FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 4

Darkness, nudity, snakes, and fluff beds. There's some way to slip in a dirty joke out of those words, I just know there is.

Timmy was aware of movement, but the world was still black, nothing but blackness as far as the eye could see. He became aware of feeling, something thin cupped around his thighs and something soft and warm was between his legs. He contemplated this sensation and tried to make sense of a few more, a slight bobbing up and down, the soft pitter-patter of something tiny scurrying through loose soil, and ... wait. A feeling of weightlessness near his feet but pressure on his thighs.

He wasn't touching the ground. He wasn't on his feet, something was wrapped around his legs and holding him upright. But what? Only now feeling energetic enough to turn his head, he catches that something hard and round was under his chin, keeping his head from falling forward. That was odd ... hard and round, what the Fell was he touching?

He turned to the left, his confusion deepening as the pitch-black world around him didn't seem to change, and even more so when something soft and rubbery twitched across his nose. The thing was covered in fluffiness, thin, and wrapped around one side of his head.

'what is that?' he thought to himself while turning the other way ... only to find an exact duplicate on the opposite side of his head that twitched in a similar fashion. He gave up trying to figure out what the thing was as he took note of his other senses. His neck? Something thin yet supple was wrapped three times around the base of it. A collar perhaps? Some moldable wire? What the fell was going on here!? This can't be the inside of a black hole, so was he captured and put on some twisted display by a slave trader?

The fourteen year old child slid his hands forward as he remembered they were still there. He was holding onto something apparently, soft, furry ... almost everything was soft and furry, could it all be the same thing? His hands slid across what felt like Jell-O, and suddenly the world jumped.

"Hey!"

There was the sound of a slap, a stinging pain in Timmy's left hand, and a very familiar voice calling from just bellow his chin.

"Glad to see your awake but don't squeeze my boobs! Those things are sensitive."

"Er ... wha?" he tried to breath out the words before every muscle in his chest locked up. 'gah!' the pain was unlike anything he could even begin to describe as his apparently flattened lungs puffed up with fresh, wonderful oxygen. Oh gods, it didn't feel like he'd had trouble breathing back before he was able to feel anything, but now that reality was setting in once again the beauty of air greeted his lips. He gasped, pleased to have his lungs filled with something, anything, but especially air!

'Never again will I get mad at a tree for asking me to pull it's finger' he thought to himself as the unknown voice answered.

"I said: Don't squeeze my boobs, put your hands here if you need a better grip." answered that same voice. Feminine, high pitched, small but shrill. The child felt something grip each of his wrists and position his hands further down from where he had gripped.

"Th-thanks ... but, um ... wh-where am I? D-did I fall into the black hole?" He asked nervously, his grip instinctively tightening.

"Fall into ... wait, what? Your at the burrowers district, I'm taking you to my house to get washed up. You didn't fall into a black hole, no way the Silver squad would have allowed that!" she answered.

"B-but then ... your home, but who do I ... Roda!" realization dawned on him "Is that you Roda?"

"Oh, not a black hole then. S-so why is everything so dark?"

"Because you haven't opened your eyes yet" Roda giggled.

As soon as he did open his sleepy eyelids, he realized he was much more comfortable with them closed. The cool, night air stung his retinas, but it was a pain he could withstand if it meant getting answers. It didn't even last for very long. The fluffy things to either side of his face were Roda's oversized ears, each of them bigger than Timmy's head and strong enough to keep him from slipping. The round, hard thing under his chin was the top of Roda's skull, what she was doing under him he wasn't sure. He reached up to tug on that wire thingy coiled around his neck.

"H-hey! Watch it, that's my tail!" she shrieked, at which point the stopped trying to remove it.

"Why do you have your tail wrapped around my throat?"

"To hold you up a little better, wouldn't want to drop you on your head or something" she answered sweetly.

That confused the human child for a moment, until he looked down to see her holding him up by the thighs. His legs dangling out in front, his stomach pressed tightly against her shoulders ... he was riding piggy-back on a mouse. "Oh ... s-so that's why"

He heard the same pitter-patter sounds of the little girl walking through a mix of gravel and dirt, perhaps the fact she was right under him explained why such a mouse-like sound was so close.

"How's your lungs? A passing physician told me you passed out due to a lack of oxygen, then stayed asleep due to a lack of rest. I've been carrying you for about an hour now ... I sort of expected you to stay asleep longer."

"I erm ... sorry, I never did get that recommended eight hours thing down" he stated while paitently scanning the area. There was dirt ... lots and lots of dirt. Dingy, soot covered buildings lined the background just past a wooden, picketed fence some fifty feet away in all directions. A glimpse of trees could be seen just past the buildings and city lights, but between his piggy-back ride and there were mounds of dirt.

"I know, I heard over dinner. Are you up for walking?"

"I ... I really don't think so, just where are we?" Timmy answered.

"Hehe, I already told you, this is the burrowers district. I don't have a real home seeing as I never intended to stay in this PD long. My hotel is just past that building, see the one with the red roof? No, not that one, the one with a crack in the side and a naked avian sitting on his window-sill." she directed the boy, giggling when she felt him cringe at a rather unpleasant sight. As a rule, the people who showed off their body were rarely the ones you wanted to see ... Timmy could have probably described the fat, flabby bird a little better, oil dripping off his yellow, but brown encrusted wings, or perhaps pointed out the trail of smoke and a tiny red light from his cigarette. But the kid did not want to look at him long enough for such an image to sink in.

"Ok, ok I see it! Now um ... j-just why is everything still dark?"

"Do you have your eyes open now? You didn't just close them after seeing big-bird over there did you?"

"No, my eyes are still open. But everything is ... everything's ..."

Roda decided to finish "Everything is darker? That's because it's nighttime silly!" she busted out laughing, almost dropping the child as she pointed to the sky "Look up, see that planetoid blocking the sun? That one's Pluto, and the one right next to it is Pluto's twin planetoid. And then that big thing right behind it is Rune, I think ... hard to tell if that's blue or purple with that glare from behind it, but it's such a big planet that night should last for at least twelve hours this time."

Timmy looked up at the massive mounds of ice and rock blocking out the light of Central's nuclear reaction. But then he was inside a building or asleep for such a long time, perhaps the place was due for a change.

"ugh ... nighttime, of course ..." he let go of Roda's stomach long enough to rub his sleepy eyes. "S-so ...what are we c-cleaning off again?"

"Did you hit your head or something?"

"It I-is pretty fuzzy you know" he tapped her fluffy, mouse like ears "And the good kind of fuzzy like these things are"

"Demon-blood. There's still some on your cloths, and it's coating my fur."

"demon ... dem- .. Oh! Oh my god, oh FELL! Did that, did that just ..."

"Took a black hole generator to get rid of him hun, you remember the black hole right? Just where do you think that came from?"

"I ... urp" the child almost retched as memories of the days previous carnage flooded back into his consciousness. He no longer felt capable of eating mince meat, too close to the butchering he'd tried to do.

"H-hey! If your going to throw up please, please don't do it on my head!" Roda squeaked.

"S-sorry, I'm f-fine ... I'm fine" he mumbled, hugging her closely while she kept on walking. They were halfway to the fence-line and both were trying not to look at a certain bird.

"I ... I sure hope so. I never thought I'd ... I mean, I just couldn't ..." The mouse was having a hard time finishing her sentence.

"You mean eating that guy alive? Yeah. Those ... those are some really dangerous teeth, I'm just glad you were on our side"

"Yeah ..." Roda agreed, sounding more than a little depressed.

'Stupid!' Timmy would have slapped himself in the face if he had the energy 'don't bring up memories like that, she wants to forget!' his thoughts screamed at him.

"I ... I just didn't want him to hurt you. And I really didn't think about ... ugh! How bad he'd taste!"

At this, Timmy chuckled "W-what did he taste like?"

"Deer-meat! Ugh, why couldn't he have been filled with infected pus? I could have eaten that in a heartbeat."

"Hehe, because that would just be too easy. Have you gotten the taste out of your mouth at least?"

"Nope ... and, erm ... I need to take a laxative as soon as I get to my room."

"A ... laxative?" the child asked curiously "Those are the things that make you poop right?"

"Yeah, swallowed a bit too much blood by accident. If it was blood, never seen anything with green blood before"

"You'd be surprised"

"Well, I know it's not molded or rotted enough for my stomach and I can't puke or spit like your race, so a laxative is the best I've got. Otherwise I'm in for some really, really bad cramps."

"Then we'd better hurry ... um, would this go faster if you put me down?"

"Do you think your able to stand?"

"Do you think I'd look any manlier if I said yes?"

A noisy thump nearly woke a sleeping gopher as Roda dropped him on his rear end. Asked, and answered. Sort of.

"Ow ... thanks for the ride at least" he struggled to feet, but swiftly resumed walking by her side. "So, just what happened after I blacked out?"

"A lot of things, first and foremost everyone was healed, I got to learn the names of that gunslinger, the cowboy, and the plant lady who helped us. Guess which one is named 'rosa', hehe. Oh, and then we all got our picture taken for this cities daily newsletter! I've got a copy here, your just so cuuuuute! Here I am holding you like an adorable little human baby." she reached into one of the pockets in her shorts to pull out a five by four inch photograph.

"ack!"

Timmy eeped in alarm the moment he saw himself. The cowboy was standing to the left, holding his empty gun in a striking pose, while above his head in black lettering was the name: Jelfari. The plant lady had tendril vines poking out of her back and spreading slowly across the picture, making her look much bigger than she was. Next to her was the word: Rosa. The gunslinger still had blood dripping down the side of his head, red and oily looking, and his name was apparently Jama if one trusted the picture. Roda and Timmy were right in the center of the picture, her round face, massive ears, eyes so big and cute they might as well have come from an anime movie, her pink triangle shaped nose with wiry whiskers poking out of it. She, and parts of her teeth, were covered in a glop-like green slime, hopefully from the recent fighting. Her revealingly small pink shorts were stained, as was her thin, pink tank-top.

What Timmy found appalling was the way he looked, his dark matted hair had splatters of green, red, and yellow in it from the various things that bled on him not too long ago. His eyes were closed, the pitch black around his eyelids which covered most of his face giving him that creepy ethereal look that most people screamed at whenever he went to sleep. He was in Roda's arms, despite the fact he was a few inches taller she seemed perfectly capable of holding her like a baby. His arms dangled helplessly to one side, his legs were held together by her arms. He had blue-jeans covering his legs, and that was normal.

But the pink, fluff covered jacket was not.

"Wha, how did ... why am I wearing so much pink!?"

Roda busted out laughing! "Because your wearing my jacket and never had time to take it off" she pointed to his chest before falling to her knees, laughing too hard to breath.

"Gah! Ack! It's eating me! Too much pink! Get-it-off, get-it-off!" he screamed, flailing around while his fingers fumbled at the zipper. Roda decided now was as good a time as any to unwrap her tail and let go of his neck. It would be awkward if he pulled it off while jumping around like a maniac.

"Bwhahahaha! It, g-gets HAHA! It gets worse, that pictures going in the newspapers!" Roda's uncontrollable giggling only grew louder as Timmy got the thing off, wadded it into a ball, and tossed it at her head.

"There, have your jacket back ... oh man, oh Zeus I will never be able to live that one down!" the child exclaimed.

Roda coughed once, then twice before her laughter stopped, but she still had an amused smile plastered on her face. "You can keep that photo if you want, even if all your going to do is burn it when you get home" she teased while sticking her tongue out.

Timmy, without the jacket, simply felt cold in the night air. All he had on under it was a white t-shirt with stains unrelated to bloodshed and gore, and that one shirt wasn't exactly warm compared to the jacket he'd just taken off. 'Soooo ... muuuuch ... fluuuuff!'

"Yeah, fine I'll just ... hey, where'd my hoodie go?"

"Your what?" Roda blinked.

"My hoodie, that red thing I had around my waist"

"Oh, that ... why, was it important?"

"Not especially important, but it is useful when it's cold out" the child answered as he started walking again.

"Check the picture Timmy, see that red thing about Jama's arm? That's ... um, well you see that's ..."

"That's my hoodie isn't it" Timmy asked with an annoyed look.

"Yeah, we needed something to bind the wound. I hoped you wouldn't mind too much" the mouse said with a twitch of her whiskers as she slung her pink, bloodstained jacket over her shoulders. Green stains ... green blood. It looked so much like pus she felt compelled to lick it off, but just the same way a human can note the similarities between poop and chocolate to resist the temptation Roda avoiding having another taste knowing full well that blood on her shirt would not taste nearly as good as it looked.

"So then ... I lost my hoodie ... greeaaat. Gedel's dead at least, right?"

"Didn't I already answer that one, he got sucked into a black hole! How could he not be?"

"Just wanted to make sure. He kept bouncing back so many times I thought ..."

"Start thinking about other things, please. I still to need to get bits and pieces of him out of my fur." her pink nose crinkled, her ears folded back in a gesture of displeasure. "I'd really rather forget him until I can take a nice long bath"

"Oh, s-sorry then. So how much farther is it?" the child asked as they were almost to the fence. He took a glance back towards the piles on piles of dirt, nothing but dirt in the entire enclosure.

"Past that building over there, we just need to get through all these annoying advertisements and shops."

Timmy glanced back at the empty, dirt covered field as if he's missed something ... then shook his head in obvious confusion before clambering over the wooden fence. He wasn't exactly graceful, but one could credit him for landing on the other side without face-planting. Roda just giggled and moved a loose plank out of the way.

"Hehe, oh you monkeys, always having to climb something"

"I'm not a monkey and you know it" the human stuck his tongue out ... only to blink at a constant squeaking sound. "What is ..."

Squeaka, Squeaka, Squeaka, Squeaka

"What is ... what?" Roda asked, her massive ears swiveling in every which direction.

Squeaka, Squeaka, Squeaka, Squeaka

"That squeaking noise. Don't you hear it?" the child asked, walking across an empty blacktop towards the rundown building and system of alleyways Roda had directed him to. The grey pathways of a conventional sidewalk showed numerous cracks and holes as if it were hit by an earthquake at some point in the distant past then simply never got any repairs.

"This place is filled with burrowers, most of us squeak. I've been hearing squeaks from every direction on this noisy strip ever sense I got here" she stated. Completely oblivious to the fact there was nothing around here and very little noise ... right? Timmy didn't see anything at least.

"Well, it sounds like some ... oh! Take a look, squeaky toy!" he pointed to a feline and wolfen couple that just rounded the corner. The cat (Roda shivered) had a playful expression, her own small whiskers fully extended, her ears facing the same direction as her eyes, her head lowered to a small grey fuzzy thing in her hands with a pink line extending from it. She had cloths on, as did the boy next to her with a wolfish appearance and canine muzzle, but Timmy and Roda were more focused on the fuzzy thing that squeaked.

Squeaka, Squeaka, Squeaka, Squeaka

The feline kept squeezing it, over and over and over, her face showing pure and utter bliss. Was that really a cat with a squeaky toy? The wolf walking along right next to her however had an annoyed expression.

"Eeep! D-don't look directly into it's eyes, cats can hypnotize people" Roda whispered quietly into Timmy's ear as she ducked behind him. Her ears were folded back in fright, her whiskers were alert and fully extended, her eyes were as wide as they could get.

"No ... no they can't, it just seems like they can. Besides, she's looking at her squeaky toy, don't worry about her."

"B-but what if?" she started to object, thankful that he wasn't resisting her attempts to hide behind him. Her tail snaked up to wrap itself around his neck, partly to hold onto him and partly to hide a distinguishable feature.

The feline held her paws high, spinning in circles as she walks with an audible purring sound ... the wolf right next to her rolled his eyes in a mix of annoyance and frustration. He silently waved a paw at Timmy and the shivering mouse girl as he passed, then turned back to the:

Squeaka, Squeaka, Squeaka, Squeaka

Of the girl next to him.

"See Roda? There friendly, most people in this PD are thanks to all the travelers passing through here. That kitty didn't even glance in your direction" the dark eyed human whispered. Only to wince as he heard the wolf speak.

"You know Jenine, that's only cute if you do it with a /rubber/ mouse, not some poor sap you conned out of his burrow." his words an interesting mix between agitation and anger.

"Eeep!" Timmy and Roda said in union, spinning on their heals to look at the passing couple. The fuzzy squeaking in the cat's paws mouthed out the words 'help me!' his expression that of a captured animal.

"Awww, your no fun! At least I didn't eat him in front you, I mean, I still get points for that right?" a sweet sounding, feminine voice answered back. Timmy and Roda thoughtfully decided to walk just a little bit faster.

"Shouldn't we try to ..."

"Save him?" Roda answered.

"Yeah, I mean, we can't just ..."

Roda was breathing hard, she felt her heart attempting to burst from her chest with sheer speed "No Timmy, no ... just walk away." a quick glance back to the captured rodent and the two predators "J-just walk away."

"Ugh ..." Timmy groaned. He wasn't in the mood for fighting either, and he wasn't exactly hero material either. Someone else would jump in, he was sure of that ... wasn't he? Or, could the knowledge that there was always someone else more than willing to do the work enough to make most people sit back and let someone else handle it? What happens if everyone expects everyone else to play the hero so no one gets up off their bum often enough to save the victim? There wasn't anything he could do now, Roda was practically dragging him along to her hotel room. Anything to get away from that feline.

He wasn't paying particular attention to the dirty, dark surroundings, the rust covered walls (how rust could end up on brick was a mystery) the garbage, papers, and tin cans blowing around randomly. On occasion he'd notice the doorway into one of the buildings, or a conspicuously placed mouse hole, but after having already spotted a disgusting avian he wasn't interested in ogling the locals. Not to mention it was hard to work out all the details when it was so dark out ... how long did Roda say those planets would block off central? Ten hours? Twelve? Bah, it sucks being a human at night.

Roda had no such problems, she sniffed with her twitchy pink nose, massive eyes scanning left to right looking for ... something. And with her tail still wrapped around the boy's neck like a collar and chain she scurried off through one alleyway after another.

"J-just what are we looking for?" Timmy asked in an effort to change the subject ... in mild irritation, and knowing they were alone, he pulled on her tail hoping to get it off his neck. It wasn't choking or anything, but he still didn't like feeling he was on a leash. A leash ... she was holding ... with her butt. Ew, new thoughts, new thoughts!

"A giant burrow of course, you know. A hole. There are only five hotels in this area that offer burrowing spots for creatures my size, and two of them only allow worms. Heh, turns out the DirtCover had to change it's policy after having rodent and insect customers in the same hotel turned problematic."

"Er, ok ... h-how so?"

"It wasn't my kind mind you, but a lot of rats and mice like to eat worms ... the poor wiggler's mother was a lawyer. The rat has been serving time ever sense."

"Ok, a hole. I ... don't think I've ever been down a burrow before, so do ... er." he struggled with her grey, hairless tail. The may look weak, but it held an iron grip on his throat! "Can you please let go of me Roda?"

"Oh! Sure thing hun" her tail instantly retracted "I just don't want you running off and getting into some sort of trouble. Have you at least been to this street before?"

"Never had to" rubbing his neck, he found it odd that nothing was sore. He also found it odd just how much of Roda's tush he could see through the hole in her shorts, perhaps she should stop angling her little mouse tail upward if she wanted to remain modest. Er ... never mind, a good number of fur covered things walk around completely naked. Who's to say Roda's definition of modesty matches the suburban human's standard?

"I sort of expected that ... oh god all these advertisements are annoying. They make it so hard to pick out the street signs" Roda grumped. Leaving Timmy to wonder just where all the 'advertisements' and 'signs' actually were. There was nothing here! Just a bunch of junk and cracked buildings. Right? The boy stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw a hole.

A big one.

Big enough to crawl into even, but in retrospect that's probably the point. He stepped off the path and started to poke his head in, there was an odd musty scent. There was something ... sweet, for some reason. Maple perhaps? Powdered glucose? No, it was sweetish but it didn't make one think of pancakes or candy.

"Hey Roda, I think I found it! But just what is that smell?" he inhaled deeply, sorting out that it was a musky scent, lots of sweat and little like pee.

"Eep! Timmy no! Get away from there!" she tackle pounces the boy, latched onto his arm, and very forcefully pulled him away.

"Ack!" he responded as her tail wrapped itself around his neck once more.

"That's it, I'm keeping you were I can see you, I said no running off! Do you have any idea what was in there? Didn't you read the sign!?"

"NO! Now would you kindly tell me what your so upset about, or perhaps where the Fell these 'signs' your talking about are?"

"Everywhere! You can't go two feet without running through a horde of these Frapin advertisements. Is your nose working at all? I thought the potion should have worn off by now!"

"Well, yeah. Its been at least two hours I think, my nose works just fine. But I still don't see any ..."

"Wait a minute, did you just say 'see'?" Roda blinked.

"Yes, how else is one supposed to read something?"

"Through smell of course! This is the burrowers district, not all burrowers even have eyes!"

"They ... so then? You?! ... you mean you've been smelling your way through this whole time?"

"Duh! Can't you rea- ..." but the rodent was cut off.

"No, this place seems empty to me, and if it has a smell I can't really tell what it is."

"Has a ... hohboy, this place has thousands of smells, all of them trying to tell you something. Here, I mean, just read this" she picked up a scrap of paper blowing lazily in the ally. "New whisker trimmer, only eight thousand cred, buy buy buy, and save with any coupon for DirtyRat studios."

Timmy looked at it carefully ... the page was completely blank, no markings, no indentations, nothing to distinguish it from a fresh sheet of paper. It didn't even smell like anything "Um ... but it's, it's blank."

"Eight thousand? I mean seriously, who the Fell has that kind of cash? Who the Fell needs a machine to trim their whiskers for them? Who the Fell even wants to trim their whiskers! Those things don't always grow back and the longer the better I've always said. This whole place is filled wi- ... blank? Hon, that's not blank, not even close. Try sniffing harder?"

"It sure looks ... erm, smells ... blank to me. Are you sure these advertisements are human accessible? We are pretty famous for having a pathetic sense of smell."

Roda blinked curiously, her ears perking and her tail tightening it's grip on Timmy's neck. "R-really? Sense when!? I mean, your nose is just so ... so huge!"

"The nose- ack! Too tight! Loosen your tail girl!" he choked "Oh, thank Zeus, that's better. The nose works just fine, it's the brain that doesn't generally process smells. We rely on eyesight for everything. Unless we happen to be hungry or something smells like food, we don't process it well."

"R-really? But I thought ... I never knew humans didn't, I mean ..."

"That's hard to believe considering its one of our defining features. But trust me when I tell you this whole trip, from the moment I woke, has been empty, boring and bland. The closest I've come to smelling an 'advertisement' was detecting sweat and musk from that hole you told me not to go in."

"Oh ... oh wow, then I guess I can't let you go then?" she giggled, snaking her tail further around his throat.

"Erp! You can still keep it loose you know. Heck, we could even switch to holding hands if that isn't too radical for you."

"Nope" Roda shook her head, her ears perked high and her nose angled upward in an attempt at arrogance. "I can't pretend were a couple or anything if your underage for your race, now can I? A mouse can't be seen as a cougar, that's just wrong in too many ways. This is what my mother did to me when I was a little kid so she could keep hold while crawling on four legs, I don't see any reason why I can't do it to you" she turned her head back just long enough to poke her tongue out at him.

"Ok, fine then ... now, just what was in that hole that you didn't want me to see?"

"Oh, you wouldn't see much anything but that's not the problem. That place was called "TheSpawningGround" and from what I could smell in that brochure it was not child friendly."

"Um ... h-how so?"

"Trust me little human ... or, big human sense your taller than me ... you do /not/ want to know what goes on in there."

"Try me, I dare you" Timmy retorted.

"Nope" Roda just shook her head.

"I saw you bite a guy's arm off, how bad could this thing be?"

Roda glared at him "Ok FINE! Do you know how fish mate?"

"Um ... yeah, with a lot of aquatics the males band together to release sperm into the water then later the females swim by letting it germinate their eggs. Maybe, I think germinate is the right word"

"I thought 'germinate' was specific to plants, but you get the idea. Well, that hole there, as is clearly marked on their sign- ..."

"yeah whatever" Timmy interrupted.

"it's for rather eccentric mammals who want to try mating the same way. Just jerk off to let it spray all over the walls, then some female is supposed to rub it in their sex organs"

Timmy choked! Then fell forward onto his face. The fact Roda kept on walking, dragging him by the tail around his throat didn't help him breath any better.

"I warned you, you didn't want to hear that one"

"ew, ew, ew, ew, ew ... your right already! I'm sorry I asked!"

Roda giggled "Hehe, curiosity killed the cat. Stupid cat. Looks like all it did to the monkey was gross it out." she teased.

"I'm not a monkey. I'm a pink monkey ... who will never put on pink clothing again" he retorted as he got back onto his feet and started walking again.

"Well at least you couldn't read all of it, the place is apparently going through renovations thanks to a recent lawsuit." the rodent sighed.

"I know I'm going to regret hearing this, but um ... what's the lawsuit about?"

"Now your just a glutton for punishment aren't you. Apparently they had some trouble mixing Earthspawn and pure alien genetic material, some species can't handle the chemical components of several common bodily fluids in Earthspawn organisms, and some moron melted off hira gentiles trying to mate with a species who's spit can vaporize her"

"Eeek! That ... that's got to hurt. But did you just say Hira?"

"Yeah, didn't list a male or female gender, can't pronounce the name of whatever race it was but apparently they have more than two natural ones. As opposed to Earthspawn which ... wait, are herms natural?"

"They can be, but it's considered a mutation most of the time. I think there an accepted third gender in most PDs or at least, their afforded their own bathroom in this one."

"Ah, always good to note these things" Roda blinked. "Oh hey! That's the hotel, just past the garbage pile"

Timmy looked to see a giant hole in the ground, no different from the smelly sex one he'd seen before. Perfectly suited for someone his size to crawl through, but an adult human would have felt claustrophobic. "So, is this it? That's the hotel?"

"Yep, most of it's underground though. And, er, they don't actually have any light down there. That won't be a problem right? You seem to close your eyes all the time and still get by."

Timmy blinked "I close my eyes when it's too bright, not when its too dark. But ... so long as I can get back out I guess it's Ok. I don't have school tomorrow, at least I don't think I do ... but I'd still rather get back to my own bed, no sleeping over in a strange woman's hotel room."

"Oh don't worry about that" she flicked her tail slightly, still holding onto the boy's neck with it "I just wanted to make sure your clean, I had no idea where your house was, it's never a good idea to trust those public baths on hub worlds like this, and you were supposed to sleep for longer than a half hour." she sighed "If only you were a bit older ... then you'd at least be looking forward to some fun tonight."

"What ... you mean, on a first date? Don't mating rituals usually take longer than one night?"

"Not for rodents hun, rodents and bunnies. Most of our adolescent education involves 'multiplying' of one sort of another. It's pretty useful whenever you need an instant army."

"That can't be a bad thing can it? Should make keeping a diverse population easy."

"Yeah, but it makes us even better warriors." she stopped just over the hole that apparently housed her hotel room "Something ... something smells wrong."

"Really? Like what" Timmy tried to sniff the air, but of course he didn't detect anything unusual.

"I don't know ... just, wrong."

"If you can't think of anything else, then we have a decision to make. Do you go on ahead and trust that your being overly paranoid, or do we take the time, stand out in the cold for Fell knows how long with much too thin shirts and in your case a pair of pants at least a size two small all for the sake of possibly making things just a tiny bit safer."

Roda smirked "I'm a mouse. We like security ... which do you think I'll favor?"

Timmy giggled "Alright, I'll suffer through it if you must. But only because of this tail of yours. Do you smell anything specific? Feline perhaps?"

"No, not feline. Not familiar either ... I don't even think it smells like a mammal."

"Ok, not familiar. Alien perhaps? Something that didn't come from earth, or perhaps just an earth-force creation?"

"No, no it's Earthspawn I can tell that much. Just ..." she shivered "I can't place the smell but it really creeps me out."

"Ok then, smell isn't getting us anywhere" Timmy yawned, closing his eyes for a moment to think "So lets try our other senses. Hearing perhaps? Yours is better than mine."

"Yeah, but that's the problem. I can barely hear you over all this racket, rodents are squeaking all over the place, insect hordes and their clicky little mandibles are just under our feet, I can hear birds chirping a few stories up and some fat human male is singing (badly I might add) in a shower with low water pressure."

Timmy blinked "Wait, how can you tell he's fat?" the boy was surprised enough to open his eyes.

"He ... sounds ... fat? Ok I took a guess on that part, but the point is my hearing is too indiscriminate to pick up danger on such a noisy, busy street like this."

Timmy looked around the utterly abandoned alleyway, not a soul in sight. "Yeah, because this place is ... really ... busy, yeah. Busy, that's the word." Er, scratch that, there might be some ghosts around but it was unlikely he'd get the chance to see one.

Roda glared as she caught on to his sarcasm. But then sighed "Well I guess it's good you're here then, lets rely on your senses. Do you hear anything out of the ordinary? Anything at all?"

"This whole place is out of the ordinary, I've never been here before. Lots of garbage, lots of dirt."

"I said what you /hear/" she stuck her tongue out.

"Oh, right" Timmy went silent, closing his eyes to focus a little better. Lets see, the sound of his own breathing. The sound of his own heartbeat, apparently much faster now that he was looking for something potentially dangerous. The sound of Roda breathing ... whoa! 'I can hear that?! Never mind, don't loose focus now' he urged himself. There was a rustleing sound, something moving through leaves perhaps? No, couldn't be, there weren't any leaves around here. Then, another one! Another rustleing sound. Were they surrounded?

The human's eyes shot open, instantly orienting on ... a piece of paper blowing in the wind. There weren't even any letters on it, so probably another one of those 'scent' things Roda knows how to read. His head turned to look at the other sound, but it was just another sheet of paper. 'I don't why I didn't see this coming' he thought 'this place is filled with garbage'.

"Sorry Roda, I can't hear anything suspicious. And as much as I'd like to just give up and get into that warm little hole of yours, I should probably point out that I rely more on sight than anything else. As do most humans ... just because I can't hear a dangerous monster getting ready to pounce doesn't mean there isn't one, most ambush predators are completely silent anyway."

"Oh yeah ... owls. There won't be any birds of prey flying though here though, so, if scent and sound won't help. What's left? You've never seen this place before and I don't pay much attention to how it looks."

"Perhaps it won't, but I can point little things out and run them by you to see if it's normal or not." Timmy stated, grumping to himself 'even though it might take a long time and my fingers are starting to go numb'

"Oooh! That might work. If your getting cold though, I can still lend you my jacket. I've got fur and mouse like fear keeping me warm, don't need it."

"Um ... no-no, I'm warm enough" he said while glancing to her wretched pink ball of fluffyness with a zipper. "So what are the worst case scenario's, just what all can go wrong that might set off your little mouse survival sense? If we figure out a list of horrible things we can start working out what can't have happened and what's likely." he paused for a moment "Are you absolutely sure we really need to do this? Because I still say we just head in. What the heck are we going to do if we even find something? Fight it?"

Roda tightened her tail around his neck "No, we run like rodents. And no ... I can't tell what it is, but something is off here. Something that chills me to the bone" she folded her arms, her ears swiveled back in a fearful expression, and her whiskers were twitching like mad. Timmy, as usually, looked like a cross between bored and tired. How much of that was his personality and how much was because of the way his eyes were colored is left up to the imagination.

"Chills you to the bone ... instinctual maybe? You told me your what, forty percent rodent? Seriously, what all can go wrong here?"

"Yeah, sixty percent human and forty percent rodent, but thankfully the rodent half is dominant. I don't like the thought of being hairless with baggy skin" she twitched. "As for what all could happen? Lets see ... cats oftentimes like to stalk through here, they rarely catch anyone but as the poor little mouse you saw earlier shows they can be tricky. But if it were a cat we would have been attacked by now, it would have come out from wherever it was hiding, tried to convince it was friendly and were in no danger, then either it would actually /be/ friendly or it would pounce us and rip our throats out when we started to feel secure. It's an either/or case."

"OoooK ... point one for new laws on prey crimes, but if it's not some feline hunter with a perverse idea of entertainment then what else?"

Roda looked at the hole. "Birds are dangerous predators, no matter what the size. But it's hard to fly with no thermals, no headwinds, and all these buildings to dodge. That and if it were a nocturnal predator like owls, or vampires, or giant bats, they most certainly would have attacked by now. They would have tried to get us long before we made it this close to the burrow."

"Ok, I'm feeling were about to go down the long list of things that eat mice ... and as I recall that is a /very/ long list. If smash and grab criminals wouldn't have waited this long, then what about ambush predators? Things that wait for you to get too close then strike when you have no time to escape or room to maneuver?"

"Oh! You mean like a spider? If I happened to smell a spider web nearby that would have set off whatever fear I'm feeling. And I don't actually know what spider web smells like so I won't be able to recognize it ... heh, never thought it'd be a good idea to get close to those giant ones. Or the anthro ones. Or the taur ones ... or the- "

"Ok, I get it, your avoiding spiders! So if it were a spider hiding in the burrow just waiting for you to get tangled, would there be any evidence of fit? Trail of spilled venom perhaps, loose webbing? Might we be able to see the web if it's covering the hole?"

"Well, there might be footprints. Leaving any sort of spidery trail behind like shredded webs is just silly though, spiders are generally too clean for that. Some of the fuzzy ones drop hairs, but not all giant spiders are fuzzy. As for the hole, even if it wasn't invisible to my eyes, it would still be too dark to see from here. Especially at night."

"Ok, so we need to prove whether or not something exists when we can't see it and don't want to get too close to it. Have any rope on you?"

"Erp ... what? No. Why do you ask?"

"Ok, fine then, I'll use this" Timmy took off his T-shirt and started to pull at one end ... nothing happened. 'stupid ...*grumble, grumble* ... paper thin ...*grumble, (random profanity) ... weak arms'

"Um ... let me try biting it instead" a quick snip, sounding exactly like scissors, and then Timmy was unraveling the shirts threat to make a neat little string.

"Ok, the plan is simple. I'll unravel the shirt a little bit, about a quarter of it's entire length, toss it down the hole, and then if it has webbing on it when we pull it back we know a spiders been here." he paused a moment "If there is spider web in there, what do we do? Call a traveler and tell him or her to save the helpless rodents trapped inside?"

"One it's for burrowers in general, not just rodents. And two ... yeah, after we call a traveler I'll send you home and try to find myself a new place to bathe and sleep." Roda wasn't keen on leaving all her belongings behind, but a fearful, cautious nature kept making her think of spider eggs in her underwear drawer. Big, BIG spider eggs.

"Hmm ... sounds. Like a plan I guess" he stood a good distance away then tossed his shirt into the burrow. His thoughts racing 'Fell, I could have invited her to my house, she would have been comfortable right? I could lend her money for a new hotel. I could ... oh Fell! I could get my shirt back on before my nipples freeze!' but as he pulled the shirt back by it's string, he saw nothing on it but dirt.

"Nothing ... that's, good ... I guess?"

"Yeah, my shirts ruined and now I have to were dirt like a fashion statement. Woopie ... actually this is worse, if it was a spider in there at least we'd know what to do now. If it were a spider in there we'd at least know that standing out here talking wasn't an utter waste of time."

"Well, yeah. Theres that ... I'm sorry Timmy but I still feel like something is wrong, it's a feeling in my spine not my gut, but I've always been told to listen to that."

"Is your 'spine' feeling telling you to run in terror?"

"No ... it's telling me to be cautious as I enter the hole."

"So then lets enter the burrow and be cautious about it" Timmy gruffed, clearly annoyed.

Roda responded with a glare "No ... and before you ask, I'm not letting you go in either. Something. Is. Wrong."

"Ok, ok, so just what is it then? Demon? Succubus? It's not an angel at least otherwise it'd be glowing. Giant man eating worm? Naga? Fox? Er ... wait, do foxes rely on ambush?"

"Ok, if it were a giant worm I wouldn't feel afraid of it. I've got nothing to fear from man eaters" she stated, pressing her boobs together as if to emphasize the point.

"You know what I meant ..."

"haha! Sorry, couldn't resist. I'm not sure about those other things but a fox ... they don't rely on ambushes but they keep changing their tactics so often, their just so darned tricky" she paused "They even live underground at times. Yeah, I think it could be a fox, they wouldn't even look out of place in the burrowers district."

"Ok ... so then is there a chance it's a friendly fox and your just getting freaked out by his or her scent like you did with that feline?"

"That feline was tormenting a poor, innocent micro! A feral rodent! Do you really expect me to trust her? But erm, no ... I'm not even smelling fox at all. I've been attacked by foxes before and know what they smell like."

"Hmm ... so, what if it was covering up it's scent? Sort of like that white potion I used so I wouldn't barf at the sight of your moldy chicken pizza ... with ... what did you flavor it with, gangrene infected flesh?"

"Yep, and it was delicious!" but she thought about what he said "Masking it's scent ... that could work. It would even be smart enough to leave your shirt alone so you think it's safe to go in."

"Ok, so a fox has motive, along with the thousands of other things that want to eat you ... a fox has opportunity thanks to it's status as a known burrower. And a fox has the intelligence and general tactics to wait until your in a dark, confined space before striking. We've established that in all likelyhood some fox is hiding under the cloak of darkness, drool spilling onto the ground as it hopes for the two shivering idiots to make up their mind. What else? Anything to prove it's actually there?"

Roda shook her head "If it can hide it's scent then no, not really. How do humans ever hope to track things if they can't smell I'll never be able to understand though."

"We can smell, we just don't rely on it ... hey! Wait a minute, how humans track things! We look for tracks! If it were a fox then it would most certainly leave footprints." Timmy bent down, lowered his head to the ground, and almost dragged Roda down with him thanks to her tail still wrapped around him.

"Oh that's right! Unless it was one of the winged races it would have had to leave tracks as it walked through here. And if it did have wings there's no way it would enter a burrow, those things need to stay clean. So we ... just ... look for ... I'm not seeing fox tracks here, are you?"

"I'm not seeing ANY tracks, ours are the only ones here. It ... it almost looks like the ground was smoothed out by something flat, just look at how all this dirt keeps to the same pattern." he thought about it for a moment "I need a better look over there, can you take your tail off my neck? Thanks a bunch"

As soon as Roda freed her little human 'pet' of his 'leash' she tried to see what he was looking at. Looking at things felt awkward for the rodent, but unlike smells at least she could focus on one thing at a time here. "What are you thinking?"

"It's ... here, step back and take a look at this, it's like three feet wide, and it curves. It's heading from that alleyway over on the right, the opposite direction we came in. See here? How there's what looks like half a small pile of dirt? Something rubbed across the other half."

Fallowing where he pointed, she caught on "And it leads strait into the hotel!"

"Right, so whatever it is, there's something in there. Worm? If worms use it then perhaps it's just a customer."

"No, I'd recognize the smell of worms, and besides, when they travel up top they usually leave slime behind."

"Point taken. So whatever it is, it left enough scent just walking by to freak you out, and it either carried a broom along to hide it's footprints or it simply didn't have any feet" Timmy put his face to the ground once more, eyes open wide, and scanned while sliding closer and closer to the burrow.

"Hmm ... so, perhaps an exceptionally tricky fox or ..."

'If it was a fox he didn't use a broom, whatever left this was smooth. Completely smooth. A broom would have left brush marks, and have been much more conspicuous than this." Timmy observed, not getting up just yet.

"Ok then ... what attacks burrowers, would be acceptable in an area designed for burrowers, doesn't have feet, and would incite instinctual fear in a mouse even if that mouse had never before seen or smelled it?" Roda thought aloud.

"Hey! Roda, I think I figured it out, come look at these ... green ... scales?"

"SNAKE!" They both yelled at the same time, Timmy jumping up just so he could take a few slow, cautious steps back from the hotel entrance. What he had come to think of Roda's temporary home now started to look like the den of a dragon. Dark, foreboding, it suddenly reeked of death and horror. It wasn't a constant, but mice weren't the only things of Earth origin that happened to be afraid of snakes.

"Ok, from now I promise not to pick on your 'spine feeling' ever, ever again." adrenaline started to pump as fear crept it's way into his own veins.

"Wow, so th-that was it, I m-must have smelled snake from scales it dropped on the way over."

"And judging by the tracks it's a pretty big snake, big enough to be a threat to a full grown human. Any difference between an ordinary snake and a Naga?"

"If it's one of those earth-force modified pythons then there's a serious difference, if it's magical or mythological then I don't think so."

"Have you ever actually smelled a snake before?" Timmy inquired.

"No ..."

"Great" he paused for a moment, staring at the hotel entrance "So then, now what? Do we just walk in and hope nothing poisons us?"

"It might not have poison, most large snakes rely on constriction."

"Oh sure, unless their mythological or the offspring of an Earth-Force Bio-weapon. What if we charge in, guns blazing, and just try to overpower the thing? If we know where it is then I'm sure a few snips from your mouth would make it want to back off."

"Two things wrong with that, one, if it can swallow me whole or has glue-like chemicals for saliva then no amount of biting will help. That's even disregarding what harm could come to an otherwise defenseless human. The next flaw in that plan is confirmation of guilt, just because we both don't like snakes and know that one can kill us in the blink of an eye doesn't mean the one that came through here is going to. He might just be a customer for all we know, snakes burrow but they don't like to dig. We need some way to be sure he, she, it, or perhaps even they are going to attack before we think about harming them."

"Right ... some way to prove the slithering thing is hostile. What about ... hey! How good are the average snake's senses?"

"Decent eyesight, some can see heat, they smell the air with their tongue with startling accuracy, and a few have a form of Tremor-sense that allows to hear when something moves along the ground. But ... the tunnel curves downward, so unless we happen to be standing right over it, smell and Tremor-sense should be the only things we have to worry about."

"Right, because it can't see through the ground itself ... I think I've got an idea here, but first I'm hungry." Timmy said, a bit louder than normal.

"Hungry? But we jus- ..." Timmy placed his hands over her mouth to cut her off.

"We just spent all this time chatting in freezing cold with sub-par clothing, us mammals run up a lot of energy trying to keep warm and needs lots of fuel to do it, remember? Come on Roda, lets discuss possible strategies over dinner. Where's the nearest hot-dog stand?" the child whispered something carefully into her ear, he had to stop so he could sneeze (stupid ear fluff!) but the mouse girl played along after she started to get the idea.

Timmy didn't know it, but the poor readers looking over these events were being kept in needless suspense, and an annoying shift in perspective.

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___________

Wislomstin sat there frustrated, utterly, completely frustrated. The Naga was covered in dirt to hide his scales, flattened out in this slim, rat smelling burrow to appear less like a conspicuous lump in the floor. His arms were extended to the left and right so that they'd be ready when the moment came to strike, and the foldable flap of skin, reminiscent of a cobra, was fully retracted. He hated having to retract it and look like a more of less normal snake, it always made his scales bunch up, but hunting was easier when you didn't have something that distinguishable.

He was starving. There was food just a little bit deeper down the tunnel, but of course it was well defended against predators. Being eaten alive by either a rodent or giant worm security guard would be both painful and embarrassing, so he stayed near the entrance where no fluff covered burrower dared to guard. His tongue flicked out just passing over the loosely packed dirt, tasting the air in anticipation of his next meal. That's why he's frustrated, he can taste it, he knows she's just outside the burrow in the relatively brighter space, but she just wasn't coming down.

'Why!?'

Wilso's thoughts screamed at him, the intense hunger, the need to kill, to feel a living squirming mammal heating his chest from inside while delighting him with it's panicked screams for days on end as he took his time digesting ... he could very well get by going to restaurants and ordering a meal, if we were lucky and felt like handing over enough cash he might get whatever suicidal organisms were allowing themselves to be made into a meal. Hard to get live food otherwise in a place so Frap loaded with (the snake shuddered) heroes! But the suicide rate wasn't exactly staggering, and in a place with such ridiculous diversity it wasn't even a guarantee he could eat whatever the stores offered. That and, most suicidal people tend to be depressing, it's hard to enjoy their pitiful screams and feeble attempts to escape when they just sat there complaining about how horrible life was.

This Naga was a killer, and unless the other party in his 'hobby' was unwilling he could never get any satisfaction out of it. That's why he hunted, that's why here he was, risking his own life at the hands of these civilized, organized, food sources on feet rather than getting a job and paying for a bowl of mice like most reptiles would. Elch, mice that have died of old age or otherwise natural causes and sold to groceries didn't taste as good anyway.

Something fluffy with a string attached was dropped down the hole and landed just in front of his nose. It didn't have a heartbeat so he was inclined to ignore it, and when the string drew it back he was inclined to feel insulted. 'I'm a snake, not a fish' he'd grump, his stomach cramping.

'Just come down here already!' the snake's thoughts raged as his tongue flicked out again. Something else was there, monkey? No ... not enough fluff smell. And it had a trace of demon scent, a little bit of sap, topped off with the blood of some mammal. 'why the fell aren't I slithering my way to the next PD? I know there are some designed for snakes, but there has to be one where us Naga and our way of life is protected! The undead get their own area, why not us?' but he was content enough to know that whatever meal was fallowing with that mouse he kept smelling had it's own flavoring. Wilso had never tasted demon before.

'I should be nervous about that' he thought to himself during that agonizing wait, why were they taking so long? His smell was hidden, the bee lady at the aroma-therapy shop assured him! True, he'd lied to her and said he was going to date a rabbit and didn't want to smell frightening ... but he'd never actually met the rabbit, and the white bundle of delicious, squirming fluff was plenty scared despite the potion's most valiant effort.

'No! Bad snake, don't give yourself away with a puddle of drool by thinking of your last meal, that's just stupid. It will never, ever happen again.' so his thoughts shifted from his most recent murder to wondering why in Fell's name wasn't that mouse coming in yet!? He slithered just a little bit closer and flicked his tongue out for a sniff. He made sure to quiet his heartbeat as he overheard:

"But first I'm hungry." something soft, small, mammalian and possibly human. If it wasn't, then it was at least humanoid.

"Hungry? But we jus- ..." The sound was cut off, but Wilso could tell that voice was from the delicious smelling one.

"We just spent all this time chatting in freezing cold with sub-par clothing, us mammals run up a lot of energy trying to keep warm and needs lots of fuel to do it, remember? Come on Roda, lets discuss possible strategies over dinner. Where's the nearest hot-dog stand?"

Hearing the last sentence made a sly green Naga despair. So not only were they somehow wise to his hiding, trying to think of a way to outsmart him, and worst of all, they were going off to eat while he was sitting here starving! Surrounded by the smell of every little burrowing food-thing that lived here and starving! What were they trying to drive him insane? Argh! Why couldn't they just poke their little head down this hole! It would have been so easy to just leap out and snap one of them up while the other runs for help.

He fantasized about gulping the first one down quickly, as he often would with pairs, then chase the second one as it flees until he could wrap either his hands or his tail around it. He would have gotten such a rush out of teasing, muzzling, and slowly swallowing the second one so that there was no evidence he'd ever existed. If this was a mated couple Wilso would have gotten that rare, exceptional treat of hearing the second one scream as he was pressed into his mate. Oh gods, that one pair he'd kept alive for days in an incredibly slow digestive process were even kind enough to mate inside of him. The fact it was their last action in this world is what made that especially delightful. But not now, now all his dreams were shattered. Wilso would just have to wait until- ... no, no wait.

'I can hear them, coming back?' he thought, unfolding his sensitive skin flap in a vein effort to listen in.'

"Ok, ok Roda, I clearly see your point. There is absolutely no way any creature would have tried to set up an ambush in this neighborhood, there are too many fearful rodents, too many Earth-force procreations and genetic mishaps with that human tendency to destroy whatever scares them, and no way a rodent would want to sleep here if it wasn't one hundred percent secure. You just smelled snake scales from some passerby and we both overreacted." the non-rodent voice stated, presumably for the female's benefit. It was a little loud though, and Wilso could just barely make out the lung capacity behind it. Small ... deep, perhaps, but obviously it was from a small, easily swallowed creature.

"Right, so that means we can just walk right in, no need to worry about anything or even keep our guard up" the female rodent called out in response. Odd, she was much louder than before as well.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

But with the sound of footsteps, mouthwateringly loud and easy to aim for, Wilso didn't think twice about the potential oddities of stupid mammal food-things. His tightly coiled muscles extended to spring him forward at blinding speed. He opened his maw wide, over two feet, to take in as much of his prey as possible. His venom less fangs dripping harmless spit, even though the teeth themselves weren't nearly as harmless. The flap of skin on the back of his neck puffed out like a cobra, making him look even larger and more intimidating than he really was.

Wilso bit down ... and immediately afterward was a shrieking, feminine scream.

?

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___________

Timmy walked back from a nearby weapon's shop helping Roda carry along a rather large spear. So large in fact that it took both of the four foot tall or less people a great deal of effort to heft along. Roda could still smell the dealer hiding away as backup in case things went horribly wrong, but to Timmy that cat-bunny was out of sight. That's what the human wanted anyway, no reason to arouse the predator's suspicions with an odd, unfamiliar scent.

It was strangely convenient that there would be a shop with such medieval weapons for sale or rent, but then rodents are known for both having a lot of predators and burrowing. So perhaps a dark, dingy corner of the burrowers district was a good place for a shop. The sales clerk was odd as well, a cat-bunny looking a lot like a cat with bunny ears (a rat's worst nightmare) and thankfully for Roda, bunny-like tendencies. He wasn't even part human, a pure genetic creation with no Anthro ancestry whatsoever. Or at least, so he claims.

"Here we are, sure of the plan?" Roda whispered into the boy's ear.

"Shhhhh! Quieter ..." Timmy's voice was barely audible to human ears. Roda of course, heard it just fine.

"Sorry. Anyways, if the snake doesn't take the bait we'll have wasted a lot of time here"

"That's why we'd better stop talking out of character, now shush!" the boy put one finger over her mouth, oblivious to, or at least forgetting, the fact she could chomp off and swallow his whole hand with jaws like hers.

"Ok, ok Roda, I clearly see your point. There is absolutely no way any creature would have tried to set up an ambush in this neighborhood, there are too many fearful rodents, too many Earth-force procreations and genetic mishaps with that human tendency to destroy whatever scares them, and no way a rodent would want to sleep here if it wasn't one hundred percent secure. You just smelled snake scales from some passerby and we both overreacted." Timmy spoke out in a much louder, somewhat rehearsed voice. He felt he'd over-acted the part, made it sound ...

His own feelings were distracted by a particularly strong Dejavu, he clearly felt he'd said that before, but he can't remember actually doing this. The feeling stayed as he motioned for Roda's part and bent down to take off both his shoes and one of the laces. That odd feeling of Dejavu remained. Why, oh why did he feel he'd already done this? Time didn't rewind, it couldn't have! Time travel was one of the few things central actually forbid, and quite adamantly. But how else would one feel they have repeated events?

"Right, so that means we can just walk right in, no need to worry about anything or even keep our guard up" Roda spoke her lines as the human tied his shoes to the tip of the spear with one lace. Now barefoot and even colder than before ... the boy was still focused on why in Fell's name he felt he'd already done this! He didn't remember seeing any snake and they had good evidence one was here. Perhaps he'd done something similar in a dream, yeah. That makes sense.

With his shoes tied onto the spear he and Roda carefully, and quietly, maneuvered the sharp end to extend closer to the burrow and smash down. It made a thumping sound, which they hoped would mimic the sound of footsteps.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

'come on, take the bait. Take the bait so we can legally kill you mouse eater ...' Timmy thought as nothing exciting was happening. So he waited, the spear tip facing the dark, rat smelling hole. His arms were buckling, a mix of the cold and the weight of the spear were getting to him, if it weren't for his friend Roda he couldn't have held it at all.

CHOMP! It moved with blinding speed, that thing was faster than a bullet! And quieter too. Just a flash of green that appeared out of nowhere with it's mouth gaping and teeth flashing. As soon as it put it's mouth around the spear point and horrible shoes of human foot stank.

"EEEAAAASSSSSKKK!!!" The creature screamed. It didn't quite look female, as it was often hard to tell with snakes, but it's scream sure sounded feminine.

"This is for RODA!" Timmy screamed, his face twisted in the human expression of rage and bloodlust, it took only an instant for his mind to shift from focusing on the possibility and a ridiculously cautious 'plan' to the adrenaline induced hyper awareness all human-kind felt. With the spear tip in the naga's mouth. He jammed it forward farther and farther, the snake had to slither backwards just to keep it from gouging the inside of his mouth any further. Until he hit the nearby wall and couldn't go any further. Blood gurgled from the monster's mouth, clawed, raptor like hands raked across the wooden weapon, his eyes showed a mix between surprise and frustration until:

CRACK!

The spear jabbed all the way through the base of his skull, killing him instantly with the added bonus of pinning him to the wall. The snake stared down at his would-be prey as his vision began to fade, his thoughts shifting and melting. It was just so hard to keep focus on what he did wrong.

Timmy's final insult was to close his eyes, the human child, for all his momentary ferocity, could not stand looking at the creature he'd just stabbed. It filled the snake's final moments with complete and utter terror.

'Those eyes!' Timmy's eyelids matched the black discoloration around his eyes, so when he closed them it gave him an unearthly appearance.

Wilso lifelessly flung it's tail around in a purely last ditch effort to harm his attackers. But the spear was so long, they didn't even have to step back.

"W-wow ... I ... I think we c-can give the spear back now" Roda whispered fearfully. Where a human's fight-or-flight reactions are random but always focused on combat, a mouse's are more focused on which direction to run. The scary part of it was that once the adrenaline wore off Timmy was breathing just as fast as the mouse girl next to him.

"Y-yeah ... *huff* I guess you *huff* were right, and now we *huff* even have a legally acquired *huff* carcass to sell." he looked tired, just a little brave, and for a rare moment something other than bored.

"You ... that was impressive. When all those pure aliens told me how violent humans can be I thought ... I mean, er ... Timmy!?"

Timmy had taken one look at the dead snake, knowing that it was a sentient, breathing thing at one point while now it was reduced to spare parts for some restaurant. His muscles spasmed, his knees locked out, and he was collapsed on the ground trying to puke up a cheese pizza from earlier today.

"Yeah, im- *urp!* impressive ... whatever" He didn't seem especially proud at the moment. But at least, at the very least, nausea and disgust had replaced his feelings of dejavu. "S-so ... now we give Amber his spear back."

"Much obliged!" an odd sounding male voice called from somewhere in the shadows. As he stepped closer he finally showed his appearance. "Wow, just look at the size of that one. Got it all in video for you brothers, it can either be self defense or assisted suicide, seeing as the bastard just tried to swallow a spear. But sense he ain't talking and I've got no access to soul recover it's us who make the decision."

The weapons dealer was, as Timmy had pictured before, a cat-bunny. He wasn't a true Cabbit in the same sense as an anthro with body parts from more than one animal, he was the merging of a cat and bunny with no genuinely human genetics as a blue-print. He stood on two legs, had massive (ridiculously oversized eighteen inch long) feet, and disproportionately large hands and eyes, much the same way Roda's face and arms were designed. He stood only four feet tall and kept his ears folded down to keep from looking any taller, he had hair (of all things) over his fur matted up into a big half-combed wad on his head in the traditional human style. His tail was long, twitchy, and cat-like but it ended with a fluffy ball on the tip. A tail at the end of a tail? Or did he just call that 'curly' tail floof ... Timmy wasn't about to ask.

"I don't care at the moment, you t-take it ... just take it" Timmy answered while doing his best not to look. This in turn incited sympathy from Roda. She'd seen him fight a demon head-on with a broken blender as a weapon. Yet this fighting, from a distance, which only lasted for ten seconds at best, had him on his knees with guilt? Was it even guilt?

"Will do man, sorry you had to see stuff like this but hey, burrowers are burrowers because their the bottom of the food chain. I'd like to say I'd prefer it if monsters who don't care about the feelings of others were filtered out of this PD, but then there'd be two major consequences." He gripped the handle of that giant spear, pulled down gently ... and then held it upward at an angle so the snake's face was skewered onto the giant stick. It's body so long that Wilso's tail was dragged through the ground. "Here we are ... boy this is a heavy one. The two major events? One I'd be out of a job and forced to move, don't need weapons if you ain't got enemies. And two, they wouldn't let humans in here. Not enough to filter out the sociopaths, those things can pick a fight over anything."

Timmy thought about that for a moment as he watched the four foot tall cat-bunny carelessly saunter off with a dead body more than forty times his own size. He thought about taking his passing comment as an insult, but it just didn't seem worth it.

"Hey! You take that back! Timmy's human!" Roda apparently didn't think along those same lines.

"Oh ... really? He doesn't look it, I thought he was a goblin or something, perhaps a bald rat. Those eyes you know. Freaky as death himself." the cat-bunny had to yell to make himself heard from his current distance.

Roda was raised her hand to say something more, but Timmy gripped her wrist and forced it down. "Don't bother, I've heard it all before." and then he looked as if he were about to throw up again.

"W-wow, why didn't ... why didn't you react like this after that fight with Gedel? It was a millions times more disgusting, we haven't even gotten bits of his flesh out of our hair yet!"

"I passed out after that fight remember? Who's to say I didn't react the way I am now. Can ... can we talk about something else please?" the unnaturally strong weapon's dealer was now too far off to be seen.

"Sure, sure ... but what?" all she could think of was how nice a tongue bath would be. And how she's going to have to try a water bath because she doesn't want to taste demon slime all over again. They both started walking towards the hotel.

"Hmm ... well, I did just now think of an idea for your earlier questions" Timmy stated as they were almost upon the hole.

"What questions are you tal-..."

"For that add, the paper thingy. About a whisker trimmer. I think I've just discovered one reason to shave your whiskers." a slight pause, he'd just begun the process of blocking certain memories "Come to think of it I still can have fun even if I'm underage."

"Erp!" Roda nearly choked. Which was odd, considering nothing was wrapped around her neck. "What the Fell are you ...!"

POKE! Twitch, Twitchy.

Timmy reached across with one finger to poke the tips of her whiskers, giggling like an idiot when they started twitching involuntarily.

"Oh hardy, har har ..." the mouse stuck her tongue out and playfully wrapped her tail around his neck again. "That's not the sort of fun I was talking about and you know it"

POKE! Twitch, twitchy twitch.

"Oh will cut that out!" she looked annoyed, but she couldn't hide her smirk.

"Cut them out? Isn't that what the whisker trimmer is for?" humor, it cures all emotional wounds.

Roda glared at the boy for the pun, then dove headfirst into the giant burrow. Making sure her tail latched onto his throat kept him close like a pet on a leash. That ... could be embarrassing. But at least he was a primate and not a cat. I'm not sure there was any feline in the world who could live down being in this situation.

The first thing Timmy noticed as he fallowed her into the burrow is that it smelled. It wasn't exactly a bad smell, or a good one, its just that it kept making him thing of things with wet fur. Clearly there were lots of rodents sleeping, living, or eating at this establishment. The next thing he noticed was how short the ceilings were, fallowed by just how painful it is to walk into one.

"Careful there! Timmy it's a good idea that you get down and crawl before you hurt yourself"

"Um, s-sure ..." he started to bend down while walking. The place kept getting darker and darker until he couldn't see Roda, the walls or ... anything! Not even the hands in front of his face. It wouldn't have been a problem if he'd gone a little bit slower, but as he struggled to keep moving on all four limbs he erked at something warm and fuzzy under his stomach.

"Who, what is?"

"Back up and get off me! I've carried you long enough, so just ... just back up"

"Sorry, c-can't see you there." he replied sheepishly as he stepped back as far as her tail would allow before bending down again.

"*Sigh* fine, sorry for blowing up on you." she sniffed the air, a sharp inhaling sound echoed off the confining walls. "Registration is just ahead, I need to fill out a form saying you're here as a guest and not a captured meal. Its to help prevent similar lawsuits to what that other hotel is facing, they want to make sure that anyone who comes into this place comes out safely."

"B-but don't they trust you? You saved my life, more than once I think."

"Oh sure, I've never broken the laws on a hub world, but all it takes is one idiot to make things harder for everyone else. And even if I'm trusted personally, my race isn't. Undead sometimes like to sleep underground because it reminds them of a grave, and personal debilitating Trauma or not Maggot-mice will never be trusted around them."

"That's ... thoughtful actually. I wouldn't think such monitoring was necessary but after seeing that poor mouse used as a squeaky toy ... and, could that snake we killed have really been a client? I suddenly understand the need for it."

"That was ... horrible" Roda made some odd sound, it was hard to tell if she was shivering or twitching in the pitch black tunnel but she was doing something. "I really don't want to think about him"

"F-fine. Sorry then" and at that they both went silent. Timmy felt odd (to say the least) being lead by the neck through a lightless, dirt filled tunnel. His hands were getting scratched by stray rocks, loose dirt started falling in his hair, and he was sure his jeans would fade if he kept crawling on his knees like this. But it might be worth it to spend a little more time with Roda. Wouldn't it?

The boy found that he couldn't believe he'd even think that question. Was spending time with a small mouse girl with pink clothing and a loose idea of modesty worth all the trouble? She was dangerous, sure, despite being smaller he was pretty certain she could swallow him whole if she put some effort into it. And if not at the very least her teeth could remove his head. But this was a hub world! Everything was dangerous! Even humans! To most pure aliens little Timmy was something out of a nightmare, oozing oils from his skin that melt through 'flesh' (if what they have qualifies) moderate to good reflexes and the instinctive ability to enter a combat state of mind while retaining his full intelligence. Sure, Hell-spawn and Heaven-spawn creatures could do a heck of a lot better if reality supports their physics, but Earth-spawn organisms are completely natural.

Bah! Timmy felt he had distracted himself from an important question. Roda was pleasant to talk to, certainly unique as with most travelers, and had an interest in him even after all thoughts of flirtation or sexual references were destroyed. She'd have to wait more than a quarter of her limited lifespan for Timmy's body to mature, so she obviously didn't see him as a potential mate. That's a good thing, definitely a good thing. It means she likes him for the same reasons he likes her, right? But still, is she worth it? Timmy didn't have any friends, only acquaintances, and the closest thing he had to a friend was angel he liked to trade insults with. Was that what he wanted here? Just a close friend? And if so, was it doomed to failure? How long was she going to stay in this hub if she had to live in a hotel? So many questions he just had to ask himself in hopes of a spontaneous answer.

After an the awkward silence gave them both time for reflection the mouse clarified. "I'm talking about the mouse, just so were clear. The snake camping out at a hotel entrance? I'm glad he's dead. And brown rat's gnaw on his bones."

'She's vengeful too apparently, but I'll be understanding of that given the context.' the human thought privately.

The place was dark here, perhaps that's why he was being abnormally thoughtful. Hard to keep one's thoughts from running amuck when there was nothing interesting going on to entertain oneself. Roda stopped.

"Here we are, Roda Andel signing in with guest." she said to some unseen person and preformed some unseen action that made the sound of crumpling paper.

As she stopped, Timmy didn't know it until he felt it. And while he had to think about it for a moment, knowing that he was fallowing a girl in short pants while both were walking on four legs, he was very, very surprised that the mouse hadn't gotten mad at what his face rubbed into. The fact he pulled back quickly enough probably helped with that.

"Signing in with guest, name and species please." called a gruff sounding voice from somewhere just in front of Roda. The mouse slid her whiskers across Roda's chest, then shoulders, then fallowed the length of his harm to find his hands.

"Just put your hand on the page and start rubbing, these people work better by scent than by sight" she said to the boy in a loud and clear voice.

"T-Timmy Raxwell, Human." he said while slapping his outstretched hand where Roda directed him ... he felt wood. A desk of some sort? And started feeling around (fumbling mostly) until his hands crumpled into something that felt like paper. Whether or not he'd actually found it or one of these scent using creatures felt pity on the blind human and put the paper in front of his hands will forever remain a mystery.

"Human ... human ... the lack of light isn't going to be a problem is it? We don't have any source of light anywhere on the premise mister. Spooks a few of the clients, too many people down here are afraid of the light."

"N-no, I don't think it will. Just need either a guide or a good memory"

"Ah, well at least you ain't claustrophobic like the last moron then." the ... whatever it was, stated with a smidgen of humor. "Guy ran screaming from one end of the tunnels to the other trying to find the exit, we had to tranquilize him and drag him out while he slept. Not fun ... a couple more incidents like that and I'll have to ban all humans."

"W-well lets just hope that never becomes necessary sir" Roda this time. "This way Timmy, lets get behind doors before our smell starts to cover up the exit sign."

"Hey lady, I wasn't going to say anything" the unseen person at the register called out while Timmy and Roda crawled onward. The mouse girl sniffing audibly and counting off the rooms as she passed.

"lets see, room one. Room two. Room ... oh, this is the first tunnel and I'm down in third. Sigh, I'm always getting lost in new places"

That was less than assuring for Timmy, who's only means of knowing which direction to go were turning around when his hands felt a wall and falling that little tug on his neck from when Roda got too far ahead of him. Still, now that they were out of anyone's way the boy felt curious of something.

"If one predator was able to ... what did you call it, camp? At the hotel entrance, then should we also be worried about potential predators down here?"

"Oh now, of course not. You'd have to be suicidal to take on a defended rodent home and there are far less painful means of killing yourself than trying to sneak down here or take on the whole army. Ever see ants, it doesn't really matter what size, battling it out against other ants in their tunnels?"

"No"

"Drat, well it's basically the same thing except for us there can be much more variety in teeth sharpness and individual size. Some can copy the ant's method of killing prey by gathering a horde and climbing into their lungs until the much larger creature suffocates ... or dies of internal bleeding. While some rodents, myself included, can just munch the whole body. I've never once seen or heard of a predator with mortal needs taking on, and winning a fight against rodents deep in their territory. True we have no natural protection against a soul-stealer, I mean, nothing does! But we don't live long so our souls aren't even worth the effort of coming down here."

"That ... sounds somehow patriotic to your fellow rodents, and condemning at the same time. But then, if ... if your so well defended why was anyone trying to cause trouble here in the first place?"

"Ah, but as you might notice, he wasn't here exactly, he was there. Up by the entrance where no one bothers trying to guard. It's deep in rodent territory that's well protected, so we don't count right near the surface where we have the most disadvantage to be part of that territory."

"Interesting ... so then, does this place have secret, hidden, or at the very least multiple ways of getting in and out besides the front entrance?"

The mouse girl busted out laughing "This place alone is pretty small and run down so it only has four main entrances. I would tell you how many secret ones there are, but that's strictly proprietary, unless you're a rodent or vole I'd have to bite your head off if I told you." she said this in a playful, 'I'm teasing you' voice, but as it was so very hard to see what expression her face was showing in complete darkness Timmy shuddered all the same.

Roda must of felt it, as she rounded another corner she commented: "Oh, I'm ... Timmy are you ok? I felt my tail jiggling and ... is the dark getting to you?"

"Yeah ... the dark, the dark is getting to me. Lets go with that." he lied, and skillfully worked to change the subject "Just what is your room number?"

"Hard to remember a number, I just remember what tunnel and try to find my scent."

This didn't make the blind, clueless human any more comfortable in a space so confined he could barely stand up. "Um ... s-so then ..." but the mouse squeaked too early for him to finish a thought, let alone a sentence.

"This is it! I can smell my ... er, w-wait. This room on the left side but I can clearly remember my room being on the right. Room, oh this is tunnel three and room seven. I can ..."

Timmy's face squished into Roda's butt once more at her sudden stop, but this time he backed up before she could comment. Being blind was hard ... "S-sorry"

"It's fine, but I can smell myself coming right down here, the trail leads to the right, I can remember coming from the right, but the trail /also/ comes from my room to this room."

Timmy reached a hand out to feel the nearby walls ... he missed entirely and pulled back the moment he realized walls weren't supposed to squishy or fluffy, nor twitch when you poke them. This was getting old fast. But what could it mean if her scent was changing rooms?

"Could you ... have gone into any other room, strait from your room to this one perhaps?" the boy asked.

"No, the smell is more recent that for one, and two I've never gone into any room save my own."

"How did you get to your room in the first place if you rely on using your scent to find it? You can't get your scent into the room before you've been there can you?" he would have slapped himself for not thinking of this question earlier, but he was afraid of what would happen if he missed. His mind pictured how quickly and cleanly Roda sliced through a demon's skin, flesh and bones with just a tiny snip of her jaws ... and the boy became very afraid indeed.

"How did, well you have to remember the number the first time around. After that it's pretty safe to forget about it."

"Well then, if you have trouble remembering numbers is it possible you touched against that other door before finding the right one? They are close together you know ... I think. Maybe. Are they close enough that I could see them if it wasn't so dark? It's hard to tell down here."

Roda giggled "Yes Timmy, the rooms are close. But no even if I did try that the smell would not be this fresh, this was more recent ... and, odd ... more powerful. It smells ..." the mouse inhaled deeply and audibly in the noisy human fashion of forcing as much air past your nostrils in as little time as your lungs could manage, then exhaling as you process the scent. As opposed to her normal twitchy method of sliding her whiskers back and forward to move the air around.

And then she was silent, Timmy had no idea what the end of her sentence would be nor was he apt to guess. After more than a moment of awkward silence this portion of the tunnel started to get warmer for some reason. "Um ... Roda? What does it smell like?" the boy inquired cautiously.

"N-nothing for you to worry about, nope. It um ... it's too old for you to know." she sounded a little rushed, quieter and shriller. Embarrassed perhaps? He hoped it was embarrassed. He'd trusted Roda completely as he was entering the dark, rat smelling tunnel but at this precise moment he wasn't so sure.

"Ok, fine then, so if this is your room don't we just go in and forget about the smell? I mean, couldn't you have stumbled onto the other door or something and then- ..."

"No, it wouldn't have worked that way, you see the scen- ..." odd how they were both cut off, but a very brief squeaking and scratching noise was abruptly fallowed by:

"Will you two keep it down! Some of us are trying to rest in peace here" the voice was gruff, it sounded annoyed perhaps, but otherwise normal. Timmy peered closely to see what it was out of pure habit and much to his own surprise saw two dim lights a few inches apart. They were about the same length as human eyes, right? Er, wait ... their glowing, definitely not human, but that doesn't really matter.

"Were very sorry sir, we'll just be g- ..." he was interrupted yet again by a streaking, banshee-like scream that seemed to emanate through the entire underground complex of tunnels.

"eeeeEEEEEKKKK!!! UNDEAD!" fallowed immediately by the creature's own, much deeper, and clearly male voice.

"aaaAAAAHHHH!!! PUS EATER MOUSE!!!"

Roda's high pitched, mouse-like, feminine screams of terror mixed perfectly with the masculine, slightly garble screams of terror the supposed undead was making as soon as the sound managed to reverb off the walls and find it's way back around. Man, if that noise didn't wake up everyone in the entire hotel Timmy wasn't sure a bomb raid could. Roda ducked into her own room with alarming speed, it drove Timmy forward thanks to that long stringy tail wrapped around his neck, but the angle was wrong. Rather than pulling him in with her, she smacked his face into the wall and nearly ripped his vocal cords out trying to force him through. A swift moving, furless, stringy tail uncoiling around your neck hurt much, much worse than any carpet burn any man ever felt.

"A-AHHH!" Timmy tried to yelp in pain as he grasped near his larynx. Fortunately for the rest of the hotel sleepers his wasn't nearly as loud.

"Don't let her eat MEEE!!!" the supposed undead screamed as he disappeared back into his own room. Or at least Timmy thought he disappeared ... the glowing eye-dot thingies were gone at least. It was very hard to tell if it was even an undead, he had to trust Roda's judgment completely, let alone what that undead was doing. Now true, leaving Timmy alone in a pitch black tunnel too small for him to stand up didn't strike him as exceptional wisdom or responsibility at the moment, but the fact Roda was afraid of undead, and random people are generally afraid of things that eat them, the fact each of them ran away from each other was proof of enough for now.

"Roda? She wo- ... hey!" Timmy tried to call, much too slowly. With not much else to do and his curiosity peaked, he scrambled over to a part of the wall that felt different from general dirt and assumed it was a door. If there was an undead in this room, and Roda's scent came from her room to this one, was she ... sleep ... hunting? Or something? That would be odd, but a creature designed to consume and digest every form of zombie, vampire, lich, or undying minion, being deathly afraid she might hurt them (of all the things to be afraid of!) could conceivably mess with her mind. Perhaps even to the point she craved the flesh of the 'life impaired' so much her body would go after it before her brain kicked in. But this was Roda, so that suggestion was fishy.

"Um ... h-hello, sir? That's my friend Roda, I-I'm a human." he called to the undead's doorway, giving it a shy tap.

"Yes, I know, I saw you. Now go away! I'm not opening the door, ever ever ever! I know that 'oh I'm just an innocent bystandard and my best friends turned into a zombie so you have to open the door before he rips my throat out' trick, I use that one all the time on those fools back in Zombieland.

"Uh, er ... no, Roda's my friend, as in I don't think she'll ever rip my throat out and I know for a fact she won't attack you. Especially if I ask her not to." by 'fools' Timmy assumed this guy was talking about the idiot humans who enjoyed living in a zombie apocalypse, dismembering everyone they see until they get infected themselves. It was a very violent lifestyle that generally left the much slower zombies at a disadvantage.

"Eh? What the Fell are you talking about water-sac."

"Water- ... oh Frap it, did that mouse girl go into your room sometime yesterday? Or perhaps today? Early morning?" Timmy was getting tired of this, and it showed.

The undead thing seemed nervous all of a sudden though. "D-did sh- ... No! No-no-no, no one came into my room, nope. Just don't worry about and sleep while you still have your brains intact." he threatened.

Timmy grinned "Oh yes, because I'm sure this hotel's security system would love to hear your explanation as to where that grey matter went, especially when you consider it a was a Maggot-Mouse who escorted me down here, who's fought with me against two monsters on the very first day we met, who see's me as a possible mating partner if it weren't for the age and lifespan differences. Why, I wonder just what she'd do if- ..." the boy never got to finish his sentence, the undead was peaking out the door and preaching for the option to be cooperative faster than one could blink.

"I'll talk, I'll talk! J-just don't let her come near me! For the love of Grendel, PLEASE! Don't let her get near me!"

'Wow, so I guess she wasn't lying when she told me what a gruesome fate undead at her people's hands when we talked about it over dinner' Timmy thought to himself. What he said however: "Fine, do you have any idea, whatsoever, why her scent comes from her room to your room?"

Timmy felt a splat, something damp, mold smelling ... oh dear god it smelled horrible once he caught hold of that smell! And it was somehow shaped like a concave triangle. A triangle where one of the points was thinner than the other two. He could tell it was fabric, he rubbed a hand across it and could tell it was recently covered in the rotting, dripping flesh of an undead, and he could tell it was small. About the same size as his own torso. Some sort of ... bathing suit perhaps? No, most fleshy undead can't swim, at any time a strong current could turn the weaker one's skeletal.

"Um ... wh-what is ... I'm afraid to ask, but. What is this?"

"You don't want to know man, I stole it from next door. Clepto here, heh, what can you do?"

"A clepto, wait let me think, that's ... that's the one where you steal stuff compulsively, without meaning or thinking?"

"I died for a reason buddy, without thinking should be a given."

"Ok, so this is Roda's then ... and you stole it from her hotel room. Anything" he paused a moment, clearly uncertain. "Anything else?"

"Nope, now you go tell her please, besides ... now that I know just what sort of monster was wearing those things I feel very, very, VERY freaked out by what I've been doing with them. If you'll excuse me 'sir' I need to go lop off a certain organ" the zombie somehow managed to use the word 'sir' as an insult. Timmy was alarmed and confused by what he'd heard here, but unlike when Roda or Harry said something confusing, with this guy Timmy felt it was better not to ask for a more detailed explanation.

"Fine, oh- Urp!" he placed a hand over his mouth as he got another whiff of the mold. There was some minor pleasant smell mixed in there somewhere, but the mold was too much to get over. "J-ju- ... oh gods I need that potion" the human gripped the fabric lightly with two fingers on one hand, held it as /far/ away from his face as possible. His other hand was busy fumbling through the thick, difficult pockets of his denim blue jeans. There were better pants out there, sure, but he wasn't rich and jeans have remained both comfortable and effective for countless millennia. So long as you couldn't afford something like ATnano-gell or multiplicity-silver. Eh, those made you look like a tacky flashlight in spandex anyway... wait ...

'Where's the potion!' Timmy thought to himself in panic, the smell was just getting worse and worse, it threatened to flood his nostrils, it felt like the smell was alive and eating it's way into his brain! "Oh dear Zeus! Where is it!" the human's screaming became shrill with flustered panic. A strange shuffling and scratching sound appeared from either side as both Roda and the undead with his tiny glowing eye pupil thingies peaked out to see what was wrong.

"Hmmm, what is that delicious- ... oh, I-its y-you!" She eeped and hid her head behind the door. But at least there wasn't the sound of her closing it. That should mean it was still open right? "I-I-I just thought the mold smell was appealing, p-please don't come out s-sir, I'm not going t-to eat you." after a pause "Don't look at me either! I- ... I ..." but of course this was no time to explain.

"Yeah! I know!" The undead sounded both afraid and insulted. But then he pondered the human a moment. "These eyes work in the dark y-know, I can see you fumbling around for something. How about this, you need to get rid of the smell of my sper- ... er, that ... washcloth, yeah. The used washcloth. Well I just so happen to have a very rare potion that eliminates whatever sense of smell you want! I'll give it you in exchange for ... say, that busted shirt of yours? I have no need to breath so smell doesn't bother me, but I'm sure that shirt will more than make up for the cred I'm not getting by selling this baby on the Brown market."

Timmy found a number of things wrong with the previous few sentences, the first being something he'd rather not think about as it pertains to whatever that goop he scraped off the 'washcloth' was ... and just what is was 'used' for. Ew, ew, EW! Bad thought! Bad thought! The next being that his shirt was still ruined but apparently worth something. The last however, is that he was looking for and missing exactly what he needed while a clepto was right behind him offering something identical to what he was trying to find for the price of something else he had. Yeeaaah, easy to see how this idiot died.

"Hey Roda, are you so sure about that? I mean, you have no problems eating someone who's evil, or a menace to society right?" and he wasn't sure he was joking. "Because you know, I really need my shirt for ... shirt, stuff ... and I seem to be missing exactly what he's offering." Now, along with bored and tired, Timmy somehow managed to add sarcastic, cynical, and psychopathic to the mix of his otherwise limited expressions. All of which were wasted in the dark.

"Oh, hey, lookatthetime!" the clepto-zombie said rather hastily. "It looks like I'm going to be late for a thing at the place, so I'd better get dressed and get going. Here's your potion, that will be twenty credits please, I got to wrap this up."

"The potion is mine, cost ten, and for the price of twenty gold I'm sure I can find someone who could tear you to tiny little pieces and scatter them all the walls of "TheSpawningGround" a little ways back.

"Meep! It's yours dude" he tossed the potion with an audible clatter ... immediately the sound stopped Timmy had no means of finding it of course, but he doubted the dead guy would be all that big on any form of charity.

The human kept feeling around until his hand touched something soft, warm and fuzzy, and blinked as something akin to broom bristles twitched across his face. 'please be Roda, please be Roda, oh please oh please oh please be Roda!' he thought desperately before asking. "Um, r-ro ..."

"Hehehe, it's Roda" he was greeted by a giggle. In the darkness something made a popping noise and then something was shoved towards his nose. The boy breathed in a sigh of relief.

"Gasp! I can breath again! The smell, I ..."

"Oh you mean that deliciously intoxicating smell? Like moldy pineapple mixed in- ..."

Timmy shoved the fabric he was holding into her mouth "I really appreciate the help but please don't make me puke alright, I'm pretty sure that won't smell good to you."

Supple hands lead Timmy from one dark corridor through a small hole into another, bigger dark corridor that smelled of mice and girls. Well, girls didn't smell bad ... and truth be told neither did Roda's fur. Her breath left something to be desired sure, but that's why he forked over ten credits to buy that little potion she so thoughtfully put to use. Timmy tried to ignore the slurping, sucking sounds from somewhere to his left, just as he tried to ignore the fact he'd just forcefully shoved his hand into the mouth of a girl that he depended on to get out of this tunnel /and/ was capable of biting that hand off. Irritation and seeing as her as a true friend is going to bite Timmy in the grass one day, and that kid knew it.

"So, delicious or not, just what is this?" Roda asked quietly, she was a few feet away as indicated by her voice, so the human assumed this room was larger than the tunnel.

"It's ... a washcloth or something. Apparently. The dead guy next door apparently snuck into your room while you were gone, took that into his room, and did something with it."

Roda stammered "W-what?"

"Yeah, if it's any consolation, whatever he did with that thing? He feels a need to chop off some organs after he found out who- ... er, s-sorry, 'what' he stole it from."

"I ... see" Roda sounded odd. Angry perhaps? Confused? No, no that can't be right. Gah! It's so hard to tell emotions when you can't see the other person's eyes.

"It didn't feel like a washcloth to me, too triangular. But there was goop on it, so I guess it makes sense."

Roda's voice suddenly got worse, it's like she was struggling to stop herself from doing something, the strain was clearly evident. "S-so *hmm* so you don't know what this is?" if she was holding it up for the human to look at she was wasting her time. If she was holding it close for him to smell it the boy was sure he would have gotten angry.

"No, why ... does it matter, I mean, you got it back right? Nothing else taken, er ... ack! Is the thing broken or something?" keep guessing, the boy thought to himself. Eventually one of them has to be right.

"BWahahahahahah!"

"Uh ..." Timmy was flabbergasted by the sudden burst of laughter. Could /that/ have been what she was straining to hold back? But then what was so funny here? "D-did I step into the toilet without noticing or something, because you know I can't- ..."

"Its my underwear!" she finally crackled out past streams of giggle-fits.

"Underwear ... so, am I standing in-" the boy was still not getting it.

"No, I mean that guy next door stole my underwear, this is it. And while I may be too scared to rip off body parts myself, man those bits of him still clinging to this taste delicious!" yet another disturbing slurping sound.

"Er, oooook ... so he's undead, a clepto, and a ... what are they called again, I know I heard it in sch- cross dresser! Yeah that's it. So why would he want to wear your stuff? Isn't most of it pink? Or what if he likes pink." Timmy shuddered a moment as his thoughts now tormented him "What if the guy's body itself was pink! I'd leave zombie land too if I was pinkoroupted!

The mouse girl made a thump, presumably falling to the floor as she redoubled her laughter. "N-no! *Hashanah* He wasn't *Hahaha!* wearing it, he was" too many giggled to finish a sentence on time. What could be laughing about so much? "He was playing with them! I know what that particular goop tastes like and it only comes from males."

Timmy stared blankly. Not that anyone could tell of course. "Er- oook. I still have no idea what your talking about and I'm not sure I want to know. Some sauce that only male brains produce? Or ... wait, just how does one 'play' with underwear? Its not like that's a toy or anything."

"Oh gods you are young. T-trust me Timmy, you really don't want to hear that one."

"Uh-huh. So then it must pertain to either a food related thing, or a sexual thing. I always thought you had to take the panties /off/ before you could have sex, or at least that's what that diagram the teacher showed me portrayed. Then again, she was teaching about humans, not zombies so I guess- ..." a soft, supple finger pressed against his lips, cutting the boy off.

"I've crept you out enough today, lets change the subject and get your mind on other things please."

"Alright then. And, er ... something other than just how ridiculously afraid of undead you seem to be?" he remembers quite vividly how fast the girl ran.

"Yes ..." Roda answered with a tone that suggested she was glaring beneath all that darkness. "How about I change the subject for you, what do you think of my room?"

"I can't tell, it's all darkness to me."

"Oh yeah, you can't smell where the rooms are. I'd like to give you a tour of everywhere but the kitchen, however first we need baths."

"Why not the kitchen?"

"Timmy, do you, or do you not remember what I put on my pizza?"

The boy shuddered and got the message. "No kitchen, got it."

A fuzzy, three fingered paw wraps around his wrist and gently pulls him forward. He crawls on two knees and his one good hand before a smaller fit of giggles insues.

"Timmy! You can stand up in here you know, it's a lot bigger than the hallway."

The boy blinked and climbed shakily onto two feet. He waved on arm around slowly to try and feel his way past potential obstacles, but Roda was competent in leading him around. Up until she forgot to tell him when to stop and he smacked into a wall ...

"Er, your face is going to be black all over if you keep hitting things with it. Anyway, this is the bathroom, go ahead and climb in, I'll be over there taking my cloths off."

Timmy felt the smooth, cool walls that angled downward, some sort of tile that hopefully held water. He was careful not to fall when it angled downward, and spent the time Roda wasn't here feeling the entire structure with his delicate finger-tips. A giant bowl ... that's what he concluded. The roof was too far up to reach from the bottom, but the walls in every direction curve at such an angle it was akin to a hallowed out ball. There was some sort of grate at the bottom of it, holes for the water to drain out perhaps? And ...

"Ouch!" the boy scraped his hands against something sharp and metal. He reached back around to touch it more carefully this time, letting his fingers act in his eye's stead. It was cylindrical, felt like it could either be metal or a very cold plastic, and it turned gently if he applied pressure to either side. Moving his hands carefully around it, he felt another exactly like it on the opposite side.

"Are you ok Timmy?" a voice called from another room.

"Fine, just feeling my way around here." looking back at the metal thingies he figured those must be how one summons the water. Better touch them until Roda gets in.

"Almost done here, where are you putting your cloths?"

"I'm not taking mine off, I figure anthros are fine being nude in public but I'd rather keep mine on."

"Er, oook ... it's not like sight will matter much to you, neither of us can see the other." Roda argued, apparently for the sake of argument.

"True, but you just need to get your fur clean. I've got demon flesh embedded in my cloths, I'd rather not waste time washing that out."

"But ... your jeans, they'll take forever to dry you know. I could lend you some of my cloths, but all I have are shorts way too small for you and skirts."

"I'm not putting on a skirt unless absolutely necessary" Timmy glared for no particular reason. Its not like anyone could see it. "But I'd still rather keep my pants on for this if you don't mind."

Roda's voice sounded much closer this time "That's fine, I'm not trying to force you I just find it confusing." she sounded no different from before, no way to tell if she was actually naked or not ... well, there was one way to tell, but Timmy didn't trust the idea of touching her to make sure.

"Go ahead and turn the water on then?" the boy at least took off his shirt. He looked scrawny, almost malnourished underneath, but hey, it was dark and that shirt was ruined anyway.

"Do you know how?"

"I think so, yeah. With human baths I just turn one of two knobs and water pours in, but I've never taken baths in anything that wasn't designed for humans."

"Oh thank gods! Because I have no idea how this works, I thought I'd have to spend hours trying to figure everything out."

"Wait, you ... you don't know? How long have you lived in here?"

"Timmy, think about it for a moment. I don't take baths with water, like most of my race I lick myself clean. I've never actually used this thing before."

"Oh ... so then, why are you using it now? Erm ... I mean, it's not just to- ..."

"No!" Roda corrected. "Nothing like that, if you were a potential mate then I'd still be opting for a tongue bath, when done in pairs they can lead to other fun things."

"Ah-huh ... so then why?"

"Why take one now? Again Timmy, think about it. I'm covered in snake, plant, and demon blood from two previous fights, none of it is even remotely rotted. Do I really want to taste Gedel all over again just to get rid of what little is still on me?"

This time it was the humans turn to bust out laughing. "Oh no, I guess not. Well, here goes then ... lets just hope it really is the bath and not a garbage shoot."

Roda snuck closer and whispered into his ear "Or a giant, empty toilet ... just imagine if those were what flushes it." her voice was playful, but such thoughts were not.

"Oh ha-ha, very funny" and then he turned the knob ... "COLD! Gah! Turn the other knob, turn the other knob!" the boy screamed as both he and the mouse struggled to grip and turn the other one with soaked and freezing hands. Ice cold water was pouring down on them from somewhere above their heads, slowly filling up the bowl and freezing their feet. It turned warmer as the second one was turned, but it wasn't warm enough.

"Turn the other one back! Oh Frap this is cold!"

The boy turned it, without the wet, fluffy, squishy help of a naked mouse climbing over him to do the same thing. The water grew warmer, warmer, and warmer still ... up to the point the was short on breath, struggling to keep his eyes open past the painful steam and swiftly turning the first knob back just a tad.

"Ok, I think I've got a decent temperature. It's still mostly warm, but there enough cold in it to keep from cooking us."

Roda coughed "I, I think I'll stick to tongue baths for a while, they are much less painful than messing up with the dials."

"Ah-huh ... sure it is. Yeah" the human reluctantly agreed as lukewarm water poured up past his knee-caps. The boy sat down to try and get the rest of himself wet without having to wait until the whole thing was full. "So now ... want to talk about something?" he thought the scenery, the sensation was water sliding up the exposed skin on his belly wasn't pleasant enough to be entertaining.

"Well sure, like what?"

"Did you feel ... I mean, when we were getting the spear, didn't you feel anything odd?"

"I thought you didn't want to think about killing a snake."

"I'm over that, enough to cope at least. But I'm serious, did you feel anything at all?"

"Nope. I'm not sure what I should be feeling, wood in my paws perhaps?"

The human's glare was useless. "That's not what I'm talking about."

"Well then what was it you felt that was so odd?"

"Almost ... almost like it didn't happen, like it just went from me getting the idea to find a weapon and them poof ... we were already walking back with one in our hands."

"But of course it happened! Can't you remember talking to Jerald? The guy who sold us the weapon?"

"Well yeah, sure I remember that."

"Don't you remember walking over, discussing the situation with him, then walking back to pull it off? He was hiding at your suggestion, he was- ..."

"Yes! Ok, I remember all of it happening, but some reason it 'feels' like it didn't and I can't explain why." water had reached Timmy's exposed nipples, so he splashed around with his fingertips for no reason at all.

"Then I have no idea what your talking about, what about everything that happened after we got the spear? Killing that monster? Entering the hotel? Didn't any of that feel real?" she found the swiftly rising water and droplets pounding on her sensitive ears distasteful, but Timmy's revelation was confusing enough to distract her from it.

"Well yeah, everything before and after that certainly felt real. It's just that while we had left to find a weapons dealer it didn't ..."

"This is ... odd. Any other strange feelings?"

"Yeah, dejavu right as we were stabbing the moron. Thinking back I can't help but feel we baited and stabbed him twice."

"Now that doesn't make any sense, if we stabbed him through the brain the first time why would we try baiting him again? It's not like there were two of him."

Timmy was getting frustrated. "I know! I know! I can't /remember/ stabbing him twice, I'm just saying it feels like we did. Again, I can't explain why."

"Hmmm, perhaps you aren't getting enough sleep."

"I know I'm not getting enough sleep, but these sort of feelings haven't actually happened before."

"Never?"

"Nope, not once."

"Well at least whatever it is, this thing isn't messing with your memory, right?"

"Yeah, nothing odd in my ... er, hey wait" the human got to thinking as water rose up to his neck. His hair was now soaking, his pants and skin were clean, and he felt like someone had turned off the gravity here. Water was fun like that. "There is something wrong with my memories, at least I think there is."

"What?" Roda started to feel nervous. "What is it? Tell me please."

"Remember the fight with Gedel?"

"Yeah, that fight was today, it's the reason were cleaning up, of course I remember it."

"Now, do you remember all the pizza plates with food on it? They should have scattered around and clanged to the floor when Gedel started tossing things, right?"

"They would have, sure, but the plates teleported to the kitchen when the customers had left. We saw them stacked up, still with food on it, when we went into the restaurant kitchen ourselves."

"So you remember they were stacked in the kitchen right? Good. Shouldn't they have also been knocked around and clashed to the floor when Gedel was in the kitchen himself? You know, in the kitchen and flailing his arms around like a madman?"

Roda's eyes widened, but she was the only one who could tell. "I er, y-yeah, your right. But I don't ..."

"You don't remember that happening, do you. Nothing clashed to the floor when Gedel was flailing, nothing toppled over other than Gedel."

"True, but I didn't actually see him flailing, I was under the floorboard listening. The plates could have teleported again for whatever reason, perhaps they were sentient plates that could look out for their own well being?"

"Maybe. But I still think it's fishy ... and besides, I can't seem to remember them disappearing, its more like they just weren't there if we weren't thinking about them."

"I think your being a little paranoid here, I'm certain there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for why plates didn't fall onto the floor during that fight."

"I sure hope so, better paranoid than with Alzheimer's."

"Isn't that mental disease only for old people?" Roda inquired.

"Old and poor people, yes. Normally at least." the boy felt soft, wet fur ruffling up his hair.

"Don't think not being normal is a bad thing, it's so hard to define normal as an absolute you know."

"I live in a hub world, that's rule one here you know."

"Good, now listen to it."

Timmy felt she wasn't exactly making sense, but he also felt a need to stand up as the water went past his mouth. He reached a hand out to turn the water off from both knobs, and all of the sudden the place was quiet and serene.

"How about a different topic now, I'm I supposed to sleep over with you or do I walk home at night? I'm fine either way, just want to know if I need to ask for a towel or- ..." Roda cut him off.

"Which ever you'd prefer, I've got more than enough room if you'd like to sleep over. But, oh ... do you have school tomorrow?"

"Maybe, if I do then I'll just ditch it. The place is Frapin useless, does nothing but give me a headache and make me feel like I want to punch people. I'm not exactly known for my attendance record around there as a result."

"Hmm ... ju-just curious though" the mouse paused mid-sentence to swim through the still water.

"Curious about what?"

"Didn't you say looking at Harry gives you a headache?"

"Yeah, any angel actually." the boy responded.

"What about when Gedel was trying to hypnotize you? He did some spell thing and you just told him to 'shove it' as I recall."

"Oh yeah, man that guy gave me the worst headache of my life ... I think you had to carry me away from him when he first started his telepathy, right?"

"Yep, that's part of why you had the pink jacket on."

"ah-huh ... I'm still mildly upset about that by the way."

The girl giggled "Haha! Oh come on, you know you love the fluffy" her whiskers twitched onto his cheeks. Apparently she'd moved closer without him noticing.

"Riiiight" he sighed, making the sarcasm obvious. "You know I'm curious though, where do you plan to go from here? Do you intend to keep traveling or do you find this place decent enough?"

"I haven't really thought of it. I figured I'd look around this place a little bit more, perhaps check out the hundreds of other cities this PD has strewn around."

"Hmm, never been to a suburban area, and you'd have to pass through several if you want to make it to the nearest city. Are you sure you have enough cred to make it there?"

The mouse seemed to be suppressing a smirk "Oh, I *hehe* yes, I'm sure I have enough"

"That's good." he wasn't sure what else to say on the subject, and felt he was missing something here. But he was tired, not sleepy per say, just tired. "I plan to stay here my whole life, it's comfortable, it's safe, there's lots of people coming and going, it's a really nice place."

"Then perhaps I should stay here a few more days ... hmm, oh I know! How about I check out your school tomorrow? Do they accept non-humans?"

"Well, it's a school on a hub world so you'd think they would, but humans outnumber just about everything else around here, even the travelers. There are furry's in the school sure, but those are basically just humans with animal parts slapped on for appearances. They may not look much different from a genuine anthro, but in every other way their human enough to join. If they were to include other things, pure aliens, Hellspawn, heck even the vast majority of Earthspawn creatures things start to get more complicated than my tiny school can handle."

"How do you mean by that?"

"Take your age for example, your kind lives to an average of about twenty years, while a human lives to around fifty before old age is fully pronounced. You are a fully mature, sexually reproductive, adult female at only ten years of age, ten cycles. Where's I, and half the student body are actually older than you but still non-reproductive children. If you were to enter as a student, would they treat you as a ten year old and put you into a class with little children? Sure you'd fit physically, but that's beside the point. Or would they treat you as a twentyfive year old, what you are in relationship to a human lifespan, and say your too old to go a grade-school anyway and need collage instead."

"Well, I ..." the girl didn't have an answer for that.

"Then you have to consider the differing needs of each student, both as individuals and by their race. There /are/ schools, collages, universities, and military establishments that allow for all such things of course, and most hub worlds have at least one all inclusive school, but the one I go too is relatively small and under funded."

"Hmm ... how about as a guest though? Show and tell or something, er ... would I have to enter as a pet?"

"You know, that's an interesting idea. Not the pet part, calling you a pet is just stupid, but coming in for a day to look around, that could even be educational for the other students. You already know enough about your own history to give a lesson your race, and from what you told me at the pizza place I'm sure you could give a lecture or two on anatomy. Heck, if you came I might not even get as much of a headache."

"That's true, so then I'd be what ... a demonstration?"

"Eh, no one likes me there and for good reason, but I could ask. What is odd is that exposure to different races isn't actually an education tool there."

"Really? But ... it's a hub world! There so much your missing out on if you just focus on a single race to the exclusion of everything else."

"That's what I find odd. There might be someone reasoning behind it, this /is/ a hub world meaning anyone can learn about other species, races and history by just taking a walk down the street. But ... eh, in the worst case scenario you'd just stand outside the school somewhere waiting for it to end. Your not missing much if you can't join the classroom, trust me, they suck."

"So you keep telling me" Roda giggles ... but it's quickly fallowed by a yawn.

"You getting tired as well?" the human asked as he waded his way to the edge of the bathtub.

"Yeah, if we have plans for tomorrow I should get to sleep soon, otherwise I'll be snuggled up down here all day."

"Did you just say ... *snicker* Snuggled, up down?" the boy was able to mask his straining laughter with the splashing sound of him climbing out.

Roda silently squiggled through the water to fallow. Well, she moved silently at least. "Yes. As much as it pains me to admit that, I think I did. Sooo, changing the subject in three, two, one: Do you want to head home or sleep here?"

"I'll stay here until your asleep. Just need to know how I open those door things, and which direction to crawl. If you can't remember then I can always threaten 'clepto' in the other room, I'm sure he'll be cooperative if I tell him your out of food."

If Roda was glaring or sticking her tongue out, the human wasn't able to see it. "Oh, yeah, it would make sense for you to know that." she yawned noisily and splashed out of the water. Only stopping when she stood near Timmy in his own drenched form. "The doors open by pressing onto the silver keypad, just put your hand there and the stone slab will slide away. Oh! Just for clarification it feels like polished steal with a piece of paper taped on if you run your fingers over it."

Timmy looked out at the surrounding darkness. "Really? Wow. So then what way once I'm out of here?"

"You should remember some of it, but just go left, take a right at the first tunnel, left again until you reach the receptionist who should recognize you, and finally another right until you reach sunlight. I'm not sure if it's still dark out or if the planets have passed over us yet, but you should be fine."

"Thanks. And um ... what did you think of taking a bath with water?"

"I think that waters going to stink if I can't figure out a way to drain it soon, and erm ... tongue baths are still better, so long as you like what your licking up."

"Ah, so true. I take it few rodents work as mechanics then. Too much oil."

"Depends on the rodent really, I know lots of micros who've taken up jobs working on machines. Especially electrical wiring and such. But erm, that's not limited to rodents, anyone under five inches tall has a distinct advantage as a mechanic."

"Or as a dentist."

Roda snickered "Not always, just think of starving patience or children who bite."

"Eek! Good point, I take that back."

"This way to the bedding, it's still all nice and shredded from yesterday" the mouse giggled, taking his hand and leading him around her hotel room once more. When she stopped, he bent down and reached out to feel something extrodinarly soft and fluffy, it couldn't possibly feel any softer!

"Oh my gods! What is this!" The boy said in delight as he plopped stomach first onto her bed. There was a 'wuff' sound as Roda plopped onto her own side. This put the author of this story in something of a bind, the absolute pleasure of those pillows, balls of fluff, feathers from various animals, and what felt like a straw made out of Jello on the human's exposed skin was all but impossible. So describing what Roda must feel like, whom was completely nude, strained the limits of what words can do.

"It's just a standard rodent bed. Or at least, it's standard everywhere I've been. I hear you can pay extra for a bigger one, but by bigger they mean for a whole family of mice."

"Ah, gotcha ... I don't think any one person needs a bed that big." Timmy stated while fluffyness fell across his face like snow. "Er, wh- ..."

"Just burrowing, try piling it all up around you, it's really warm trust me."

"Burrowing ... b-but where in a giant burrow!"

"Trust me on this, you'll like it"

"Won't my jeans get the whole thing wet?"

"Nope, bedding is waterproof. Did you see me drying off before I hopped in?"

"No, but even if you were drying off I couldn't see it" Timmy objected of course, but felt his logic was failing. By the time Roda had stopped tossing fluff and warm jell stick thingies into the air Timmy had decided to squiggle under it himself.

"See *Yawn* how do you like it?"

"It sure is warm, but um ... why does it have to be waterproof?"

"Some rodents, well ... pure rodents at least, without any humans messing with the genome, urinate constantly. It isn't a big thing really, just marking the territory and a product of our more active metabolism, but still just as bothersome to some as those smelly, salty oils your kind oozes through it's skin. If they want rats or mice to be comfortable down here, let alone worms, voles, slime creatures, ext ... the beds have to be proof of the various methods some use to ruin a good bed."

"Oh" the boy wasn't quite sure how he felt about that, but was just about to ask:

"And NO, before you say anything Timmy, I do not pee all the time."

"Good" he breathed a sigh of relief "If you did then I would have wished I'd gotten out of the bathtub sooner.

"Hehe, goodnight Timmy" she called with yet another yawn as she curled into a comfortable little ball.

"Good night Roda." The boy closed his eyes, but sleep never came.

For him, it never truly does.