Gran, Day 9, early morning

        Gran frowned as she set down the cabin’s phone. It was always something. True, the cruise had never been intended to be completely recreational, but she hadn’t expected everything to follow her out to the middle of the Pacific. She was retired. It was becoming harder and harder to stay that way. She grabbed her cane off of the nightstand and stood.
        It took her longer than she liked to get decent, but soon she was moving quietly through the dark main room of the cabin toward the room the girls shared, careful not to wake Peri. She stopped and looked over the boy for a long moment. He was sleeping deeper than usual, a smile on his face. She sighed, envious of his innocence, and bumped the girls’ door open with her cane.
        The two were intertwined as usual, Violet the big spoon to Lily’s little spoon. She breathed in through her nose. For once, the room didn’t stink of sex. She rapped Violet’s hip sharply with her cane.
        “Huh?” came the groggy reply. Violet looked up over her shoulder. It took a moment for her heavy eyes to focus on her. Gran waited patiently, both hands draped over the top of her cane, and was satisfied when the alarm lit Violet’s face, followed by a forced calm. Violet needed no more prompting. Good. She was learning to react quickly, even with no information. The ability to put on a calm face--even in the face of disaster or the completely unknown--was an important skill for what she had planned for the girl.
        Gran stepped back to the door of the room as Violet disengaged herself from Lily carefully. Violet moved quickly to dress, and within a few moments, the two of them were in the hallway, Violet quietly shutting the stateroom door behind them.
        “What’s going on?” Violet asked as Gran led her down the corridor.
        “You’ll see,” Gran said softly, moving as quickly as she could with her aching hip. Violet paced her, but she could tell the young girl was agitated with their speed. So full of energy, of curiosity and initiative. There was still a lot of tempering to do with this one.
        She watched Violet for a response, deliberately giving her too little information, to see how she reacted. Words formed on the girl’s lips more than once, but they died before being spoken. Finally, the girl pressed her lips into a thin line and stared ahead resolutely, choosing to be satisfied with silence.
        “How’s your sister?” Gran asked casually.
        Violet turned to look at her, to get a measure of why she was asking, or what she might be implying. Gran gave her nothing to work with.
        “Disturbed,” Violet said finally. Then she added, “But getting better, I think.”
        “All of our actions have consequences, Violet.” She stopped in the corridor and turned toward her granddaughter, looking her in the eyes. “Especially our selfish ones.”
        They stared at each other for a long moment. It didn’t take long for Violet to break. She averted her eyes and blushed, squirming a little.
        “I understand that now,” Violet said softly. 
        Gran continued to watch her for a long time. Violet refused to meet her eyes again, showing signs of genuine shame. Gran had never seen that in her before. She’d have to learn how to hide it now that she finally felt it. Gran turned and continued down the corridor. Their destination was still several decks below them. They’d be there already, if her body still had the stamina for stairs. As it was, the elevator was still a long walk away.
        “Tell me about Wendy,” Gran continued. She smiled, seeing Violet startle, then stifle her emotions effectively. Poor girl. Being woken up in the middle of the night, then broadsided with questions like this; it was hardly fair. Well, it wasn’t like Gran hadn’t been in the same situation before. And she was being much more forgiving than the media ever was. Gran could see Violet panicking for what to say, though it would’ve been invisible to most others.
        “She’s a student at Chimera Prep, up in Marblecliff. Maine, I think,” Violet said.
        “New Hampshire,” Gran corrected her. “And I already knew that, and you know I knew that. I meant, tell me about you and her. Be honest with me, Violet. Is she another toy you plan to use until you wear her out or you get bored of her?”
        This time it was Violet who stopped. She turned on Gran angrily. “NO!” The word echoed down the corridor, disturbing the predawn stillness. “No! Don’t you ever say something so hateful about Wendy like that! I know what I did with Lily was fucked up, Gran. But don’t ever talk about Wendy like that.” The rage seeped out of her as quickly as it had flared up. Gran could hear her teeth grinding, and watched the tears trickle down her granddaughter’s cheeks. She was shocked at the depth of emotion. She’d expected Violet to be embarrassed or to avoid the question. She closed her mouth and reevaluated the situation. The girls really were changing. She’d seen signs and had been skeptical, but already the course of the night was starting to confirm her hopes rather than dispel them.
        “I’m sorry,” she said softly, and saw the surprise reflected in Violet’s eyes. Gran rarely apologized, not directly, not without making things seem like someone else’s fault. Another skill she’d acquired in a lifetime of politicking. Violet nodded quietly, and they both turned back down the corridor. Violet sniffed, then began talking again, very softly now.
        “Wendy helped me figure things out after what I did to Lily. She was quiet, and she listened a lot, and she stayed with me without me even asking her to. She’s cute and sexy and that’s not even the reason I’m attracted to her anymore, and I’m terrified of being without her when this cruise is over.”
        Gran let the statement hang in the air as they arrived at the elevator. She pressed the button with the end of her cane. “That’s a dangerous position to put yourself in, Violet. Relying on someone like that.”
        Violet sighed. “I know. But Wendy helps me be myself, Gran. Instead of who I started to be. I can look back now and see that I was turning into mom. Selfish. Using. I don’t wanna be like her. I’d rather be like you.”
        “I see,” Gran said as the doors to the elevator opened. They both stepped inside. “And how does Wendy fit into that?”
        Violet laughed as the doors closed. Gran waited. Violet looked at her, into her eyes, and smiled. It was almost a sad smile. “Wendy showed me who I was, Gran. I’ve been trying to be a better person for months, ever since you had Mr. Ferris shipped off or killed or whatever mysterious thing you had done with him. I was trying to be better. But I was just doing it by trying not to do those things. I still felt like doing them, I still wanted to do them. All the time. It was still all I could think about. It wasn’t until Wendy that I realized not just that I shouldn’t be like that, but why. She’s helping me figure out who I could be, instead of just a twisted version of mom ready to burst.”
        “I see,” Gran repeated. The doors opened and they exited the elevator, turning toward a block of interior cabins. “Thank you for being honest with me, Violet.”
        Gran walked on in silence. Within a few minutes, they turned a corner and saw their destination. It was hard to miss. A dozen people stood outside one of the cabins, including the captain and first officer. A gurney blocked the other end of the narrow hallway, a covered body on top of it, and four uniformed members of the ship’s security force did their best to look intimidating despite the dark circles under their eyes.
        “What’s going on, Gran?” Violet asked, the tremolo in her voice reminding Gran of just how young she was. Dealing with situations like these was one of the worst parts of her job. Hell, it wasn’t even strictly her job anymore.
        “Hush,” she said softly, more gently than she normally would have. “Watch and listen, but stay out of the way.”
        Violet nodded as the two of them approached. A security officer stepped across their path, but he was called off by the ship’s captain.
        “Mayor Nielsen. I wish I could say I was happy to see you again,” the gruff walrus said solemnly.
        “Please, just call me Rose, Captain Ardmore. I’m not a mayor any more.”
        “Eh, fine, fine, s’long as you call me Horace, ma’am.” He leaned to the side to look around her, eyeing Violet with doubt in his eyes. The last time she had met the captain, she’d had to soothe him over the dramatic scene Lily had made over breakfast. He still considered Violet to be a troublemaker.
        “All due respect, Rose, don’t you think she’s a mite young for what’s going on here?”
        “You handle your business, Horace. I’ll handle mine. So give me the long version of what you told me over the phone.”
        The captain nodded and waved her closer to the gurney. Violet tried to hang back, but Gran shot her a look and she scooted forward obediently. The captain nodded at a middle-aged koala with disheveled hair and a wrinkled doctor’s coat, and the woman pulled back the sheet from the body’s head and shoulders.
        “Frank Murray,” the captain introduced the dead man. His skull was split open right above his broken nose and his face was covered in blood. Shards of his skull were visible in the wound. Gran heard Violet gag, but the girl didn’t retch. It sounded like a near thing.
        “Roosevelt City resident?” Gran asked.
        “Yes, though that wouldn’t be enough reason to wake you up, ma’am. A federal warrant was issued for him yesterday. He’s an executive with ChloroPharm, wanted for a laundry list of white collar crimes.”
        “Murder?” Gran asked calmly. The blow to his head certainly didn’t look accidental.
        “Signs of a struggle,” said the koala doctor. “Broken ribs, a couple of claw marks, though not many. To be honest, ma’am, my best guess was that he was committing rape when this happened. Stateside forensics should be able to verify that.”
        “Rape?” Violet asked, confused. “Isn’t this his cabin?”
        Gran, the captain, and the doctor all looked at Violet. She should have looked embarrassed, but she straightened up a little under the scrutiny. The doctor made a sad sound and turned away toward the wall for a moment. Gran understood Violet’s confusion. She’d been confused at first, too, but had figured it out quicker. She gestured toward the open cabin.
        Violet looked where indicated, past the crime scene tape, the blood, the soggy clothes, and the woman in handcuffs, to the young bunny girl weeping in the corner with a blanket draped over her shoulders, a security officer sitting next to her awkwardly. Gran watched realization dawn on her granddaughter’s face.
        “Oh,” the teen said softly, then bit her lip, looking away.
        “So,” Gran said, clearing her throat. “Justifiable homicide.”
        “That’s for the jury to decide, ma’am,” Horace said gruffly.
        Gran nodded. “Of course. Thank you for calling me, Horace. I’m afraid this has deeper repercussions for my city than the less-than-tragic death of an obscure junior executive. What happens now?”
        “It took a while to get jurisdiction worked out, but Hawaii Police is meeting us in Hilo to take the wife into custody on a murder charge.”
        Gran nodded. “And the girl?”
        Horace looked a little surprised to be asked. He wasn’t very good at covering his emotions. That bristly mustache of his seemed to amplify every expression. “I can’t very well have her on the ship alone, ma’am. I’ve already contacted CPS. They’ll sort out next of kin, or take care of her until the trial is over if there’s no one suitable.”
        Gran scoffed at him. She lifted her cane and smacked him on the shoulder with it. She didn’t hit him hard enough to hurt him, but he looked startled none the less.
        “I won’t have one of my citizens suffer through an indignity like that, Horace. CPS is just as likely to toss her into an orphanage as they are to track down an actual guardian for her. The trial will take months, if not years. If I recall correctly, that young girl has an aunt and uncle in Willow Valley. Considering the circumstances, I’m sure they’d take her in. She can stay in my cabin for the rest of the cruise. I’ll have to rearrange her airfare back home, but you just let me take care of that. I’m not about to let one of my citizens fall into the system just because no one cared to look hard enough.”
        “Rose, like I said, I’ve already talked to Child Protective Services. What you’re suggesting isn’t exactly by the book.”
        “I’ve heard quite enough, Horace,” Gran said darkly. “You let me handle them. Shuffling her off into the system at the drop of a hat. Really.” She lowered her cane, though she was tempted to swat him with it again, and turned to the cabin door. A few years ago, she would’ve torn aside the tape and walked in there to sweep the girl away. It was the sort of thing that made for good television. She’d always been known as a woman of action, especially back in the days before she’d had the police department and city services in her pocket.
        Now, however, she looked at the tape she’d have to rip down and the blood she’d have to sidestep, and the puddle of rainwater on the floor and her hip ached in protest. For a brief, wild moment she wanted to send the ever-energetic Violet in there in her stead. No. Enough time for that later. She rapped her cane sharply on the deck floor.
        “Young lady,” she said, letting her voice project. Both the girl and her mother started and looked up at her. The mother was hardly a young lady any longer, but Gran didn’t begrudge her the delusion of thinking of herself that way. She looked pointedly at the younger bunny. “What’s your name?”
        The girl sniffed and rubbed her nose with the blanket. The security guard sitting next to her looked up at Gran and then quietly stood and moved himself off to the side. He didn’t have to look so thankful to be relieved from his awkward position. Gran glowered at him.
        “Ginger, ma’am.”
        Gran smiled. The little thing had some manners in her. She considered that nothing short of a miracle, considering kids these days the heavy scent of wine radiating from her mother.
        “Come along, Ginger. You’ll be staying with me until this whole thing gets sorted out.”
        Ginger blinked at her blandly. She didn’t just not understand, she had barely heard her at all. Well, a little dull confusion was to be excused, considering the night the girl had had. Gran waited patiently as the girl looked in askance to her mother, who had the decency to look ashamed and avert her eyes. Gran wasn’t sure what the mother’s part in this whole thing was, but she quickly concluded that the girl would be better off out of her mother’s custody even without the murder charges. Then again, it was all too easy to cast judgement in ignorance, so she stifled that thought. She’d know more soon enough, anyway.
        “It’s alright, young lady,” Horace said, his voice gentler than Gran had ever heard it, but then again, she’d never spoken with him under benign circumstances. “Mrs. Nielsen has volunteered to be your guardian for the next few days and see that you get home safely. I’ll have a crewman check in with you in the mornings and evenings, just to be sure everything is alright.”
        Ginger looked confused, as if she were hearing everything through a poorly tuned radio, her ears cocking this way and that as she was spoken to. She looked from her mother to the captain, then to Gran. Finally, she stood up and hugged the blanket more tightly around her shoulders. She glanced toward a pink, child-sized suitcase that sat next to a small dresser that served double duty as an end table.
        “M-my things,” she said hesitantly.
        Captain Ardmore smiled. “I’ll have someone gather them and deliver them to Mrs. Nielsen’s stateroom. You won’t have to worry about a thing.”
        Gran noticed the girl’s blush and wondered about it briefly, but the girl eventually nodded and padded across the room on bare feet. She stepped daintily around the pool of her father’s blood, her eyes glazed over as if she didn’t even see it, and stopped next to her handcuffed mother. Her face was a kaleidoscope of emotions as she looked up at the woman. Love, certainly, but fear, and worry, and regret, but mostly sadness. The heart-breaking tapestry made Gran wonder exactly what had happened to this family. The girl leaned forward and put her arms around her mother.
        “I love you, mom,” the girl whispered, then hurried out the door as the woman turned toward the wall to cry quietly. The security officer standing next to the sobbing suspect looked suddenly as awkward as the young gentleman who had been comforting Ginger.
        Gran turned toward Captain Ardmore and offered her hand. He shook it firmly.
        “Thank you, Horace.”
        “Rose,” the captain rumbled in reply, still sounding uncertain. He tipped his hat.
        Gran turned down the hallway. “Come on, girls,” she ordered, and they trailed her down the corridor.
        The trio was silent as Gran led them back to the elevator. It wasn’t until the doors finally closed that anyone spoke up. Surprisingly, Ginger was the first.
        “You really know my Aunt Hazel?”
        Gran arched an eyebrow, turning to glance at the girl.
        “You have good ears, young lady.”
        “I, uh. . .I’ve gotten good at being quiet and listening.”
        Gran nodded, heart breaking a little at the emotion in the girl’s voice. “I understand,” she said quietly, thinking back, for the first time in years, to her own mother and father so long ago. “Your Aunt Hazel was my campaign manager for my sixth and seventh terms. I haven’t spoken to her since before I retired, but she’s a smart and capable woman that I respect.”
        “Oh,” Ginger said softly. “She never talks about that.”
        There was a brief silence as the doors to the elevator opened. The decks were not quite as still as they had been when Gran and Violet had set out. Early risers were slowly beginning to mill about the boat. Gran led the girls toward the nicer section of cabins where their suite was.
        “Do you think you’ll be alright living with her and your cousins?” Gran asked conversationally.
        “Yes, ma’am,” Ginger said. Her voice was soft and even, not betraying much emotion. Gran wondered at her quiet resolve, but then remembered how calm Lily had seemed for the last month or two. She’d need to have a long talk with Hazel.
        They arrived at the door, and Gran swiped her keycard. She opened the door but didn’t go in. Violet looked up at her in askance.
        “I suddenly have a lot of arrangements to make, and it’s already well into the morning, stateside. Ginger, why don’t you go get some sleep on my bed until we work out the arrangements for tonight. Violet, I need you to walk with me for a while longer.”
        Ginger made a soft, uncertain squeak, looking into the huge suite. Gran felt a little guilty, leaving her alone with Peri and Lily, but it couldn’t be helped. She ushered the little girl into the suite, and closed the door behind her. Violet had wiped the confused look off her face, donning one of patience instead. Gran smiled, shuffled back down the hallway the way they had come.
        “Tell me why I took you with me,” Gran said softly.
        “I’ve been trying to figure that out this whole time,” Violet said. “I don’t like knowing I don’t have the right answer, Gran.”
        “Sometimes the wrong answer is better than no answer at all. But that’s a lesson for another day. I think, perhaps, you’ve been thinking about this too narrowly. What does Frank’s death mean for the city?”
        Violet fell silent for a long while as they continued back toward the elevator. Gran liked watching the girl think. She was critical and logical. Ostensibly, Lily had always been the smarter of the two, but neither one of the two girls was stupid. Lily could arrive at an answer almost instinctively, but Violet got there in her own time, step by cool, calculating step.
        “CholorPharm is a big part of industry in the city. You told me that they were the first major pharmaceutical or biogenetic firm to build a headquarters in the city. The other companies followed their example. Mr. Murray’s death isn’t the important thing here. It was his warrant that could really be a scandal.”
        Gran nodded approvingly as Violet fit the first piece of the puzzle into place. “You’re getting close. Keep thinking.”
        Violet frowned. She’d been pretty proud of herself for arriving at that conclusion, but set herself to thinking again obediently as their pace toward the elevator slowed. People were in the main areas now, and Gran moved through crowds slowly these days.
        “You said he was a junior executive!” Violet said suddenly, perking up.
        “So?”
        “Well, I didn’t hear what his warrant was for, but the captain said a ‘laundry list of white collar crimes.’ I don’t think a junior executive could get away with that sort of thing by himself. He was just a small piece of a bigger problem. I bet the whole company is corrupt.”
        “Not everyone. But enough,” Gran said, and Violet beamed with pleasure at her deduction. “And what does that mean for the city?”
        Violet frowned again, fidgeting as she thought and the two of them waited for the elevator again.
        “Didn’t ChloroPharm donate to your campaign? And Mayor Stoppard’s, too. And they sponsor a lot of stuff in the city, like that breast cancer run just a few weeks ago.”
        “That’s right.”
        “Well, have they been using dirty money for that? Is that how you launder money? I’ve never really understood that. But either way, it wouldn’t look good for you or Mayor Stoppard or the city, would it? You’d have to. . . oh.”
        Gran looked at her. Violet’s eyes were jumping left and right as if she were reading as she worked things out in her head. The elevator doors opened. “Oh what?” Gran asked, stepping on.
        “You’d have to take care of it. You can’t let the company collapse. It’s too important. You can’t let everything come out. It looks too bad. You’d have to clean house. Make a big deal about a few of them but hide how deep the corruption really went. Declare Frank Murray as a bad egg, along with a few other higher ups, especially the CEO and CFO. Then you’d be able to pull in good press about how you helped clean a good company of bad executives. Then you’d have to install people you trust in those positions you just emptied out and let them climb the ladder as you strongarm or blackmail the rest of the guilty executives into retiring.”
        “Control,” Gran corrected her.
        “What?”
        “Not people I trust. People I control.”
        Violet went quiet for a little while. She frowned a little. “People you trust would work, too,” she argued.
        Gran nodded, stepping off the elevator. “They would. But those people are precious few, and too important to put into a job like this. People I control are much cheaper and much easier to come by.”
        Gran watched Violet shiver. “Wow,” the girl said.
        “Was that a good wow, or a bad wow?”
        Violet considered the question. “Both. It’s a little heady to think about controlling people so casually. But it’s something I’d be a little scared of. Like a superpower.”
        Gran nodded. “You have to respect the power given to you, Violet. Too many people don’t understand that, and it destroys them in the end.”
        Violet nodded quietly. “I think I understand.”
        Gran smiled. “It both gladdens and terrifies me that you do, sweetheart. I wonder, do you think Wendy’s father would like to put his resume in for a position with ChloroPharm? Apparently, there are going to be a few openings.”
        Violet’s eyebrows shot up, first excited, then worried. Violet frowned.
        “You’d control him, then?” she asked, a little acid in her tone.
        Gran was impressed at how quickly Violet moved past what she wanted for herself to what would be best for Larry O’Donnell and his family. It would have been easy for her to say yes, just at the idea of having her new girlfriend move to the same city.
        “I don’t plan on abusing him, sweetheart. I try not to bring bad things down on good people. The things I sometimes have to do I do for the good of the city and its citizens.”
        Violet shook her head. “That sounds like something you’d say to the press.”
        Gran closed her mouth and considered her granddaughter for a moment. “Alright. I promise not to ruin his life for my own purposes. How’s that?”
        Violet softened a little. “Better.” Her eyes started to sparkle as she considered the prospect. “Wendy’s going to be so excited.”
        Gran smiled at her. “Do her father a favor and don’t spoil the surprise, alright? Besides, I still have to actually offer him the job.”
        Violet rolled her eyes. “No one refuses an offer from Mayor Nielsen.”
        Gran grinned. “Not if I can help it. Now go back to the room. It looks like I have a busy day ahead, and that girl needs someone to take care of her. I want all four of you to stay in the room, alright? Order room service and don’t talk to anyone but me or the captain.”
        “But. . .”
        “You can send one text to Wendy and that boy. . .” she groped for the name.
        “Joel,” Violet supplied.
        “Yes, Joel.” Gran frowned. Her memory rarely slipped like that. “You and your sister are going to have to miss a day with them. Ginger doesn’t need to be out on the ship with the police coming on board and the rumor mill working overtime, and I want you and your brother and sister to keep her company. It is quite literally the least you could do for the poor thing. Go on.”
        Gran waved her cane at the girl threateningly and Violet yelped, giggled and turned to go. She stopped though, turning back toward Gran with a faint frown.
        “Gran?”
        “Yes, dear?”
        “You, uhm. . .you didn’t have a man killed just so you had a legitimate opportunity to move my new girlfriend and her entire family to Roosevelt City for me, did you?”
        Gran wanted to laugh, but the question was serious. And besides, Frank wouldn’t have been the first reprobate she’d had to deal with in such a manner. But there were better reasons for such measures. Selfish choices always have consequences, after all.
        “No, Violet. Sometimes these coincidences arrange themselves. I just keep myself in a position to take advantage of them.”
        “Okay. . .” Violet said, not sounding entirely convinced. “And Mr. Ferris?”
        “Alive and well doing analysis for the Department of Defense, making a lot more money than he did teaching.” She conveniently left out her part in that arrangement, smiling benignly.
        “Oh,” Violet said, nodding. “Okay.” She turned to go again, then stopped again, those eyes flickering back and forth, showing how deep in thought again.
        “You never told me why.”
        “Hmm?”
        “You never told me why you took me with you today.”
        Gran smiled slightly. “I asked you to tell me.”
        “I know. I’ve been thinking about it.”
        Gran waited, but Violet didn’t say anything else. She wanted to hear Gran say it, she realized. Violet didn’t want to look like a fool if she was wrong. Gran acquiesced.
        “Every decision I make is for the good of the city, Violet. I sacrificed a lot to make Roosevelt City what it is today. I sacrificed your mother, God help me, and I nearly sacrificed you and Lily and Peri, too, before I realized what I was doing. When you get to my stage in life, there comes a point where you have to bow your head and give your power away. Everything I’ve built, everything I’ve worked for and sacrificed for. Everyone expects me to give it up and die quietly. Well, I’m not going to, Violet. I’m going to give it to you instead. Everything’s in place. You’ll go to college, you’ll intern and work campaigns for a while. City council will be easy, or perhaps the school board, though the actual mayoral election will be trickier. I have plans for that too.”
        Violet stared at her, mouth shut, face stoic, not giving anything away, but Gran saw the slight bulge of her nervous swallow.
        “And today?”
        “Your first taste of things you’ll be dealing with, Violet. The sort of brutal, unforgiving, tragic situations you’ll be in and called on to make a decision.”
        “What if I say no? What if I don’t want you planning out my whole future for me, just to preserve your legacy?” Violet bristled a little. Gran stared her down.
        “You won’t. Because you’ll think of me doing this for Lily instead. Or Peri. I only made the decision a few weeks ago, Violet. I can still change it. But you’ll think of Lily or Peri doing this thing instead of you, and you’ll realize you’re the better person for the job. Was I wrong?”
        Violet held her eyes for a long time. There was tension there, and rebellion. She wanted to say no. Violet hated having decisions made for her. It was one of the reasons she was exactly what Gran needed. Violet broke eye contact reluctantly, staring down at the floor.
        “No.”
        “Good. Now go see to that girl.”
        “Yes, Gran.”
        Gran made her own way down the hall to the business center as Violet turned back toward the elevator, a spring in her step. She decided to call Hazel first and start her long day on a high note, securing a safe home for Ginger. Her plan for ChloroPharm was already in place, anyway, and the adjustments she needed to make could wait until later in the day.

        Lily

        Lily woke up shivering. She was nude and alone, the sheet having been pulled off her at some point during the night. She rolled over, looking for Violet, and couldn’t find her. She sat up, fishing her phone out from under her pillow. It was still fairly early, but already too late for their morning swim. They’d missed it for several days since they’d started seeing Wendy and Joel. She shivered, thinking of Joel as she sat there nude. Her body ached for him. She’d actually dreamt of him last night, rather than Violet, and was still damp as a result. Though really, rarely was she ever not moist for him these days. Being with him put her in a constant state of frustrated arousal, and she was daydreaming about him whenever they were apart.
        She lay back down and stretched, brushing her fingers over her belly and down over the thin fur of her mons. Her body shivered, but she withdrew her fingers reluctantly. The rest of the family would be up in short order, and she still didn’t know where Violet had run off to. Anyone might walk in, even though it would really only take her a minute or two.
        She sighed, frustrated, and stood up. She glared at her clothes, wanting to walk around the cabin nude. When she had her own apartment, or house, or whatever, she’d never wear clothes. It was such a chore, getting dressed each morning. She bent over and rifled through her bag. She had to dig through a layer of discarded worn clothes to get to what was left of her folded stuff underneath. Her fingers found something folded and she pulled out a halter style sundress. It was baby pink, which was why she hadn’t worn it yet. Violet’s blonde hair and dark fur did much better with pink than her red hair and light fur.
        Still, the garment was pretty, and she could get away without undergarments. She wriggled into it and tugged it into place. She’d have to be careful about how she bent over, but that risk was half the fun. She wondered how windy it would be on the deck today. She grabbed hairbrush off the dresser and walked out of the bedroom.
        Peri was the only one in the main room of the cabin. He was curled up on the couch, thumbs tapping away on his phone, giggling quietly in intervals.
        “Where is everyone?” she asked, pulling the brush through her hair. It was snarled from sleeping in a ponytail last night.
        “Gran and Violet went out super early in the morning. Gran’s gonna be gone all day, but Violet’s on her way back. Ginger’s in Gran’s room. We’re supposed to stay in here all day.”
        “All day! But. . .wait, who?”
        Peri looked up at her, his thumbs still moving. “Ginger. She’s a bunny, my age I guess. She wouldn’t talk to me. Violet texted and said she’d be staying in our cabin and flying back with us from Honolulu. She lives in RC.”
        “Oh,” she said, distracted for a moment from the fact that she wouldn’t be seeing Joel today. She shook her head, still confused, trying to tug the hairbrush through her hair. “Why?”
        Peri shrugged, thumbs flying. “Dunno.”
        They could hear the sound of a keycard being swiped a moment before Violet opened the door. They both turned to her, with Peri even putting his phone down for the moment, expecting answers. 
        “Oh good. You got my text.”
        “Yeah,” Peri said. “Lily just woke up.” Lily glared at him, since his tone was accusatory, even though it was only just 7 am. Violet didn’t seem to notice.
        “Well, Gran wants us to stay here for the day. She didn’t say anything, but I’m kinda worried it might be tomorrow, too. Ginger. . .uhm. Her dad was killed last night. Murdered maybe. While, uh, raping her.”
        “What!”
        “Holy shit,” Peri whispered. Lily shot him a stunned looked, along with Violet. Their younger brother blushed. “Okay, that’s not fair, you guys say way worse stuff than that!”
        “We’re older,” Lily said sharply, but Violet waved her off. She shut her mouth, obeying Violet reflexively. Violet sat on the couch and Lily joined her, the three siblings sitting together in silence for a moment.
        “So yeah,” Violet continued awkwardly. “Gran doesn’t want her out on the ship with all the rumors flying around. She doesn’t need to be hearing stuff like that. And it’s not fair to leave her in here alone, so we’re supposed to keep her company.
        “All three of us?” Peri asked, sounding as dejected as Lily felt. She looked at him sideways, wondering who it was he was hoping to meet. The boat was in Hilo today, and she’d actually been planning on spending the day ashore with Joel, Wendy, and Violet. The cruise activities that had seemed cheesy or boring when she’d been alone and depressed had suddenly seemed exciting now that she had friends--especially a boyfriend--to enjoy them with. Walking on the beach at sunset with her hand in Joel’s and her face against his chest might not be the same as having her ass filled by his stallion cock, his rutting driving her face into the sand, but she was slowly learning to enjoy the slow sweetness of his courting, as much as it frustrated her needy body.
        The door to Gran’s room cracked before Violet could answer. A cute face poked out, eyes rimmed with red and crusty from fitful sleep.
        “Are you guys talking about me?” the bunny asked in a weary voice.
        Lily stared. Ginger stared back. The bunny squeaked and slammed the door. 
        “What was that about?” Violet asked. It sounded to Lily like she spoke from a very long way away. All she could hear was her heart thumping in her chest, and the distant, remembered squeals of that sexy little bunny girl cumming. She stood up so fast that her had swam, and barely realized she was panting. Peri and Violet stared at her, confused.
        She fidgeted for a moment, pacing a few steps, then twirling to face Violet, panicking. “I have to talk to you. RIGHT NOW.”
        She stalked into their shared bedroom, then slammed the door behind Violet, who stared at her, confused and worried.
        “Lily, seriously, what the hell?”
        Lily sat down abruptly on the bed and realized she was shaking. She bit her lip, staring at the closed door. Her body, already driven to a fever pitch by Joel’s insistence on a slow pace, desperately wanted to burst into Gran’s room and take that bunny she had so desired. The things she would do to her. She shivered, back arching a moment, the visions too vivid.
        “Lily?” Violet prompted again.
        She whimpered a little, fingers clutching the hem of her dress.
        “Violet, I can’t spend a whole day cooped up in here with her. I. . .I don’t know what I’ll do.”
        “I don’t understand, Lily. Have you met her before?”
        Lily barked a laugh and blushed, looking away from Violet. She didn’t know why she was so ashamed. It wasn’t like Violet hadn’t done the same sort of things. Forced her to do the same sort of things. 
        “I took her, Violet. That first night, when I tried to get you to. . .you know. After everyone went to sleep I went out on the ship. I. . .I went hunting. Stalking. I needed. . .something. I found her and I took her. I shoved my tongue in her and I made her squeal and in a weird way I fell in love with her and. . .”
        “And what?”
        “I needed her so bad, Violet. I started getting crazy looking for her. I thought she was the only thing keeping me sane while you weren’t there. And then that morning when you left me at the pool I finally saw her again and I saw the look on her face.”
        Lily looked up at Violet desperately, hoping she would understand. It wasn’t until she felt the tears dripping off her chin that she realized she was crying. Violet sat next to her and gently slipped an arm around her shoulders.
        “You realized what you’d become.”
        Lily nodded. “What I’d done to people.”
        “What I’d done to you.”
        Lily paused, squirming at that, looking away. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I can’t be in the same room with her, Violet. I can’t see that look on her face again. I can’t be near her because more than anything else, I still want her and it scares me.”
        Violet was silent for a long time. Lily stared at her own toes, still crying, but slower now. She tried not to think about the girl just two closed doors away from her. She tried not to think about how she wouldn’t get to see Joel all day, how she wouldn’t at least be able to bury her frustration into his chest and make him hold her again, and instead, would have to spend the entire day being tempted without his restraint to keep her in check. And of course, trying not to think about it, it was all she could think about.
        “Well, tough,” Violet said eventually.
        “What?”
        “Tough! We fucked up, Lily. I fucked you up and you’ve fucked up this poor little girl, but she’s way worse off than anything we’re dealing with. Her mom killed her dad while he was trying to rape her. I know we score pretty high on the fucked-up meter, but that’s off the charts, and I can’t deal with this by myself, so I expect you to suck it up and help me, okay?”
        Lily stared at her for a long time, so stunned that her tears stopped.
        “O-okay,” she said eventually, falling back into her habit of obeying Violet, which made things easy. For her, anyway.
        “Get up,” Violet said, her tone softer. Lily obeyed. “We’re going to straighten this out right now.”
        “What? N--” Lily couldn’t finish her protest as Violet grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room. Peri looked up from his phone, surprised by their entrance. He opened his mouth to say something, but the look on Violet’s face made him think twice. Lily was dragged over to the door of Gran’s room. It was unlocked. Violet shut it behind them.
        “Ginger?”
        “Stay away!” came a muffled voice from under the plush comforter.
        Violet released her and Lily whimpered quietly, rubbing her bruised arm. She stayed by the door as Violet went to the bed, sitting next to the misshapen lump in the middle of it. “Ginger, come on out. No one here is going to hurt you.”
        There was a pause, then the lump shifted. Eventually, Ginger’s ears and eyes poked out. With her lust kept--barely--in check by Violet’s scolding, Lily looked at her with new eyes and felt a deep sympathy that hurt her chest. The girl looked awful. She must have been crying all night, and there was still an abiding fear in her eyes.
        “She. . .she never actually hurt me,” Ginger said into the comforter. There was an awkward silence after the sentence, as if she might want to say something else. Not like Daddy, Lily guessed, her heart breaking a little more, her guilt over her selfish reaction twisting in her gut.
        Violet giggled. It was an odd sound in the heavily emotional atmosphere of the room. The soft giggle chiseled away at the profound weight on Lily’s chest. She wondered--hoped--it had the same effect on Ginger.
        “I bet she didn’t,” Violet said lightly, and both Lily and Ginger blushed. “Listen. No one here is going to hurt you. I know you went through. . .a lot. . .last night. More than I can really wrap my head around.” Ginger cringed a little, retreating a bit more under the comforter. Violet reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t promise to understand. But Gran told us to take care of you.”
        Lily smiled a little. “Believe me. In this family, we do what Gran tells us to.” Her voice shook a little, but she was slowly feeling more at ease under Violet’s guidance.
        Violet nodded “Exactly. So while you’re here, you’re our sister, got it? We protect you like family. We’ll take care of you, no matter what. You’re safe here.”
        Ginger stared at Violet. Lily watched, feeling a little bit out of place. No, not out of place. She felt like the villain. She felt like Loki, betraying trust for selfish purposes. She squirmed, lowering her eyes when Ginger glanced at her, and vowing to be the sort of sister Violet was promising she was.
        “Okay,” Ginger said eventually. There was a quiet sob in her voice. Lily looked up and the two were hugging, with Ginger shaking as she cried on Violet’s shoulder. Lily slipped quietly out of the room. Peri looked up at her in askance.
        “What was that all about?”
        Lily shook her head. “Nothing.”
        “C’mon, tell me.”
        Lily glowered, leveling a dark look on her little brother. “Why don’t you tell me who’s been visiting you in the cabin while we’re all out, then?”
        Peri blanched, then blushed, then ducked his head over his phone. “I’ll shut up.”
        “Good. And don’t let Gran catch you.”

        ***

        Ginger, Day 9, very late

        Ginger sat motionless on the floor in the middle of the family room, fidgeting with the sheets. Virtually everyone had offered her their bed, and every bedroom had a spare bed she could’ve pulled out and slept in, but she felt awkward intruding that way. Peri was the least terrifying of the personalities in the family. He was also the most distant. So she’d chosen to sleep on the floor in the same room with him. 
        Except she wasn’t the least bit tired. She’d slept most of the day, either curled up under the covers on Gran’s bed, or, when the old woman had finally come back that evening for dinner, curled up on a corner of the couch. Now it was after two in the morning. The family was dead asleep, and she was too restless to even lie down.
        She’d slept all day to keep her mind blank. She didn’t want to relive the events of that morning. But she had, even in sleep. She couldn’t keep Daddy out of her dreams. Only in her dreams, he was no longer her father, but a lust-driven zombie with a split skull. She shivered, choking on a sob, remembering the way she could see the grey mush of his brain as he lay there, sprawled and still on the floor.
        Why did you go so far, Daddy? I only wanted to give you what you wanted. You just wanted too much. She stared down at her toes, tears dripping off her nose. Daddy had loved her so much he’d wanted all of her. More than she was willing to give. And why not? She gave that much to Chloe. She let the older woman, practically a stranger, take her affection that far. Why not Daddy? If she hadn’t kicked him, hadn’t run, he might still be okay.
        She tried to feel the loss of her mother. She poked at the woman’s absence impatiently, but felt nothing but a dull ache. She wondered how long it would be until she saw her again. Trials were supposed to take a long time. Hadn’t the captain said it would take more than a year? Well. She didn’t care. A year was not long enough. Already this family had shown more care for her than her mother had. 
        No, that wasn’t fair. Her mother did care for her. It was Daddy that her mother had hated. She had been scared of the sort of love Daddy had felt for her. Her mother hadn’t understood, and she’d beaten Ginger to make her afraid too.
        Lily understood, she realized suddenly. She shivered at the thought. Yes, Lily understood exactly. Lily loved her the way Daddy had and Chloe did. More, maybe. Was that possible? It had to be. Chloe and Daddy were selfish. Not like Lily at all. Lily didn’t just love her. She cared more about how Ginger felt than either Daddy or Chloe ever did.
        Ginger moaned softly, then covered her mouth quickly. Peri slept, snoring softly with his phone dangling from his fingers just a few feet away. Ginger could hear her heart pounding in her ears as her body woke up to thoughts of Lily. In her mind, she vividly recalled the way Lily had shown her love for her. They had both enjoyed themselves, but Lily had been keenly focused on Ginger’s pleasure. She had enjoyed it so much it had scared her. Terrified her. Violet was the one who made her remember: Lily had never hurt her. She couldn’t think of anyone else that was true about. Lily had never hurt her. Lily loved her.
        Ginger realized she was standing up. She didn’t remember standing. She still had her hand clamped over her muzzle. Her other hand was shoved between her legs and she blushed in the darkness as she withdrew her fingers out of herself. She wiped her arousal on her nightshirt and wondered where her panties had gone. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to need them.
        She padded carefully across the room, the waxing crescent of the moon offering just enough illumination for her to pick her way around the unfamiliar furniture, to the door of Violet and Lily’s room. She cringed, the hinges complaining noisily as she pushed the door open. She stood still for longer than was probably necessary, but there was no sound other than Peri’s phone slipping out of his fingers. 
        She slipped into the twin girls’ room. It was even darker in here, nearly pitch black, the moon at poor angle to offer its silver glow. The first bed was rumpled, but empty. Both girls slept in a single bed together, she realized. No wonder they had been so insistent in offering her one. Even knowing that, though, she didn’t think she could accept one. She’d feel like she was intruding on their intimacy.
        Like I’m doing now. She stopped, realizing she was intruding into something almost sacred. Except she didn’t stop. She wanted to, but her body kept going, until she was right at the far edge of the bed, staring down at the two girls spooning one another. She shivered, jealous and lonely as she stood above them, cold when they looked so cozy.
        She licked her lips, staring at them. Her eyes adjusted to the deeper darkness of the room and slowly Lily’s features resolved. Her body reacted so intensely that she gasped. She knelt by the bed and leaned forward.
        What was she going to do? She didn’t know exactly. Wake Lily up? Beg her to love her again? Her body ached for the otter to take her again. She cursed herself for being so scared that day at the pool. She’d seen the hunger in Lily’s eyes, knew she would’ve taken her then if she’d offered. She wasn’t sure what had happened to Lily since, but she seemed more reserved now, when Ginger needed her most.
        She leaned forward, her nose inches from Lily’s, breathing the breath that she exhaled, letting the otter’s warmth fill her lungs. She wondered if she could wake her without waking her sister. She could slip out of her shirt, present herself somehow. Lily couldn’t say no then, could she? She’d have to love her then.
        Ginger crept a hand down her own body as she imagined herself doing such things. Waking Lily and giving herself to her. She tried to picture the things that Lily would do to show her love, but her imagination wasn’t up to the task, so she just replayed images from that one night, Lily jerking the panties off her butt and pushing her up against the rail so hard that she worried she might tip over. The fear of falling had been part of her terror, but part of her arousal, too. Everything about Lily was so raw, so intense.
        Violet whimpered in her sleep, a word half formed on her lips, and Ginger froze. She shivered and tensed, and felt her cunny squeeze around her fingers, making her moan. She was masturbating as she knelt, though she couldn’t quite remember deciding to shove her fingers inside herself again. She rested her head on the bed beside Lily’s and pushed her two fingers deeper, slowly starting again. Neither of the two sisters moved.
        A memory flashed into her head then, as startling as her mother’s hand across her cheek. She remembered waking up, her fur crusted with cum, her body leered over during the night. She remembered waking up cold and alone and afraid. She stood up suddenly, shaking, staring down at Lily with new eye.
        I’m just like Daddy, she realized with a strangled sob. Only, Daddy had wanted too much. Had gone too far. Had broken both of them in his mad lust. She sobbed again, and Violet shifted in her sleep. She yelped in alarm, then slapped her hands over her muzzle and ran out of the room. She tripped over a chair in her haste and fell to the floor with a racket. She whimpered as she skidded across the carpet, gaining a burn through her short fur. She clawed across the floor hurriedly and buried herself in the spare blanket on the floor, pressing her face into the pillow and crying.
        A light flicked on behind her. She didn’t lift her head to see it, but could see her pillow lighten at the edges of her vision. Someone was awake. 
        “What’s wrong?” came a soft, concerned voice. Violet. “I heard a noise.”
        “Me too. She’s crying again. In her sleep, I think.” It was Peri’s voice, thick with sleep and heavy with concern. “Go back to sleep, I’ll stay up until she calms down.”
        “Are you sure, Peri?”
        “Yeah, it’s okay.”
        The light went away and she heard the door to Violet’s room close. She sobbed harder, her whole body shaking. She could hear Peri shift as he sat up in the darkness. He didn’t sigh or grumble under his breath. He just sat there, quiet and awake in the middle of the night, making sure she was okay.
        She bit the pillow, crying and sobbing so hard her ears ached and her stomach hurt.
        She’d been about to throw that all away.

        ***

        Lily, Day 10, morning

        Violet finished the last bite of her french toast and brushed her mouth with a napkin.
        “Alright, I’m headed to the island,” she announced.
        “What? She gets to leave?!” Peri protested.
        “Gran already said it was okay. Wendy would never forgive me if we missed the observatory on Mauna Kea.”
        “Settle down, Peri,” Gran said, shooting the boy a look. He cowed under her glare and Lily had to stifle a giggle at his expression. “I’d still like Ginger to stay in the cabin, but there’s no reason you should all have to stay cooped up. Violet volunteered to stay in all day tomorrow so she could go to Mauna Kea with Wendy. I think that’s more than fair.”
        Peri rolled his eyes. “It’s just some stupid telescope.”
        “One of the most scientifically significant collections of independent, multinational research telescopes in the world,” Violet said, quoting Wendy. Lily and Violet both giggled while Peri just groaned.
        “Peri, I’ll stay in today,” Lily volunteered. “You sat up all night, so it’s my turn.”
        Peri perked up instantly. “Really?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. “You’re the best!”
        Ginger fidgeted in her seat, pushing hashbrowns around on her plate. Gran had insisted she order whatever she liked, but her toast was only half eaten, and she hadn’t even touched her eggs. “I’m sorry I’m such a burden,” Ginger said to her plate, sounding miserable. The table went quiet. 
        Lily wanted to say something, but she couldn’t find any words. Gran shared a significant look with Violet that Lily couldn’t decipher. Violet spoke up immediately.
        “Ginger, you’re not being a burden. If anything, I’d say we’re being a burden on you. We’re worried for you, and we want to make sure you’re safe and comfortable. If that means someone has to spend the day relaxing in this lovely suite with you, well, I think that’s a sacrifice any of us is willing to make.”
        Violet glanced in askance at Gran, who nodded. Lily frowned, wondering what was going on there that she didn’t know about. 
        “Besides,” Gran continued for Violet. “Lily was only planning on spending the day cooped up with her little boyfriend. She could just as easily be cooped up with him here. Right, sweetie?”
        Lily perked up instantly. “What? Really! I can invite Joel? You never let us have boys over!”
        “Just for the morning, sweetie, as a reward for volunteering for your brother. As long as there’s no funny business.”
        Lily shook her head quickly. She could scarcely believe her luck. Violet and Peri were staring in stunned silence too. “No, Gran.”
        “Good,” Gran said, dabbing her lips with a napkin. She stood. “Violet, sweetie, walk me to the elevator, won’t you?”
        “Yes, Gran,” Violet said, hopping up quickly. She stopped, looking back at Lily. Their eyes met, and they shared a moment. Violet was worried about how quickly she had volunteered to be alone with Ginger. Lily blushed and then quietly shook her head, hoping Violet would get the message that she’d be alright.
        Peri bounced out of his seat behind Gran and Violet.. Lily wondered where he was so eager to be off to. Or rather, who he was so eager to be off to see. She wondered if he had another boy he was seeing, or if it was the same one Violet had seen. Just how many things about her little brother didn’t she know? And would she really want to know them? She couldn’t help but make a face at the thought.
        The three were out of the door in just a few moments time as Lily bent over her phone to invite Joel over. She couldn’t believe her luck. She’d been starting to worry that she wouldn’t see him at all. She wasn’t sure what she’d do, not seeing him until god knows when. 
        Immediately, there was a knock at the door, and Lily stared at it in disbelief. But when she answered it, it was only a crew of the ship, coming to be sure Ginger was alright and comfortable. He left after only a moment.
        Lily turned around at the door, stealing a glance at Ginger. There was a tingle of excitement and a tingle of fear, thinking of both her and Joel being alone in the suite with her. She could sense wild fantasies teasing her from the edges of her imagination, but she’d gotten better about subduing thoughts like that. The look on Ginger’s face stopped those thoughts entirely. She looked despondent, and Lily felt a tickle of kinship in the look that she couldn’t quite place.
        Ginger stood up from the table and glanced up at Lily nervously, flashing her a shy smile but looking away quickly. Lily felt bad for staring at her, but couldn’t help it. There was something about the girl she wasn’t seeing, but felt like she should.
        Ginger moved to the couch and dropped onto it, curling up with her arms around her knees. Lily tensed a little, expecting the girl to start crying again. She’d barely stopped all day yesterday, even when she’d been sleeping. Lily could hardly blame her for the tears, but the sound had rubbed her raw. No one had listened to her when she’d cried, she thought, her own bitterness surprising her. Ginger didn’t cry, though, just sat staring right past Lily out to the ocean. The girl sighed a little, but no tears came to her eyes.
        Lily walked back to the table to finish her pancakes, but her appetite had disappeared. She poked at the memory of her own depression like it was a sore tooth. Not no one, she realized. One person had listened to her cry for an entire day, and offered not a single complaint. Joel. That thought was as sweet as the other had been bitter. She let herself smile a little, thinking of him, anticipating his arrival.
        She glanced up at Ginger, feeling on edge, like there was a word she had forgotten that she’d known for years, but couldn’t summon when she needed it. It aggravated her. She almost had it.
        A knock came at the door, startling them both. Ginger looked at her in askance, and Lily practically jumped out of her seat. She flashed Ginger a smile.
        “You’ll like Joel,” she said excitedly. “He’s the sweetest.” She practically bounced to the door. 
        Joel smiled at her sheepishly when the door swung open and she practically leapt into his arms. Joel caught her, as she knew he would, his firm hands on her waist, holding her so that her feet dangled off the ground as she kissed him.
        His lips were firm at first, disapproving, but he gave in after a moment, his lips yielding to hers, then his tongue pressing into her mouth. She shuddered with delight, wrapping her arms around his neck and enjoying the way his wide equine tongue filled her muzzle. She sucked on it, hungry and lewd in the way she knew both excited and worried him. He’d scolded her for it, but she’d never stopped. She made him fuck her mouth with his tongue, and it drove him crazy. She felt him harden in his jeans and she giggled into his mouth, then he tightened his grip on her waist and pulled her off of him.
        “Lily,” he said, breathless. “Calm down.”
        She batted her eyelashes at him and pouted, but he stared her down. She pouted again, sincerely this time. “I’m sorry,” she said, lowering her eyes.
        He lowered her to the ground. “Good girl,” he said teasingly, and she shivered, shooting him a glance. He knew Violet had used those words on her, and he knew how they affected her. He grinned.
        “That’s not fair,” she said.
        “Teasing’s half the fun of waiting,” he said countered.
        Lily was’t sure what the other half might be. She kicked the door shut, entwining her fingers with his and leaning into his tall form. He smiled down at her, bending down to kiss her forehead. She cooed, and was embarrassed at how stupidly sappy the sound was, but he didn’t seem to mind. He squeezed her hand.
        A soft sound came from the couch as Ginger cleared her throat. Joel froze, turning to see Ginger. Lily looked up at him and giggled a little to see him blush. He knew there was no hiding the bulge in his pants from the bunny sitting nervously on the couch. He shot Lily an angry look.
        “You didn’t tell me you had company,” he said evenly. Lily pouted as she watched his bulge fade. Both Joel and Ginger blushed as Lily made a point of staring.
        “Be nice to Ginger,” Lily said lightly, squeezing Joel’s hand. “She’s the whole reason you got to come over today. There was. . .an accident in her family. She’s staying with us until we can get her home to her aunt and uncle.” Lily turned and dropped onto the couch next to Ginger. She tugged on Joel’s hand, urging him into the seat on her other side. She shivered a little at the thought of sitting between the two people she desired most in the world. Well, aside from Violet.
        Joel sat beside her, a little stiff, keeping a small amount of space between Lily and himself, but he was still close enough that she could feel his warmth, and that was enough for her, for now. Joel nodded at Ginger offering the sad smile that held more sympathy than Lily had ever seen in any other person’s face. Joel was a deep well of sympathy, and it never ceased to amaze her.
        “I’m Joel,” he said softly. “I’m sorry to hear you’re having a rough time.”
        “Thanks,” Ginger said, not looking at him.
        Lily faced Ginger, leaning her back against Joel, who didn’t pull away. He was usually stern about overt displays of affection, not wanting to tempt Lily’s old habits too much, but he was being pleasantly lax this morning. He looped one arm around her midsection and Lily sighed at how warm she felt in his embrace. 
        Ginger stood abruptly, looking anywhere but at them, pacing a short circle and looking frustrated.
        “I’m. . .gonna. . .g-go take a nap,” the bunny declared, clearly groping for what she wanted to say. She stalked out of the room, clearly agitated, and shut Gran’s door behind her.
        Lily stared after her, confused. The tingle of recognition, of remembrance was there again, in the back of her head, annoying her. What was going on with that girl? Why did she feel like she ought to understand but was falling just shy.
        “Is she okay?” Joel asked, his voice hurt. He obviously thought that he had hurt Ginger in some way, but had no idea how.
        Lily shook her head. “No. Joel, it’s really way, way worse than what I said. I think it’s best just to. . .”
        Lily’s sentence drifted off. Give her some space. That’s what she was going to say. She remembered the last time she had been given some space. Violet had given her all sorts of space, so much space it had seemed like an impassable chasm, so much space she had drowned in it. The tingle of recognition finally blossomed, and Lily sobbed once in sympathy. She stood abruptly from Joel’s arms, alarming him.
        “I need to go check on her,” she said, low and urgent. Then she added, “Stay here.”
        Lily all but ran to Gran’s room. She made sure to shut the door behind her. She knew somehow that Ginger would never forgive her if Joel saw. The lump under Gran’s comforter wasn’t the bunny, but Lily had known it wouldn’t be. She hurried to the bathroom and thumped the door open.
        Ginger looked up at her, cheeks streaked with tears, shaking little hands struggling with the cap to Gran’s muscle relaxer. Lily swatted the bottle out of her hands, the translucent orange cylinder bouncing off the counter and rolling around in the bottom of the sink. Ginger started to protest, but Lily gathered her up in her arms, holding the shaking bunny tightly.
        “You’re not broken,” she whispered in Ginger’s ear.
        “Yes, I am. I’m just a stupid useless burden and you’d all be better off without me.” Ginger’s words were barely comprehensible through her sobbing. 
        “That’s not true,” Lily scolded her quietly. The bunny was alarmingly small in her arms, and was holding her so tight that Lily’s back ached from the girl’s claws. She sat on the lidded toilet, gathering Ginger up in her arms. “Lots of people love you, Ginger. I’m scared of how much I love you.”
        Ginger looked up at her, trembling. She sniffled, eyes blurred with tears. “You are?”
        Lily blushed, but nodded quietly. Ginger held her tighter, pressing her face into Lily’s neck again.
        “I. . .I need someone to want me. . .” Ginger whispered into her neck. She was confused, groping for something she knew. Lily knew all too well exactly what she meant. She pictured herself, nude, pressed up against Violet, begging her to do all the things she used to do.
        Needing to be wanted.
        With her and Violet, that had been too dangerous. They were sisters, and granddaughters of a powerful person and things were all too likely to blow up in their face. It would have been a disaster for either of them to give in.
        Ginger wasn’t her sister. She was just a scared girl who didn’t know the difference between physical desire and real affection. She was terrified no one loved her anymore.
        Lily leaned down and gently nosed Ginger’s cheek. The bunny made a soft squeak and looked up at her, confused. Lily smiled and lowered her face a little more. Ginger made a soft ‘oh’ of realization and lifted her face as well.
        Ginger’s lips were parted when their muzzles met, an invitation that made Lily shiver. She pushed her tongue past the bunny’s lips the way Joel had pushed his into her mouth. Lily had never spent much time kissing. With Violet, kisses had been passionate, hungry things, brief and violent, with no need for subtlety. Joel had spent the last several days introducing her to new ways of kissing. Sweeter and more erotic. Inexperienced as she was, she tried these techniques on the bunny in her arms, and felt Ginger warm in response. The bunny’s tears faded into a memory, and her arms wrapped around Lily’s neck.
        Lily shifted her hands as her tongue swirled around Ginger’s. Instead of the tight, restraining embrace she’d had, her hands turned to delicate caresses Ginger’s body. She was as gentle as she could manage, fingertips trembling, trying to express what she felt for Ginger through her touch, trying to communicate her care and affection in a way that the bunny could understand.
        Ginger shivered, arching into her body in a way that summoned memories of their first violent night together. Lily trembled, all her frustrated desires of the last week bubbling up to the surface all at once. Her body burned with lust, and now she had everything she wanted in her hands. She was going to have to be careful, she knew. Ginger was delicate, fragile. But it was suddenly clear to her that they both wanted and needed a connection like this.
        No, she realized, as her hands moved down Ginger’s body, gripping her tiny backside through a pair of khaki shorts. Not everything she wanted. She wanted Joel, too. That thought surprised her a little. The night before, she would have thought she wanted Joel instead. No. She wanted Joel, too. Selfish. Gran always warned her about selfish decisions.
        The door opened as if on cue. Behind it stood the consequences of Lily’s selfish decision. 
        “Uh, what exactly is going on here?”
        Ginger froze in Lily’s arms. Lily could feel the bunny’s instinct to bolt, but Lily shifted her hands, reluctantly leaving the girl’s rump alone to wrap slender her body up in her arms again. She could feel Ginger blushing with shame, hiding her face in Lily’s neck. Lily cooed softly in Ginger’s ear, hoping she was being soothing. She looked up at Joel and saw what she feared in his eyes. Anger, and hurt. He thought he’d caught her cheating on him. How could she explain that it wasn’t cheating? She was trying to heal this girl.
        And herself.
        That need in her had never really gone away.
        “Joel,” she said softly, trying to dispel his anger. She struggled for a way to explain it to him, but with Ginger in her arms, it was hard to focus. She realized suddenly that if Joel couldn’t understand, it would be his loss. She couldn’t abandon Ginger. Not now. She knew too well how that felt, she could remember seeing Violet reach across the table to take Wendy’s hands, just when Lily needed her most. She refused to do that to the girl after all she’d already been through, even if it meant losing Joel.
        “My whole life I’ve been used for sex,” she said suddenly. The apparent change in topic threw Joel off guard. “Violet didn’t really know what she was doing, but she used me, hard, for almost two years. And when she stopped, I was lost. I didn’t know how to live without it. And I know you’ve been trying to help me, in your way, but without realizing it, you’ve been using me, too. In the opposite way. You’ve been torturing me without meaning to by withholding it. It was for all the right reasons, Joel, but it was still torture. It’s still something I need. To be loved, physically, for all the right reasons instead of all the wrong ones. Ginger’s been through much, much worse, and part of it has been my fault, but I know that she needs to know how it feels to be touched with the intention of selfless love instead of selfish lust, just the same way I do, and you can stay here and be a part of it or you can leave.”
        The anger faded from Joel’s face slowly, replaced by confusion. The hurt remained. “I don’t understand,” he admitted reluctantly.
        They stared at each other for a moment over Ginger’s shoulder. Then Lily dipped her head and nosed the bunny’s cheek. Ginger lifted her head and they kissed again, Lily never breaking eye contact with Joel. You don’t have to understand, her eyes said. As her tongue slid into Ginger’s mouth, her eyes broke away from Joel’s, looking down his chiseled diver’s form. His jeans bulged as he watched the two of them.
        Lily’s fingers tightened, squeezing Ginger’s ass as Joel watched. The tall equine whickered softly, his voice tight. Lily smiled, then closed her eyes, giving all her attention to Ginger, knowing that Joel would either join or leave. If he left, maybe she could talk to him. Make him understand. Maybe not. If he stayed. . .
        Lily pushed her tongue deeper into Ginger’s mouth, making the little bunny moan around it. Then both of their ears perked at the sound of a hoof on tile. Then another. Ginger broke the kiss, crying out softly as new hands were on her body. Joel’s firm but gentle hands, stroking up her sides and down the girl’s back. Lily felt Ginger tremble and wondered if it was from fear or pleasure. She smiled up at Joel, whose eyes were still cloudy, reserved.
        “We need to talk about this,” Joel said tightly.
        Lily arched her back, her body pressing into Ginger’s. “After,” she whispered, and Joel nodded.
        Then their hands were working together, peeling the shirt off of the bunnygirl between them. Ginger lifted her arms, not resisting. The shorts were a little more complicated, but Joel’s strength took care of that. He lifted the girl by her waist and let Lily’s deft fingers peel the clothing away.
        Lily stood, stripping as Joel still held the nude girl off the floor. She was still wearing the simple sundress she’d picked out yesterday. Being cooped up in the room all day, she’d had no real reason to change. She slipped out of the single garment easily and stood nude in front of her two soon-to-be lovers. 
        “Oh gosh!” Lily exclaimed suddenly. Joel looked at her with concern. Ginger barely noticed, she was squirming in Joel’s grip and leaning herself into his powerful back.
        “We can’t do it here. Everyone’s bound to catch the scent! C’mon!”
        Before the other two could protest, she slipped around them and traipsed through the rest of the cabin, the indecency of running through the suite nude exhilarating her. She pushed open the door to their private balcony, pausing just long enough to see Joel exiting the bathroom with Ginger now in his arms like a rescued damsel, then slipped outside.
        She pressed her hands to the railing and arched her chest into the open air, shivering as the ocean wind embraced her nude body. She wished that they were asea, remembering the way the wind of the ship’s passage had plucked at her and Ginger that first night. Still, she was lucky enough that their balcony didn’t face the dock. Their only witness was the sea itself.
        Ginger squeaked as Joel carried her outside. He barely needed one arm to carry her little body, and Lily found herself wondering if he could hold both of them aloft at the same time. She’d have to find out. But not right now. She slipped past them and closed the sliding glass door. The empty apartment looked onto the balcony like it was a stage. She shivered at the thought, hoping there would be no audience to catch them.
        “Put her on the table, then strip,” Lily demanded. Joel hesitated. He didn’t like to be ordered around. Knowing that filled Lily’s head with all kinds of ideas. But no, for now she would be in charge. There would be plenty of time for Joel to dominate them both, once he got used to the idea. For now, he had to be led.
        Lily pulled herself up onto the patio table, taking Ginger into her arms when Joel set her down. She pulled the girl close, surprised to find her not trembling, but taut with excitement. Lily grinned.
        “If you don’t like something, tell me. We won’t hurt you. Joel and I both love you.”
        Ginger looked up at her. This time, the bunny did tremble.
        “You do?” she asked.
        Lily bent her head and kissed the girl’s lips. “We’re about to show you how much,” she said. Ginger blushed, but nodded her head, excited.
        Lily lay back, Ginger wrapped in her arms so that the girl was pulled down with her. The glass of the patio table wasn’t yet warm from the morning sun, and she shivered as the cool pane kissed her back. She pulled Ginger on top of her. The girl was pliable, willing, eager to be shown what to do by Lily’s hands. When Lily lifted her head, the girl was ready, lips parted, muzzle pressing forward, hungry for the kiss.
        As Lily thrust her tongue into the younger girl’s mouth, she realized with a touch of disappointment that she hadn’t waited to watch Joel undress. She’d spent so long lusting for what his speedos kept barely hidden, she was missing it finally being revealed. It didn’t matter, she decided. She was about to become intimately familiar with the thing. She shivered, wondering if he was as big as it had always seemed through his jeans.
        She heard his jeans unzip and imagined his thick shaft finally spilling free. Both she and Ginger shivered with arousal at the sound, the young bunny lewdly suckling on Lily’s tongue as it thrust into her mouth. Lily moaned, wondering where the girl had learned the trick. She slid her hands down Ginger’s bare back, grabbing her ass again hard enough to make the girl squeal, but she didn’t linger there, as much as she wanted to. Her hands moved further down and grabbed Ginger’s thighs, spreading them so that the bunny straddled her hips. She heard Joel whicker from a few steps away, and envied the show he was getting. Even in the dark of that first night, Ginger’s immature cunny had been smooth, plump, and perfect. He got to enjoy the sight in the full light of day.
        Lily scooted both their bodies down the table until her legs dangled off the edge. Her feet caught a chair on either side, giving her some leverage. She spread her legs then, her butt right on the edge of the table, and listened to Joel’s strangled groan. The display would be perfectly lewd, her own holes on display for him, her cunny desperately slick from a week of frustration, dribbling arousal down to make her asshole glisten. Ginger’s legs were stretched wider, too, and Lily wondered if her little holes gaped from her legs being spread so far apart. Lily held the girl tightly, and Ginger moaned in response, grinding her plump mons down against Lily’s. She nearly came, just from that. She wished she could convince Joel to take a picture right now. The lewd display, Ginger gaping, grinding down against her, would be enough to hold her over no matter how slow Joel wanted to go after this.
        After enjoying the sight for a long minute, or even two, with Ginger wiggling impatiently atop Lily, Joel finally stepped forward. Still thrusting her tongue into Ginger’s mouth, Lily didn’t see his approach, only heard, and then finally, felt it.  Joel stopped as his turgid, flared cock nestled up  between Lily’s spread legs. It throbbed against her perineum, aligned with neither hole, but drooling his precum onto both. He wasn’t wearing a condom, she realized with a thrill. She was going to get to feel his seed pump into her bowels, filling her deeper than even Scott had. She shivered with anticipation.
        “Lily,” he said quietly, voice tense and heavy. Lily was amazed that at even this stage, he could have reservations, be willing to talk her out of it. But she also heard the desire there. No, he didn’t want to talk her out of it. He just needed to be convinced a little more.
        She broke the kiss and Ginger whimpered softly, lowering her head to Lily’s shoulder and panting. The bunny’s hips moved constantly now, grinding against Lily’s sex in a way that was deliciously distracting, especially because of how it pushed her against Joel’s member.
        “Not just me, Joel,” Lily whispered, her eyes sparkling up at him as she nuzzled in Ginger’s hair. “Her, too. Touch her. Love her. And fuck me.”
        Joel blushed, something she’d rarely seen him do, but nodded. Lily felt Ginger’s body react as his hands touched her for the first time. She inhaled sharply and made a soft sound, arching her body in a way that pressed her mound more firmly to Lily’s. Joel leaned over them both, pressing Ginger’s much tinier body between them as his hands slipped around her. Lily shivered, her nipples stiffening as the backs of Joel’s hands brushed them. He grabbed Ginger’s chest with surprising gentleness, brushing both of their nipples. Lily quivered underneath them both, her body urging him to move both slower and faster. She desperately wanted him inside her, but she also never wanted this to end. She could live in this moment forever.
        Joel lowered his head over Ginger’s shoulder, kissing Lily firmly. Lily gasped, sucking on the strong muscle of his tongue as it thrust into her mouth. She closed her eyes, leaving her mouth gaping open for him as he fucked it with his tongue, the same way he had scolded her for doing earlier. Ginger whimpered, nosing her way into the kiss needily, and they both obliged her, turning their muzzles to greet her tongue.
        Lily shuddered, flexing her fingers on Ginger’s thighs, squeezing and spreading her as their three mouths joined together in a mess of tongues of varying sizes. Joel’s tongue dominated, large and strong, thrusting into each of their mouths forcefully, but Ginger was eager to explore too and did her best to keep up. The bunny was growing wild, excited, and darted her tongue everywhere she could reach.
        Joel shifted, pressing Ginger into Lily’s body more firmly and pushing the head of his huge shaft harder against her taint. She could feel his pulse through the tip of his cock, and it constantly leaked now, spilling out a thick mess of his pre that coated the nethers of both girls. Just as she felt the warmth of his pre-seed began to coat her lips, both Joel and Ginger jammed their tongues hungrily into Lily’s mouth. It was too much. She wrapped her lips around both wet muscles, not wanting to let them escape as her first orgasm crashed over her body. She grabbed Ginger’s ass so hard she knew she bruised the girl, but neither one of them complained. Ginger had learned Joel’s trick with his tongue and now the little girl was lewdly fucking Lily’s mouth as she came. Joel’s mouth was missing, now, and she couldn’t spare the thought to wonder where it had gone as pleasure raced through her body. She felt both her holes contract and spasm, their clenching drawing some of Joel’s precum into her body, and the juices that would normally squirt out of her met that sticky liquid instead of open air, mixing their fluids together..
        Suddenly, she felt Joel’s hands on her ass. She hadn’t even realized they’d left Ginger’s little body. She slipped a hand up Ginger’s back, cupping the back of the girl’s head and reversing the kiss, forcing her own tongue into the bunny’s mouth and fucking it just as hard. Ginger trembled and gasped in response, lips squeezing around Lily’s tongue as it thrust. Above them, Joel grunted in appreciation. His hands tightened on her ass.
        Oh, she thought, as she realized it was finally about to happen. Then, OH! Joel thrust forward. She’d teased him about this on several occasions over the last few days, telling him that when it finally happened, she wanted him to simply bury himself inside her. She wanted him to be merciless and fill her. She’d promised she could take it, all while Joel had smiled and tried to change the subject.
        He had remembered, that was certain, and Lily would have cried out in pain if Ginger’s mouth hadn’t been pressed so desperately to hers. Joel was bigger than Scott, bigger than Kailee, even bigger than Fiona despite the crooked, bulging head of her giraffe cock. Joel was all horse, like Scott, but he was a thoroughbred, longer and thicker. And he had shoved himself deep into Lily’s cunt.
        She’d just assumed he would take her ass, but she realized now they’d never discussed it. Of course. There was no Violet here now to claim Lily’s pussy for her own. Only Fiona had taken Lily vaginally before. She had seemed so big at the time. Joel seemed much, much bigger.
        The three of them stopped for a moment as Lily panted, trying to catch her breath, hissing through her teeth. Joel and Ginger both sensed her pain, and she felt Joel shift, about to pull out. She lifted her legs, twisting them tightly around his back, locking her ankles just above his tail.
        “Don’t stop,” she whimpered, even though the pain was evident in her voice. Joel hesitated, but Ginger didn’t. She buried her face against Lily’s neck, her little tongue finding new ways to entertain itself, stroking through Lily’s fur as the bunny’s small hands slid down to grasp Lily’s breasts. Lily had never felt particularly endowed when it came to her breasts, but compared to the preteen’s dainty fingers, she seemed full and mature.  
        Joel grunted softly and Lily smiled to herself. Boys could never resist the sight of two girls being intimate. She silently thanked Violet for that little lesson as she shifted her hands on Ginger’s backside. As Joel stood, removing his weight from Ginger’s back, Lily pushed, sliding her further down until her butt was over Lily’s thighs, most of her weight over the edge of the table.
        “Sit up,” she whispered in the girl’s ear. Ginger squeaked, reluctant and confused, but she obeyed. She sat up, and Joel caught her in his arms. With her legs still spread over Lily’s thighs, the little girl’s weight dipped so that her cunny rested on the base of Joel’s shaft. Both of Lily’s lovers moaned from the contact. Lily smiled. From her position, it looked like the preteen bunny was riding her cowgirl style.
        The angle of their combined weight made the table teeter precariously underneath Lily’s back. Joel wrapped one arm around Ginger’s body and leaned forward, placing his other hand on the glass by Lily’s hip to keep the table in place. Then he looked Lily in the eyes and pushed deeper.
        He was more gentle this time. He didn’t thrust but instead slowly sank into her, filling her more and more as Ginger cried out, feeling his shaft slide along her lips. Lily imagined Ginger’s juices being driven into her by Joel’s shaft and shivered with delight. She couldn’t imagine anything more illicitly intimate.
        Joel held Ginger firmly as he continued to push and Lily gasped with slight pain as the flared tip of Joel’s cock bumped her cervix. At the same time, his medial ring nestled against her obscenely stretched lips. She pouted. Only half of him! She resolved to do better next time, when he took her other hole.
        “Lily,” Joel whispered, shivering. Even as he said her name, she could feel his pulse race inside her body, his cock swelling slightly. He was just as pent up as she was. He wouldn’t last long.
        “Say her name, too,” Lily insisted.
        “G-ginger,” Joel groaned hoarsely as he began to draw back. Lily moaned with pleasure at the sound of the little bunny’s name. Ginger moaned, too, and mewled and squirmed. Lily doubted the bunny had even heard him, and imagined how massive Joel must feel behind her back and between her legs. She’d always felt small in Joel’s arms, and Ginger was small in hers. 
        Joel’s flare tugged at her lips, stretching her and threatening to pop out. He pushed, filling her again, and all three of them groaned. Lily arched her body, moving one hand to rest on her lower belly, barely able to feel the bump of Joel’s flare as it thumped against her cervix. Her other hand slipped lower, two fingers deftly spreading Ginger’s lips so that Joel’s flesh rested against her inner labia. As Joel began to pull out again, Lily slipped her middle finger up against the girl’s clit.
        Ginger shuddered, lifting one hand up over her shoulder to claw at Joel’s upper arm. Joel held her tighter, pumping into Lily again, harder and faster, as the little bunny came atop his sliding shaft. Lily shivered, feeling Joel’s shaft slicker and warmer as it pumped into her, forcing Ginger’s juices inside her.
        Ginger’s orgasm subsided quickly and the bunny turned her head up to the side, straining her neck and making a plaintive sound. Joel ducked his muzzle and the two kissed. Lily gasped, mouth agape as she watched her boyfriend’s tongue fill the tiny bunny’s mouth in the same moment that his shaft pumped into her. She came for the second time, and this time her already stretched snatch clamped around the half-length of Joel’s shaft that was buried inside her. Joel whickered and pulled back, slamming his hips forward to fuck Lily harder. She‘d told him how hard she liked it, how she liked to be pounded until the furniture shook and scooted across the floor from the force of it. The table underneath them complained while both girls cried out in ecstasy, though Ginger’s cry was muffled around Joel’s tongue, which thrust into her mouth just as powerfully as his cock did into Lily’s body.
        Lily came hard, her hips bucking up off the table, her mons kissing Ginger’s briefly as the bunnygirl came too, both of them bathing Joel’s pumping cock and each other’s nethers in a hot wash of girlcum. Distantly, Lily remembered how difficult it had been to coax the bunny into squirting last time. She’d already coated Joel’s shaft in her juices twice so far.
        Lily winced, her third orgasm tinged with pain as Joel pounded into her. Her whole body shook as the flat tip of his cock thumped repeatedly against her cervix. He was wild now, neighing frantically, the muscles in his arms and shoulders cording impressively as his body bunched and he rutted into Lily’s body. Ginger fell forward as Joel let her go, gripping the edge of the table with both hands. The bunny kissed Lily desperately, but she barely noticed, leaving her mouth open for the bunny to have her way with it as Joel’s forceful rutting drove away any thought besides pleasure and pain. 
        Lily clutched the bunny girl to her body, desperate for something to hang on to. The table scraped across the patio and thumped against the wall of the adjoining balcony. It creaked as Joel pummeled Lily as hard as she’d dreamed of last night. Then suddenly, Joel tossed his head back and whinnied, his glasses flying off his nose and skidding to the floor as he buried himself in Lily, flat tip of his equine cock jammed against Lily’s cervix as he shot his seed directly into her womb.
        Lily’s orgasm abated just as his arrived and she gasped as her whole body felt suffuse with warmth from the inside. She felt each thick jet of his cum into her body, felt her womb fill and the seed spill into her vagina and then out her stretched lips and still he shot spurt after spurt into her, his entire body taut, the muscles in his neck straining, his cum spilling over the edge of the table to drip obscenely onto the floor.
        Then he collapsed onto the two embracing girls, limp, his breath so ragged and deep that he sounded like a wild animal. Lily trembled underneath the both of them, her cunny still twitching, squeezing, even though her orgasm had passed, milking the huge thing inside of her, her body trembling when she felt the last weak spurts of his cum empty inside of her.
        He softened quickly and Lily gasped as she felt the limp length of his huge cock slide out of her. It slapped the table with a lewd, wet sound then fell between his thighs.
        They lay like that for minutes past anything Lily could count. She was pinned beneath them both, hugging her arms and legs around Joel as Ginger quivered in between them. The bunny’s breathing was low and steady, and Lily wondered if she’d passed out or possibly fallen asleep. For herself, Lily just lay there, feeling the cooling cum pour out of her stretched lips and listening to the breathing of her two lovers and the sigh of the waves far below. 
        Eventually, Joel stood. He gripped Lily’s body and pushed her gently toward the middle of the table so that she and Ginger could lie there without tipping the table over. She smiled at him then blushed as she realized the motion left a streak of cum on the glass. Joel leaned with one hand on the railing, his eyes gazing at both girls--and not their faces--as he tucked his limp cock carefully into his sheath, part of his length still protruding even so, which explained why his speedos always bulged so prominently.
        His eyes flicked up to meet hers and they shared a smile, the intimacy of the quiet exchange enough to make Lily shiver. He nodded toward the suite, indicating he needed to clean up, and she nodded, simply content to lay there and hold an unconscious bunny on top of her for a while.
        “Lily,” Joel said softly. Lily’s eyes fluttered open. She’d fallen asleep. Ginger’s cheek rested on one of her breasts, the little bun snoring adorably. Lily felt cold and sunbaked at the same time. Her nethers ached, and she desperately wanted to shower.
        “I have to go, are you two going to be okay?”
        Lily blinked at him. He was dressed and urgent, like someone who’d woken up and realized they’d never set an alarm the night before.
        “Go? Where?”
        “I have an appointment, and it’s really important that I’m not late.”
        She nodded, head still a little cloudy from satiation and sleep. His hair was dry, so he hadn’t showered. She must not’ve slept too long, just deeply. She giggled a little at the way his glasses were crooked on his nose, misaligned from being tossed off his face. 
        “I hate to leave you two to clean up, you know how important this is.”
        She shook her head, senses slowly returning. “Don’t be silly, Joel. This is a cruise vacation. Who could you possibly have an appointment with?”
        Joel looked at her, confused. “I thought you knew. I have a meeting with your grandmother.”
        “WHAT!” Lily squealed, jerking Ginger out of her sleep, which was good because in the next moment, she sat up straight. The bunny toppled off her, but landed adroitly on her feet, Joel helping her keep her balance.
        “Huh?” the bunny said, rubbing her eyes with her fists.
        “Joel, you can’t! I don’t care what you have to do! You can’t go! Lie or something or fall down some stairs and break your leg, but you can’t go to that meeting! Not right now! She’ll. . .she’ll know.” She whispered the last part through her teeth, hissing the words and whimpering after them.
        Joel smiled at her. He thought she was overreacting. “Calm down, Lily. It’s just lunch. Trust me, I know how to win over disapproving parental figures.”
        “Joel--”
        “I’m going to have to run as it is. Listen. We still need to talk about this, but I love you, Lily.” He bent down, kissing her on the lips, then turned and kissed Ginger, too. The bunny squeaked and blushed, staring at him.
        “And you, too, Ginger.”
        Then he turned and darted into the suite and out the front door.
        Lily stared after him, feeling like she was falling, and wondering if it might be a good idea to actually fall over the side of the boat this time. Everything was about to come crashing down around her ears.
        Worse, Joel had no idea what he was walking in to. She’d disappointed Gran before. Suffered her wrath. Lily knew exactly what Gran was capable of. If nothing else, Mr. Ferris’s disappearance proved that.
        Joel had no idea.
        Poor bastard.

        ***

        Joel

        Joel checked his phone and jogged a little faster, skirting a corner too close and apologizing over his shoulder when he startled a couple who had been walking hand in hand. He was just barely going to be on time. Where had the time gone, anyway? It had seemed like he’d had all morning when he’d arrived at the Nielsens’ suite. Everything had gone by so quickly. It had seemed to take just a handful of minutes, but here he was, bolting down the corridor so he wouldn’t be late, not even enough time to shower.
        He chuckled softly at Lily’s frantic concern over the meeting. Then he frowned. If Lily hadn’t known about the lunch, where had Mrs. Nielsen gotten his number? Well, it didn’t matter. He hadn’t quite been telling the truth when he told Lily he knew how to make parents like him. It just came naturally. Phoebe’s parents had always liked him. They had seemed almost as distraught as he had been over the breakup. He’d known a few other parents to be disappointed when they found out that no, he really was there to just tutor their daughter.
        He stopped outside the restaurant to catch his breath and check his appearance. He tucked his shirt into the back of his jeans, wishing he had had time to not just shower, but change also. Gran had chosen one of the nicer restaurants on the ship for their meeting. It was nearly deserted. He was glad he’d chosen an oxford this morning instead of a t-shirt. He always liked to look nice for Lily. There was nothing to be done for his jeans, however.
        The maitre’d gave him a down-the-nose glance and waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. He smiled jauntily at the stiff man and walked right past him. Mrs. Nielsen was easy to spot, sitting at a small table by the window with a steam cup in front of her. She nodded to him and he walked over to join her.
        “Mrs. Nielsen,” he said with a smile, nodding his head respectfully before sitting.
        “When I was growing up,” the woman said, idly fingering the rim of her saucer, “My father had a saying. To be early, is to be on time. To be on time, is to be late.”
        Joel’s heart sunk a little. So much for being on time. “Then allow me to apologize for being late, ma’am.”
        “It’s alright, young man.” She raised her eyes, meeting his for the first time. She had a powerful gaze. He felt three inches tall, and hoped he didn’t tremble. Lily’s panic suddenly seemed rational, though he couldn’t quite articulate why. “You arrived exactly when I expected you to.” He stared at her, then blushed, realizing he was staring, and glanced away, ostensibly looking for the waiter. What had she meant by that, exactly?
        “And please,” she continued, “Call me Gran. I expect we’ll be seeing each other often enough that ‘Mrs. Nielsen’ will grow tiresome. I haven’t been called that in quite some time. For the last twenty-five years, when I haven’t been addressed as ‘Mayor,’ I’ve been addressed as ‘Gran.’”
        He smiled tentatively. Seeing a lot of one another? Every word out of the woman’s mouth seemed to be a riddle. He resisted the urge to twist in his seat. So much for winning over parental figures. “Yes, Gran,” he said with same respect and inflection he’d heard from Lily’s lips. The woman smiled slightly and nodded, as if approving of him, though somehow he felt certain that she didn’t.
        She lifted her cup, took a sip, and set it back down. Joel glanced around again, this time actually looking for the waiter. He didn’t even have a glass of water in front of him.
        “If you don’t know me by reputation, Mr. Hutcheson, let me fill you in. I was known for a particular style as mayor of Roosevelt City. It was a kind of style that kept me in office for twelve two-year terms and let me step down on my own terms, not someone else’s. A journalist put it best, I think, back in my third year in office. When journalism still meant something. Ruthless efficiency.”
        “Yes, Gran,” he said, because it seemed like the right thing to say.
        “You’ve spent five days with my little girl, Mr. Hutcheson. Most of her relationships, not that they deserve such a term, don’t last an hour. You can understand, then, why I took an interest in exactly what sort of young man you are. I took an interest, and followed it through with ruthless efficiency.”
        “Uh. . .”
        She cleared her throat. “Feel free to correct me. Graduated with a three point eight four grade point average. Quite good, particularly at Chimera Prep. The darkhorse, if you’ll pardon the expression, New Hampshire state diving champion, after failing to even make the qualifiers your sophomore and junior years. A passable lacrosse player, though it’s clearly not your passion. Early commit to Stanford on a diving scholarship. Clean driving record, aside from one warning for not wearing your corrective lenses. And a note from your headmaster in your permanent record about being worryingly listless over being dumped by your girlfriend of nine years. She was worried it would affect your performance on your finals. Apparently it did not.”
        Joel’s jaw had clenched slightly, trying not to reveal his incredulity over just what she knew about him. None of that information was particularly a secret, but very little of it, aside from his championship, was public knowledge. He’d known Lily for five days, and her grandmother now knew far more about him than she did. 
        “Eight,” he said quietly.
        “Hmm?”
        “Phoebe was my girlfriend for eight years. Not nine.”
        “Thank you,” Gran said with a nod. “I’ll try to remember that.” He had no doubt that she would.
        “You have a strong character, Mr. Hutcheson. That’s why I’m sad that you’re sitting across from me right now with the evidence of a weak will.”
        “Excuse me?”
        Gran leaned forward. Her tea was no longer steaming, and she pushed it aside. “I hope I have dispelled the idea that I might be a fool, Mr. Hutcheson.” A waiter came by and replaced her cool cup of tea with a hot one.
        Joel shook his head. “Ma’am. I mean. Gran. I never once thought you were a fool.”
        “If you didn’t think me a fool, Mr. Hutcheson, exactly what did you think of me while you were fucking my granddaughter in our suite this morning?”
        Joel stared. He swallowed, but his mouth was so suddenly dry that his throat felt like sandpaper. And the waiter still hadn’t brought him a glass of water. How could she possibly know? He’d run straight here from there. There’s no way she could’ve been to the suite since he’d left it. He remembered Lily’s panic, then realized she must be able to recognize Lily’s scent on him. He sighed and lowered his head.
        “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
        He offered no other words to his defense. Lily’s pleas had seemed to make sense at the time, though as he thought back, they hadn’t made much. She’d managed to convince him that continuing to abstain would be a cruel thing for him to do, and she’s used Ginger against him. He couldn’t stand the thought of being cruel, but he’d let himself be used. He waited for Gran to condemn him.
        She was silent for a long moment.
        “Look at me, young man.”
        He raised his head. Her eyes were stern.
        “Are you going to offer an excuse? The last young stallion I confronted was full of them. Desperate for me to believe that he’d been seduced. If you have a defense to present, young man, now’s the time.”
        Joel thought of the story Lily had confessed of her substitute math teacher, and imagined the other sitting where he was now, tripping over himself to save his career and his reputation. So far as he knew, Scott had been effectively exiled from Roosevelt City, and Lily had no idea what had become of him. He wondered what Gran would do to him.
        He shook his head. “I wasn’t raped, if that’s what you’re suggesting I say, Gran. I’ll own up to my own mistakes, thank you.”
        Gran pursed her lips, her eyes narrow. She stared at him for a long time, but he didn’t squirm. He had no secrets left to keep from her, that much was obvious. Eventually, she nodded.
        “Like I said. Strength of character. Yes, very good. It’s just that weak will we’ll have to work on, though frankly you’ve shown more backbone than most of the young men Lily has tormented. Tell me, Mr. Hutcheson, is Lily devoted to you?”
        Joel blinked as the conversation swerved, taking another unpredictable turn just when he thought he had a handle on it.
        “Pardon me?”
        “Is she devoted to you? You two spent five days practically inseparable and nearly chaste when she could have had any handful of wild adventures on this boat. I have to admit, the possibilities of a place like this didn’t occur to me when I suggested a vacation, but you proved remarkable in mitigating those risks. Is it because she is devoted to you, or now that she’s had her fun, do you think she’ll drop you as quickly for a new adventure?”
        Joel frowned at being assessed so bluntly. Was he just a conquest for Lily? It certainly seemed to Gran that he might be. Had he invested those days, that emotion, that care, to be played and discarded?
        “Honestly, Gran, I don’t know. I would’ve said yes until you laid things out for me so plainly.”
        Gran waved her hand dismissively. “Just because I’m a cynic doesn’t mean you ought to be, young man. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
        “I’m devoted to her. I wouldn’t presume to speak for her. She trusts me, I can tell you that without reservation. Most of the time we’ve spent together was spent talking. About each other and our pasts and what we want out of life. She’s very confused, but she’s been very honest. She got very scared after how things went with Violet, and she still sometimes feels like she’s broken, or has been thrown away, no matter how many times I tell her I don’t plan to set her aside. I guess that’s what they call fear of abandonment, but I’m not exactly a psychologist. No. I don’t think she’ll drop me, as long as she doesn’t think I might drop her. I just worry about what will happen when this cruise is over, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
        Gran shook her head. “No, son, I don’t mind. Thank you for being honest. You realize, Lily’s much too young to move to Stanford.”
        Joel blinked. The conversation veered again. He struggled to keep his footing.
        “Gran, I wouldn’t--”
        “Yes, yes, you wouldn’t presume, I was being facetiously rhetorical. You’re getting full tuition from Stanford, but you’ll still have to cover room and board. A full time job, a full time student, and participating in a championship-level Division 1 team? You won’t have much spare time.”
        Joel shook his head. “No, Gran. I’ll be lucky if I have enough time for sleep. I’ve heard the team at Stanford is very demanding.”
        “Peak University placed 13th last year.”
        “Yes, Gran. They approached me, but with their coaching issues, I went with a more competitive team.”
        “But none of the schools offered you a full ride. Tuition only.”
        He nodded, but didn’t need to. It hadn’t been a question. She knew.
        “I’ve convinced Peak to reconsider their offer.”
        “Pardon?”
        “You’ll have an apartment downtown, near the campus, rather than in the actual dorms, and I can arrange a driver if you need to get somewhere else. Young man, it is essential to me that you have a little more free time on your hands.”
        “I don’t understand.”
        “Lily is a wild thing. She’s what Violet made her, for better or worse. You’re the only person who has coaxed a little humanity back into her addled brain, and it’s something she needs desperately. Someone to be devoted to, who is devoted back. A real relationship. Someone with strong character. I neglected my family too long in favor of my career, and I’m trying--too late--to make things right. It’s why I retired. As far as I can see, you’re the only good thing for my granddaughter, and it’s time for me to use my ruthless efficiency to secure it for her. Mm. Let me put it a slightly different way. I prefer bribes over threats, but I use threats when necessary. Do you understand?”
        He stared, then shivered. He had never heard the threat of a threat sound more threatening. “Yes, Gran.” What else could he possibly say to that?
        “Good. I can have a lawyer draft your withdrawal from Stanford, if you like.”
        “No, Gran. I’d prefer to write it myself.”
        She nodded. “I thought you might. Mr. Hutcheson?”
        “Yes, Gran?”
        “I know it’s a challenge, but try to keep it in your pants for the rest of the cruise.”
        He laughed, shaking his head and smiling. “I’ll try.”
        She stared at him. He shrank. It wasn’t a joke.
        “Yes, Gran.”
        “Good boy. You’ll see Lily tomorrow. Thank you for meeting with me.”
        He bobbed his head and stood. He tried to walk out of the restaurant with a straight back, but it felt remarkably like slinking out with his tail between his legs.

        ***

        Lily

        Lily’s phone buzzed angrily on the counter. She wondered if it was Joel, but finding out would have to wait. Still, if he had managed to survive the meeting long enough to text her afterwards, that was good sign. She just hoped it wasn’t to tell her goodbye before he got enlisted in the Army and shipped off overseas or something.
        She turned her face out of the hot water and let it stream into her hair and down her back, her hands finding Ginger and pulling the wet little bunny against her.
        “I missed showering with someone,” Lily said with a giggle. Ginger smiled up at her, blinking rapidly to keep the water out of her eyes.
        “I never tried it before, but it is awful nice.”
        Lily bent down and Ginger’s lips were parted, waiting for her.  She turned their bodies so the water washed over their faces as they kissed. Her hands slid down Ginger’s nude body, gripping her backside. It was so perky and fit perfectly in her hands. It was going to be hard to resist when the others were around.
        “Are you doing alright?” she asked, nuzzling the bunny’s cheek.
        “I miss Daddy,” Ginger admitted quietly, resting her head against Lily’s breasts.
        Lily blinked, surprised. “Really?”
        There was a long pause. Ginger arms wrapped around her, holding on tight, trembling.
        “No,” she said quietly. “I just miss what I thought he was.”
        “Oh.”
        They held each other for a long while, the bathroom filling with steam.
        “I’m sorry if things were. . .wild with Joel. Everything made sense to me at the time. But now I’m feeling guilty. I think I, uh. . .crossed a line.”
        Ginger was quiet again, but then she turned her face up to Lily’s. They kissed, briefly, but Ginger’s half of the kiss was so intense that Lily trembled.
        “I like how you and Joel touched me,” Ginger said, so quiet Lily could barely hear her over the hiss of the shower. “I didn’t know I could be touched like that. It felt nice to be wanted without being. . .taken. With Chloe, I always feel like a thing, not a girl.”
        Lily’s ears swiveled, her curiosity piquing. “Chloe?” So it hadn’t just been her father.
        Ginger blushed and shook her head. “I don’t wanna talk about her right now. Or Daddy. Can you hold me some more?”
        Lily giggled softly and squeezed the girl to her body. The girl was so deliciously physical and sensitive and responsive. Lily was having as much fun being gentle and sweet with her as she had had fucking Joel with her this morning. The contrast was incredible, and the results were heady and intoxicating. It was a physical relationship unlike anything she’d ever experienced before, made better for being reciprocal rather than one-sided. There were queer echoes of how things had been with Violet, when she was still being used, but she was trying hard to not let things slip like that. Ginger was precious to her in a way that Lily had never been to Violet until recently.
        “We only have a little hot water left. I promise I’ll hold you all day once we’re done, but we really should wash up. I’m, er. . .filthy.”
        Ginger giggled. “You dripped all over the carpet.”
        Lily blushed. “Hush,” she chided playfully. “Though that reminds me, we should go over everything again in case we missed a spot the first time.” 
        “We’re almost out of paper towels.”
        “There’s more,” Lily reassured her.
        “Oh, okay. Good!”
        Lily bent down and kissed her again, shivering again at the way Ginger’s lips were always parted and receptive. Without breaking the kiss, she squeezed shampoo over both of their bodies. Ginger’s little fingers immediately began lathering her belly. She quivered, breaking the kiss to moan as Ginger giggled. Washing, she reminded herself sternly. We’re in the shower to wash. She reluctantly released Ginger’s ass, moving to the girl’s chest to lather her at the same time, pushing her gently back in the shower to get them both out of the stream of water.
        “Lily?”
        “Mmm,” she replied, as Ginger’s fingers scrubbed up her sides.
        “Is. . .Is Joel going to do that to me?”
        “Do what, sweetie?”
        “You know. Put his thing in me. That’s all Chloe ever wants to do. Is Joel like that?”
        Lily giggled softly, wondering more about this Chloe creature, who was apparently a herm. She turned Ginger to start lathering her back. She was so little that Lily didn’t even need to apply more shampoo.
        “Joel’s not like that at all. Today was the first day he ever put it in me at all, and you heard how much I had to convince him. Though, I hope he’ll do it more often now that. . .” she trailed off, then picked up on Ginger’s original question.
        “Joel’s not going to stick anything inside you unless you ask him to.”
        Ginger made a soft ‘oh’ at that and fell silent for a while. Lily knelt, lathering the bunny’s ass and cute little tail, then down her thighs. She couldn’t resist. Joel’s care hadn’t turned her into a saint, after all. She leaned forward a planted a kiss under Ginger’s tail, just a brief kiss despite how much she wanted to push the girl against the wall and eater her out as intensely as that first time. Ginger moaned and they both shivered, but Lily managed to withdraw, finishing scrubbing Ginger’s feet.
        “Do you think it’ll fit?” Ginger asked in barely a whisper as Lily stood. Lily turned around, just as much to let Ginger scrub her back as to hide her blush as she imagined Ginger’s tiny body stretched around Joel’s stallionhood.
        “Oh, probably not, sweetie,” Lily said as levelly as she could. She leaned against the wall of the shower and sighed as Ginger scrubbed her back. “But. . .we can always work on that. If you want to. If you’d like to let him inside you some day.” She didn’t say that she had no idea when some day might be. Stanford was a long, long way away from North Carolina.
        “I do,” Ginger answered readily. “I love him more than I ever loved Chloe, and it’s not fair if she gets to and he doesn’t.”
        Lily kept silent. She hoped she could teach the girl the difference between lust and love, but she wasn’t sure if she understood it herself, yet. Maybe Joel could teach them both. Joel had been trying to teach her for days, and she’d only just started to understand.
        Ginger was kneeling now, scrubbing down Lily’s thighs the same way Lily had done to her. And at the same moment, Ginger leaned in and pressed her lips under Lily’s thick rudder tail, kissing her tailhole. Lily groaned with delight and her cunny contracted in eager anticipation, spilling out some of Joel’s semen. Ginger paused, and Lily knew what she was waiting for. She was waiting for Lily to grab her head and push her there, make her tongue her tailhole and eat Joel’s stale seed out of her snatch until Lily came again and again on her face. And she wanted to. So deeply and desperately she wanted to. She curled her fingers, clawing down the shower wall, imagining Ginger’s hair between her fingers.
        Lily whimpered softly, and Ginger echoed her. The moment passed, leaving Lily panting as the bunny scrubbed down her legs. The whole moment had lasted just a few seconds. The touch of a tongue and a pregnant pause. She wondered that she’d been able to control herself at all. This girl was dangerous for her. Perfectly, erotically dangerous. 
        She turned as Ginger stood and the girl blushed as she looked up at her. She slid her arms around the bunny, the two embracing in a slippery, sudsy mess, and Lily pulled them both into the spray of water again.
        “Tease,” Lily accused playfully. Ginger blushed brighter.
        “You did it to me,” the bunny said, hiding her face.
        “Mm. Did you enjoy it?”
        “Which? You doing it to me, or me doing it to you?”
        Lily giggled. “You tell me.”
        Ginger giggled too, still embarrassed, pressing her blushing face against Lily’s flat breasts. “Yeah. Both.” 
        Lily reached up and grabbed the showerhead, getting the rest of the suds out from between their thighs and underneath tails, both girls shivering a little as she took the time to be thorough. She toyed with the idea of spending longer with the pulsating attachment. She’d certainly used it often enough of the last ten days. But just then the water temperature began to plummet, and she shut the shower off before it could leave their teeth chattering.
        Lily reached out of the stall and grabbed two of the thick, plush towels off the rack, dropping one on Ginger’s head and wrapping herself in the other. “We’ll order a late lunch while we finish cleaning up. But after that, we’ve still got half the day to kill. Any idea what you’d like to do?”
        Ginger made a muffled sound under the towel and pulled it off her head. It was big enough to cover her from shoulder to toe when she wrapped herself in it, which she did. Her cheeks were bright red, and she glanced up at Lily with a nervous smile. Lily giggled and bent down, biting Ginger’s lip before kissing her.
        “Naughty bunny,” she accused. “We’re going to have all kinds of fun together. . .”

        ***

        Gran

        “Thank you, Alan,” Gran said amiably, hanging up her phone just as Larry O’Donnell walked through the door. He had an anxious smile on his face and had no trouble finding her at her table by the window.
        “Mayor Nielsen,” he said, extending his hand. “It’s an honor to meet you in person.”
        Gran shook his hand and was pleased to find it firm and short. “You know me, then, Mr. O’Donnell?”
        “Oh certainly. I watched your keynote speech on hermaphroditic equality seven years ago. You’re something of an inspiration to me. My daughter’s had a hard time of things. Folks in Marblecliff. . . well, they’re a little hidebound. Thumb their noses at anyone they don’t consider normal. Even Chimera Prep doesn’t have third gender bathrooms, but every public school in Roosevelt City does. Things would’ve been a lot more comfortable for my little girl if she’d grown up in your city, ma’am.”
        Gran smiled thinly. “Your little girl?”
        Larry wasn’t abashed. He chuckled, in fact. “That’s taken some getting to used to. I raised her as a boy, and it’s been a struggle for all of us. Charming little Wendell turned into stunning young Wendy. I let myself be too guided by public opinion, when she was younger. I regret that. It didn’t make things any easier on her.”
        Gran leaned back in her chair, assessing and reassessing the man across from her. A man who made his living with his hands, keeping his head low. She hadn’t expected him to be so open. And he smiled a lot for someone who’d spent twenty years in a factory.
        “Your little girl has been spending an awful lot of time with my granddaughter, Mr. O’Donnell.”
        “Please, ma’am. Call me Larry. And she certainly has. I assume that’s why you had me meet you.”
        “It is, Larry. I’m very protective of my granddaughters.”
        He nodded. “To be honest ma’am, I was surprised when you told me on the phone that she was your granddaughter. I wasn’t aware you had any children, much less grandchildren.”
        Gran smiled. “Like I said. Very protective.”
        “Ah. Well, I can’t exactly make any promises on Wendy’s behalf. She’s a sweet girl. A lot like her mother. When she falls in love, she falls in love hard.”
        “And do you think she’s fallen in love with Violet?”
        Larry smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ma’am, I’ve never seen her more smitten, and I’ve seen her poor little heart get crushed often enough to know.”
        Gran nodded. “That was the conclusion I’d come to with Violet, as well. Violet has had an. . .interesting couple of years. To be frank, she’s put her family through quite a bit of grief, and she’s never really had a boy or girlfriend so much as she’s had. . .toys. In just a few days, your Wendy has become the steadiest, sanest thing in her life. Her mother is. . .mm, ‘absent,’ and her father is god knows where, and I’ve only recently realized how badly I’ve been neglecting her, and it seems to me that Wendy is a remarkable and much needed presence in her life.”
        Larry stared at her for a moment. She watched him, wondering if he would blush or frown. He did neither. He pursed his lips, then nodded. “Ma’am, I think you might be selling Violet short. She’s had a remarkable effect on Wendy as well.”
        Gran arched her eyebrow. “Oh?”
        He nodded again. “Like I said, growing up a herm in Marblecliff was a trial for all of us. Wendy spent most of her life trying to decide if she were a boy or a girl, struggling to fit in with either side and growing depressed when she couldn’t. I think she came to realize she hated being Wendell the boy. Wendy the girl was better, but only a little. Since she’s started dating Violet, she’s become a lot more comfortable being both--neither--genders. She’s more confident, and happier too.”
        “You don’t think that’s just the effect of being on the vacation of a lifetime without having to worry how her father’s going to pay for it?” It was a cruel barb, designed to see how he reacted to shame. He showed none.
        “No, ma’am, I don’t.”
        “So--”
        “Excuse me, Mayor Nielsen. I’m not the kind to interrupt, but I want to make something clear. I’m not a proud man, but I’m not ashamed, either. I don’t make a lot of money, but I work very hard to make sure my little girl doesn’t have to worry how her father is going to pay for anything.”
        She pushed back, testing him. “You’re very fortunate, then, that your daughter has wealthy friends to provide the things you can’t.”
        “Yes, ma’am, I am. I don’t bend over to accept charity or handouts, but I won’t be too proud to accept the things in my life that I’m in no position to provide myself. I’m also very fortunate that the sort of friends Wendy has aren’t the kind to rub my nose in it.”
        Gran arched her brow. There was no heat in Larry’s voice, just level matter-of-factness. When she pushed, he pushed back. He was right. There was no stubborn pride in him, and very little shame either. He was certainly an uncommon man. Honest, too. How unusual, how fortunate, that the two families her girls had gotten entangled with were made of such impressive stuff. But she wasn’t done prodding Larry yet.
        “Twenty years is a long time to devote to a company, Larry. And fifteen years to the other. You’ve seen a lot of promotions handed right past you.”
        Unlike Joel, Larry took it in stride when Gran pushed the conversation into a seemingly new direction. Larry closed his lips for a moment, and she could see him thinking carefully before responding.
        “I work very hard at my jobs, ma’am. I grew up believing that hard work would be rewarded.”
        “In a just world, it is. It simply seems to me that the two companies you work for are less than just.”
        “I don’t think that’s my place to say, ma’am.”
        “Come now, Larry. You’ve been honest with me thus far. Are you going to stop being honest to save face for a company that’s not even here to hear you kiss their ass?”
        He bristled at that. So there was some pride in him after all. She’d hit a nerve, and he seemed to have very few nerves to hit. His children, and his work ethic.
        “The last time I got passed over for a promotion, one of the suits from corporate came down and pulled me aside. He put his arm around my shoulder like he was my friend and did a good job looking sad as his said, ‘Larry, it’s never about what you know. . .’”
        “It’s about who you know,” Gran finished for him.
        Larry nodded.
        “Well, Larry. You know me, now. And I’ll be the first to tell you, I’m a very good person to know.”
        “Ma’am?”
        “You’ve been very honest with me, Larry, and I appreciate that. So I’m going to be honest with you. Nothing is more important to me than my family. It took me too long to realize that, so now I’m trying to make up for lost time. More than anything else, I want my girls to be both happy and responsible people. The only thing in on this green earth that I’ve seen make Violet both happy and responsible is Wendy. I’d like to make an offer to you in exchange for letting Wendy stay in Violet’s life for more than just the next couple of days.”
        Larry shook his head. “I don’t understand. We’ll be headed back to Marblecliff on Wednesday. I’m scheduled for two different shifts on Thursday.”
        “I know. That’s the part I’m proposing we fix. You said things would’ve been easier on your family if you’d lived in Roosevelt City. Well, I’d like to offer you that opportunity.”
        Larry chuckled. “Believe me, ma’am, I’ve looked. The cost of living is lower in Roosevelt City, but even out by the factories, the housing is much more expensive. Plus there’s the cost of moving. But even assuming I found a job, and an apartment, and the money to move, I simply couldn’t give up Wendy’s scholarship. I’ve thought about moving a hundred times, but it just isn’t in the cards.”
        Gran shook her head, smiling. “Forget the cards you were dealt, Larry. I’m not just suggesting you move to Roosevelt City, I’m offering you a job. I’m stacking the deck in your favor.”
        “Pardon me?”
        She leaned forward more, and as she hoped, Larry leaned forward as well.
        “I’m going to follow your admirable example, Larry, and be perfectly honest with you. There’s a corporation in my city on the verge of a major scandal. The verge of collapse. It’s the sort of thing that would be very damaging to my city and its reputation. Call it damage control. If I sit back and do nothing, every member of that board and every executive on that payroll sits a very public trial and ends up swinging while the company goes down in flames. I don’t mind the swinging, it’s the burning I can’t afford.”
        Larry shook his head. “I fail to see what this has to do with me.”
        “I plan on performing a little public surgery. Rather than letting the whole company collapse, we’ll extract the worst of the offenders and declare them a malignant tumor. Replace them, again, very publicly, with very honest men whom I can trust. The public is happy that the cancer has been cured, the company stays afloat on the backs of a few decent men, and the remaining tumors are ushered into early retirement and obscurity where they can face their trial in a much less public setting.”
        “You mean control.”
        “Hmm?”
        “You said men you can trust. You meant men you control.”
        “You’re right, Larry. That is what I meant. In my line of work, trust is something I can rarely afford.”
        “I’m not fond of being controlled. Besides, I don’t exactly have the pedigree to become an executive. I’m not a suit.”
        “I think you will do an admirable job. Plus, it will be good for publicity. I have plenty of folks with fancy degrees and rich daddies and that pedigree you mentioned. You’re an honest, hard-working man with a proven record of loyalty. The media will eat it up.”
        Larry grunted. “You didn’t address my other issue.”
        “Larry, if you’re not comfortable being a man I control, be a man I can trust, instead.”
        “So what, then? I quit my job, get installed into a window office in your city, smile for some cameras, and start collecting a salary?”
        “Don’t be fooled, Larry. I don’t expect it to be an easy job. I have no shortage of rich sons and judges’ cousins I could install into easy jobs in exchange for a future favor. This is going to be hard work and so I’ve picked a hard working man to fill it. Even after the media circus, helping a company this size run smoothly isn’t as easy as it looks in the movies.”
        “What about my children?”
        “Wendy will move to Griffin Heights Academy. Just as prestigious as Chimera Prep. More competitive, in some areas, notably life sciences, which I understand your daughter is interested in.”
        “And Vincent?”
        “Well, your son is technically an adult, but I can arrange something there if you like. Judging by the notes on his permanent record, he seems intelligent but lacks focus. It would be a simple matter for me to find him an internship with someone who would help provide a little direction.”
        Larry sighed. “Not just direction. Vincent needs to be whipped into shape.”
        “Well, Roosevelt City has a fine military academy, if you want to go that far. They would whip him into shape and he’d be on his way to earning an officer’s commission. Or, if you’re thinking of a more personal approach, a friend of mine is a retired three star. Eats nails for breakfast and breaks boys like your son for recreation, that sort of thing.”
        “An officer’s commission would be a good route for him, but I’d rather he went to school and got a real degree without risking his neck in the next war.”
        Gran nodded. “I’ll give General Carmichael a call.”
        “Ma’am, if you’ll excuse me for saying so, it sounds an awful lot like you’re trying very hard to convince me to sell my daughter to you.”
        “I regret that it sounds like that, Larry. Like I said, I am working very hard to give my granddaughter every chance at happiness. It’s my way of trying to atone for the neglect she’s been through. I just want to afford her the chance at a real relationship with Wendy without the complication of geography.”
        “Or finances.”
        Gran smiled thinly. Larry might be rough around the edges, but he was smart. “That, too,” she agreed. 
        “So what happens if they break up? When they break up? Am I shuffling back to the line?”
        “I don’t consider giving you this job a favor, Larry. Like I said, it’s going to be very hard, and very public besides. I think you’re a good man for the job, and that part of my offer is solely in self-interest. It has nothing to do with Wendy.”
        “But Wendy’s scholarship and Vincent’s job. Those do.”
        “I’m not such a hopeless romantic that I entertain the fancy of teenage romance lasting forever. If the girls break up, that’s their own business. I won’t take young heartbreak out on you, Larry. Or your family.”
        Larry leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. He was thinking again. She could almost read his thoughts in his eyes. She knew he had him hooked, but he was reluctant to give up so easily.
        “I want a house,” he said suddenly.
        “Pardon me?”
        “We’re negotiating, aren’t we? I’ve always wanted to own the ground I live on. I’d like a house.”
        “I’m not made of limitless resources, Larry.”
        “Ah, it was worth a shot. Still, I’d appreciate some help on a mortgage. I’ve been in debt a few times. I’m sure you know that. Plus, I’m not real good at negotiating.”
        I can tell, Gran thought. “I’ll put you in touch with my accountant. Like I said, Larry, I’m a very good person to know. Pretty soon, though, you’ll have your own contacts. And with your salary, you’ll hardly even miss that mortgage payment.”
        Larry smiled. “That’ll do nicely, thank you.”
        “You should call your former bosses and let them know you’ll be missing those shifts.”
        “I’ll be available in two weeks, ma’am. After a total of thirty-five years, it wouldn’t be right to leave them high and dry like that. It’s not the sort of man I am.”
        “I kind of expected you to waltz in there and do a ‘take this job and shove it’ routine. I’d say you earned it.”
        Larry just shook his head.
        “Larry, I’m going to need you sooner than two weeks. I can make the call, if you like. They’ll understand. Or if they don’t, I’ll make them understand.”
        “No, I’d like to handle it myself, thank you. Sooner than two weeks? I suppose I’ll see what I can do.”
        “You already have my number, but here’s my accountant’s card. When you’re ready, he’ll arrange your flights and a moving service. I’d rather you didn’t keep me waiting long.”
        He smiled and pocketed the card, then stood, offering his hand for another firm shake.
        “Thank you, ma’am.”
        “Thank you, Larry.”
        He turned toward the door, stopped, then turned back. “I just realized. I only own one suit.”
        Gran chuckled softly and picked up her small handbag from the back of the chair, fishing in it briefly for another card. “You’ll certainly be needing more of those, Larry.” She handed him the card. “My tailor.”
        “Thank you, ma’am,” he said again, then turned and walked out the door, his smile replaced with a thoughtful frown.
        Gran watched him go, feeling satisfied. Larry hadn’t been as easy to handle as Joel, but the man was intractable for all the right reasons. Having met and settled issues with both Joel and Larry, she felt a great deal more optimistic about her granddaughters’ futures. Her actions may have been drastic, certainly, but she felt they would be effective. 
        There were undoubtedly men and herms in Roosevelt City with as much moral fiber as Joel and Wendy, but the quetion was, could she afford to gamble on the girls finding them? Luck or fate had delivered these two to her girls, with only the issue of geography to be solved, and so she’d solved it.
        She glanced about and made eye contact with her waiter. It was getting into the afternoon, now, and the time for tea was passed. She had a glass of dry wine brought in its place and considered her third and final face to face meeting for the day. It should be the easiest, yet she was dreading it the most, because it was an issue that she had thought handled and ushered away. She hated it when loose ends she thought thoroughly clipped came back to unravel themselves again.
        Well, she wouldn’t complain, not about this, for it was the same force of fortune that had unraveled this thread as had delivered Joel to her little girl, and she wasn’t about to wish for that to be undone. She would take care of this swiftly and considerable a small price to pay for the things that had happened to brighten her granddaughters’ lives.
        She looked up toward the door as Janine Hutcheson entered the restaurant.

        ***

        Violet, Day 10, early afternoon

        Wendy squeezed Violet’s hand excitedly, glasses slipping down her nose as the cute geekmouse stared up at the white dome of Keck 1. She squeed and twirled, throwing her arms around Violet’s neck in a tight hug.
        “Eee, I can’t believe we’re here! Thank you so much for coming with me, Violet!”
        Violet giggled and squeezed the girl against her, wishing the hug would last longer, but in another moment Wendy was dragging her to the front of the tour group. More than a few people on the group had raised eyebrows or sniffed disdainfully at their brief but frequent public displays of affection through the day, and they didn’t stop now.
        “Anything for you,” Violet replied sincerely, pretending not to notice as an adult next to them rolled his eyes and grumbled something about ‘kids these day.’ Those sort of comments had made Wendy shy and reluctant to return Violet’s affection at first. It was exactly that sort of attitude that had made her life difficult in Marblecliff. But Violet had ignored them pointedly, going out of her way to show her affection and appreciation of Wendy’s sexuality, and Wendy had warmed to it, eventually learning to ignore the comments and enjoy herself. Wendy shifted in front of her a little and leaned back, and Violet wrapped her in her arms as the tourguide started talking about the observatory.
        Violet giggled softly, lowering her head a little so that her lips were by Wendy’s ear. The softly furred radar dish flicked a little as Violet nuzzled it. “I bet you know all this already,” she whispered to her little mouse. The tall white outer wall of Keck one stood to their right, with the rest of their tour group either to the left or behind them.
        Wendy giggled a little. It was true. The tour guide was talking about what a telescope was, why the Keck Observatory was important, what sort of discoveries it had made. Wendy had given Violet a much shorter and more interesting version three or four times in the last few days. “Hush,” the mouse said softly, even as she tilted her ear toward the nuzzling.
        So Violet giggled and kept quiet, but she couldn’t resist teasing her cute, nerdy girlfriend. Still holding Wendy around the tummy by her left hand, she let her right hand slip backwards, between their gently pressed bodies where no one could see. Wendy had wondered why Violet had asked her to wear a skirt. Because she looked cute in them, she’d said. And that was true. But there was another, more important reason.
        Violet felt Wendy stiffen as she slipped her hand up the back of her skirt. Violet held her tighter and gently tugged down the back of her panties. She could’ve easily slipped her hand down the back, but tugging them down, making Wendy feel exposed, was far more erotic. Her hand slipped between Wendy’s thighs, and her fingers touched the mousegirl’s feminine sex for the first time.
        “Oh!” Wendy squeaked.
        “Yes, ma’am, you have a question?” asked the young impala from the observatory who was serving as their tourguide.
        “N-no. Just. That was interesting, that’s all.”
        Violet smiled benignly at the impala from Wendy’s shoulder even as she spread Wendy’s lips apart and let her middle finger slide between them. Wendy hadn’t been aroused at all a moment ago, but now she was already slick and warm around Violet’s finger. Violet had been deliberately neglecting Wendy’s feminine sex since they’d met. Meanwhile, the number of blowjobs she’d given was nearing a dozen including one this morning. Wendy’s masculine side was sated, yet was nearly ready to explode, and Violet could feel it in the way her already tight cunny gripped fiercely around her single digit.
        She waited until the tourguide’s eyes moved on to another section of the crowd, then flicked her tongue in Wendy’s ear, licking for a long while inside it to see if she could get Wendy to make another embarrassing sound. The mouse’s lower lip was white as she bit it to keep herself quiet. Violet grinned and whispered. 
        “Would you like to cum for all these nice people?” she whispered in her girlfriend’s ear.
        Wendy huffed out a shaky breath through her nose and Violet could feel her squeeze even tighter around her finger. It wouldn’t take much to set the girl off. 
        “Y-yes,” Wendy whispered, barely audible. “But please. . .please don’t.”
        Violet giggled, tempted to make the girl burst anyway, but the tourguide wrapped up his preliminary speech and waved the group into the building. Violet kept Wendy where she was, making the crowd part around them as she gently withdrew her finger. She gave the mouse’s panties another tug and Wendy squeaked with alarm, squeezing her thighs together to try to catch them, but they fell to her ankles anyway.
        “Violet!” Wendy hissed, blushing and giggling both. Violet grinned back at her, watching the mouse have to bend awkwardly at the knees to retrieve her panties without revealing the bareness under her skirt.
        “Don’t pull them back up. I want them.”
        Wendy whimpered, looking up at her, but complied, slipping the now-damp cotton garment off over her shoes. Violet smiled and waited patiently, never breaking eye contact her little mouse. She lifted her hand to her mouth, slipping her finger between her lips to clean it of Wendy’s juices. The mouse whimpered, eyes widening as she watched before handing over the panties.
        “Good girl,” she cooed. She flipped up the back of Wendy’s skirt and gave her bare ass a firm smack, tucking the relinquished panties into her backpack. Wendy yipped, her long tail lashing, the blush in her cheeks never abating.
        Violet took her hand and smiled as if nothing untoward were going on. Wendy whimpered. Her breath was shallow now, and the first step she took was a little shaky. When they finally followed the group into the building, the impala was already well into his explanation of the facility.
        “Wow,” Wendy whispered, head craned back, her eyes glittering with an excitement that had nothing to do with Violet’s teasing. They were crammed into a small, glass-ceilinged room. Locked doors led deeper into the facility. The only stop inside the building for the tour was this room. Above them, the Keck 1 telescope was stored horizontally in a massive dome. It was pretty impressive, but Violet lost interest after a few moments. Cooped up in the room with Lily, Peri, and Ginger yesterday, she’d looked up a few videos of the facility. She looked off to her right and saw that the small dark line she’d guessed was a door frame, barely visible in one of the videos, was a door indeed, small and unassuming, probably a broom closet. She left Wendy staring and listening and skirted the edge of the crowd the few feet to the door. Everyone else, including the guide, had their necks craned to look up at the telescope. Violet tried the knob. It was unlocked.
        Wendy protested when Violet tugged on her hand, but Violet wasn’t about to take no for an answer. The mouse looked away from the telescope long enough to see what she wanted, then blushed at the gleam in Violet’s eye. Violet pulled again, and this time, Wendy let herself be led.
        The broom closet was quite tight, but that suited Violet’s purposes just fine. It held nothing but an actual broom, a mop, a single rack of shelves, and a small breaker box for the non-essential circuits of the facility. Wendy opened her mouth to say something, but Violet filled it with her tongue instead.
        With a quick flick of her fingers, Violet unzipped Wendy’s skirt and it fell away. Violet curled her fingers briefly around the mouse’s half-hard cock, and was pleased when it swelled to fullness in a matter of moments, despite the load Wendy had filled Violet’s throat with on the ship before the tour.
        Wendy pulled back from the kiss, panting raggedly, a string of saliva connecting their mouths. “Violet. . .” she started.
        “Shhh,” Violet cooed, unbuttoning her jeans. “They can probably hear us through the door if we’re not quiet.”
        Wendy whimpered, glancing nervously at the door, but nodded. Violet grinned wider. She knelt in the cramped confines of the closet and giggled when Wendy thrust her hips forward expectantly. She kissed the tip of the girl’s pretty cock, lips coming away with a dribble of precum down her chin, but shook her head.
        “Not this time,” she explained, tugging open the zipper on her backpack. “I promised I’d make you explode when I thought you were finally ready, and I wanted our first time to be someplace special. . .”
        She leaned in, nuzzling up under Wendy’s balls and lapping slowly at the wet fur to either side of Wendy’s labia, teasing her. The mouse whimpered, trying to be quiet, and tangled her fingers in Violet’s hair. She trembled. Violet knew she could set her off with just a lick or three, but that wasn’t her plan either. It wasn’t hard to find what she was looking for in the backpack. She’d only brought it because her plan wouldn’t fit in the tiny purse she’d brought along on the cruise. The old, beat up school pack held only her wallet, Wendy’s panties, and a specifically formed piece of silicone she’d spent a considerable amount of time and money tracking down and securing from among the ship’s other passengers. It didn’t have straps like she was accustomed to, but the older woman she’d finally bought it from promised her it would work the same--better, she’d said. She wished she hadn’t chickened out of packing her own from home. The price she’d been charged was exorbitant.
        She stood again, shivering as Wendy’s cock drew a line down between her breasts as the two of them pressed together in the tight space.  The mouse girl waited quietly, looking at her in askance but not saying anything, terrified of being heard. Pressed so tightly together, she couldn’t see the feeldoe waiting in Violet’s hand. Violet giggled in anticipation and pressed her body against Wendy’s. Both of their nipples were hard enough to be felt through their tops and Violet shivered when the stiff little points dimpled into the soft flesh of her breasts. Wendy’s cock throbbed against Violet’s belly, her masculine side as impatient and needy as always.
        Violet set the toy on the shelf by Wendy’s hip and reached up to grab the back of Wendy’s neck. The mousegirl squeaked at her roughness, then blushed, worried her squeaks might be heard. She parted her lips, anticipating a kiss, but Violet went higher, tongue darting in Wendy’s ear again to see if she could make the mouse whimper. When she managed to keep quiet, Violet whispered to her while her free hand urgently pulled her own jeans down over the plump curve of her ass.
        “Someday, we’ll have more time, and I’ll introduce you to some of the long torture Lily used to experience under my tongue.”
        Wendy moaned despite herself. A reminder of the things Violet used to do to her sister always turned her on.
        “Today, I hope you’ll excuse me being a little more direct.”
        Wendy bit her lip to keep from whimpering, nodding her consent, her eyes filled with excitement and confusion. She wasn’t sure what to expect. Violet retrieved the toy and slipped the ‘pony’ end inside herself. It was short and thick, and she shivered at the way it nestled right up against her g-spot, held in place naturally by her muscles. The other end protruded from her thighs like an erect blue cock nestled up right alongside Wendy’s own. The mousegirl gasped, glancing down at the thing, then up at Violet. Violet grinned.
        Violet slipped her hands around Wendy’s body, fingers lingering on her girlfriend’s ass, squeezing hard enough to make her shiver. Her fingers tickled down the cleft of the round cheeks then further down. She grabbed the back of Wendy’s thigh with one hand, pulling her leg up. They struggled a little with positioning--the closet was smaller than Violet had anticipated. But Wendy was also more flexible than she had even hoped. When the mouse’s ankle ended up on Violet’s shoulder, their eyes met and they both blushed. 
        Wendy twisted so that her body was perpendicular with Violet’s, and Violet wished she was in a better position to see the way her lips gaped with her legs split like that. Wendy’s cock bobbed awkwardly against the wall, no less rigid for the delay or confusion. Violet wrapped one arm around Wendy’s leg and curled the fingers of her other hand around the girl’s cock. Wendy whimpered in anticipation. Violet pulled Wendy’s leg toward her and shifted her hips forward, spearing her new toy at her eagerly, but it nudged Wendy’s perineum and slid to the side between the cheeks of her ass.
        Wendy reached down and grabbed the thing by the obscenely protruding tip to guide it and Violet squeaked as the motion made it twist inside her. With the next thrust, it sank deeply inside of Wendy and they both sighed as Violet’s mons mashed up against the inside of Wendy’s uplifted thigh.
        Wendy was a picture of tortured ecstasy, her lips white where she bit them, her eyebrows straining upward, her whole body trembled. She wanted to cry out and Violet wanted to make her squeal. How long before they would be in a place where Wendy could be as loud as she wanted to be?
        They stared at each other, their bodies still after the first moment of penetration. Violet desperately wanted to kiss the girl, which was a new experience for her. Kissing was usually the furthest thing from her mind in this situation, but now her lips ached to be pressed up against Wendy’s, their tongues tangling as Violet pulled her hips back for the first time.
        Instead, they just stared at each other, silent, panting as Violet drew back. Wendy made a muffled grunt and their nethers made a wet slap as they smacked together. Wendy broke eye contact then, closing her eyes and lowering her head, nails scratching at the shelf she was braced again. She was close. It was time to stop lingering. They didn’t have as much time as either one of them would like.
        Violet squeezed the girl’s cock as if to remind the herm of her other gender and Wendy whimpered obligingly. She started stroking, hard, squeezing the precum out of her shaft as she drew back again. When their cunnies slapped together this time, Violet no longer delayed. She leaned her body into Wendy’s leg and pulled her ass back, slamming the toy into Wendy’s cunt again and again. It was awkward at first, as Violet adjusted to the new toy, having to find a new way to get leverage without the straps, but after a few strokes she was pounding into her little mouse as hard as she liked, the only sound in the closet their muffled, urgent panting and the wet slap of their pussies meeting around the blue toy.
        Wendy came quick and hard after only a few strokes, her head tossing back and her eyes going wild. Violet felt it in the way the toy pulled out of her slower, being squeezed tighter by Wendy’s contracting muscles, and heard it in the arhythmic, staccato gasps of breath she sucked in through her nose. She leaned into her more, stretching her uplifted leg past the point of comfort to plow into her harder and was rewarded as a second trembling orgasm crashed through Wendy’s body. Wendy’s knee buckled as her hips bucked wildly into the paw Violet had wrapped around her cock. She would’ve fallen if there had been any room to fall, but Violet kept her pressed hard against the shelves, her hips not even pausing.
        As Wendy came and came again, her cunny clenched tighter around the toy and tighter still, and each time Violet pulled back, the toy pushed against her g-spot. Just a little, at first, but then more and more as Wendy came a third time. Violet gasped at the intensity, her hips trembling, stuttering, then pounding again, eager for more pressure on that sensitive spot. The pleasure took her by surprise. Focusing on Wendy’s pleasure today and the last several days had been so delightful that she hadn’t worried about getting herself off, but that rhythmic tapping against her sensitive internal nodule quickly revealed how pent up she actually was.
        When the fourth orgasm tore through Wendy’s body, she was already so lost with pleasure that it would’ve been hard to tell from looking at her, but Violet felt the exact moment it happened through the intimate tug on the toy inside her. The toy pressed hard against her g-spot on the next thrust, and Violet burst. She slammed her hips forward, the toy completely lost beween them as their cunnies kissed in a mess of juices and quivering labia and wildly contracting little holes. Their hips bucked together lewdly and neither breathed, the only sound in their little closet the sound of Violet’s hand pumping on Wendy’s turgid cock, and a moment later, her masculine side caught up and her hips twitched weakly as cum shot out of her to coat the back of the closet door.
        Neither one of them remembered to breath until their orgasms had passed completely. Violet sank back against the breaker box wall behind her, but had to pull her hips back and angle the toy so that Wendy, in her limp state, could lift herself off of it. With a little awkward, weak contortionism, Wendy managed to get her other foot back on the floor but still had to clutch the shelves to stay upright. They grinned at each other, panting for a moment before Wendy threw herself forward, their lips mashing together just the way Violet had longed for as the mouse girl draped her arms around her neck and leaned her spent body into her. Violet held her tightly, but had to brace against the wall to stay upright. She grinned, feeling Wendy’s softening cock drool obscenely down her inner thigh and hoped it wouldn’t be long before Wendy returned the favor.
        The kiss ended too soon, but ending at all would have been too soon as far as Violet was concerned. Wendy smiled at her shyly, biting her lip in such a cute way that Violet wanted to push her against the wall all over again. Instead, she reached down and gingerly slid the toy out of her as Wendy stared. It was the first time the mousegirl had seen her exposed, so she took her time, feeling her cunny warm all over again as she enjoyed the lust in Wendy’s eyes. Violet resisted the urge to giggle, watching Wendy inhale sharply as Violet gingerly splayed her labia, exposing as much of her pink inner lips for her girlfriend as she could manage in the cramped quarters. Wendy’s cock lurched as blood began to rush to it again. Violet reached down to her knees, pulling her jeans back up into place.
        “Aww,” Wendy pouted.
        Violet grinned. “Soon. We should go before we’re stranded on top of this mountain.”
        “With you? I wouldn’t mind.”
        Wendy stepped into her skirt and zipped it into place on her hips. Her cock, half hard from Violet’s little show, tented the front of it quite obviously.
        “Can I have my panties back?” Wendy asked plaintively, brushing at her skirt.
        Violet grinned, reshouldering her backpack. “No, I need them,” she said and Wendy pouted adorably. Violet made a point of wrapping their wet toy with Wendy’s panties before zipping everything back into her bag. 
        “C’mon,” Violet said, slipping a hand under Wendy’s skirt to tickle the underside of Wendy’s cock long enough to ensure it wouldn’t soften completely. Wendy whined, pulling on the hem of her skirt to keep the thing down, which only made the tent more obvious. Violet peeked out the door. The coast was clear. The crowd from the ship was outside, listening to their original tourguide explain the rest of the itinerary. The impala was nowhere in sight. Violet grabbed Wendy’s hand and the two of them slinked out of the closet. Violet glanced up, spotting a security camera that caught their escape. She pointed it out to Wendy, who blushed and covered her face with both hands while Violet blew the camera a kiss, then the two of them slipped out the main doors to join the crowd. Within a few minutes, they were back in one of the passenger vans, squeezed together in the very back, with none of the other tourgoers looking at them any more oddly than they had the rest of the day. They seemed to have gotten away with it.
        Wendy leaned her head on Violet’s shoulder as they bounced their way towards the visitor center that was their next stop.
        “Violet?” the mouse whispered from her shoulder. Her tone was nervous, like she’d been working up the courage to ask something. Violet tried not to worry what might be coming next.
        “Mmm?”
        “You said. . .you said you stopped what you were doing with Lily because it was too dangerous, too one-sided and hurtful.’
        Violet blinked. A hundred possibilities had rolled through her head in the brief silence. A question about Lily hadn’t even been one of them.
        “Yeah.”
        Wendy squirmed between Violet’s side and the wall of the van. “Do you think. . .do you think that might ever happen again? Like, if it were safer and more consensual.”
        Violet giggled, then turned her head. Wendy lifted hers to meet her, and they shared a brief kiss as someone nearby deliberately coughed and cleared his throat.
        “This sisters thing really gets your motor running, doesn’t it?”
        Wendy squirmed more, blushing so deep Violet could feel the heat on her shoulder.
        “Y-yeah. My brother’s a pig, but I used to fantasize. . .just a little. . .about having a little sister to, uhm, ‘play’ with. Plus, you’ve been driving me wild with all this dangerous, public stuff! I’ve never felt my heart beat so hard, thinking we might get caught. I think. . .”
        “Hmm? C’mon, you can’t stop now.”
        “I think it’d be fun to actually have someone watch.”
        Violet grinned, tugging on Wendy’s chin to keep the girl from hiding her face. They kissed again, and this time Violet didn’t hesitate as she shoved her tongue in Wendy’s mouth. The man nearby coughed again, so she put one arm partially around Wendy and turned, without breaking the kiss, so she could look him in the eye as they made out. He glowered and she glowered right back. Wendy whimpered in her mouth, blushing at being put on display. Violet lifted her hand and gave Wendy’s breast a slow, deliberate squeeze without taking her eyes off the man. Wendy made a surprised, erotic squeak around Violet’s tongue. The man blushed, grumbled something again, then turned away from them, his head ducked.
        Wendy was breathing heavily when Violet pulled her tongue away, the mouse’s hands clutched around the hem of her skirt to try to maintain her decency. Violet grinned.
        “Do you. . .do you have to rub their noses in it?”
        “It’s not going away just because they don’t like it. I’m not going to let some closed-minded asshole dictate who I can be affectionate with in public.”
        She said it deliberately loud enough for the closed-minded asshole in question to hear. Wendy squeaked in dismay, but a few other passengers chuckled. Violet kept staring at the man for a while, wondering if he’d have the balls or the gall to reply. He didn’t.
        She nestled in with Wendy again and sighed as the mouse slipped her arms around her neck. They shared another brief kiss and Wendy smiled up at her, her eyebrows uplifted as she awaited an answer. Violet eventually remembered the question.
        “I don’t know if Lily and I will be in a good enough place to do something like that as soon as tomorrow. But maybe sometime. Maybe soon. I’d do anything for you, Wendy, I think I’ve already said that a few times. But it wouldn’t be fair to Lily or Joel to rush back into that too fast.”
        Wendy bobbed her head, smiling, her eyes glittering with as much excitement as if Violet had said ‘Sure, as soon as we get back to the ship!’ Violet giggled at how much the very possibility excited her new girlfriend. She ached to tell her just how much time they’d have to explore exciting fantasies like that, but nothing was certain yet. Gran still had to talk to Mr. O’Donnell, and Mr. O’Donnell still had to accept--though he’d have to be equal parts insane and brave to turn the offer down. It would be bad luck to get Wendy worked up over it before everything was certain. 
        Wendy settled down with a little effort as the van pulled up to their next location. Neither of them moved as the van came to a stop. It took quite a while for the whole van to unload, especially since two of their group were Gran’s age. In all the bustle, Wendy leaned up to press her lips against Violet’s ear. Violet shivered as the mouse kissed her there.
        “I can’t believe you fucked me inside Keck 1.”
        Violet giggled. “Believe it. You certainly left your mark on the place.”
        Wendy giggled too, then gasped as she deciphered Violet’s deliberate wordplay. Violet turned to watch her cheeks redden for the nth time that day. It never got old.
        “I can’t believe you just let me leave that there!”
        Violet giggled. “It’s not like I had a towel handy.”
        Wendy groaned and pressed her face against Violet’s shoulder, both giggling and pouting. 
        “C’mon,” Violet said, tugging her girlfriend’s hand as it was finally their turn to exit the van. “Let’s get a memento from the gift shop to replace the one you left on the broom closet door.”

        ***

        Lily, Day 10, early evening

        Lily stared at the pages of her book without reading them, caught up in her thoughts. It was hard to sit still, her body afire with arousal, desperately horny despite the thorough satiation she’d received this morning. Of course, Ginger had been no help at all. She’d followed Lily around all day, quietly insinuating she’d be up for more naughty games. After cleaning up their mess, the two of them had set to tidying up the cabin, but it had taken up far less time than she’d hoped. Watching a movie hadn’t helped either, as Ginger insisted on sitting in her lap.
        Lily had tried to be good. She’d been better than she’d ever known she could be, resisting the little trollop all day, clinging on to the knowledge that Joel would be coming to Roosevelt City to be with her, that she had all the time in the world to explore him and Ginger both, and things would be sweeter for the waiting. All she had to do was go without fucking him for a few days. Gran’s orders. She could do that. She thought. But Ginger wasn’t making things easy.
        Now that Joel had agreed to be a part of. . .whatever this was they were doing, it felt wrong to exclude either of them. In Lily’s mind, they were like a couple, except with three people instead of two. Fucking Ginger without Joel wasn’t as bad as cheating, but it felt unfair. She’d tried explaining her thoughts to Ginger, and the bunny had listened patiently. She agreed. She wanted to do things with Joel, too, wanted him to be a part of everything.
        But Ginger also desperately, plaintively wanted to get off. Lily hadn’t had the strength to deny her that.
        Ginger had ridden her muzzle for over an hour. Lily shivered, still tasting her on her tongue, remembering staring up at her cute little rump and tailhole as the bunny bounced wildly on her tongue. Lily had strictly forbidden Ginger from playing with her, even though the bunny’s curious little hands were desperate to do so. They weren’t fucking, she’d explained, just getting the girl off so she could calm down. It had been torture for Lily, but she had endured it. Ginger had endured, too. For a full hour! After the first climax, Lily had thought it would be fun to count, thinking the bunny wouldn’t last long. After a dozen or so, there had started to be long pauses between, followed by two or three right on top of each other. She’d lost count. And during the last five or so minutes, Lily was fairly sure there hadn’t been a moment the bunny wasn’t orgasming, at least until she passed out.
        Lily smiled, feeling like she’d done something right for once. She’d been selfless, fulfilling Ginger’s needs and ignoring her own, despite the abject torture it had put her through. She had a nice, long date with the showerhead planned for later, though, as soon as anyone else got home and her duties as babysitter were technically done.
        She heard a card swipe at the door and sighed with relief, tossing her book down. She’d stared at that one page for at least half an hour, she was sure. She sat up on the couch, barely able to sit still. She was anxious to get to the shower.
        Lily stood as Violet stepped through the door. She’d meant to just say hi and run off to the shower, but she couldn’t. Violet had a looseness to her gait and a dreamy look in her eyes that bespoke of satisfaction. It was a look Lily had seen too often to ignore. It was a look that, at one point, meant her own release was about to be allowed. Violet hadn’t always tortured her with orgasm denial--just as often, she’d tortured her by seeing just how many times she could cum--but when she did, it was that look that meant Lily was finally going to be allowed to cum. That look combined with her own self-induced denial nearly made her cum right there.
        She stepped forward, eyes eager, the words to beg for permission to orgasm already poised on her lips by the time she remembered those times were past. The words died on her lips with a frustrated whimper as Violet stepped up close.
        “So your plan went well, I take it?”
        Violet giggled. She reached out and grabbed Lily by the hips, pulling her close. Lily rolled her head back and moaned softly. Violet had only grabbed her like that a few times since they’d decided that was one of the things that was still within limits. The rarity of the gesture made each one sweeter, more intense and erotic. She felt Violet shiver through her fingers and knew that her reaction, and quite possibly her needy scent, were getting to her, too. Violet’s fingers pressed into the top of Lily’s ass, then pulled her forward until their hips bumped. Both sisters sighed,and Lily wondered if her twin could feel the heat of her slick sex through the two layers of clothes separating their bodies.
        “Oh fuck, Lily, you have no idea. I know you’re in a straight relationship now, but you gotta find yourself a girl and try this toy out.”
        Lily blushed, her brain flicking through fantasies rapidly, of fucking Ginger with Violet’s new feeldoe, and of fucking Violet with it, and then of both the girls ramming two of the toys into her. She shivered and shook her head quickly to try to get the images out. She needed to sneak away to the shower. Like, now. Violet was too tempting in the condition they were both in.
        She didn’t pull away though, didn’t wriggle out of her sister’s hands or excuse herself or just push away and run for the shower like she probably should have. Violet would’ve understood, encouraged her even, turned her toward the shower and given her ass a smack followed by a teasing insistence that she enjoy herself, which she certainly planned to do.
        No, she stayed still in Violet’s hands, her breath short, panties wet, because she knew what came next and it happened too seldomly now for her to give it up, even once. Violet gripped her harder, then pressed against her, her tits covered only by a t-shirt squishing warmly against Lily’s flat chest as she leaned in.
        Lily sighed through her nose, lips parted, sucking Violet’s tongue into her mouth. It was going to be a sweet, long kiss, drawn out and exploratory. She wondered if she might cum, just from a kiss. If it ever might happen, it would happen now.
        Violet’s tongue stopped. She jerked her head back and gasped, confused for a moment, then her face darkened with anger. Violet let go of Lily’s hips and pushed her back by the shoulders. Lily squeaked in surprise and stumbled, her calf dashing against the coffee table as she fell back into the couch.
        “Lily! How could you! Oh my god, Lily we JUST talked about this! I can’t believe I trusted you! I believed you and I was fucking stupid for leaving you alone with her all day.”
        Lily stared, tears pricking at her eyes. Of course. Ginger would’ve been easy to taste on her lips. Lily’s whole face was covered with the girl’s juices, the girl’s scent, even after a good scrub. She’d meant to pull Violet aside and tell her everything--she really had--but not quite yet. She’d forgotten the mouthwash, and she’d been desperate for Violet to kiss her. She was always desperate for Violet to kiss her. And so her twin had tasted her secret right away.
        “What about Joel? What about what Gran did for you today? Gran! Oh my god, Gran is going to kill you if she finds out. Like dark alley and a hitman sort of stuff, Lily. Where--”
        “What’s going on?” Ginger asked, frowning and rubbing her sleepy eyes.
        “Ginger! Sweetie, I’m so sorry! Are you okay? I didn’t mean--”
        Ginger blinked blandly as Violet’s fast-paced liturgy changed topics, the bunny frowning as she tried to keep up. She looked from Violet to Lily, then gasped. She ran to the couch, jumping up to Lily’s side. Lily blinked at her, confused, then smiled. She’s worried about me. I’m crying and she doesn’t know why. Lily wrapped her arms around the girl, and she hugged her back. Lily laughed out loud, her voice cracking with a sob.
        “I’m okay, Ginger. Violet. We’re both okay. I promise. Can you calm down?”
        Violet stared at the two of them, still fuming, but trying to hide it for Ginger’s sake. Confusion flashed across her face as she watched them embrace, watched Ginger coo over Lily’s tears, then bury her face in Lily’s neck. Lily laughed at Ginger’s affection and the look on Violet’s face both. Violet bristled and Lily felt bad for laughing, but she rarely got to see Violet rendered speechless like that. 
        “If you don’t tell me exactly what the hell is going on right now--” Violet started, still reluctant to let go of her anger.
        “I’m sorry, Violet,” Lily said, dropping her voice to a quiet level and hoping Violet would too. She didn’t let Ginger go, or even loosen her grip. She held the bunny tight, and the tired little girl burrowed into a little ball in her arms.
        “I caught Ginger going for Gran’s pills this morning.”
        “What?!”
        “Shut up. You told me to explain, and I’m explaining.”
        Violet bristled again, but this time she backed down. “Sorry,” she said and paced in a circle before sitting down to listen.
        “I caught her, and stopped her, and it hadn’t occurred to me until just then how alike she and I are. Violet, she lost everyone she loved in the same day. I didn’t go through the same tragedy that she did, but I knew exactly how she felt. And, well, Violet, Ginger and I both know love through our bodies better than we do through words. Its how we’re used to people expressing their love to us. I’m not saying it’s right, or even good, but I knew Ginger wouldn’t feel love until someone. . .showed her how much they loved her. So I did.”
        “What about Joel?” Violet asked, her anger still simmering.
        “He showed me, too,” Ginger piped up, blushing.
        “What!”
        Ginger giggled and blushed brighter, hiding from Violet in Lily’s arms again.
        “Not like that, Violet. With his hands, with kissing and touching and being gentle where other people had been rough. It was. . .”
        “It was something I needed real bad, and Lily did, too, and Violet I really don’t want you to be mad at Lily. I wanted her to do all those things, even though I didn’t know what they were and I’m not mad at her and I love her so much and she helped me so much!”
        Lily couldn’t help but giggle at Ginger’s summation. Ginger turned her head up to Lily and Lily reacted automatically before she remembered Violet sitting right there, watching them. Her tongue slid into Ginger’s mouth, and the girl wrapped her arms around Lily’s neck, pressing against her tightly.
        Ginger pulled back sooner than Lily would have liked. Even with the interruption of the drama, her body still burned. Violet watched them, and her anger seemed to have evaporated, though she still had a stern look on her face, though the effect was ruined by how prominently her now-erect nipples tented her t-shirt. Lily shivered, fantasizing, wanting to do much, much more to Ginger for Violet to watch.
        Violet leaned forward and Ginger made a soft squeak. Lily followed the bunny’s eyes and giggled as she realized Violet’s earnest posture showed off cleavage through the stretched neckhole of her t-shirt.
        “Ginger, you know you don’t have to do what Lily tells you to, right? You can always tell her no. You can always go to someone else for help.”
        Lily squirmed, disliking the tone and insinuation in Violet’s voice. She was one to talk!
        Ginger, however, didn’t hesitate in her reply. “We talked about saying no. And talked and talked about it, all while we were cleaning everything. I can say no to her, Violet, I promise. I, uhm. . .she had to say no to me a few times today.”
        Violet blushed at that, and Ginger did too. The bunny glanced up at Lily and grinned. Lily had to restrain the urge to kiss her.
        Violet leaned back, still blushing. “So what about Joel? How does that work? Are the three of you a couple or what? Is there even a word for that?”
        Ginger smiled. “I wanna find out whatever the word is. Joel was so worried for me and so gentle when he showed me how much he loved me. And so big! Gosh, it was pouring out of Lily like, so much!”
        Lily squeaked, her face flaming red in a heartbeat. “Ginger!” Violet’s stern persona broke and she fell backwards in her chair, laughing. It was a full minute before she sat back up, having to wipe a tear from her eye. “Oh god, I bet it was. I hope you guys cleaned up.”
        “We did! There was so much we had to use a whole roll of paper towels.”
        “Ginger!” Lily squealed again.
        VIolet laughed again, then stopped, cocking her head. “Oh wow, a whole roll?”
        Ginger nodded and Violet looked to Lily for confirmation. She blushed and nodded, and the confirmation made Violet blush too. Her twin squirmed in her seat, anger at Lily forgotten.
        “Gosh, that’s even more than I could’ve imagined. Did it really come pouring out of you like that? Oh god, Lily, I have to see that! And Wendy. She gets so excited about you, Lily, we were talking in the van about--ohmygod, no not right now! This was supposed to be a serious discussion about consequences!”
        It was Lily’s turn to giggle. “It was, until you got the image of Joel seed pouring out of me stuck in your head!”
        Violet giggled again, then shook her head, glaring at Lily, though the look in her eyes was playful. “I’m trying to be serious. There is one thing I think you forgot to tell Ginger, based on how excitedly she described everything to me.” She looked at Ginger, and the little bunny quieted, squeaking curiously.
        “Ginger, this is really very important. You shouldn’t tell anyone about the fun you’re having with Lily and Joel, okay? You can tell me, but not anyone else. Lily could get in serious trouble, and Joel could get in even worse. So not your aunt and uncle, or your friends, and especially not Gran or Peri. If Lily does something you don’t like or without your permission or that hurts you, you can talk to me and I’ll handle it. But if you want this to happen at all, you have to keep it the biggest secret ever. A sisters’ secret, okay? Just the three of us can know.”
        Ginger nodded quietly through the whole speech, lips pressed together and eyes wide. She made a soft little chirrup at the end. “Sisters’ secret?”
        “Mmhmm,” Violet said with a smile. “Remember? You’re our sister now, and no matter what, we’ll take care of you. And that also means we can do things that sisters do, like have secrets.”
        Ginger made a soft ‘oh’ and nodded, her little butt squirming distractingly in Lily’s lap. “And kiss?” the bunny asked.
        Lily giggled at that, watching Violet blush deeply. Violet stood up and walked closer, then brushed her fingers over Ginger’s cheek before leaning down to kiss her. Lily couldn’t help but groan softly, her fingers tightening on Ginger’s hips as she watched Violet’s tongue slide into the bunny’s mouth. Ginger squeaked happily and Lily could see her lips close, hear the soft, eager suckling of the girl’s mouth. She tried very, very hard not to grind up against Ginger’s butt and failed miserably. Ginger’s ass was eagerly responsive, pushing firmly into Lily’s lap, adding just enough pressure to give Lily a real thrill. She was on the verge of cumming when Violet pulled her tongue back with a wet pop.
        “And kissing,” Violet said shakily. All three of them were panting. “But just kissing. I. . .the other things you two do, I don’t want to be involved. Wendy and I are exclusive, even when it comes to sisters, okay?”
        “Aw, you don’t want to be involved at all?” Lily asked teasingly. She’d managed to stop humping Ginger’s ass without actually getting herself off, but it was a near thing. “Does that mean you don’t want to watch?”
        Violet huffed, and all three girls blushed. “I didn’t say that!”
        Lily giggled. “Good! I know how much you’re dying to see Joel pump me full of cum. Now,” she said, gently setting Ginger out of her lap. Her khaki shorts were dark in the crotch with her arousal and she made no effort to hide it. “If you’ll excuse me, the showerhead and I have a date. Kissing like that, literally right under my nose! You two are mean, and honestly, I deserve a medal.”

        ***

        Violet, Day 12, early morning

        Violet woke quickly to her discrete alarm. She hadn’t been sleeping deeply, in any case. She reached behind her and quieted her complaining phone, then pulled the sheets snugly over her shoulder, shivering with cold.
        She was groggy, but had no desire to go back to sleep. The unfamiliar position in bed had made her sleep last night fitful at best, and besides, going back to sleep now was much to risky. It was 5 am, and they were scheduled to disembark at 11. If she fell back asleep, she just knew Gran would walk in to wake them up.
        And of course, she couldn’t risk Gran finding her and Lily sleeping with Ginger sandwiched between them, nude.
        She hadn’t realized how much she’d already gotten used to sleeping with Lily again. Clutching her sister in her arms, face buried in her pig-tail kinked hair, thick ruddertail squeezed between her legs. She loved Ginger with surprising intensity, but part of her was eager to see the little bun go home to her aunt and uncle, just so she could have her usual little spoon back at night.
        Her t-shirt had also contributed to her poor sleep. She’d insisted on wearing it if Ginger was going to sleep in the bed between them. She’d even made Lily put on a pair of panties. Violet had been sure Gran would discover them, and even that token amount of clothing offered at least some plausible deniability. She hadn’t been able to get any clothes on Ginger, though, but she hadn’t been able to try very hard. She wasn’t going to cheat on Wendy, not even a little innocent diddle, but that didn’t mean she had to deny herself the opportunity to eye the sexy little bunny all night.
        She crawled out of the bed despite the cold, irreversibly awake now. She slipped her arms under Ginger’s sleeping form, keeping her fingers chaste despite the temptation, and lifting the little girl out of her bed. Ginger barely stirred as Violet tucked her into her own bed.
        She eyed the inviting comforter of her bed, the sexy bare curve of her sister’s back, wanting desperately to rejoin her. She could pull the covers back from Ginger’s body and then lay in the adjacent bed and masturbate. Or she could slide back into bed along Lily’s back and grab her cute little tits and fall back asleep. She sighed and somehow resolved to do neither. Instead, she started moving through the room, picking up discarded clothes in the dark. Neither Ginger or Lily had packed last night. Gran had been out late last night, and the two had taken a suspiciously long shower together while Violet packed. Immediately after the shower, the couple had dragged her into bed and she had sucked Ginger’s flavor off of Lily’s tongue while the nude little bunny nestled between them to sleep.
        It took her nearly an hour to sort the two girls’ clothes into their own suitcases, partially because she didn’t want to turn the light on and wake them, and partially because, even though Ginger was both younger and shorter, the two girls wore very similar shirt sizes. But mostly, it’d taken her so long because she kept leaning against the wall to rub herself through her panties. It wasn’t even the two nearly-nude little girls sleeping mere steps away that got her so worked up, either. Her thoughts were filled with Wendy, fantasizing about Wendy filling her. She couldn’t wait to get home, for Wendy to move, and she kept changing her mind about where she’d mount that pretty mouse cock first.
        She dug into the two suitcases for a while, pushing aside the dirty clothes she’d shoved into them to try and find any clean clothes remaining and wishing she’d thought to do this part first. Finding an outfit for Lily wasn’t hard. She always wore the same shirt to the airport, a faded dark blue Captain America t-shirt that was starting to be too small on her, showing off a little bit of her belly. Lily insisted on being comfortable during plane flights, and she also insisted that the aging superhero shirt was the most comfortable thing she owned. Violet pulled out Lily’s grey sweatpants, too. They were the only sweats Lily owned at all, and she had only bought them to wear to airport for this vacation.
        Ginger was harder to retrieve an outfit for. The girl had no clean clothes, and seemed to only own six pairs of panties, all of which were scandalously lacy in the front and thongs in the back, and all of them were a little fragrant with the scent of bunnysex. She set aside a pair, along with a purple sarong-style skirt and a shirt that seemed white and mostly-unwrinkled in the darkness, then zipped both bags and lined them up next to hers by the door.
        She dressed herself in the clothes she’d lain out the night before and shoved her t-shirt into the front pouch of her suitcase. She eyed her two sisters again, letting herself be tempted, letting herself warm to the thought of lying with both of them, then reassured herself she could resist by stepping out of their room into the main cabin.
        Gran was sitting on the couch, ignoring a snoring Peri as she read the morning news on a tablet. Unlike most adults Violet knew, or knew of, Gran never showed any hesitation in adopting new technology into her life, and had even run her own Twitter account during the last year of her mayorship. She felt that being anything less than current gave others an edge over her, and that simply wasn’t acceptable to her.
        Gran sipped a cup of coffee and smiled up at her from over the rim of the tablet. A basket of muffins was set out on the table. Violet noted Gran’s bag waiting by the door and felt a little satisfaction at her own efficiency. She rolled the three other packed suitcases next to it. Since he was sleeping in the main room, Peri hadn’t been allowed to be as messy as Ginger or Lily. All his clothes were already stuffed into his suitcase, so Violet pulled out an outfit for him and zipped it up, rolling it into place. They were ready to go.
        Violet got herself a cup of coffee and a muffin and settled onto the couch by Gran, balancing the muffin on her knee so she could pull out her phone. She glanced out over the water, enjoying the magnificent view of the sunrise. It was just beginning to lift off the horizon, and it filled their cabin with tones of orange and pink. It was her last, perfect day on this twisted paradise of a ship.
        “How’s Lily?” Gran asked, thumbing to a new article.
        “Still sleeping,” she replied, “and likely to stay that way until I roll her off the bed onto the floor.”
        “No, I meant, how’s Lily?”
        Violet paused, glancing sideways at Gran, who didn’t turn to make eye contact. Violet chewed on the inside of her lip, considering how to answer that.
        “Better,” she settled on, eventually. “I think she’s got her head under control finally, and Joel played a major part in that. We talked a lot, too, about what happened and what we did. She’s showing a lot more self-control.”
        “Mm, really? It didn’t seem that she had much self-control two mornings ago.”
        Violet blushed faintly, but didn’t let herself be caught off-guard. “That was just as much about self-control as her abstinence was, I think. She needed that, needed to do that and still be in control of herself. She didn’t lose it, didn’t go wild like she might’ve earlier. In a weird way, she did it for the right reasons, for once.”
        Violet’s cheeks burned and she shoved her mouth full of muffin so she wouldn’t have to say anything else. Was there anything more awkward than talking to Gran about Lily having sex? Yes, her brain answered immediately, talking to Gran about ME having sex. She silently prayed that Gran wouldn’t turn the conversation in that direction.
        “Are there right reasons for a teenage girl to have sex?” Gran asked, her voice deceptively level, but to Violet’s ears, the question was full of acid and disapproval.
        “No,” Violet answered immediately. “But there’s a big difference between being selfish and being self-destructive. So maybe she still did it for the wrong reasons, just not the worst reasons.”
        “Mmm,” Gran answered, sipping her coffee.
        A knock at the door saved Violet from having to continue the conversation. She and Gran shared a glance. It was awfully early for visitors,and neither one of them was expecting anyone. The knock came again, more urgent, so Violet stood and hurried to the door. Wendy stood on the other side.
        The mouse smiled nervously over Violet’s shoulder. “Sorry to come calling so early, ma’am, I just, uh, need to talk to Violet.” She shifted her eyes to Violet’s and Violet wilted, her stomach shrinking. Wendy was mad. Furious, possibly, by the fire in her eyes. The mouse gritted her teeth. “Can I talk to you outside?”
        Violet glanced back at Gran, who hadn’t looked up from the news. Did she look amused? Angry? Did she even care? Violet felt she should know better than to try to divine what Gran was thinking, but between Wendy’s sudden anger and Gran’s stoicism she felt trapped, flailing. She nodded dumbly at Wendy, then yelped as the mouse pulled her out of the doorway by her t-shirt, gently closing the door that she clearly wanted to slam.
        Wendy let her shirt go, but then pushed her shoulders so that Violet thumped against the wall. The mouse twirled away from her, growling under her breath and pacing, fuming.
        “Wendy? What’s wrong?”
        “What’s wrong? You tell me what’s wrong! Dad tells me the movers are coming on Monday! I meet some girl on some stupid cruise and I’m just expected to uproot my WHOLE LIFE at a moment’s notice and nobody even thought to ask me! I wasn’t even consulted! Gee, Wendy, things sure have gone great these last five days, would you like to come live with me forever? I have friends, Violet! Good friends and classes and places I like to hang out and hopes and dreams and now I’m expected to forget about them all because your grandmother has decided we’re inseparable!”
        Violet stared at her, mouth agape. The mouse’s rant had stopped but she still paced in the hall, grunting in frustration and flexing her hands, looking like she might punch something. Violet felt tears pricking her eyes as she realized all the wrong assumptions she’d made. About Wendy, about their future together, about. . .everything. She wanted to run back inside the room, bury her face in Lily’s neck, and cry. And apologize. To Lily. She was getting just a taste of what it felt like to be used and discarded. How much worse had she made Lily feel, without even realizing it? She wanted to vomit.
        But she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t vomit or cry. She had to start thinking like the person Gran expected her to grow into. She had to straighten up and bottle up her emotions and handle this with some decorum. She straightened her back and tried to ignore the fact that her vision was still blurred with held-back tears.
        “I’m sorry, Wendy,” she said, quietly. The mouse whirled to face her, not an ounce of her anger dissipated. “I thought you’d be so happy when you found out. I guess I was wrong.”
        “So you knew! Gran went behind my back and organized this. . . this arranged marriage or whatever-the-fuck behind my back and you knew! I trusted you, Violet. You knew and Gran knew and Dad knew and you ALL agreed that you knew best how to run MY life, is that it? Did Lily and that little bunny know, too? Did Joel know? Maybe you want to go tell Shy for me, maybe you’d just like to tell everyone exactly what you’re all going to do with me and leave me out of all of it!”
        Violet shook her head. She really ought to make eye contact, she thought. Stare Wendy down and try to calm her. Try to defuse her anger some how. Try to. . .
        She couldn’t do it. She stared at her feet and for one terrifying moment really thought she would puke on the floor. Instead, she fell back against the wall, sinking down to floor, shaking as the sobs cracked through to the surface.
        “You said. . .I. . .I thought we wanted to be together,” Violet said. It was hard to get the words out through the tears and the lump in her throat. She was so quiet she wasn’t sure that Wendy heard her at all. 
        Wendy growled. It was a startling feral sound and Violet shrank smaller, hugging her knees.
        “Violet, I did want to be together. I do. But we didn’t even talk about it, not really! You can’t just pluck people out of their homes because you want them! I lived in Marblecliff my whole life. Everything I know is there! And you didn’t even ask! My whole life got plotted from now until the day I die and no one even thought to ask how I felt about it!”
        Violet shook her head, trying to tell Wendy how sorry she was, but unable to make the words form themselves. “You’re right,” she finally managed to whisper. “You’re completely right. I’m so sorry, Wendy. I never asked Gran to, but she knew how much I wanted you. Want you. Need you. It’s all my fault Wendy and I’ve just been awful and selfish to you.”
        Wendy growled again and Violet whimpered. Then Wendy stopped pacing and knelt down, reaching out to brush a tear off of Violet’s cheek. It was one of thousands. Violet wanted to look up into her eyes for reassurance but couldn’t bear the possibility of seeing rejection there instead.
        “It’s not the decision I’m upset about, Violet. It’s the fact that I wasn’t a part of making it. I have a right to decide what I do with my own life. I feel cheated. Betrayed, uprooted, used. I can barely express how angry I am, Violet, but I do want to be with you. That hasn’t changed. But we should have talked about this. Figured it out. We could have waited and done the long distance thing. College isn’t that long off. It could’ve been fun for both of us to run off to some obscure college together, like in Europe or some crazy shit like that. Or you could’ve come to Marblecliff and boarded at Chimera and come over for wild sleepovers and stuff.”
        Violet sniffed, softly. The tears slowed and she pressed her wet cheek gently into Wendy’s hand. “I’d like to do that. Any of it. All of it. But Gran would never allow it. She wouldn’t trust me to live on my own, not yet, not after Lily, and she’s a Peak trustee, it’d look bad if I didn’t go there.”
        “And those would have been the things we should’ve talked about. And when we decided together that the best option would be for me to move, it would be our decision. It would be something I was a part of. I deserve that much, Violet. I have a right to that much. I don’t like being played like a chess piece on your grandmother’s board.”
        “You’re right, Wendy. I’m sorry.”
        “Thank you,” Wendy replied, the tension in her voice revealing she was still angry. “I’m. . .I’m sorry I pushed you.”
        “I know,” Violet said, lifting her chin to look up at Wendy with a hopeful smile. “But. . .you still want to be with me? You said that. You said you want to be with me.”
        Wendy sighed, blushing a little and looking down at he feet. “I do. God help me, I do. And it’s good for Dad. And even Vincent. I’m trying to tell myself that those are big reasons I’m okay with this. But that’s a lie. The truth is, I’m so deliriously excited thinking about spending time with you that I’m not half as mad as I should be. You were really unfair to me, Violet.”
        “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll talk to Gran about. . .about playing you like a chess piece.”
        “No. Don’t. I will.”
        “Wendy, I--”
        Wendy shook her head. “No, it’s pretty clear to me that if I’m going to expect respect, I’ll have to demand it. That means I can’t hide behind you, Violet, or she’ll just use you to use me.” Wendy held out her hand, and Violet took it. They stood.
        “I’m still angry, but I don’t want to argue. I’m even lonelier than I am mad. I’m starting to think too much about just how few people I’ll be saying goodbye to. I only have a handful or two of friends, and. . .and some of those aren’t as close anymore as I’d always thought they would be.”
        Violet slipped her arms around Wendy and pulled her closer. Wendy sighed and rested her head on Violet’s and they hugged tightly, Wendy pressing Violet against the wall in a way that Violet was having a hard time not thinking of as erotic
        “RC’s a nice place, Wendy. You won’t have to hide your gender and we’ll make all kinds of new friends together. And if that’s still not enough, I’ll force Gran to move Shy and her baby down to keep you company.”
        “Really?” Wendy asked, surprised and hopeful. Then her face darkened. “Violet, that’s exactly the sort of thing I was so--” Finally, she got the joke. “God! That was mean!”
        Violet giggled and held Wendy tighter. “I’m sorry. It was a joke. I was trying to lighten the mood. But it’s not like Marblecliff is the whole country away. You could take me skiing, or Shy could come visit and we could all go hiking together.”
        “I’d like that,” Wendy said softly. “But I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I don’t want to think about the future or the move or my friends or any of that. I just want. . .” She leaned in, pressing Violet more firmly against the wall.
        Violet shivered, arching against her body and leaning her head forward to kiss her. Wendy nipped her tongue and she squeaked, then thrust her tongue deep in retaliation. Their mouths wrestled, tongues thrusting recklessly. It was not a sweet kiss. It was raw, feral, and needy. Wendy’s cock was stiff against Violet’s lower belly, and Violet pushed her hips up against it, wanting it inside her with a sudden, fierce intensity, or at least wanting to feel Wendy shove the tip just past her uvula and blow her load again, and yet they didn’t have time for even that.
        “This is how I want to say goodbye. Wanting you so bad it hurts, needing you.”
        Violet closed her eyes, panting. She arched and Wendy pushed, both moving as though Wendy might suddenly penetrate her if they simply mashed against one another hard enough. “This is torture,” Violet whispered.
        “Good,” Wendy murmured. “This is how you make me feel all the time. Pent up, ready to burst. You said a girl takes time, takes warming up, until she’s ready to beg, ready to explode. I was ready to explode that first night.”
        Violet whimpered a little, shivering. “Please,” she whispered. She didn’t know what she was begging for. Release, maybe, except it was so much more complicated than that.
        Wendy pulled back. She was tenting her shorts rather impressively. Violet arched against the empty air, desperate for Wendy to come back to her. That’s what Wendy wanted, she realized. She wanted Violet to be desperate to have her back. She wanted to know how much Violet needed her when she wasn’t there, so it would be easier for Wendy to leave everything and go to her. It was true. Violet needed her. Desperately. And not just sexually.
        “I need you,” Violet whispered. Wendy shivered and they both smiled.
        “I’ll come to you,” Wendy promised. She leaned in and they kissed again, briefly, lips closed. A sweet promise of something more to come. Wendy pulled away then, reluctant to go, but having no choice. Violet stared into her eyes and Wendy stared back.
        “Hurry,” Violet whispered.