Island Heat

Story by sisco on SoFurry

, , , , , , , ,

#1 of Heat side stories

Well I wanted to explore the heat world with a few smaller stories outside of the main story arch. This was aimed at looking at how heat might affect their childhood. I was aiming for a rites of passage type story. Hope some people like it too. I also wanted to include some women as my heat series is almost without females and there's a whole other side of the lapros culture there to explore/create.


Heat stories

"Ok we're there."

Jessie woke up as his mother shook his arm. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. For a moment he forgot where he was and he smiled at his mother. Then he heard the train guard announce their arrival at Letay Island and he remembered. His face turned back to a scowl. Thirty days of travelling, ok so twenty eight in stasis, he was now hundreds of light years from his home, his friends his life.

"Oh stop being such a whiney brat will you. I didn't have a choice. Jobs are scarce and you can hardly blame me for doing what I have to, to keep you fed and clothed."

The fifteen year old gave his mother a petulant look. "Yeah well that's your fault for not studying something useful. I mean who studies volcanoes in this day and age. What don't we know about them after all this time."

"Hey volcanoes are cool...well molten hot, but still cool. Now stop your bitching grab your bags and let's go see our new home." Tess had to admit her son had a point, when she had been at uni it hadn't really occurred to her that volcanologist is rather a niche job and on Earth all the niches were filled. It hadn't seemed to matter for about ten years. She'd married a great guy and been a proud housemother for ten years. Then her soldier husband had gotten himself killed doing something stupidly brave.

His pension was a pittance compared to what they were used to. Once she had gotten over the grief she found that she had ran out of cash fast. So that left her one option; get a job. It had taken months to find one and that had been as a waitress in a crappy diner by the London spaceport. Then while a little drunk she had found an advert for a volcanologist on another world. It paid nearly ten times what she was earning and came with a house.

Of course it had meant moving planet, something her son had really not wanted to do. They had argued for days, ending up in tears almost every time. He'd never accepted her decision and he had told her on more than one occasion that he hated her. She knew that this was hard on him, but in a few years he'd be old enough to make his own way. If he wanted to go back to Earth she'd do everything she could to help. But a job on a tropical island, well paid, doing what she was trained to do. It was a dream come true and she couldn't give up on it. A few years in the field and she'd be able to get her doctorate, maybe get a job lecturing at a university.

She felt guilty knowing that this move was best for her. However, she also truly believed it was good for her son too. Lapros was a world known for the friendliness of its natives. She really hoped that extended to the teenage children of the planet. Fortunately Jessie had broken up with his girlfriend weeks before she had decided to move. The boy had reminded her that she was killing his love life moving to a planet where there was going to be no other humans his age.

Of course the death of his love life didn't bother her nearly as much as the death of her own. Joe had died nearly five years ago now and she had just begun to feel like she could move on. Now she'd moved to a planet where everyone was gay and don't think for a moment her son had taken that bombshell well.

As the two got off the train and onto the platform warm air washed over them. The smell of the ocean filling their lungs, a cold whisper of a breeze flowing over their tired bodies. It felt like a most refreshing welcome from the island itself. Tess noticed that even her son lost his scowl as they looked about. The platform ended at the beach, pure white sand stretched as far as the eye could see. The water was blue and sparkling in the midday sun.

Tess checked her map and slung her bag on her back. Most of their personal possessions would arrive in a few days. Until then they would have to make do with what was in their hand luggage. Their home was just a half a mile along the beach according to the map. She decided she should try to get Jessie to look on the positive side.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think I could grow to love living right next to the beach instead of in a tiny flat in a polluted city. Just think you could go swimming every morning."

"It's probably full of large predators and poisonous jellyfish." He retorted as he followed her kicking the beach as if blaming it for his exile. Alright it was pretty and he did like swimming. However, this wasn't a holiday this was an end to his life. All his friends were so far away he couldn't even talk to them on the comm net. It'd take days to get a message back home and cost too much to do it more than once a day.

"No, I checked. The largest marine animals are all herbivores. Something called a warumpa. They had some pictures it kinda looked like a brown seal. They are harmless and Lapros doesn't have jellyfish of any type. Parallel evolution doesn't always fill every niche with the same thing. As she talked they both stopped and looked out across the sea. They could see another island a few kilometres away over the calm crystal lake that was the ocean. "The water is perfectly safe."

Jessie put his bags down and took a few steps towards the waterline. In the heat of the noonday sun it looked very inviting. "You're sure it's safe?"

"Absolutely, I packed some snorkels and flippers in my bags we could go out for a swim after we get back to the house. You'll see there's nothing to fear....Ahhh." As Tess had spoken a larger wave had crashed on the shore and from it emerged a brown alien.

The first thing Jessie noticed was that it was female, very female. Also very naked, chocolate brown fur covered every inch of her lithe form. As she walked her ample hips swayed nicely, almost drawing the young boys eyes away from her breasts. They weren't huge by any stretch of the imagination, but two small soft brown mounds, which looked very inviting to the young boy. Her hair was a slightly darker shade of brown, It hugged her wet form flowing all the way down to her hips. Her body was slender and sleek, her face resembled that of the Earth otter. She smiled at the chuckling a little, the sunlight sparkling off her emerald eyes.

"Oh, welcome you must be new here."

"Y..yes" Tess replied still shocked by the female who stood before her fully nude with no hint of shame. She fought the urge to put her hands over Jessie's eyes, it would only make things worse.

The otter wandered a few steps up the beach to where her clothes and towel sat. She picked up a towel with a floral pattern and began to dry her hair. "Welcome, I'm LeiLani, I guess I'm your new neighbour. I work as a scuba instructor at the Letay holiday resort up the road."

Jessie couldn't keep his eyes off the attractive female as she scrubbed the moisture out of her hair.

"I... we should get going." Tess said pulling Jessie after her as he made a few steps off up the beach.

The otter pulled on a loose skirt and a rather small top that left most of her stomach on display. She placed a couple of flowers in her hair saying. "I live in that direction too... nobody ever told you that this is a nude beach did they?" The otter asked as realisation finally dawned.

"No...no they left that bit out." Tess said blushing heavily, but slowing down.

The otter chuckled lightly, "I guess the last thing you were expecting was a nude Lutari would leap out of the sea at you and your son. However, I assure you its quite safe. The entire island is nude bathing optional. However, this beach is far away from the tourists, it's usually just us locals."

Tess found herself relaxing a little at the otter's friendly attitude, "It was a little bit of a surprise."

LeiLani reached out to ruffle Jessie's hair playfully. "I assure you you'll get used to it. Most of the locals don't wear clothes while bathing. However, they are very respectful and believe me your son is very safe here."

"Yes, well I'm sure he'll enjoy swimming in the sea every day." Tess replied politely.

"Hey, he is right here!" Jessie cut in indignantly.

The otter turned and gave the human boy a smile, "will you enjoy swimming in these warm waters every day?"

Jessie found his heart jump into his throat and his mind went blank after a few seconds he squeaked a high pitched. "Yes."

"Then don't interrupt your elders." The otter informed him with a wink at Tess.

Jessie blushed a deep red and they walked a few paces in silence before the arrived at a house, the doorway lead right out onto the beach. It was only one floor, but it sprawled across the sand. They could see a garden to one side extending behind it, covered in well trimmed grass and arches covered in flowering vines.

"This is my home, I guess you will be the next house over. Please feel free to stop by whenever, I would welcome your company." LeiLani advised as she headed into her home, standing in the doorway she gave them both a friendly smile and wave.

The two walked on for a few metres finding their house just along the beach. The house was identical to LeiLani's only the garden was not as well tended. "Well here it is, home sweet home." Tess said opening the door.

The house was extremely neat and tidy, a well fitted kitchen with all the amenities. The living room was larger than their entire apparent in London. The upstairs had three huge bedrooms each with en-suite bathrooms and showers. Tess chose a room overlooking the beach and as she looked out she saw her neighbour working in the garden.

Jessie chose the room on the opposite side of the house, looking back over the island, the mountains, forests, and in the distance the far shore and the ocean. He had to admit his room was far nicer than what he'd had back home. Still he refused to admit he liked it. A nice home didn't make up for the loss of all his friends, of his entire life.

"I'm going to go for a swim, wanna join me?" His mother asked hopefully as she stood in her orange bathing suit holding a couple of snorkels and several pairs of flippers.

Jessie snorted, "no, I want to unpack and send a comm to my friends."

"Ok sweety, well if you change your mind I won't be too far out." Tess replied putting down a snorkel and one pair of flippers.

The human boy opened up a comm net link on his wrist computer. He recorded a quick message to his best friend Danny back home and sent it. Then he looked around the house. Finding nothing much to do he wandered out into the heat of the sun. The sea looked deeply inviting in this heat, but his mother was there and he didn't want her to think he was accepting this.

Back home he would have gone over to one of his friends homes, they would have watched a vid, or played some Virtual Interface (VI) games. Or they could have all gone for food, or just hung out on the streets getting into mischief. However, here he had no friends, no VI and what fun are vids on your own? He once again looked out at the inviting ocean and felt a swell of hatred. Why did she have to bring him here? Why did he have to leave everyone he cared about? Why should he go do what she wanted him to do?

Instead the young human headed along the coast wandering in the shade of the forests edge. He had to admit the place was beautiful, idyllic even. However, as he walked along the beach he felt lonely. He didn't know anyone here; worse still he was different to everyone here. He was the outsider, the freak, the weirdo. He didn't like that feeling, he'd always been on the inside. Teasing those on the outside had been something he'd enjoyed. He didn't like the idea of a karma returning the favour.

He stopped sat down on the beach alone, over a mile from his house. He rested his head on his knees and as the loneliness washed over him he began to cry. However, he wasn't able to cry from long before he heard a voice behind him. "Hey, are you ok?"

He turned to find a brown and white rabbit wearing nothing but scruffy blue shorts behind him. Jessie wasn't an expert on the Lapine people, but the rabbit looked like a juvenile to him. "Yeah, I'm fine." He sniffed.

The scrawny brown rabbit sat down next to him without an invitation. "I'm not." He said quietly.

"Why, what's wrong?" Jessie asked, not sure where his feelings of concern for this strange rabbit came from.

The rabbit looked at the human, he had a white patch of fur around his left eye, the rest of his face was chocolate brown, except for his white right ear. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course, besides you're the only person I've met here so far and I don't even know your name. Who would I tell?" Jessie replied with a reassuring smile.

"It's Jay and ok I guess I can tell you, but you got to promise not to tell anyone else." The rabbit whispered to him.

"Jessie and I promise." The human replied.

"I... I think I'm going through the change." The rabbit whispered and then looked around the beach making sure no-one was around who could have heard him speak aloud.

The human looked confused, "the change?"

The rabbit nodded, "I'm about to become a man."

"Oh you mean puberty!" The human said a little too loudly and the scared rabbit shushed him, glancing around the beach just in case.

"No, it's not that... it's the other change, you know before your first cycle." The rabbit whispered.

"I... I don't know what you mean." Jessie whispered even though there was no-one in sight.

"My...my first heat cycle." The rabbit said and then shuddered hugging his legs. "I don't want to do it."

The human felt confused, he wasn't sure what this heat was or why it scared the rabbit so much. "Well, then don't do it." He said putting a friendly hand on Jay's shoulder.

The rabbit gave him a look of pure despair, "You don't understand I have to do it, or I'll die."

The human gasped, "They kill you?"

The rabbit actually smiled, "You're silly. Heat's a natural cycle, every adult lapine goes through it once a year. If we don't go through it we die."

"Oh... then why don't you want to go through it?" Jessie asked, it seemed a bit silly to him to be worried about going through some sort of change. After all surely it couldn't be worse than dying.

"I... I'm a virgin." The rabbit whispered so quietly Jessie wasn't sure he'd heard him.

The human sat there for a moment trying to figure out what the right answer to that statement was. "Right... so you don't want to go into cycle because..."

"Because, I want to be with someone I feel something for first." The rabbit explained patiently, like a teacher explaining the obvious to a rather dumb student.

"That can't happen after your cycle?"

Jay gave Jessie a curious look, trying to decide just how stupid the human was. "Well no, you do know what heat is right?"

The human shrugged his shoulders, "I've been on this world like a day. I have no idea what heat is."

"Oh" Jay said and then explained it to the human.

"So once a year...you guys just...do it...with everyone!" Jessie was at once horrified, intrigued and deeply jealous.

"Not everyone, just those also in heat. A few hours of sexual relief and then you're done." Jay explained patiently. "But, I'm too young, less than one in two hundred go into cycle at fifteen. I... don't want my first time to be with some random guy in a hormone enforced state of arousal."

"Is there... any guy you could... you know." Jessie couldn't bring himself to say the actual words.

The rabbit's eyes began to glaze over with tears and he shook his head mournfully. "I... don't have anyone that special." As he spoke he began to cry hugging his shoulders as he wept.

Jessie sat there stunned for a moment, unsure what to do. After what seemed like minutes, but was probably just a few seconds, he reached out putting an arm around the rabbit's shoulders. As soon as he had his arm around him Jay turned and threw his arms around the human, burying his face in the human's chest and hugging tightly. The human sat shocked for a moment then put his arms around the rabbit. Unsure what he should do the human did nothing, he just held the rabbit.

Jessie wasn't sure how long he held the rabbit, eventually the crying stopped and the rabbit looked up at him embarrassed. "Th... thanks." He whispered.

"I didn't really do anything." Jessie replied with a blush.

"You listened to me and you let me cry on you." Jay said with a smile. "You did that when you clearly have troubles of your own. Please, let me return the favour at least."

The human sat silently for a moment, Jay reached out placing a paw on Jessie's arm. "Please, let me help."

The human turned to look at the rabbit and suddenly found his whole story tumbling out. Moving worlds, leaving behind his friends and family. The loneliness he felt as he arrived on the island, his anger towards his mother. He ended up shedding a few tears of his own.

Eventually they both ran out of tears and things to say, they sat on the beach watching the sun working its way towards the horizon. Eventually Jessie broke their silence "I'm thirsty."

"Me too, we should probably go home." The rabbit said standing up, he offered his hand to the human and pulled him up to his feet.

"I'm sorry about your heat."

"I'm sorry you had to move."

"Could be worse." Jay replied quietly as the two walked along the beach hand in hand.

"Yeah, I guess." The human muttered and then asked. "So what will you do?"

"I'll tell my dads and then I guess... I'll go to the clinic." The rabbit replied with a sign. "What about you?"

"Nothing much I can do, I'm here now. It sucks... but not totally." The boy gave a slight smile to the rabbit. "Is there anything that can be done about your heat?"

"I don't think so; I may be able to take the medical option out." The rabbit answered quietly.

"What's the medical option?" The two stopped outside Jessie's house.

"They put me into a medically induced coma and manually stimulate until heat ends." Jay replied with a grimace. "It's what they do to prisoners and the diseased."

"Well, why not do that?"

"I couldn't, I mean everyone would think I was... some sort of freak." The rabbit answered twisting his face like he'd just taken a bite of something rotten.

Jessie shrugged his shoulders replying "Don't tell them. I won't tell anyone."

The rabbit stood there open mouthed with shock. Could it be that simple? He could get a train to another city head to a clinic, where no-one would recognise him. Ask for the medical option and then come back. No-one would know, not even his parents. Then next year he could just pretend it was his first cycle like all the other boys.

A smile slowly spread across Jay's face. "You're brilliant!" He exclaimed throwing his arms around the human's neck and kissing his cheek.

Jessie blushed deeply unsure what he should do or say. "Y... you're welcome."

The rabbit gave an embarrassed smile and let go of the boy. "I should go... my Dads will be looking for me. It was great to meet you."

"It was nice to meet you too." Jessie replied with a wave as the rabbit began to speed off.

The rabbit turned around but didn't stop, walking backwards he waved back. "I'll come by tomorrow when I get back. I'll show you some of the fun things you can do here."

"Cool, sounds like fun." The boy was surprised to find he meant it too, he was actually looking forward to hanging with his new friend. As the rabbit disappeared he turned back to his house. He could see his mother and LeiLani deliberately not looking his way as they stood chatting in the doorway.

As he headed to his house his mother smiled at him. "Made a new friend?" She asked with a chuckle.

He shot her a look, "thanks to you I need one." Then stormed past his mother and the otter into the house.

Tess turned to LeiLani and took a sip of her wine smiling happily. "Did you hear that? That's the first time he's actually said something about him building a new life here. I think he's finally accepting that he's moved."

The otter chuckled, "That's the thing about this place, if the perfect climate and beautiful scenery don't seduce you, the people will. Certainly seduced me."

"The place or the people?" Tess asked with a slightly tipsy giggle.

LeiLani blushed slightly as she laughed. "Both, but you'll have to get me a lot drunker to get me to tell that story."

"I checked the kitchen, I have two more bottles of wine and I'm not afraid to use them."