Posted using PostyBirb",
"writing": "Niel woke slowly, trying to remember why the large bed was empty. Large beds meant the frat, and he didn’t wake up alone when he was there. And if he was supposed to be alone, he should be in his own bed. The room also didn’t match any at the frat.\n\nHe sat and stretched. Going over how he felt triggered the memories. He was no longer hungry.\n\nHe’d had sex.\n\nHe was no longer weak.\n\nHe’d had a lot of sex.\n\nHe was sore, and his fur was matted with cum.\n\nWell, duh. He’s had a lot of sex with his father’s friend.\n\nHe headed for the attached bathroom, but paused as he head voices outside. The debate of whether he should wash up and then get answers or get his answers first was partially resolved by the need to relieve himself.\n\nThen he quickly washed the mats out of his fur, got dressed, and headed for the living room. The answers were more important.\n\n“Stop beating around the bush, Stew,” Petro said, sounding exasperated, as Niel approached. “Your kid was at death’s door, then it’s like he’s some sort of sex perpetual machine. I’m sure he’d have kept on going if I hadn’t said I needed a break. Then it’s like time caught up with him and he’s asleep mid-sentence. If you have an explanation, I’d love to hear it.”\n\n“You won’t believe, Petro.” His father sighed. “And I’d rather wait until Niel’s awake; he’s going to want to hear this too.”\n\nNiel announced his arrival with a double-knock on the wall before stepping into view. “I am awake, and yeah, I definitely want to hear what you’ve got to say.” He dropped into the seat opposite his father as the older raccoon opened his muzzle. He stared the man’s protest down.\n\nSteward sighed and slumped. “Alright. I guess it’s obvious you need sex to live.”\n\n“Yeah. Obvious. I’m more interested in how that is.”\n\nStewart ran a hand over his face. “Okay, but I don’t know all the details. My grandfather only told me enough I’d understand, but I didn’t really believe most of it at the time. I mean, sure, he hadn’t changed at all since when I’d seen him twenty years before, so it’s not like it should have been that far-fetched, but…” \n\nHe took a breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. So, there’s always been stories floating around about my grandfather. Supposedly, during World War Two, he was on an expedition that went to Antarctica. The why varies depending on who told the story. It could have been part of a group dedicated to countering Hitler’s quest for supposedly mystical artifacts, or he was a spy for the Allies working within a Nazi group after some secret there, or looking to hide something there. Or he was with an archaeological expedition that had nothing to do with the war. Jarod’s never commented on any of the stories, and to be honest, until now, I’m not sure I believed he was as old as the others claimed. Again, he never confirmed it, so for all I knew, he was some cousin claiming to be him, and everyone went along with it for whatever reason.”\n\nHe took out his wallet, turning it in his hands as he continued. “While the stories don’t agree on why things turned bad; could have been the weather, a secret weapon, a traitor in the group. They ended up stranded in the ice, and only a few of them made it to a place they were protected from the elements. Again, no two stories agree on what it was. Hitler’s secret hideout, a regular cave, the ruins from Atlantis, or some Ally weapon cache. Still, they made it somewhere they no longer had to worry about freezing to death. Their only concern was starvation.”\n\nHe stared at the wallet in silence. “Then… then something appeared.”\n\n“Something?” Niel tried to hide his trepidation.\n\nHe knew the Society had come into existence when their god appeared before a group of men, because the bat had included that in several of the fabricated memories he’d given him. Who told him, and what details they told him, varied from one memory to the other, depending on the story the bat was creating, but once his memories were restored, Niel remembered each variation, and it had let him build something of a complete picture, which Kuno had finally confirmed once Niel told him enough to show he wasn’t just making stuff up.\n\nAn underground cavern. Old stones. A desperate need. Then the apparition of a god who would become theirs.\n\n“Someone,” Stewart said. “He. The stories all agree on that. Whatever he was, he was male.” The raccoon looked at his son. “Please tell me I don’t need to explain how they knew that.”\n\nThe mole-rat chuckled. “Is this going to turn into a porno?”\n\n“No,” Stewart said. “And if the story went that way, I wouldn’t be telling those details. Anyway. That being offered to save the men.”\n\n“Men?” Niel asked, his worry increasing.\n\n“That’s another of the details the stories agree on. Only men were left at that point.”\n\n“How.” Niel swallowed. “How did he save them?”\n\n“The stories don’t say.” The wallet stilled in his father’s hand. “Jarod is who told me when…” He shook himself. “They wouldn’t need food to survive. All they would need from that moment forward was sex. I guess that should have clued me in that he was really who the rest of my family said he was, but I was…” he closed his eyes. “He told me that this ‘gift’ would be carried by his bloodline, and it would become active if a son of his had sex with his father.”\n\nNiel was processing the information when the mole-rat burst out laughing.\n\n“Are you telling me that guy’s your kid’s biological father?”\n\nNiel stared at Petro. How had he reached that conclusion from what his father said? And why were his father’s ears plastered back?\n\nStewart looked away from Niel, and the silence stretched.\n\n“Shit,” Petro mumbled. “I’m sorry, Stew. I figured he’d know.”\n\nNiel looked from the standing mole-rat to his father. What was going on here?\n\n“I’m going to…” Petro looked like he had trouble figuring out what to say. “I need a shower.” He left.\n\n“What was he talking about, Dad?”\n\n“It’s complicated,” Stewart mumbled.\n\n“Well, speak up and uncomplicate it for me,” Niel snapped, “because it sounds a lot like he said that you aren’t my father.”\n\n“I am your father, Niel,” Steward said. “I changed your diapers; wiped your ass and your nose. I helped you when your mom didn’t come back from the hospital.” His tone grew firm. “Make no mistake, I am your father.” Then it faltered. “It’s just that…”\n\n“Yes?”\n\n“Me and your mom… we tried for years.” He stared at his wallet. “Before you came, we tried for years.”\n\nNiel sighed impatiently. “I know that. You’d given up hope of having a kid by the time I came about. You told me so, often.”\n\n“We went to doctor after doctor, looking for a way.”\n\n“Dad,” Niel said through clenched teeth.\n\n“I’m infertile, Niel.”\n\nNiel stared at him blankly. “You’re what?” He’d misheard.\n\nStewart let out a breath and looked up at him. “The reason we’d given up hope was that there was no hope left to be had. I can’t father a child.”\n\n“But I’m here.” Niel insisted. “And you’re…” Everything the man before him had said sunk in hard. “Not my father.”\n\n“You are my son,” Stewart stated with conviction. “It doesn’t matter where your DNA came from.”\n\n“Except that this DNA comes from a family legacy I didn’t even know about,” Niel snapped. “Is that why you told me your grandfather was dead? Being my dad wasn’t enough. You had to pretend you were my father, too?”\n\n“It’s more complicated than that, Niel. Jarod was distancing himself from our family even then. Wherever he is now, he want’s nothing to do with us anymore.”\n\n“That’s just fucking great. I have a dad who’s keeping secrets until they almost kill me and a father who’s pretending I don’t exist.” When Steward didn’t even try to defend himself, Niel threw his hands up. “What does this Jarod look like? I’d like to think I’d remember fucking an old man.”\n\nStewart pulled a picture from his wallet, looked at it, set it back and took another, which he handed to Niel.\n\nHe raised an eyebrow as he turned the rectangle over. “What is this, paper?” It didn’t look as old as he’d expect a paper photograph to be. He studied the graininess of the colored image, instead of the people in it. “How old is this? Definitely pre-digital.”\n\n“It was taken with an old camera,” Stewart said. “Jarod likes his old things.”\n\nThe photograph was of two raccoons in a living room he didn’t recognize. The older of the two looked a lot like his father. The man was in his late twenties, early thirties at the latest. The other, in his early twenties, didn’t look familiar.\n\n“Who’s the younger one?”\n\n“That’s Jarod,” Stewart said, “standing next to me.”\n\nNiel’s head snapped up. “You said that Jarod’s your grandfather.”\n\nSteward nodded. “Jarod stopped aging as part of the deal he made. I didn’t press because, like I said, I wasn’t sure I believed him back then.”\n\nNiel studied the young raccoon in the picture. “Well, I never had sex with this guy. So whatever’s going on, I don’t think that what he told you is entirely true.”\n\n“Are you one hundred percent sure?” There was hope and dread in Stewart’s voice.\n\n“Of course I’m sure,” he replied dismissively. “It’s not like I throw myself at orgies all the…. Oh, fuck.”\n\n“What?” Stewart demanded fearfully.\n\nNiel took out his phone and stared at the screen.\n\nWell, he had told the guys that if something weird happened to him because of sex, he’d go to them for help, instead of running off.\n\nThe call went to Kuno’s message center, and he disconnected. He’d already sent close to a dozen texts the margay hadn’t replied to. There was no point in leaving a voice message.\n\n“We need to go somewhere.”\n\n* * * * *\n\nHe looked out the window to avoid seeing the worried looks his father gave him. He directed him to park in an open space in front of Sigma Theta Gamma, and Niel was out of the car before the engine shut down.\n\nHe didn’t run.\n\nBut he needed space the car hadn’t provided.\n\nHe buzzed the door, but Stewart was next to him before it was answered.\n\nThe elephant looked at them. “Yes?”\n\n“Hey, Gagan, is Kuno around?” He fought the urge to barge in.\n\n“I don’t know.” The elephant looked Stewart over. “I think he’s with someone.” He motioned. “Come inside before one of the Seniors accuses me of giving a bad impression of the house and punishes me.”\n\n“The cage?” Niel asked, stepping inside.\n\nGagan stared at him, and the confusion gave way to horror.\n\nRight. That hadn’t been used since the bat, even in jest.\n\nThe elephant closed the door once Stewart was inside. “Can I tell him what this is about?”\n\nNiel sighed. “Remember when I told you guys that if I somehow ended up with some strange magic-related condition, I’d come see you, instead of fleeing to the other side of the country?”\n\nStewart coughed.\n\n“Yeah.” Gagan glanced at the older raccoon. “That was part of the joke.”\n\n“I wish,” Niel muttered. “Turns out that I’ve developed a case of needing sex to stay alive, and that I probably caught it during the party. I’m really hoping you kept a list of the guys who attended, because I have to find one guy in all that.”\n\nGlass shattering on the floor cut off Gagan’s reply.\n\nNiel turned, and Olavo stood in the living room’s archway. In one hand, he held a glass with a finger of amber liquid. His other hand looked as if it should hold the decanter, but its remnant was at the capybara’s feet; the liquid splashed all the way to the foot of the couch.\n\nThe look of horror on his face gave Niel pause.\n\n“Are you okay?” the raccoon asked, and immediately felt lame for it.\n\nOlavo shook his head. “I think my father’s going to kill me.”",
"writing_bbcode_parsed": "Niel woke slowly, trying to remember why the large bed was empty. Large beds meant the frat, and he didn’t wake up alone when he was there. And if he was supposed to be alone, he should be in his own bed. The room also didn’t match any at the frat.
He sat and stretched. Going over how he felt triggered the memories. He was no longer hungry.
He’d had sex.
He was no longer weak.
He’d had a lot of sex.
He was sore, and his fur was matted with cum.
Well, duh. He’s had a lot of sex with his father’s friend.
He headed for the attached bathroom, but paused as he head voices outside. The debate of whether he should wash up and then get answers or get his answers first was partially resolved by the need to relieve himself.
Then he quickly washed the mats out of his fur, got dressed, and headed for the living room. The answers were more important.
“Stop beating around the bush, Stew,” Petro said, sounding exasperated, as Niel approached. “Your kid was at death’s door, then it’s like he’s some sort of sex perpetual machine. I’m sure he’d have kept on going if I hadn’t said I needed a break. Then it’s like time caught up with him and he’s asleep mid-sentence. If you have an explanation, I’d love to hear it.”
“You won’t believe, Petro.” His father sighed. “And I’d rather wait until Niel’s awake; he’s going to want to hear this too.”
Niel announced his arrival with a double-knock on the wall before stepping into view. “I am awake, and yeah, I definitely want to hear what you’ve got to say.” He dropped into the seat opposite his father as the older raccoon opened his muzzle. He stared the man’s protest down.
Steward sighed and slumped. “Alright. I guess it’s obvious you need sex to live.”
“Yeah. Obvious. I’m more interested in how that is.”
Stewart ran a hand over his face. “Okay, but I don’t know all the details. My grandfather only told me enough I’d understand, but I didn’t really believe most of it at the time. I mean, sure, he hadn’t changed at all since when I’d seen him twenty years before, so it’s not like it should have been that far-fetched, but…”
He took a breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. So, there’s always been stories floating around about my grandfather. Supposedly, during World War Two, he was on an expedition that went to Antarctica. The why varies depending on who told the story. It could have been part of a group dedicated to countering Hitler’s quest for supposedly mystical artifacts, or he was a spy for the Allies working within a Nazi group after some secret there, or looking to hide something there. Or he was with an archaeological expedition that had nothing to do with the war. Jarod’s never commented on any of the stories, and to be honest, until now, I’m not sure I believed he was as old as the others claimed. Again, he never confirmed it, so for all I knew, he was some cousin claiming to be him, and everyone went along with it for whatever reason.”
He took out his wallet, turning it in his hands as he continued. “While the stories don’t agree on why things turned bad; could have been the weather, a secret weapon, a traitor in the group. They ended up stranded in the ice, and only a few of them made it to a place they were protected from the elements. Again, no two stories agree on what it was. Hitler’s secret hideout, a regular cave, the ruins from Atlantis, or some Ally weapon cache. Still, they made it somewhere they no longer had to worry about freezing to death. Their only concern was starvation.”
He stared at the wallet in silence. “Then… then something appeared.”
“Something?” Niel tried to hide his trepidation.
He knew the Society had come into existence when their god appeared before a group of men, because the bat had included that in several of the fabricated memories he’d given him. Who told him, and what details they told him, varied from one memory to the other, depending on the story the bat was creating, but once his memories were restored, Niel remembered each variation, and it had let him build something of a complete picture, which Kuno had finally confirmed once Niel told him enough to show he wasn’t just making stuff up.
An underground cavern. Old stones. A desperate need. Then the apparition of a god who would become theirs.
“Someone,” Stewart said. “He. The stories all agree on that. Whatever he was, he was male.” The raccoon looked at his son. “Please tell me I don’t need to explain how they knew that.”
The mole-rat chuckled. “Is this going to turn into a porno?”
“No,” Stewart said. “And if the story went that way, I wouldn’t be telling those details. Anyway. That being offered to save the men.”
“Men?” Niel asked, his worry increasing.
“That’s another of the details the stories agree on. Only men were left at that point.”
“How.” Niel swallowed. “How did he save them?”
“The stories don’t say.” The wallet stilled in his father’s hand. “Jarod is who told me when…” He shook himself. “They wouldn’t need food to survive. All they would need from that moment forward was sex. I guess that should have clued me in that he was really who the rest of my family said he was, but I was…” he closed his eyes. “He told me that this ‘gift’ would be carried by his bloodline, and it would become active if a son of his had sex with his father.”
Niel was processing the information when the mole-rat burst out laughing.
“Are you telling me that guy’s your kid’s biological father?”
Niel stared at Petro. How had he reached that conclusion from what his father said? And why were his father’s ears plastered back?
Stewart looked away from Niel, and the silence stretched.
“Shit,” Petro mumbled. “I’m sorry, Stew. I figured he’d know.”
Niel looked from the standing mole-rat to his father. What was going on here?
“I’m going to…” Petro looked like he had trouble figuring out what to say. “I need a shower.” He left.
“What was he talking about, Dad?”
“It’s complicated,” Stewart mumbled.
“Well, speak up and uncomplicate it for me,” Niel snapped, “because it sounds a lot like he said that you aren’t my father.”
“I am your father, Niel,” Steward said. “I changed your diapers; wiped your ass and your nose. I helped you when your mom didn’t come back from the hospital.” His tone grew firm. “Make no mistake, I am your father.” Then it faltered. “It’s just that…”
“Yes?”
“Me and your mom… we tried for years.” He stared at his wallet. “Before you came, we tried for years.”
Niel sighed impatiently. “I know that. You’d given up hope of having a kid by the time I came about. You told me so, often.”
“We went to doctor after doctor, looking for a way.”
“Dad,” Niel said through clenched teeth.
“I’m infertile, Niel.”
Niel stared at him blankly. “You’re what?” He’d misheard.
Stewart let out a breath and looked up at him. “The reason we’d given up hope was that there was no hope left to be had. I can’t father a child.”
“But I’m here.” Niel insisted. “And you’re…” Everything the man before him had said sunk in hard. “Not my father.”
“You are my son,” Stewart stated with conviction. “It doesn’t matter where your DNA came from.”
“Except that this DNA comes from a family legacy I didn’t even know about,” Niel snapped. “Is that why you told me your grandfather was dead? Being my dad wasn’t enough. You had to pretend you were my father, too?”
“It’s more complicated than that, Niel. Jarod was distancing himself from our family even then. Wherever he is now, he want’s nothing to do with us anymore.”
“That’s just fucking great. I have a dad who’s keeping secrets until they almost kill me and a father who’s pretending I don’t exist.” When Steward didn’t even try to defend himself, Niel threw his hands up. “What does this Jarod look like? I’d like to think I’d remember fucking an old man.”
Stewart pulled a picture from his wallet, looked at it, set it back and took another, which he handed to Niel.
He raised an eyebrow as he turned the rectangle over. “What is this, paper?” It didn’t look as old as he’d expect a paper photograph to be. He studied the graininess of the colored image, instead of the people in it. “How old is this? Definitely pre-digital.”
“It was taken with an old camera,” Stewart said. “Jarod likes his old things.”
The photograph was of two raccoons in a living room he didn’t recognize. The older of the two looked a lot like his father. The man was in his late twenties, early thirties at the latest. The other, in his early twenties, didn’t look familiar.
“Who’s the younger one?”
“That’s Jarod,” Stewart said, “standing next to me.”
Niel’s head snapped up. “You said that Jarod’s your grandfather.”
Steward nodded. “Jarod stopped aging as part of the deal he made. I didn’t press because, like I said, I wasn’t sure I believed him back then.”
Niel studied the young raccoon in the picture. “Well, I never had sex with this guy. So whatever’s going on, I don’t think that what he told you is entirely true.”
“Are you one hundred percent sure?” There was hope and dread in Stewart’s voice.
“Of course I’m sure,” he replied dismissively. “It’s not like I throw myself at orgies all the…. Oh, fuck.”
“What?” Stewart demanded fearfully.
Niel took out his phone and stared at the screen.
Well, he had told the guys that if something weird happened to him because of sex, he’d go to them for help, instead of running off.
The call went to Kuno’s message center, and he disconnected. He’d already sent close to a dozen texts the margay hadn’t replied to. There was no point in leaving a voice message.
“We need to go somewhere.”
* * * * *
He looked out the window to avoid seeing the worried looks his father gave him. He directed him to park in an open space in front of Sigma Theta Gamma, and Niel was out of the car before the engine shut down.
He didn’t run.
But he needed space the car hadn’t provided.
He buzzed the door, but Stewart was next to him before it was answered.
The elephant looked at them. “Yes?”
“Hey, Gagan, is Kuno around?” He fought the urge to barge in.
“I don’t know.” The elephant looked Stewart over. “I think he’s with someone.” He motioned. “Come inside before one of the Seniors accuses me of giving a bad impression of the house and punishes me.”
“The cage?” Niel asked, stepping inside.
Gagan stared at him, and the confusion gave way to horror.
Right. That hadn’t been used since the bat, even in jest.
The elephant closed the door once Stewart was inside. “Can I tell him what this is about?”
Niel sighed. “Remember when I told you guys that if I somehow ended up with some strange magic-related condition, I’d come see you, instead of fleeing to the other side of the country?”
Stewart coughed.
“Yeah.” Gagan glanced at the older raccoon. “That was part of the joke.”
“I wish,” Niel muttered. “Turns out that I’ve developed a case of needing sex to stay alive, and that I probably caught it during the party. I’m really hoping you kept a list of the guys who attended, because I have to find one guy in all that.”
Glass shattering on the floor cut off Gagan’s reply.
Niel turned, and Olavo stood in the living room’s archway. In one hand, he held a glass with a finger of amber liquid. His other hand looked as if it should hold the decanter, but its remnant was at the capybara’s feet; the liquid splashed all the way to the foot of the couch.
The look of horror on his face gave Niel pause.
“Are you okay?” the raccoon asked, and immediately felt lame for it.
\n\t\t\t\t\tbenjaminmahir and