Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 36: brought to you by an angry toddler rolling on the floor

Anger, betrayal, resentment, and an underage bunny. Don't worry, this chapter is devoid of cradle-robbing. Also some death. Minor death. Death of a minor character, I should say.

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"What the hell do you mean, your first ritual?" Orson gasped. "You're a bunny; surely you've done this for other cities!"

Neara almost asked about the other cities, but was interrupted by the bunny replying, "I was the last born rabbit beastman, almost fifteen years ago; I haven't been to one before."

"I thought the Ape King said the ceremony happened every year..." Neara trailed off, trying to add in her head what exactly that entailed.

"It is." Winston rumbled.

"Oh my gosh, you're not even fifteen years old?" Neara's mouth fell open and she felt incredibly predatory. "And you're already..."

He cocked his head at her feet, refusing to meet her eyes. "Rabbit beastmen age quickly, which is why our females have such high fertility. It's in order to keep up our numbers. We're rapidly dying out."

"So beastmen can go extinct?"

"Yes, that's a word that can be used." Orson carefully chose his words. "There are stories of other beastmen that, unable to mate fast enough, have died out. I've heard of turtles before, elephant, rhino, hippo, and crocodile. Their pregnancies were so unbearably long that their strength and attractiveness could not save them and they passed into legend."

"How do you know of these names?" Winston said. "I do not know these beastmen."

"They lived outside of predator cities. Far outside. They roamed the open plains between the cities where few beastmen live, out in the deserts. Their endurance ensured their survival in those environments, but caring for females became impossible."

"Then I wonder how they were able to breed at all." Winston looked pensive.

"There are legends about hardy females, but they're only legends." Orson waved his hand dismissively. "Females have needed medicines and doctors as long as I can remember, as long as the oral history of doctors has been passed down. If there were hardy females, they were taken by ferals long ago."

"Shay!" Neara walked towards the door. "If I passed out, I can't imagine what happened to her..."

Orson blocked her path solidly. "You can't leave until you're better."

"But I can walk..."

Orson shook his head. "And risk, what, you getting sick and dying because you couldn't wait to see your friend? Absolutely not."

Neara frowned and thought about how to skirt around the issue. "Um... what about a relaxing stroll in the sunshine?"

"What?" Orson's lips and eyebrows curled upwards.

"Sunshine is good for females and for... digestion. It would be nice to take advantage of it before the rainy season." She thought about every single rom-com she had seen, and all the male gaze movies as well, and looked at him through her eyelashes, pouting her lower lip. "Please?"

"Fine. You do look kind of sick when you make that face."

Flirting had never been her strong suit. Oh well. As long as she got out of the house. Everyone insisted on coming and Orson directed Winston to pick her up if she looked or smelled weak. The sunshine warmed the dust beneath her feet and she ran ahead, her cloak billowing out behind her like a banner. "It's so beautiful out here!"

The Rabbit, good-naturedly, let her decorate his tall ears with flowers and Winston bent so she could reach, a soft smile on his face. Orson refused and, after accepting the bouquet, ate it. Winston's ear twitched to the side, a dandelion falling from his hair to the ground.