it much higher than that with only his hips, not with how small the cage was. But if he just made very short, minute thrusts, it should work.
He nudged his hips forward. It didn't feel like much to him, from a purely physical standpoint. But seeing Cass' eyes flutter as his slick shaft sawed over her pleasure-button? That felt like a lot. A quiet _mmnh_spilled from her half-open lips.
"Y-yeah, keep doing that," she huffed, and then gave another pleasured sigh as Jamie pulled back, and then thrust forward again. He had to fight to urge to aim just a little lower, but he knew what the consequences would be just as well as she did. If he just kept doing this, they might be out of the cage before nightfall.
Cass was squirming beneath the handsome male. Every motion of his hips sent sparks of pleasure through her body, but she was a good way from an actual orgasm. She moaned in encouragement, and he redoubled his efforts, grinding his shaft against her swollen clit, slick with her own wetness. She didn't dare move, herself, because even the slightest wrong motion would plunge his shaft into her, and she was fairly sure he didn't have space to pull out if that happened.
The risk and the fantasy made it all the hotter, though, and soon she was quivering with lust. The feeling of his cock rubbing so dangerously close to her unprotected sex gave her the same kind of thrill that a gambler might feel going all in, or a boxer at the title match.
Would it really be so bad to let him fuck me? Cass thought to herself. She could almost picture his cock spreading her wide as it sunk deep into her. If she let him, it'd be all up to him after that point, if he could resist spilling his seed inside her. If he did there was nothing she could do. His cum would pump into her, pool against her cervix - exactly where she had to stop it from going - and probably make her a mother. How would it feel, she wondered, if that happened?
Cass felt Jamie's cock throb against her, and then a splash of something warm on her belly, soaking into her fur. Precum. She didn't have much experience with men, but she at least knew that precum had some sperm in it, too. And if he went inside her, all of that would squirt right into her as well. The thought was incredibly erotic, and she hated the fact. If this went like whoever put them here had planned, her parents would win, even if they weren't involved. They'd always said she'd love the feeling of being pregnant. So, out of pure spite, if nothing else, she couldn't allow that.
His warm, rigid shaft felt so good grinding over her clit, though. Really good. Good enough that she- ooh- she was going to-
Jamie groaned as he suddenly felt her contractions. A growing, fragrant wetness gushing out over his sheath and balls both. She didn't moan as much as she whimpered, but physically, her orgasm was all the more passionate. The vixen bucked her hips upwards to better smush her clit against Jamie's shaft as she rode out her climax.
She looked unbelievably sexy doing so, squirming and thrashing, and in a way, Jamie was jealous. He wasn't getting much stimulation himself, but he was still so hard it hurt, from the vixen's presence alone - and seeing her cum didn't make it any easier. Feeling her buck up against him. Jamie grit his teeth; he could just finish himself off the moment they were out of this cage. That was the rational, considerate choice. Not a fulfilling one, though. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to fuck the obviously receptive vixen underneath here, fuelled by her intoxicating scent. But he was better than that, even if it meant breaking his jaw from clenching it so hard-
As he was trying to focus, with one final, fateful buck of Cass' hips, suddenly he felt something very warm and wet engulf his cocktip. Involuntarily, he thrust in response, and that heavenly, tight heat enveloped his shaft as he sunk into it with no resistance. In an unbelievable act of mastering his body, he grew completely still, breathing shallowly.
"W-what are you doing?" Cass panted, still drunk on pleasure. She had felt that sudden stretching, and then firm, delicious heat slipping somewhere deep into her body. It felt wonderful, enough so that it took a few moments for her to even realize what was going on. She squirmed a little more, luxuriating in the tingly post-orgasmic euphoria.
"Stop... moving," he hissed in response. Every breath she took had his cock rubbing against her velvety inner walls, and it felt entirelytoo good. His muscles rippled beneath his pelt as he fought to keep himself from just rutting her.
"Oh god, you're inside me, aren't you... god, that feels so fucking good," she panted.
"Y-yeah, but... I'll try to... pull back out," Jamie grunted. "Can you move any further back? I need more, fuck, more space." He knew that there was no way for him to do so while still fully erect. But if she managed to move just a few centimetres, maybe.
"I... no, stay inside me," she replied. "Just don't cum, okay? I'll... uh, I'll get off a lot more easily like this," Cass admitted. It was her turn to blush now. Jamie's wasn't the first cock she'd had, but it was the first one she'd had bare, and the feeling was amazing. She could feel every slick inch of him, every vein, the gentle throbbing of his heartbeat deep inside her. It was terribly risky, but if it felt this good, she'd have to take that risk.
With that request, Jamie couldn't fight it anymore. He slumped back down on top of the vixen, letting gravity guide his cock into her, down to the very hilt, with a happy sigh from him and a whimper from her as they both indulged in the first surrender of many. His balls nestled against her plush slit, heavy with seed rather eager to spurt into her trembling, fertile body. A sobering, tantalizing reminder of what was in store for them if they lost control.
"O-okay, now fuck me, slowly..." she murmured. Her entire body felt hypersensitive, nerves and muscles singing with adrenaline and god only knew what other chemicals. She realized, as Jamie closed his eyes and began to rock his hips slowly, very deliberately, that she liked this entirely too much. That she'd have to try it again. She still didn't want to become a mother, not yet. But the risk of it happening anyway if she let this keep happening was like sweet ambrosia to her horny mind.
Jamie, on the other hand, was in heaven. He didn't mind being in a cage so much if it meant feeling that incredible, wet heat caress and massage his cock. He wanted to stay like this forever, just slowly pumping in and out of the vixen. Keeping his mind on the task at hand wasn't easy. If he couldn't control himself, that'd be the end of his carefree years. He tried to imagine how annoyed he'd be having little kits distracting him from everything he was doing, how little sleep he'd get with them crying, Doing laundry every other day. Anything but the sweet, slick tightness squeezing so eagerly around his throbbing shaft, practically begging for him to cum inside her, consequences be damned. Anything but how good it'd feel to let his knot swell inside her and simply let go, planting his seed in her fertile body. Anything but how sexy she'd look when her belly started growing,
Cass heard Jamie grunt, and then felt him throb inside her. A splash of something warm and wet followed, warming her very core. The sensation left her tingling with an anxious kind of pleasure, and it took her a moment to realize that it was him squirting that precum he'd splattered onto her belly just before. Except this time, deep inside her. Just precum, she told herself. Probably not enough sperm in that. God, he felt so good around her, it was like her body was melting around that beautiful, luscious cock. She closed her eyes, imagining how it looked, slipping into her. Her lips stretched taut around it as it throbbed, injecting more of his hot, slippery preseed into her. How her folds would cling to it once his knot began to swell - she could already feel a hint of a bulge, at the very base - making it harder and harder for him to pull out.
His cock bucked again and more heat flooded into her. The pace of his thrusts was slow, but that almost tickling sensation deep in her core was enough to push her over the edge. She was thrown into paroxysms, clenching around Jamie's cock in a needy, primal rhythm, her body trying to coax him into joining her in climax. All those worries in her mind were, in turn, washed away by the waves of ecstasy.
He gasped, in response, breathlessly. He could feel his balls tightening, that familiar pressure building in his loins with each twitch of the vixen's passage. God, she's beautiful. Her blissful expressions as she came. Her sweet little whimpers and moans of pleasure. Jamie wanted_her, he _wanted to let nature take its course and for his seed to claim her womb. It was a startling realization, ironically one that snapped him out of his reverie, affording just enough clarity of mind for him to fight back once again. He couldn't deny that he was developing a crush on her, though. Perhaps because they were currently mating, or perhaps something more.
"Oooh my god, that was... intense," Cass panted. She felt like a sodden mess down there, between her legs. The smell of her lust was overwhelming. It was, in a way, good that they were in the middle of nowhere, because there was no hiding their lusty deeds from anyone.
"You- gh, you're welcome. Just... stop moving again, please. I can't take much more of this," Jamie cautioned her. His rational mind was back in control, at least for the moment, no matter what he felt. No matter how his balls ached to dump their contents into her.
"Just one orgasm left to go, right? Do you think we can do it?" she asked, sounding equal parts out of breath and hopeful, her voice a kind of hoarse purr that made Jamie's fur bristle with delight.
"Maybe," he replied. "I'm starting to get close, though. And uh... my knot is..." he trailed off.
"Yeah," she breathed, hotly. "I felt that. If you get stuck inside me-"
"-we'll probably end up as parents, yeah," he finished the thought.
"We have to try, though right? Because if we don't, you'll probably cum in your sleep anyway," Cass asked. It was a flimsy rationalisation. They could sleep at different times. But she was still horny; in her heat, her lusts weren't entirely sated by a mere rutting, and subconsciously, she knew that the hot, pulsating shaft buried deep in that happy place between her legs could give her the relief she needed.
Jamie wasn't much better off. His tail wagged against the bars of the cage, betraying his delight at getting to rut the vixen for just a little longer. It wasn't the responsible thing to do, not by far, but it was the one their raging hormones insisted on. He jerked his hips forward with a lusty growl, deep enough into Cass' drenched sex to nudge at her cervix, and then let his instincts take over again, pumping into her steadily.
She was more enthusiastic, now, rocking her hips back against his thrusting hips, offering her body to him, helping him impale her as deeply as possible. His knot was starting to swell, and the feeling of that dangerous bulb slipping into her folds, only to wetly pop out again made her breath hitch. Each time was a glorious rush of excitement, her mind reeling in terror but her body applauding the male. Her inner muscles rippled around his cock, trying to tease him into staying inside her for just long enough for his knot to fully tie them together. At that point, there'd be no way back before she was well and truly bred. That very evident risk had her breathing shallowly, revelling in danger and pleasure. His thrusts didn't just feel centred on her quivering snatch, any more; each one seemed to resonate through her entire body, making it very hard to think, much less act, or do anything but squirm and move against him.
Time seemed to stretch on. Each moment, her pleasures crested a little higher, a little closer to orgasm, and as they had been promised, freedom. But so was he. Her warm, clutching body was doing what it was designed to do, teasing him towards spilling his seed with each buck of his hips. He could feel it start to happen, slowly but surely, as his heavy balls pulled up tight against his body, his cock swelling even further inside her. Pulling his knot out was harder and harder, as if Cass didn't want to let him leave.
"Nnh, Cass- I can't... if I keep going, I'm gonna-" he groaned, in warning, in a final act of defiance. He was grasping for straws, anything to stop himself from succumbing.
"Nuh- no, keep going, please, I'm almost, almost there, just don't..." she moaned in response, her body aflame with need to feel the male tie with her, to feel him seed her as deeply as he could. Cass' eyes were glazed with lust, a blissfully mindless expression on her face. Orgasm-drunk, she had already surrendered, even if she didn't want to get knocked up, which left it all up to Jamie's faltering self-control.
"Cass," Jamie hissed. "I'm going to cum too," he was moments away, if he kept thrusting. Why were his hips still moving? He knew where it'd lead. Maybe whoever had locked them up in this strange contraption had been right all along. He couldn't fight his primitive urges, and neither could Cass. "You'll get pregnant..."
Suddenly, he realized he couldn't pull out any longer, and his heart skipped a beat. His knot had swollen fully within Cass' body. He was stuck, his tapered cocktip pointing straight against the gates of her womb with nothing between them. He grew, for the last time, completely still. Maybe, just maybe, if he didn't move a single muscle, he might-
"Keep going, keep going, please..." Cass moaned. All she could think about was the agonizing tension inside her, that fiery, blazing_,_ heated_need,_ radiating all the way from her soaked lips, through her womb, and to her very mind. There was only one cure for it, and she needed it. She felt Jamie begin to thrust again, and it was heaven. She felt him swell inside her as he grunted, growled between clenched teeth, and then she felt his beautiful shaft buck inside her. It was an almost ticklish sensation. His cock throbbed, twitched, and bucked inside her, just as trapped as the two of them were in their cage. With each throb, a splash of something warm and wonderful in her core, something sticky and potent that all but made her melt beneath her handsome lover.
She knew what was happening. She'd never felt it before, but it wasn't hard to figure out. Knowing that was what brought her final orgasm, and it was dissolution; feeling only each other, the two young foxes climaxed together, reduced to animal vocalizations of pure joy as they consummated that carnal union, her body drinking deeply of his seed, and him giving her every drop he could. For that brief moment, no future existed, no consequences, only that mutual, ecstatic throbbing and clenching, that primal rhythm of insemination and climax.
When it was over, and she finally opened her eyes, she could barely believe - or even understand - what had happened. The cage, though, had snapped open again.
Once Jamie recovered enough of his faculties to do anything, the first action he took was to lift Cass up with trembling arms. He carried her a few meters away from the cage before his tired legs gave in and they collapsed into the fallen leaves. Somehow, it was the most comfortable thing. For a long, quiet time, they remained like that, the vixen on top of him. Still his cock was inside her, tied to her, and still, he kept spilling into her, though by now, his cum was watery and the spurts weak.
How long it took for his knot to go down, neither knew, but by the time he finally slipped out, followed by a gush of spent seed, the stars were already visible in the darkening sky. Yet neither felt much desire to move, nor did they have the strength to. It was beautiful, really, tranquil even. Everything felt right with the world, despite anxieties and worries. Whoever trapped them had clearly won, the vixen had been quite thoroughly inseminated, but it felt so good that neither, deep inside, could truly complain.
So there, then, they laid on their bed of leaves, like a pair of wild foxes. Cass was staring, worriedly, at her red-raw groin, and at the plentiful cum that kept oozing out from her freshly bred slit. Jamie thought it might've been the sexiest sight he'd ever seen, knowing that it was _his_cum inside her, deposited into her deepest core in her most fertile time.
"M-maybe I won't... won't mind becoming a mother," she sighed. "Right? I mean, they say you realize how nice it is once it happens..."
"I'll be there to support you, if it happens," Jamie replied. It was due to the sheer concentration of testosterone coursing through his body after all that carnality, but he felt strong, ineffably masculine. Protective, somehow. He wrapped an arm around the vixen and pulled her tightly against himself.
Cass couldn't help but place a hand on her white-furred belly. She still felt tingly all over, warm and fuzzy, aglow with a kind of happiness that almost, almost drowned out her worries. There was nothing she could do now, the fox's cum was inside her, and it was up to her body to decide if she'd get pregnant. In a way, the thought was liberating. There was a kind of thrill to it, too. Her fingers traced over those cum-soaked petals, looking at the thick, white stuff. Marvelling, too, at how powerful it was, the kind of changes it could irreversibly cause. A swollen belly. A new life, growing inside her.
She leaned back against Jamie with another heavy sigh. Their captor never returned, but once they'd recovered, they quickly found a path. They weren't that far away from civilization, even though it'd felt as if they were entirely isolated from it while still trapped.
One thing led to another. As involuntary as their first encounter had been, the two had stayed in touch, and soon, began to date. Maybe it was a kind of traumatic bonding, but their emotions felt real. They'd developed a taste for risky play after that - both revelling in the thrill of bare sex and the possibility of her becoming pregnant with each lusty act - no longer fighting their urges to procreate. Neither considered the fact that she might not have gotten pregnant that very first time, and so, each time after that, Cass begged for Jamie to cum inside her again. He eagerly obliged.
Neither knew exactly when it happened, but a few weeks later, she woke up terribly nauseous. A few weeks after that, she could feel just the slightest bump in her belly. Her parents were - though they never admitted anything about their possible involvement - of course, overjoyed at their daughter finally embracing her womanhood, giving them a grandchild.
Jamie and Cass, in turn, were surprisingly happy about the turn their lives had taken. Maybe, just maybe, they were ready.