{Trigger Warning; Nonconsensual attempted rape.} Will Neara accept bunny-boy? How does Curtis get over his hurt pride? What happens at the fertility ceremony? How will Shay react to losing Curtis? These questions, and more, might be answered if you keep reading. Maybe not though.

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In the confusion of Curtis's escape, only Winston and Orson noticed that Neara had not given her answer yet. The handkerchief pinned between her fingers, she could only look up at the man-child and down at her hand.

"Um... sure, I guess." She didn't want to piss off the City of Beasts and get them kicked out, especially since they'd just decided to stay here.

Theo blushed and tripped backwards over his feet. "I've memorized your scent. I'll call on you later this night. Evening. Beautiful female." He shot from the palace in a white blur similar to Curtis.

The rest of the rabbits, unable to compete with that level of drama, selected their females, and were accepted, rather quickly. The Ape King stood at the forefront of the stage again and smiled. "We will continue with the rest of the ceremony. Together, we inhale the vapors of fertility that our minds may be opened." He smiled in what he clearly thought was a fatherly smile. "Beastmen, light the medicines."

Wolf beastmen dumped their baskets onto the flames and thick white smoke billowed out. Neara's eyes widened and she stood up, backing away as she clutched the token of the rabbit's adoration. "Winston..." she murmured.

He stood beside her in an instant. "Do you wish to leave?"

"Why would you leave? Isn't there going to be free food?" Shay asked, although attempting to talk over the chair of testosterone proved difficult.

"I just... I don't want to be here anymore. I don't have a good feeling." Neara looked at Winston. "Please, can we go?"

Winston took her hand and led her away from the stage. Beastmen protested as he pushed past them and Neara stepped on more than a few toes.

Shay sighed and looked at Ryan. "Should we stay?"

Ryan's eyes rolled back in his head. "Where would we go? Where are we?"

Joseph leaned back on his heels, the stern look replaced by an amused one. "You know, I thought I knew." He giggled, a high-pitched squeal one wouldn't expect.

"We should probably find Curtis..." Shay's thoughts slipped away from her as the smoke sank into her lungs. It felt like grabbing a soap bubble; once she thought she had it, it popped.

"Curtis needs to find Curtis." Parker swayed above her and collapsed, his hands wrapping around her waist and part of Ryan's head. "He knows where he is, after all."

Ryan nodded sagely. "Naturally."

Joseph stood up in a blur of ginger fur and tapped his feet wildly on the ground. His face looked ferociously concentrated and he whirled in place several times, dancing to a rhythm only he could feel. His hands grabbed at his face and ears.

"Whoa. I didn't know you could do that. I didn't know they danced here." Shay spoke carefully so her tongue wouldn't fall out of her mouth. She wanted a nap. She wanted... to scratch those ears. Her hands felt detached from her body and she rubbed at Ryan's head. The package from the Ape King fell from her lap as she leaned forward, taking Parker with her. "So fluffy."

Ryan purred, a vibration filling the entire courtyard. He flashed between forms, alternating between naked man and panther, each one lounged comfortably between her legs. Parker slumped over and licked the back of her neck methodically. Joseph whirled beside her, his legs kicked faster and higher with each revolution.

"I wonder if Neara found him yet?"

Neara had not found Curtis and, if she had, would not have done anything about it. She felt unsteady and kept tipping over into trees. Winston patiently guided her back and tried to steady her using only his grip on her hand. Orson stumbled beside them, eyes round and full like the moon.

"Neara, I have to tell you something." Orson slurred. He wrapped his arms around himself. "I think you smell funny."

Her lips felt like a thousand pounds. She could feel herself floating behind her body and the back of her head needed a serious combing. This was the worst video game invented. Her attempts to button-mash went unnoticed by the shambling wreck of a human being tripping over dust.

"Winston..." she collapsed and, unprepared for the shock, Winston fell over as well. Orson tumbled over them both and they lay in a pile in the middle of the road, sputtering with laughter.

Large hands plucked at Neara until he had extricated her from the group. He ran until they'd put sufficient distance between the intoxicated creatures.

"Shuu?"

"Neara, I have to be with you." He panted and kicked open the door to her house.

"What? No..." She dragged her arm off of his neck and folded over his arms. She had to get back to Winston...

"I saw you looking at me." He dragged her to the back room and fell onto the bed, pulling her on top of him.

"No, Shuu, fish." She couldn't make her words come out right. Her mind raced but her body felt so slow! Nothing happened when she thought it. Open, mouth, make him back off!

"Please, Neara, I can't take it anymore. I've been good, haven't I? I gave you fruits..." he laid her next to him on the bed and touched her face with his claws. "You liked those, right?"

"No. No. No." she moaned as she fought against her own body. What the hell was in that smoke? It felt like her brain typed the words but her mouth only caught one or two of them.

"Neara," he breathed as his hands carefully opened her cloak.

She closed her eyes tight against the intrusion and felt the cool tracks on her cheeks that led to her ears. A violent tug ripped her cloak from her body and she rolled against the wall. Something warm hit her face and she kept her eyes squeezed shut. Whining, whimpering, and then silence and darkness.

"Female?" A stuttering voice broke through her nightmares. "Female?" A cool rag pressed to her forehead and another dripped down her chest. Violent shivers overcame her body and she clenched her teeth together to avoid chattering. "Blanket." the voice said as it drew the fur over her. The chill of the fur made her feel even colder. Where was Winston and Orson? "You will be fine." It seemed like the voice said it more to itself than to her. "Fine."

Her eyes slowly opened as she warmed beneath the hide, aided by the roaring fire the scurrying shadow built. The white blur settled near her and spooned a thin broth between her lips. A rag held to her chin caught the dribbles when she coughed and sputtered the hot liquid out.

"Female, be good and drink. You cannot recover strength if you don't drink."

"Where's Winston?" Neara tried to force her head away and the beastman held it steadily in his hands. "Orson? Where are..."

"I don't know who you're talking about." he stuttered. "Please drink."

Her stomach twisted and rolled towards her mouth. She turned and vomited on the fur, acid and broth coming up easily. "Winston..."

"I don't know who that is. Would you like some water?" A cup with a thin edge pressed against her mouth and poured in icy water.

She sputtered and gagged before falling asleep again.

"Get out of the way or I'll kill you."

The first sensation was fear, then complete awareness she had sweated all night. Her mouth felt dry as school carpet, her tongue like a Fruit Rollup. "What the hell..."

"You can't come in and bother a sleeping female." That voice, stuttering, reminded her of that little white bunny from... whenever it was. Daytime? There had been light, she thought.

"That's our sleeping female!" Orson's nasally voice burst through the house. He really did have some lung power when he put his mind to it. "So if you don't move out of the way and let us tend to her, I'll put my foot so far up your ass you'll be gagging on pellets for a month!"

"Threats don't scare me. At any rate, she is completely unmarked; I've searched thoroughly. You can't be her males because she doesn't have any."

"We are her guardians." Winston rumbled. It was a relief to hear his voice.

"Guardians? Protectors? It doesn't matter. I've won the right to court her..."

"You won nothing." It sounded like Orson spit. She could hear the bunny wiping his face. What was his name again? "Fertility priest be damned, you won't keep us from our female."

"Orson?" Her voice scratched against the roof of her mouth. She wasn't sure he could hear. "Winston?"

The men silenced and a scuffle broke out. She heard breaking stone and the crunch of collapsed wood.

She dragged herself out the bedroom entryway, not caring if she left her cloak behind. "Winston, Orson..." she stage-whispered as loud as she could. Her head hung down and her eyes closed against the pressure of moving. She pulled herself up against the entryway and gripped the stone for support. While the joints were smooth, the rocks themselves bore helpful crevices.

The three men stopped dead in their tracks. Winston's hand circled the leg of the bunny, a rush of blood oozing around the nails embedded in the flesh. A spear pressed against Winston's ribs, held by the bunny, who sunk his teeth into Orson's wrist that was wrapped around his throat. The bunny's feet were up against Orson's midriff, which looked covered in scratches.

"Neara?" Orson gasped.

"Stop fighting, please. Rabbit, Orson and Winston are my protectors; they can be in my house." She sagged slightly. "I want them here."

Winston released the bunny's leg and shoved the spear away. "Neara, you should know..."

"I feel like garbage, like literal garbage, so I don't really want to talk about anything or hear any excuses." She almost fell again and widened her stance. "Look, I don't know what happened, I don't want to know, I just think..."

"Is that a female's naked form?" The bunny looked dazed, his feet slumped against Orson's thighs. "She's beautiful."

Neara realized the warmth of the sun covered her entire body and was not, in fact, the residual heat from sleeping. She fell to the floor as her hands covered her breasts and groin. "Don't look!"

Winston raced to pick her up and drop her back inside the room. He wrapped her in the blanket and left without a word.

After wallowing in her embarrassment, she found her clothes meticulously clean and hanging in the window. She snuck under the covers and yanked them from the windowsill, determined to get dressed under the blanket. Once everything was in place, she wrapped her cloak around herself and went outside.

The beastmen sat, almost civilized, around the empty fire pit. Although each stared ahead, none of them looked at each other (mostly due to the large height difference).

"Ok, so everyone saw me naked... that's out of the way." She sighed, tightened her grip on her cloak, and channeled her inner Shay. "Look, that fertility ceremony was weird for everyone. Shuu tried to rape me, Rabbit-dude saved me, let's just forget this whole thing happened and find some breakfast."

"I've already forgotten most of it. I hate that damned fertility drug." Orson looked at his feet. "It takes me away from myself."

"I've never participated in the ceremony before. I won't do so again." Winston's lip curled slightly over his teeth.

"This is my first ritual, myself," the bunny stuttered, "and I plan on it being the last."