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"What position were you in?"

"There are other ways to hurt your back besides breeding," the mouse insisted, lying on a bio-bed in sickbay. He was on his honey-gold belly, arms crossed, chin resting atop them, eyes staring straight ahead. Wearing very little. Only blue boxer-briefs. His prehensile was cast off to the side like a fishing line.

"Then why are your ears so pink?" Kody asked, smartly.

There was a hesitation before Field finally mumbled, "My lobes can't keep a secret."

"She must've been riding you hard ... " Referring to Adelaide, of course. The rabbit tapped his medical scanner, passing it over the rodent's spine.

"She wasn't on top," Field said, a little defensively. He paused. Then smiled, helplessly. "Mm, I see what you did there ... "

Kody winked. "I was hoping for more detail than that. Go on ... "

"It wasn't anything fancy. Just, uh ... you know. And, then, when I was 'in the throes' ... "

"'In the throes?' You mean having an orgasm?"

"I'm trying to be polite."

"I thought you'd outgrown that," the rabbit teased.

The mouse ignored the comment. "Anyway, I was climaxing, and I think I wriggled or twitched? Nothing unusual. Just, uh, pleasure spasms. And I felt something strange, like a sharp pain, but it was only for a second, and the rest of me felt too good to care. So, I forgot about it." He exhaled. "But this morning, I felt it again, and it was stronger and more constant, and it was really stiff when I sat up."

"What was stiff?" the rabbit asked, tapping notes on a computer pad.

"My back," Field said, dryly.

"Heh. Just making sure ... " He put his paw on the mouse's bare back, feeling his way down. Applying pressure now and then. "How does it feel right here ... "

"Good." After a second, the mouse self-consciously amended, "I mean, it doesn't feel 'bad' ... "

"I know what you mean," Kody assured, lightly. "How 'bout here?"

"Ow!" A squeak of pain, which caused him to squirm around, which only made the pain intensify. "That hurts," he whimpered. "Right there, yeah ... it hurts when I bend too much. Or when you pressed on it ... "

"Small of your back. Mm." The rabbit nodded. His scanner had confirmed as much, but he still liked to physically check. "You aggravated a disc in your lower spine."

Field looked over his shoulder, whiskers twitching anxiously. His eyes widened. "What's that mean? Is it 'slipped'? Is it serious?"

"Well, not quite. It's just tweaked for now. But it could worsen if given enough stress. It didn't weaken through sex alone, unless you were getting tantric or something?"

"I wasn't ... "

"You been lifting anything heavy, lately?"

"A few cargo containers while doing inventories and ship tidying. They were heavy, but nothing I don't normally handle."

"Your exercise routine? Has it changed?" He knew the mouse kept obsessively fit.

"Some intense games of basketball, lately. In the holo-suite, me and Adelaide against Wren and Rella. In the evenings. Adelaide can't shoot very well, cause ... well, she doesn't have traditional paws to grip the ball with," Field said. "But she likes to play. And with those wings, she's great at defense."

"I bet she is," Kody quipped.

"But I have to do most of our scoring." He could get very competitive when it came to sports.

"And, to do this scoring, you probably take sharp cuts and twists and throw your body around?"

"Sorta ... "

"Well, you probably need to reign yourself just in a little bit. You're almost twenty-eight, and twenty-eight isn't twenty-one."

"Thanks," the mouse went, wryly.

"I'm not saying you're old, Field. I'm the same age. But our bodies eventually cross a peak and begin to slow down. You're just in the beginning stages. Know your limits."

"Yeah ... " A sigh. "I guess I'm just obsessive, you know? I can't help but drive myself into the ground if I think it'll achieve something. I can be stubborn ... "

Kody just nodded.

Field made a face. "You're supposed to say I'm not."

"You are. But in the most adorable way, of course," the white rabbit cooed, charmingly, a paw moving to Field's rump. It was as pert as ever. He was tempted to squeeze it. And he did.

A squeak! Blushing more, Field asked. "Um ... can you fix my back, then?"

"Of course. In a few minutes, you'll be fine. But my advice is unchanged. You can still exercise and have fun without pushing yourself to the extreme." Removing his paw, Kody reached over for a glowing, wand-like device. Passing it over Field's spine. And then grabbed a cone-shaped tool with a blinking red tip, doing the same. "Keep still."

"I'm trying." Field closed his eyes while Kody mended him. "By the way, I want to congratulate you ... "

"On what?" He was the one playing coy, now.

"You know what. Taking Ketchy as your mate. Officially, for real."

"It seemed like the right thing to do," the rabbit said, nonchalantly. He put his tools down and grabbed for his scanner.

"It was the mature thing to do," Field noted.

"So, I was immature until recently?"

"No. You were just a little more impulsive. Lust is impulsive. Love, though ... it's deeper. You love her," Field said, sweetly.

"I do love her," he admitted, quietly, of Ketchy. "Yes." He hadn't said that about anyone since, well ... since Field. "I don't know how it happened, or why. Maybe we've had sex so many times, attachment simply set in? Our bodies bonded, and our hearts had no choice but to follow? Or we're just two bumbling misfits that bounced from fur to fur until we got launched senseless into each other, and are too dazed to part. I keep trying to figure it out."

"Could be fate," Field insisted.

"Doesn't that imply a plan, though? A design?"

"Maybe ... " His whiskers twitched as he thought that over. "It doesn't really matter how or why, as long as you embrace it."

"Fate?"

"Love."

Kody chuckled. "You're a hopeless romantic, you know that?"

"I know." His tail swerved about, restlessly. "I think you two make an endearing couple, though, and I'm really happy for you. Both of you. But ... I mean ... " He wasn't sure how to say this. " ... you, especially. You know how much I ... " He didn't finish the sentence. He couldn't.

He didn't have to. Kody understood, whispering, "I feel the same way, mousey. I always have. I probably always will."

Field gave him a shy o'er-the-shoulder glance.

"I'm happy for you and Adelaide, too. I don't know if I've ever told you that." Probably, at some point. But why not say it again? "You were the first relationship to form on the ship. Love at first sight. There's something special about that."

"Really?" Field beamed, widely.

"Mm-hmm." A few beeps from his equipment. He'd debated whether to bring this up, but why not? "By the way, Adelaide didn't want a contraceptive injection before her last heat ... "

"I guess she thinks she doesn't need one," Field said, in a light, airy tone.

"Oh? And why would that be?" he asked. "Is someone trying to get someone else pregnant?"

"Maybe ... " The mouse tried not to smile. But it was no use.

Kody laughed. "I thought so. Field ... "

"I don't want any congratulations," he insisted, cutting the rabbit off. Putting on a serious face, closing his eyes for a moment. "You're a doctor. You know that the further you get from your own species, the chances of reproduction drop dramatically." And mixed-breed offspring were normally sterile, themselves. Otherwise, it would be genetic chaos after a few generations. He reopened his eyes. "Our chances aren't that great. I'd have better luck impregnating a rat than a bat."

"True." He'd taken several courses on furry reproductive biology at the Academy. No one on Luminous had gotten pregnant yet, though, or even tried to, as far as he knew. With modern advances, and having a doctor with them at all times, most space-based furs were fairly responsible, even if they had a 'close call' now and then. But unwanted pregnancies were traditionally far more prevalent on planets, in no small part because the majority of planet-based pairings tended to be same-species. In space, the majority were actually 'mixed.' There were all sorts of numbers and studies as to why this was ...

"Mm ... when I fell in love, I never considered whether or not I'd be able to have children," Field admitted.

"Most furs don't. And shouldn't. So, don't worry about it, okay? You can still try with Adelaide. And there's always artificial insemination or adoption." That's what most mixed species couples ended up doing.

"Yeah ... "

"Why now, though? With a war going on?" Kody wondered.

"After being tortured by the wasps, I didn't want to hold off. There's no guarantees. We can't wait for the universe to calm down before we have a family. It's never going to calm down, not completely. It's chaotic. That's just life."

"Looks like I'm not the only one who's matured," Kody said, gently. He glanced at a nearby monitor. "You're healed, by the way."

"Alright." He took a deep, squeaky breath. "I feel better. Thanks!" Wriggling energetically, the mouse turned himself around, from belly to back. Then reached up with his paws.

Kody took them, lifting him up.

Upon which the mouse hugged him round the neck.

Closing his eyes, the rabbit hugged him back. It was a long, warm hug.

Eventually, Field let go, cleared his throat, and swung his legs over the side of the bio-bed. "Can I get dressed, now?" he asked, innocently.

"I suppose I've ogled your near-naked self to the point of intoxication. Sure, go ahead."

"Hand me my pants?"

"Mm, Field, the way you say that." So softly, like a private suggestion. "You're lucky we're both mated to females, now ... " The rabbit tossed the mouse his pants. And his uniform-shirt. Purposely missing so they landed on his face and head, rather comically.

"Heh." He took the clothes off his head, giving the rabbit an 'oh, you' look. "You and Ketchy should have a dinner date with me and Adelaide, sometime," he insisted, as he got back into his shirt.

"Possibly ... where's Adelaide been, by the way? I haven't bumped into her in a few days."

"She's training with the rogue bats during the day. Enhancing her telepathic range and control."

"Bet that's paying off at night, hmm?"

The mouse didn't respond to that. But his ears did turn pink, again. That same shade from earlier, which was answer enough.

"Between you and me, I'll miss trying out different species, different individuals. Savoring their unique, wonderful ... mm ... well, you know. I never got to breed a bat," he said.

"Bats are wonderful," Field insisted, dreamily. "But, uh, squirrels are good, too." The only squirrel he'd been with was Wren. But that was enough to go on, right?

Kody smiled. "Of course." He still hadn't told Ketchy exactly how many furs he'd had sex with. He probably never would. The number would only make her insecure. It was enough for her to know that he'd only truly loved a few of them. And she was the latest and last. "I can't believe I'm mated," he breathed. "I feel different, Field."

"It feels good, doesn't it?" Field said, zipping up his pants.

The rabbit could only nod. There was no denying that.

"Speaking of mates, did you meet Assumpta's? Oliver? He's been aboard Luminous all day."

"Yeah, I saw him in the mess hall. Didn't talk to him much."

"He's really charming," Field said. "A lot more relaxed than some of the other snow rabbits. I guess their 'freezes' aren't all at the same intensity. He still has one, though. He's so formal." Fully dressed, the mouse stood, bobbing on his bare foot-paws. Testing out his spine. The pain was, indeed, gone. "Will I see you later?" he asked Kody.

"You mean for the supper thing?"

"You could join us for basketball, too. It could be three on three."

"Whose team would I be on? Yours or Wren's?"

"You can always shoot for it," Field teased. "It would be better than us fighting over you."

"Mm. I still got it, don't I?" the rabbit crowed, gently.

Field only chittered, lightly.

"I'll ask Ketchy if she's game," the rabbit promised. "I'll let you know if we're coming."

"Good. Thanks, again," Field told him.

"You're most welcome, mousey," he whispered back.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Field shyly scurried out the door, ropy tail trailing.

"Three arrests in the last hour. Two disorderly conducts, one public intoxication," Aria noted, sliding a computer pad aside. She was sitting behind her desk, in her office on the Promenade, sipping from a glass of raspberry iced tea. "That makes twelve since this morning. And some of them were snow rabbits." She didn't seem happy about this.

"They were provoked."

"I don't doubt it. But at this rate, the brig will be full before midnight." Ever since the Arctic fox refugees had flooded the station, security had been busy. Nothing too serious yet, but everyone was clearly on edge. Fights had broken out between predators and prey. The foxes, themselves, had been breaking rules just for the hell of it. Maybe they were bitter and trying to prove a point.

"Being 'allies' will take some getting used to," Elim, her deputy, said, standing beside her. "But no matter how many predators board the station, I know we can handle them. You needn't worry."

"I enjoy your confidence, lieutenant," Aria said, with a gleam in her eye. She and Elim had bred once, not too long ago. Spontaneously, during her heat. He was a very charming rabbit, with a fine figure.

"If they truly threaten me, I intend to give them a firm spin-kick," he continued. "Always my favorite combat move." With their big, hopping foot-paws, nothing could kick or jump like a rabbit. Well, except maybe kangaroos. But they were rarely seen in these parts. The nearest 'roo' population was on a desert world in Federation-controlled space almost three weeks from here. And, as Luminous' logs attested, they were a gruff lot.

"Mine, too," Aria said. "But let's try not to come to blows with them? This isn't a short-term relationship. We have to make it work." She took a final, thirsty gulp of her tea and turned her chair around, setting it back in the food processor. It reabsorbed both the cup and the liquid. "I used to kick-box in the holo-suite every day as part of my exercise routine. I hope I'm not getting rusty."

"You stopped?"

She turned back around, shaking her head. "Not completely. But with the war on, and having so much more to keep track of, and having Ross living with me, I've not had as much time."

"It's instinctual for rabbits to kick. I'm sure you haven't lost any of your edge."

"There are other ways to lose one's edge than inactivity."

"You are not that old, constable," Elim assured.

"Not yet." She took a deep breath.

Elim shifted his weight from one hip to another, saying, "By the way, it's 1800 hours."

"Is it?"

"Your shift ended twenty minutes ago."

"I suppose you want me to leave?" she asked.

"You need your rest. You'll be sharper for it."

"Don't the predators have a saying? 'You can rest when you're dead'?," she told him.

"Yes, but I imagine it's much harder to enjoy it, then," Elim quipped.

"What if there's an afterlife?" she posed. Not that she believed in one, necessarily. But you could never be certain. The universe was a mysterious place.

"I doubt rest would be needed, there. Either way ... "

She closed her eyes and rubbed at her face with her paws. "I just feel much too tense to truly rest." She would only toss and turn if she tried.

"It's all that tea."

"It is caffeine-free," she insisted.

"And loaded with sugar, I bet. You must drink two or three cups a day."

"One or two, at most. It's both tart and sweet at the same time. A rather refreshing combination, especially when cold. You should try it."

"And you should try rhubarb pie. Nothing more 'tart-sweet' than that."

"I've always preferred raspberries."

"Red or black?"

"Red, if given a choice. Though I suppose either would do," she said, taking a lazy breath. All the harsh, serious issues on the horizon, all the stresses of the current day, and here they were talking about fruit. Maybe that's how one's mind stayed sane in times of great duress: by focusing on minute, little pleasures.

"I still think you'd like rhubarb." He flashed her a simple, easy smile. Thinking of pleasures, as well. Though his weren't so little. "Are you in need of recreation, tonight? I find it makes rest come much easier."

"Are you propositioning me?" she asked, coyly, not disagreeing with his sentiment.

"I am."

She sat up straighter, stretching her back and buying a few seconds to think of a response.

He sensed her hesitation. "If you'd prefer to 'recreate' with your mouse, I fully understand. I won't be offended."

"I do like you, Elim," she admitted, quietly. It was a very non-committal answer.

"And I like you," he replied, eagerly, bowing his head.

"Admiral Flint hinted at liking me the other day, as well," she confessed. "You and I have an intimate history, of course. And, meanwhile, I am openly mated to and living with Ross. I know I am a rabbit, but still ... "

" ... you have your paw in many cookie jars."

"I think I am the cookie jar, here. Everyone wants a nibble of me."

"To be technical, jars don't get nibbled. They have things put inside them ... "

She gave him a light, playful look. "What kind of cookie am I? Rhubarb, I suppose? Or is there such a thing?"

"White chocolate chip macadamia nut," he said, without hesitation.

"Interesting ... " She thought about that, deciding that she liked the answer. She and Elim had compatible tastes in cookies. Also, this conversation was making her hungry. It was past suppertime.

"Aren't you used to such attention? This can't be new to you. Most furs would be flattered."

"I am, to a degree." Both flattered and used to it. "It's the emotional expectations that pressure me." Lust was easy. Love was hard. "It's confusing."

"I understand." Snow rabbits, of course, had psychological 'freezes' to strain their intense, feral sides, a remnant from a catastrophic period of their development when their planet suddenly shifted from tropical to wintry. It made their emotions a little harder to express and define.

"It doesn't help that I've always felt like an outsider."

Elim nodded and sat on the edge of her desk, reaching for one of her snowy, black-padded paws. "Well, I know you are a very private rabbit, probably more than most. I never see you in the bars or restaurants on the Promenade. You rarely fraternize in public. You exercise. You go to work. And then you go back to your quarters. A very strict routine. In spite of that, I also know you've bred with at least a dozen officers on the station at one time or another, and you've asked them to not talk about it. The doctor, for instance."

"How did you find out about that?" She blinked with surprise.

"He let it slip after he found out I was the reason you needed an emergency contraceptive. I guess he smelled me on you." Referring to their passionate encounter after the combined fox/wasp lightning strike on the orbiting stations. "I think he wanted to knock me down a few pegs."

"He's always been cantankerous," Aria admitted, furrowing her brow.

"I was feeling quite proud of myself that day, moving about with a hop in my step ... " He trailed, feeling slightly foolish for admitting that. "Others' emotional expectations only exist because they care, Aria. Sometimes, very deeply. If they had no personal interest in you, they would expect nothing."

"I know ... "

"You didn't ask me not to talk about what we did," he recalled.

"I trust you. I knew I didn't have to say anything."

"A wordless trust only comes through intimacy," Elim insisted. "And intimacy only happens through chemistry."

"I wasn't aware it was a science."

"Isn't everything?"

"I've been an open-breeder all my life," Aria admitted. "I enjoy it. The freedom. The variety, the constant sense of discovery. But ... "

" ... the emotions ... love," he supplied, "is a constant. Lust is the variable. And the constant, once found, becomes unshakable. You keep coming back to it."

"Yes ... "

"And Ross is now your constant?" he asked.

She nodded, quietly. She didn't plan for any of this to happen. But weren't the most valuable experiences unforeseen?

Elim considered for a moment, before offering, "Perhaps you'd be interested in a compromise of sorts?"

"Such as?"

Fiddling with her fingers, avoiding eye contact, Elim said, "Let me be your variable." He paused, and then continued, "Your mouse, is he open-minded?"

"He is very impressionable." That was almost the same thing, wasn't it?

"Well, should he be open to it ... and you, as well, of course, I wouldn't mind spending an evening with the both of you. That is to say ... " Well, she got the idea, surely. No need to be too blunt. "We could dine together," he said, simply, "as a trio."

"You're not talking about tea and light refreshments, are you?"

He shook his head, seriously. "Something far heavier than that," he breathed, eyes gleaming with passion.

Aria needed a moment, before saying, "I'll breach the subject with him."

Elim let go of her paw and slipped off her desk, standing up again. "If not, don't worry about offending me. I can find 'recreation' easily enough. In fact, I must apologize for getting so emotional, myself. I don't control mine as well as I'd like ... "

"It's alright," she insisted. "We're rabbits. There's no reason we can't talk openly about sex."

"Are we talking about sex?" he posed. He didn't think they were. Well, sex was involved, of course. Thankfully! But this went deeper than that. It was romance. A design for living, one in which satisfaction was most strongly found in the arms of others.

She sensed it, too. She just wished she could make up her mind. One day, she was thinking Ross should be her 'one and only' and rebuffing sexual advances from a powerful admiral that, truth be told, could advance her career considerably, even offer her a ship of her own, and the next she was entertaining offers for a threesome with one of her deputies. But experience carried so much weight. And she'd experienced Elim. And Ross. They had an emotional appeal the Admiral lacked. Perhaps she was being greedy by seriously considering Elim's suggestion. But desire, the forward motivator of life, couldn't be suppressed in this case. If you stopped wanting things, what was the point?

He could see her mind was spinning. And, in truth, so was his. "I'll be on duty for a while longer. If anything occurs, I'll call you. But you can trust me to handle it."

She nodded, standing up. "Thank you. I must go eat, and ... " She trailed, unsure how to finish the sentence. Because her plans depended on Ross, didn't they?

"Have a goodnight," he told her, eyes following her bobtail as she walked past him.

Feeling his eyes on her rump, she couldn't help but blush. "I'll do my best ... "

When Aria got back to her quarters in the middle of the habitat ring, she stepped through the swooshing doors, looked up, and found Ross bobbing on his bare foot-paws behind a canvas and easel. "What are you doing?" she asked, the door closing behind her.

"Welcome back," he said, clearly distracted.

"Thank you," she replied, waiting a moment before saying, "Are you going to answer my question?"

"Mm?" he went. Then he blinked. "Oh, I'm painting!"

She nodded, lightly. "I can see that." It made her curious. "But where did you get the supplies?"

"Old storage bay," he said, excitedly. "I was getting restless, so I went exploring. I was, uh, going to tell you, but I knew you were busy."

"I was." But, still, it made her nervous to think of Ross wandering in the depths of the station alone. She viewed herself as his protector, his guide to this 'strange new world' he'd found himself in.

"Anyway, I feel really guilty that I'm not doing anything to help out or make things better, and I know it's because I'm new, and I don't have an official 'identity' as far as the High Command is concerned ... "

"That will be remedied soon," she promised. She'd been working on creating documentation files for him. Working in security, it wasn't that hard. She could always have his 'place of birth' as being from the Uncharted Territories, or somewhere that couldn't be easily tracked.

"But, for now, I thought I could make something for you. And there's this whole big room of stuff furs left on the station when they moved off it. I talked to one of the maintenance officers, and, uh ... well, I kind of name-dropped you. The officer didn't believe me, at first, but then he must've smelled you on me, and ... I'm still not used to that. As a human, scent was pretty worthless. Now, you so much as touch someone, and noses know, you know? It's pretty amazing. You smell nice," he blurted.

Aria's face flooded with warmth. She nodded, gratefully. "As do you."

His fleshy ears went rosy-pink. "Well ... um, after that, they said I could take what I wanted. So, I did. I had to make three trips. Apparently, there were some artists here at one time. They even left their oils. And these brushes aren't that dissimilar to ones I'd use back home." He held one up for her. "It's strange to find out that furs make art the same way humans do. I guess it really is a universal language." He skipped a beat and added, "Well, only ... art is actually subjective, isn't it? Universal stuff is more objective." His whiskers twitched. "I guess as long as you can feel it, though ... "

She just listened to him talk. Or 'blabber-mouse' as it was called when mouses energetically rambled. He had a fairly deep mind. The longer they were together, the more time he spent as a fur, the more she saw this. He was really starting to open up.

Ross noticed she was watching him with amusement, and he lost his train of thought. "Well, uh ... mm ... "

"I didn't know you were a painter ... "

"I'm not. I was a photographer, mostly. Images. Portraits. You know, cameras?" He let out a breath of reminiscence. "I loved doing all that, but human society isn't as tolerant about life's pleasures as furry society is. I mean, it's ... it's just really hard to explain. I couldn't make a living doing it. As for painting, it's expensive to practice. Or it was. But I dabbled," he said, taking a quick, deep breath. "Wasn't very good. I mean, I could never do realism. Now, abstraction ... " He nodded, reaching out to guide her closer, but quickly stopping himself. "Oh. I've paint on my paws! I don't want to ruin your uniform. Oil is so hard to get out. I gotta go wash up ... "

"Your tail," she noticed, eyes widening. "It wasn't those colors this morning."

"Uh, yeah." Suddenly sheepish. "I thought maybe I could use it as a brush."

"And?" Her eyes brightened with mirth.

"My tail can't do as much as I thought. I kept dropping the brush, and, well, kinda made a mess."

"As far as I know, harvest mouses are the only ones with prehensile tails." Luminous' first officer was one of those, wasn't he?

"Lucky them," Ross said. "How many different kinds of mouses are there, exactly?"

"Enough to spawn countless synonyms for 'cute'."

This made Ross smile. He'd been spending a lot of time accessing the computer databases, but there was still so much to learn. "I didn't get anything on the carpet. I put down a sheet just in case. But I can't get the paint off my tail-flesh, and ... eh, so I'm worried how long it's going to stain." The smile disappeared, replaced by worry.

"I'm positive I have something that can remove it," she assured him, gently.

"Mm, alright ... "

Aria looked intently at his painting. It'd been there the entire time, but she hadn't really honed in on the details until now. It was big. Four feet by four feet, at least. "These don't look like brush strokes ... "

"I ended up using a palate knife, mostly. And then painted straight from the tubes. I like a thick application, a lot of texture," he explained.

"What is it, exactly?"

He beamed, buckteeth flashing. "Guess!"

"I can't."

"You can ... "

She looked harder. Blue, grey, slate. White. In vague, undefined forms, with bold lines swooping all around, merging. To say it was abstract was an understatement. This painting was pure emotion. And she suddenly understood. "Us?" she whispered.

"Yeah," he whispered back, proudly, his ears turning rosy-pink. "Making, um, uh ... you know. Love," he mumbled. "You sorta can't tell unless you're told. But once you know, you can't not see it."

"Hmm." She looked at him, then back at the painting. "I see what you mean." A pause, followed by a mellow smile. "I'm on top?"

A sheepish glance. "Yeah ... "

"Mm ... " She nodded, approvingly.

"So, you like it?"

"I'm not a very good art critic, but, yes, I believe I do. When it dries, we'll have to prop it up somewhere. Maybe in the bedroom." Aria was incredibly touched. War was currently raging across the quadrant, governments were buckling, and the wasps were amassing a fleet not two days away for a strike on this very station and the planet it orbited. Life was supposed to be serious and bleak, right now, and with good reason. But Ross, a mouse, the most anxious sort of prey, spent his entire day thinking about art, creation, love? About her?

"Are you alright?"

She nodded, twiddling her tall ears. "I just need to eat something. And I need to sit down."

"I saw the Arctic foxes, today. Well, I smelled them first, and it made my anxiety go up ... "

"Predators often cause that reaction in prey."

"Luckily, I didn't have to talk to any. Are they as bad as the other snow rabbits say?"

"No species is as bad as another says," she began, tolerantly. "Certain species have common traits and instincts shared by most members, true, but individuals can still vary. Most snow rabbits stay away from strong emotion, for instance. They don't need it. Yet some of us are still inexplicably intrigued by it."

"Like you?"

"Like me."

"What about the wasps? They seem pretty bad," Ross said, innocently.

Aria's voice took on a dark tone. "There are exceptions to every rule ... "

The meadow mouse nodded, quietly. "Sorry to bring that up. I, uh ... it's like a dark cloud hanging over everyone. I can sense it."

"Storms are a part of life," the snow rabbit said.

"Yeah, but there's a big difference between being rained on and hit by lightning."

"Definitely," she whispered.

Ross bit his lower lip. Say something. She needs you. "How 'bout you sit down, and I'll get your supper?"

"You've done enough for me already," she assured, nodding at the painting.

"I want to do more. I'm not just in love with you. I also owe you my life. If you hadn't taken me in, I don't know ... I mean ... "

She could see he was hell-bent on pleasing her. And the attention wasn't unwanted, so she sat down at the table. "Very well."

Ross smiled with relief, immediately 'blabber-mousing' again. "We didn't have food processors on Earth. I don't know how I lived without one. So many foods, even rare ones, right at your fingertips. Or, uh, claw-tips."

"They are convenient," Aria agreed, putting her elbows on the table. "I suppose I take our technology for granted. I grew up with most of it." The only major change in furry tech over the past few years had been the introduction of a transporter. But, even then, only insects could safely use it. High Command scientists were trying to develop a mammal-ready version. She had no doubt they would eventually succeed. Certain elements of ship design had changed, too, of course. A switch to bio-neural circuitry. Holo-suites had become more realistic. It just wasn't stuff she normally thought about.

He could see she was lost in thought, and he took the opportunity to set the table. Most of the rooms in their quarters opened up freely into each other. There were no big walls or doors, per say, except for the bedroom and bathroom. Those were kept separate.

"I was approached by another fur, this afternoon." She rolled her neck around, trying to act casual.

"Approached?" He tapped a few buttons on the food processor. Some food swirled into view. And some drinks.

"Propositioned." A pause. "Not just me, either. The both of us."

"Both ... like, what do you mean?" He carried her plate over to her, and then returned to the processor to fetch his own. He'd ordered up servings of whole-grain rice, peas and carrots, peach halves, and a cinnamon roll for dessert, as well as glasses of ice water.

"Three," she said, simply, "instead of two."

"Three?" He still didn't get it, setting his plate and drink down.

"An evening of companionship," she continued. That was the most polite way to phrase it.

"Oh? Oh!" His eyes went wide, incredulously. Then he lowered his voice. "Oh ..."

Her eyes sparkled with mirth.

"I just ... like, that's not something that really happens, is it? That's just fantasy, right?"

"Perhaps with humans. But we are not human."

"No ... " He nodded and swallowed. No, they certainly weren't. "Who asked you this?"

"Elim. A lieutenant. You've met him a few times."

"I remember. Um, he's the one ... during your heat, and, uh," he went, clumsily, making paw-gestures. He seemed embarrassed. Maybe even a little jealous. He'd agreed to be in an open mate-ship with Aria, because she was a snow rabbit, and that's how snow rabbits usually did things. He respected her species and culture. He wanted to be tolerant, to believe that love could exist in many forms and fashions. But, as a human, he'd spent too much time being single and pining for some romantic ideal, which usually involved a closed, lifelong marriage with children and a house. He was moving further away from that ideal by the day. It was both exciting and scary.

"Yes, he was," Aria admitted. She picked up a fork and began eating her rice. "In all honesty, I'd be interested in inviting him over. But it's up to you." As part of the open mate-ship, she'd agreed to consult with him before she slept with anyone else. No fooling around without the other's knowledge. But she found she really didn't want to 'experiment' alone. She was too attached to Ross, by now, and would rather share any experiences with him. Besides, he was lacking in them, wasn't he? Being a new fur? And Elim had requested his involvement. "I don't want to do it without you ... "

"Really?"

"Really."

He smiled.

"But I do need an answer."

"Right." He blew out a breath, whiskers twitching. Buckteeth playing with his lower lip. "Um ... like, so, just to be clear, he'd ... " More paw gestures. Whiskers twitching up a storm. " ... and we'd? All three?"

"Something like that," she supplied.

The mouse swallowed. "Have you done that before?" He was always asking her about her sexual experiences. Did you do this? What about that? Where, when? It actually aroused him to hear her stories. He wondered if that was bad.

"Not recently. Not in many years, in fact. And only once or twice." As Elim had pointed out, earlier, she valued her privacy. It was hard to let her guard totally down, even around her mate. So, being involved in 'group activities' was not generally to her liking. She preferred one-on-one. But, like most rabbits, she'd dipped her toe in various experiences. It helped to have the strongest sex drive known to furs. That tended to ease one's inhibitions.

"What would happen, exactly?" Ross asked again, out of nervousness. He could guess, of course. But he couldn't shake his shyness.

"It's normally spontaneous. You spend a few minutes feeling each other out, and then someone decides to take the lead, and ... well ... the others fall in line, and ... " That sounded awkward, didn't it? "It's a pleasurable experience with the right individuals," she promised. "I think the three of us would be compatible. If you became uncomfortable at any time, we could always stop."

"Right ... of course ... " Ross swallowed. His heart was hammering. He stuffed his muzzle full of cinnamon roll. Then stopped. You should eat the vegetables first! "Well, mmf ... we need to eat." He was aroused, which flustered him. Which aroused Aria. Which flustered him more.

"Slow bites. You'll get indigestion," she advised, playfully.

He swallowed. "And I need to clean my tail ... "

"Of course. We'll do all that. He's not off duty yet, anyway."

"Okay ... "

"So, I should call him?" Her ears straightened. She just wanted to make sure.

"Tonight, right? Here? I mean, or ... his place?" His words were coming quickly, with short breaths. "Sure. Um ... " Ross nodded once, then twice. Oh, boy. Wait, what did I just agree to?

Aria mewed, comically. This was going to be an interesting night ...

"I took the liberty of bringing some snow rabbit alcohol," Oliver said, pulling the cork out of the bottle. A brief vapor wafted out of the neck. He moved his delicate nose about. "Mm-h. Authentic, not replicated." They were in Assumpta's quarters for a semi-private dinner. He'd spent the day meeting the Luminous crew. A diverse and interesting bunch, if ever there was one. And they all spoke highly of Assumpta. The first officer even credited her with helping to save his life. This had made Oliver puff up with pride.

"Smells like wine," Chester said, curiously, also sniffing the air.

"Indeed. Made from wild blueberries." Oliver looked to the piebald mouse. His fur was unique. An under-layer of white, marked by random, black 'splotches.' Kind of cute, really.

"I prefer domestic," Juneau said, sarcastically. The squirrel knew nothing about fruit, of course, or anything not related to engines or Chester.

"You'll like it," Oliver assured.

"I don't know if I should drink, though. I tend to become tactless after my first glass."

"Does that mean you're drunk all the time?" Assumpta asked, sharply. The snow leopard's bushy tail was lazily flitting from side to side.

Juneau, with a thick enough pelt to take it, just grinned. "I have to be able to put up with you, somehow. Do you know," she told Oliver, "that she's never on time? And when I give her assignments, they're never completed on schedule? She's late for everything."

"An exaggeration," Assumpta said. "My last heat came a day early."

"It did," Oliver said, knowingly. His ice-blue eyes sparkled.

"I don't need to hear about your sex life," she told them. "I smell enough of it."

"Of course, Juneau is so chaste. She only fucks Chester in even-numbered shuttle pods." It was well known that the two rodents went to the shuttle bay on their lunch breaks, and not just to eat lunch.

"Hey!" Chester squeaked, ears going rosy-red with embarrassment.

Oliver, coming to Chester's aid, advised the two females to tone it down. "This meal is supposed to be enjoyable. You antagonize each other constantly, but you respect each other a great deal. I can sense it. I'd even say you're good friends. So, let's act like it, hmm?"

The squirrel made a face. Who needed maturity? I outrank everyone in this room.

Assumpta purred, lightly. Perhaps her mate was right.

Oliver poured a glass of wine for them all. "We're all engineers, here. I'm sure we can appreciate the mechanics of good discourse."

"I guess." Juneau immediately began drinking. The others held off a bit.

Chester shifted in his seat, noticeably flustered. Discourse? That sounded like intercourse, and there'd already been several sex jokes bantered around. How was he supposed to stop his mind from going there? He had to say something that made it seem like he wasn't thinking about humping Juneau. From behind, so that her big, bushy tail was against his chest and ... and, uh, "I'm not technically an engineer. I'm just a pilot." He coughed, lightly.

"But you know engines. You know ships."

"Well, I intuit them."

"Explain?" Oliver asked, tilting his head. Bobtail flickering curiously.

"When you're flying, especially in a tense situation, you can't stop to think about details. You just have to know your ship. Not how it works but how it feels. How it accelerates, decelerates, how it corners. It becomes an extension of your own being." He stopped, looking downward. "That sounds weird."

"It's perfectly understandable," Oliver assured. "You become symbiotic with the machine, as it were. We build it, and you help fulfill its potential. We're all working on the same playing field."

"Yeah, I guess so," the mouse agreed, giving a bucktoothed smile.

"He's always being too modest," Juneau said, ogling her mate. The wine, even after a few sips, had already begun to hit her fast rodent metabolism, and she figured it was time to recount all of Chester's splotches. But what body part should I do it with ... paws or tongue? Maybe tail ...

"It's good you don't have that problem, then. You balance him out," Oliver teased Juneau.

"Mm." The squirrel squinted at him, angular ears cocking forward.

"I suppose the rest of us should start drinking, too," Assumpta said, seeing that Juneau was halfway through her first glass.

"It tastes good," Chester said, after a dainty sip. And then another. Maybe this would loosen him up.

Oliver nodded. It was a good vintage. "Shall we have a toast?"

"To what?" Juneau asked, smacking her lips.

"Success in all our various endeavors." Oliver raised his glass. "To the good ship Luminous and all who reside within her. She gave me my mate, whom I could not live without, and even though built with mostly Federation technology, she's one of the sturdiest, finest ships in the fleet."

"To Luminous," echoed the other furs, clinking glasses.

"Did you see how I integrated the High Command's bio-neural circuitry into our systems?" Juneau asked Oliver.

"I did, indeed. A flawless merging."

"I wasn't going to brag, but since you mention it ... yeah, it sorta was. We had to replace literally miles of old iso-linear relays."

"But the computer operates more efficiently, now," Oliver assumed.

"It does. But it's turned Luminous into a hybrid vessel."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing."

Chester, sipping the wine and sloshing it about his muzzle, swallowed and asked Oliver, "Do you get to see a lot of ships? I mean ... " The mouse liked ships. Even if he didn't entirely understand how they worked, he liked how they looked, what they did. "How many classes of ships are in the High Command fleet?"

"About a dozen, currently, ranging from heavy cruisers to small science vessels. But with the war, mothballed designs have been pulled out. Experimental ones have been rushed forward, as well." He paused. "Over the past few months, I've not been building things as much as I've been repairing them. And some of the ships that come back to us are beyond repair, frankly. We have to harvest their parts for reusable metals. It's sad."

Assumpta shook her head.

Juneau sighed and downed half her wine glass in one gulp.

Chester lowered his voice, secretively, and said, "I overheard Ketchy talking on the comm, today, saying that the wasps are probably going to launch a full assault on the Home-world by the end of the week ... "

"They will regret it," Assumpta said, like a true Northern predator, sliding her glass across the tabletop.

"I think we all will," Juneau muttered, darkly.

Oliver eyed his mate and refilled her glass. "You're not going to get drunk, are you?"

"Why? Do you wish to take advantage of me?" the spotted feline asked.

"I can do that when you're fully sober," he volleyed back.

"You two are the flirtiest pair of flirts," Juneau observed, also pushing her glass back for topping off. She and Chester weren't so intolerably 'cutesie-pie.' No, they were sugar an' salt, sweet an' sour. But, hey, whatever worked ...

Oliver filled the squirrel's glass, too, and nodded, warmly. "A high compliment, indeed." He leaned back in his chair, already light-headed and enjoying himself. Looking to all three of them. "So ... whatever shall we talk about, now?"

It was a few hours later, station-side. The lights were dimmed, soothingly, and all three of them were upright, leaning against each other, with Ross loosely sandwiched between the two seductive snow rabbits. Their paws were under his shirt, fingers eagerly dancing across his soft, blue-grey pelt. Bobtailed bodies swaying in place, halfway between gyrating and dancing, radiating pent-up sexual aggression. "I guess ... I guess this is called being a snuggle-bunny?" he asked them, airily.

Aria nodded, lazily.

"It's okay I called you a bunny, right?" To the snow rabbits, 'bunny' was both a term of endearment and a curse, depending on context. But this was the best possible context, right?

"It's fine, Ross," she promised. "Just relax."

"I'm trying ... "

"Is he always this tense?" Elim asked, thumbs digging for his little nipples.

"Usually." She dragged her claws from beneath his shoulder blades, down, down to the small of his back.

"I bet he's fun to unwind, though."

Ross sighed. The way they were touching him? Oh, goodness. "You're both so warm. I feel like I'm gonna melt. Oh ... w-what are you doing, now? What ... "

"I'm just undoing your belt," Elim told him, kissing the side of his neck. Once, twice, before the kisses devolved into suckles.

"So you can get my pants off?" the mouse asked, innocently. Head twisting about, chin pointing upward. His eyes closed, lazily.

"Mm-hmm. Quick learner," he told Aria.

"Be gentle with him. You're only borrowing. He's mine, you know."

"Of course ... "

Ross was stunned at how comfortable the two snow rabbits were. As soon as clothes had started to come off, they became smooth as silk. They were truly sexual creatures. It was like their art. And they were going to practice it on him. Together, at the same time! He could hear his heart hammering in his ears.

"I've never had sex with a mouse," Oliver said, pulling Ross's zipper down. His pants began to slide down his hips, slowly.

"Me, either," Ross breathed, without thinking.

"You've never bred with your own species? Interesting ... " Elim didn't know Ross hadn't been a mouse until fairly recently, even though he'd been the one to initially discover him in one of the station's cargo bays. His ears waggled. "You seem old enough that you should have ... " He must've been in his late-twenties.

"He prefers rabbits," Aria answered for him, guiding Ross's right paw into Elim's already-loosened pants. She whispered into her mate's ear, "Cock ... " Then said to Elim, "Can you blame him, though?"

"No, I most certainly can't ... mm-h ... " The male rabbit lifted his own hips, underwear askew, bobtail angling upward as his ultra-soft rump inched free of his pants. White pelt, muscles sculpted and toned beneath. He was undeniably attractive, and the mouse, caught in the gravity of that attraction, and at Aria's urging, was touching him in a very intimate spot. "Mm, we are the universe's greatest lovers ... "

Ross's pupils were fully dilated as he looked down at Elim's body, curling his fingers tightly around the rabbit's plumping penis. It was getting harder, rising up, up. The mouse began to pant. Elim had gotten out of his clothes, now, all of them, and, oh, god ...

"Don't just hold it. Play with it," Aria gently whispered to her mate, nosing at him. "Go on. It won't bite ... "

The mouse cleared his throat and nodded, weakly. He could feel the blood pulsing through it, powerfully. It was throbbing with life, as hot as an iron rod pulled from a furnace. After a few more seconds of revelry, he began sliding his thumb around the smooth, pink glans, over the slit. Then the back ridge of the head. The most sensitive region. Or so he assumed, having a penis himself. Elim's probably worked the same way ...

He was so distracted that he was rather oblivious to the further shedding of clothes. Aria's, his. They were almost completely naked, in the fur, all of them, by the time Aria's paw reached around to Ross's front. While he held to Elim's essence, she suddenly seized his. He squeaked in surprise. She didn't take it easy on him, though. The strokes were immediate. And, oh, were they effective. She'd had enough practice with his body to know what she was doing. Ross arched, helplessly, immediately weakened, and Elim took this moment to extract himself from the mouse's paw, kissing at his shoulder, his arm. Then down this chest, dropping to his knees. The kisses now peppered the mouse's belly. And they weren't stopping there ...

Aria soon dropped to her knees, as well, eagerly joining Elim in front of the teetering, pleasure-punched mouse. Ross peeked downward, almost afraid to look, sure that whatever sight he saw would be enough to burst him into flames of lust. The two rabbits were silently circling his genitals with their lips, their tongues. Aria took the lead, licking the underside of the mouse's shaft. All the way to the tip, which she flicked. It bobbled in place, and the mouse moaned. Oh, oh ... he was almost painfully erect, now, practically oozing pre. Elim saw this and moved in to lick it off. Aria let him. The mouse was shaking, now. Truly. He didn't know what to do, so he reached for their ears. Holding to one of his and one of hers, stroking them from base to tip, a little more roughly than he intended, honestly, moving down to the base, again, and repeating the motion. Stroke, stroke ... grab ...

They were mewing. Yes, yes, they liked that ...

In the meantime, Elim had slowly reeled the mouse's tail in, suckling the tip into his moist, bucktoothed maw, keeping it there while a snowy paw petted and stroked the rodent's rump, while another massaged the tail-base.

"Oh-h ... w-what ... "

"Relax," Aria whispered against her mate's hip, kissing it, tenderly. "Come down here. It's alright ... "

Ross's big, fleshy ears were burning with blood, like frying pans, capillaries beginning to visibly pop along the rims. So much blood, in fact, that his mind began to struggle, as if shrouded in fog. He knew if he joined them on the floor, that it would get a lot more personal. A lot more intimate. Was he ready for that? His body was. And while his mind dilly-dallied, he'd already sunk to his knees. With an animal squeak, he blindly turned to suck on fur, someone's fur. Someone's whiskers. Muzzle met muzzle in a hot, loose kiss. Elim's muzzle, it turned out, because Aria was nosing at his vulnerable lobes, squishing her supple breasts up against his back, wrapping his tail around her fingers.

She suggested, barely above a whisper, "How about we give the artist something new to paint?"

The two males just nodded.

How they ended up on the bed, Ross didn't know. And never found out. But they did. Keeping the mouse, as before, in the middle. Their legs, those lithe, loping legs, full of such power and grace, nestling against his own. Their big, furry foot-paws making his toes curl as they bumped against his ankles, his shins. They were touching him all over, with every part of themselves. And he did the same to them, rubbing, throbbing. Filled with such insane longing. It was heavenly. Ross couldn't imagine anything better.

Until, somehow, as he wound up on his back, Aria straddling him within seconds, grinding against him teasingly. Her thick, tufted groin-fur meshing with his own, strands of it loosening, swirling through the air with their breezy movements. Those thighs! Oh, rabbits had the best legs ever, for sure. She could almost squeeze the life out of him. Mumbling dumbly, Ross practically begged her for intercourse. Please! She gave it to him, soon riding him with abandon, his raging mouse-hood marinating in her lava-hot nectar, hugged by her succulent, sopping sex, while Elim shuffled around and groped her breasts, leaning in to suckle on them, then rearranging himself further in order to shove his cock into the rodent's maw.

Ross felt the salty tip on his tongue. Someone told him to suckle it. He didn't know if it was him or her, but he obeyed, drawing in more than just the head, the upper part of the shaft, half-open eyes watching Aria's breasts bounce like an Arctic mountain range in an earthquake, watching her hips rise and fall like the sun. His mouse-hood tingling more than it ever had. Probably as much as Elim's was. It was twitching in his mouth. He was twitching in her pussy. It felt good, so good. All of it. Oh, god, it ... oh-h ...

Aria mewed out, loudly.

Elim grunted and huffed, pinching one of Aria's nipples with a groping paw.

"Mmf! Mm!" Ross, moaning with his mouth full, couldn't tell who actually came first. Maybe it was him? His eyes were already screwed shut. His penis like a firecracker, sizzling, sparking, going off, sowing his seed into his mate while a searing-hot, thick liquid, rabbit seed, pelted the roof of his mouth, quickly pooling at the back of his throat. He had to swallow. He wanted to. Oh, he wanted all of this ...

Elim shuddered as he ejaculated, as the mouse sucked him dry, whiskers stiff to their tips, ears standing perfectly straight. He contorted his upper body, slobbering on Aria's shoulder. Burying his nose into her neck fur and breathing as deeply as he could of her scent. "Uh-h ... uh ... "

The doe mewed in orgasm, turning her head to nuzzle at Elim's cheek, her walls fluttering wildly, clamping down. A gush of nectar, a surge of sensual bliss, like a shockwave, running to every extremity. It lasted for several seconds, then crested. A gasp of breath, and it began to wane. "Oh-h." She licked her lips, weakly. "Oh ... " Glancing at the two males, she put a paw on each of them. And they, in turn, on her. As the trio basked in the glow of their shared experience.

Later on, maybe twenty minutes later, Elim, still naked, bobtail flickering happily, had his chin on Aria's belly, admiring her breasts. A lazy look in his eyes. "What a night this has been ... "

"Indeed," Aria whispered, staring at the ceiling.

"You seem far away," he noted, burying his nose in her fur again. He closed his eyes and breathed in. She had the most appealing scent. "Mm ... "

"I'm not too far gone. I'm still here." She breathed in slowly, deeply, herself, and then let it go as a warm, drifting sigh, eyes looking directly into Elim's. "I just feel ... " She tried to think of a word that wasn't too cliché. "I feel like how I want to feel," she finally said.

Ross, coming out of the bathroom, flopped beside them with a disbelieving squeak.

"You alright?" Elim asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

"I've never done half the things we just did ... " More than that, honestly. "I feel like I'm floating. I just ... I think I'm gonna pass out ... "

"Come 'ere," the male snow rabbit said, reaching for the mouse. Drawing him into a hug.

Ross allowed it, laying his head against the male's furry chest, and none of them said anything for a few minutes. Until the mouse asked, shyly, "So ... what, now?"

"Well ... " Aria licked her lips. "I don't think this should be a constant occurrence, necessarily." As tempting as that was. "Our lives are just too busy, right now, and this is such an intense experience." There was a brief pause. "However, I'd very much like to do it again ... "

"Agreed," Elim said, immediately. "Perhaps every other week?"

Aria cupped Ross's cheek with her paw. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yes," he said, without hesitation. His ears turned rosy-pink. "But, uh, I actually meant ... what, now, as in right now, tonight? Do we shower? We're a mess. But I'm so tired ... " He was actually fighting off a yawn as he said this.

"We'll shower, individually. In the morning. We can't all fit in there at once, anyway," Aria said. And she didn't want two of them to shower and leave someone out.

"Am I welcome to spend the night?" Elim asked. He didn't really want to get dressed, to be honest. Or walk back to his quarters.

Ross nodded. "I don't mind ... "

And Aria said, "Of course."

Elim gave a gentle smile and got up, slowly. "Excuse me a moment," he said, padding off to the bathroom, leaving the two mates alone.

"Are you alright, Aria?" Ross asked her, quietly, when they were alone.

"I think so." A pause, locking gazes. "Are you?"

"Yeah. Just overwhelmed. I'm just, uh ... need some time to let this sink in, or something."

Aria nodded, reaching for one of his paws, lacing her fingers with his. "I've been seeking to balance my wants and needs for months, myself, now. I think I'm finally approaching that balance."

"I'm glad." Especially since he figured it was his arrival that had probably thrown her out of balance in the first place. He lifted her paw to his muzzle and kissed the back of it, sweetly. "But, uh ... am I ... "

"You're a need," she told him, anticipating his question. Drawing him into a loving hug. "You're my mate."

"And you're mine, too," he echoed, dreamily. And, every now and then, another fur's, yes. Like tonight. It wasn't really that complicated, was it? It was just ... well, a little different. And as he kissed her on the lips, passionately, and she twisted into it, Ross felt like more than just an artist. He was a lover, a mouse. A 'bona fide' fur. And he'd never felt better.