Nobody was safe in the galaxy. The wars between the mega-corporations seemed endless, each faction a multitrillion-credit industry with the power to perpetuate war and ideals. Each company used its wealth to ravage its competition while another division created advertisements to entice potential "patrons" to invest in it. Such was the ideal of martial-capitalism: war was a valid means of gaining wealth and clientèle, as opposed to the ancient ideas that had them reversed. The general populace was not fond of such ideas, but when more and more large guilds staked their claims on this mindset, more and more civilians became the financiers on this war of worth. The market was not limited to the big names, however. Many smaller "businesses" sought their place in the interstellar system and became marauders, raiders, pirates. Few would dare go up against the might of a big-name company, but the passenger ships traveling between planets were prime targets. And so the curtain of our tale opens on six anthropomorphic rabbits, fleeing for their lives as their transport freighter burst into flames around them. A well-organized band of pirates have raided the ship Merryweather en route to a world that had just become occupied by one of the largest mining companies in the galaxy, and the news of the hostile takeover had barely reached the distressed captain of the vessel when the brigands swarmed the ship. Some docked into the vessel, deboarding and making their way through the decks, systematically eliminating resistance while amassing wealth, technologies, and mates. Some of the rats didn't hesitate to approach their soon-to-be victims and force themselves upon them, destroying any that didn't satisfy them enough and moving those that did to their vessels for transport. In this chaos, Thomas acted quickly. He and his freshly-wedded bride, Lenora, were on their honeymoon cruise, later to stay at the intended destination planet, where they would enjoy the rest of their month off before Thomas would need to return to his job as a safety manager on Titus III. Their flight was up to this point a pleasant one, filled with cuddling and fine living. Lenora admired that beneath her husband's tough exterior, was a rabbit that knew how to take charge of a situation and figure out a solution. He had exercised that character in resolving their reservation aboard this cruise. But they were not left alone too long, as they were accompanied by Lenora's best friend Minerva and her husband, Charles. These two were definite party animals, laughing up storms between gulps of wine and dressed foods. Minerva took it upon herself to plan out Lenora's future with her, now that the younger rabbit was married. Charles tolerated his youthful wife immensely, inwardly struggling through the callousness he would usually require being an animal-resources agent for a big insurance firm. He kept trying to show his wife that he cared, but through his line of work, he kept finding himself second-guessing her knowledge and being generally hard to convince to agree to anything. It was during a nice quiet dinner that the marauders attacked. They poured into the hall from the doors but mere moments after the first calls of distress were heard in the halls. They systematically inspected table after table for loot and potential breeding partners to ravage. Only one or two had thought to move onwards to the other doors to block escape, but there was also that one trigger-happy corsair that shot into the crowd in crazed disregard for life. Bodies fell, and the air in the room received that hint of charred fur and flesh. The rabbits ducked underneath the dining table for cover, joined by the nervous young leveret waiter, unable to do much more than watch as the pandemonium rose. Thankfully, the marauders moved on. The dinner hall was in ruins and shouting still permeated the room - echoing in from throughout the halls of the ship - by the time Thomas developed a plan and sprang out from underneath the table. Holding his bride's wrist, he bid the others to hold tight and follow closely. Followed by the nervous young waiter, the group darted out of the dining hall into the midships, dodging passengers who were grabbing their things in order to evacuate. Fliers and clothing were strewn all over as the ship shook. Thomas knew they had to hurry. Rounding a corner, they almost run right into some of the largest and ugliest rats they had ever laid eyes on, but managed not to alert them by colliding into them. They were instead fighting against a security officer of the cruise, denoted by the sashed shoulder, minimal helmet, and taser baton. The rabbits turned and ran the opposite way, as they could clearly see that the rats were winning the fight, despite the guard's valiant efforts. His sacrifice would hopefully help more civilians escape. The five bounded down the halls, dodging suitcases, papers, other animals, food(?!), and even a marauder's laser rifle as they made their way to the lifeboats. Hopefully there was one still available for them! But as they neared the exit sign at the end of the hall, Thomas felt a tug on his hand as one of the rabbits in the chain broke off forcedly. Thomas turned back to see the young leveret pressed against the wall, having been body-slammed by a sizeable pirate raccoon careening from a perpendicular hallway. The raccoon latched onto the nervous young waiter and, lips salivating from excitement, scratched and furiously and doggedly attempted to rip his clothes off to ravage him. Minerva screamed shrilly, Charles delivered a swift kick onto the raccoon's shoulder by reflex. The raccoon barked from the pain of a high-velocity kick, but from an older rabbit such as Charles, it didn't do much but make him flinch momentarily before continuing his onslaught. The raccoon's belt was loose enough now that his bottoms fell, revealing the ugly and stiffened member eager to penetrate the poor kid. Just then, a puff of fur exploded from where the raccoon was a moment ago, as a large brown hare with a security guard's sash punted the marauder off of the young waiter and, with a sickening crunch, into and through the wall of the nearby cabin. Heaving from the exertion, the burly female hare turned and helped up the wounded waiter, panting and rubbing her sore biceps. "Folks, I just got word from th' captain. They're requesting authorization ta evacuate all the civilians into the lifeboats, but they haven't gotten an order for where ta evacuate to. All they said is that we've been ordered to fight off the invaders 'n hold 'til help arrives." Thomas stepped toward the guard, "That's... that's standard procedure for a deprioritized rescue. They don't care for us..." Minerva: "What, what?! But we gotta get out of here! This place isn't safe!" As if on cue, the ship buckled and groaned again, but its pitch left an uneasy feeling in each of the six lagomorphs in that hallway. "I know that sound," huffed Charles ominously. "The reactor. It's..." They all looked at each other for a few seconds, letting the words hang in the air unsaid. The large hare spoke up first, "Well, I'm tendering mah resignation. No way I'm staying here while they rig this ship ta blow." "I hope there's a way we can get onto a lifeboat," squeaked Lenora meekly. Thomas wrapped his arms around her lovingly, "We will. We're getting out of here, right now." The six found that some of the lifeboats were missing, but most of them were still intact. Looking outside a porthole, the young waiter peeked to see parts of the ship floating detached, some bodies bloated and grotesque due to exposure to the vacuum of space. The ugliness was compounded once he saw that the pieces looked like they came from standard lifeboats. He gulped hard, but a push forward by the big burly hare made him double his efforts to escape, unwilling to meet the same fate. The lifeboat interior was relatively small, meant for maybe four animals at the most, and they numbered six and maybe a half, due to the hare's size. Thomas and Charles headed immediately for the pilot controls, glancing over the dashboard and noting the knobs and displays. After a few moments of reading and guessing, they buckled in and began flipping some power switches, hoping to get the engines started. Lenora sealed the hatch behind them, straining to finish the seal, but receiving help from the large guard hare. Minerva sat at the circular table behind the pilots' seats and tittered nervously. The young waiter also sat nervously, glancing back at the door as if there was something forgotten. "Ah, engine control!" exclaimed Charles, pointing at a keypad. The waiter glanced back at the cockpit, then back to the hatch as Lenora and the hare sealed it shut, locking it. The controls on the side of the doorway called to him as the other two males read displays aloud to each other in their preflight preparations. "Cabin pressure?" "Nominal!" "Fuel levels?" "Full!" "Atmospheric stabilization?" "Nominal!" "Electrical generator?" "Online!" "Radiation shielding?" "Check!" "Communi--" "Pirates!" Minerva yelled, pointing at the cockpit window. A skiff was leveling out in front of them, pointed right at the bow of the cruise liner. Twin cannons popped off the wings and swiveled forward, their barrels beginning to glow red as their weapons charged up. They then looked slightly down and around, taking in their peripherals as they noticed the debris of lifeboat wreckage around them. Victims of the pirate cannons not minutes before, it must have been. The rabbits froze in fear, hoping against hope that they weren't about to join them. The ship shook as the cannons opened fire and tore through the panorama of the cruise liner, each explosion rocking the lifeboat as the rabbits fell onto their tails and out of their seats. The pirates kept firing, the ship panning towards them. In a few seconds, the cannons would be pointed directly at the lifeboat. Thomas leaped onto the console and threw his weight onto the engine throttle. The twin rockets rumbled and fired up as they engaged and built power, and for an instance they could feel the movement of the lifeboat moving away from the ship. Suddenly, though, a loud clack and a klaxon sounded, and the ship lurched backward, knocking everyone off their places again. The pirate skiff repositioned itself by banking port, to avoid a mass of debris that suddenly ejected out of a window. Lenora looked up to see a grand piano float off serenely into space, untouched, unscarred by the battle. Save for the large, burly raccoon that accompanied it. "Argh, what happened?" roared Charles, rubbing his head. "I don't know, Charles, but we're not moving!" Thomas rolled his shoulder as he glanced back over the monitors. He threw the throttle forward again, willing the ship forward. Again, it seemed to lock and stop. "Why won't it move?!" The young leveret, a cut over his left eye, looked back at the doorway, to the blinking lights next to the hatch. The large hare heaved and groaned. She was on the floor, and her face was towards the hatch. She glanced up, her blurred vision coming back into focus on the profile of the waiter, before she noticed and slowly followed his gaze. From the floor, she strained and groaned to reach up to the keypad. "Thomas, they're turning this way!" Minerva shrieked as the four guest rabbits looked to the pirate skiff, its prow turning and eying the lifeboat with its engines still straining against something preventing their departure. The leveret bounded over the table and eyed the keypad. From below, the guard noticed the young waiter was approaching the hatch and yelled, "Yeah, kid! You gotta undock us from the ship!" The other four were paying too close attention to the pirate skiff and yelling at and over each other to hear. Thomas pushed the throttle and strained for a miracle, his bride hugging him closely and Minerva hugging her husband for dear life. A paw reached out to the keypad and typed through the menu to release the docking clamps. And in that moment, the world exploded. The skiff aimed and fired, but too slowly. The lifeboat's docking clamps retracted, freeing the ship. But the engines were still at maximum throttle. Meaning that the instant the clamps were loose enough for undocking, the vessel shot forward and a bit explosively. The pirate weapons fired at empty space, but hit the hatch from whence the rabbits came. Combined with the engine plasma that was just there, the lasers became oxygenated missiles, backwashing against the hatch and dissipating the explosion. And then, the reactor that was rigged to explode fulfilled its mission. The ship broke into two pieces first, then into a million. The larger pirate frigate and the skiffs around the cruise liner were enveloped in a large plasma explosion that interfered with their electrical systems. The larger frigate was only momentarily disabled, but the littler skiffs were vaporized. The pirates on-board the frigate scurried to repair their systems for quite a while afterward. Perhaps they were caught by surprise by a corporate vessel, which recovered whatever it could from the marauders and offered meager restitutionary pay to the survivors... if they could prove that they were employed by the company. Thomas looked out the cockpit window and breathed raggedly. Their explosive and well-timed escape left them freed from the pirates' grasp, but they were now hurtling through space with strained and overheated engines. Their struggle against the docking clamps caused some irregularities with temperature control inside the small lifeboat, but the warmth of six lagomorphs close to one another helped put the others to sleep. Charles and Minerva had been rubbing each others injuries as they dozed off. The hare, whose name was revealed to be Athena, gave the leveret, whose name was Simon, a big bear hug of thanks for saving all of them, and he slept on her on the floor. Lenora snoozed silently in the copilot's chair as Thomas managed the vessel, a smile on her face. They had kissed one another as soon as the pirate vessel no longer appeared on the sensor, and hugged one another. The buzz of that kiss was still on his lips. After a few minutes of silence, they had all fallen asleep, all but Thomas. He knew that none of them wanted to head back to that lifestyle. Consigned to misery working for faceless organizations that valued them as little more than utensils. Once the engines cooled and the atmosphere was able to regulate somewhat, the others began waking up. Athena found Simon dozing on her, his head between her breasts. She pushed him off easily with a flattered chuckle, his lanky body thudding onto the metal floor. Charles stretched his limbs carefully, and Minerva immediately began chatting with Lenora about how they're doing and what they're going to do once they got back. "We're not going back." Five heads turned toward Thomas in surprise. He continued, "They don't care about us. Maybe we have a better chance living out our lives elsewhere, away from these pirates and corporations." Silently, the lagomorphs felt the conviction in Thomas's voice, and they knew that he was right. After some time, the onboard scanners found a planetary body, but were unable to place its location on the star charts. The scanner was courteous enough to scan for anything of worth on the planet as well, but it struck them all as remarkable that the scanner came back empty. The entire planet was undeveloped and ignored, because of its lack of useful minerals in the soil. No ores to mine; no crystalline formations; no tectonic lesions in the crust for access to any mantle-layer magma... just wood. Jungles and forests everywhere, where surely--- no, the scanner found the wood in the trees to be "unremarkable" and "unfit for industry". An ignored, peaceful planet with nobody on it. Thomas smiled, and silently set a course for that planet. With a small hum of the engines, they were on their way. As the hatch opened, they marveled at the beauty of the tall trees and long grass that permeated the scenery. There were no mountains and few rock outcroppings nearby, besides the one where the rabbits landed their lifeboat. Stepping out of their shuttle, they breathed in the fresh air and were instantly enamored by the new world. Even the prim and proper city-bred Minerva fell in love with it. They immediately split into three groups to locate important survival materials. Charles and Minerva were to locate water, Athena and Simon were to find a location for shelter, and Thomas and Lenora were to secure food. They were to meet back at the ship before sundown. They each bounded off, their trails into the long grass easily seen from distances. As Thomas and Lenora explored, they saw a large amount of the world's mysteries and inhabitants appear before them. There were large blue elk-like creatures on six legs that grazed on the blue-green grass, sharpening their tusks on nearby tree trunks. The rabbits avoided the cattle, especially once they saw younglings being nursed by some large, wary mothers. Thomas decided it was best to try another route. They then encountered four-winged yellow birds, perched high in the trees on extremely short legs but cawing loudly and melodically. They seemed undisturbed by the lagomorphs as they fed on the large leaves and the occasional orange heart-shaped fruit. Thomas and Lenora watched as a specimen grabbed a fruit in its beak, and tore it off of its long and thick stem before flapping its wings and venturing off towards its nest elsewhere. Like they were fruit scavengers, Lenora remarked. As they went on, Thomas looked closer at the trees. They were tall alright, with thick trunks and irregularly-spaced branches growing perpendicularly from the main trunk. These branches were much thinner, about three-quarters of their circumference able to be gripped by his paw. Each branch had leaves and pine-like needles, plus occasional cone-like nuts that looked too tough to chew. But then about the topmost, last ten percent of the tree's main trunk was covered in a conical shape of thicker wood and almost blooming leaves, the apex of the tree being a tip of brush and foliage barely able to let the light through. And yet as Thomas looked, he could see that that thicker area on the tops of the trees held bright fuchsia orbs of what he thought was heart-shaped melons. Not the same heart shape as the orange fruit, which looked like anatomically-correct hearts... Rather, these fuchsia fruit were in a typical, almost comical heart-like shape. "Honey, do you see those?" Lenora's eyes widened as she let out a whimper of awe. "It's... it's so pretty! Almost like a Valentine-themed tree!" Thomas turned toward his bride and admired her smiling face. "Perfect for us, huh?" Lenora turned and gasped lightly from noticing Thomas staring at her. He slowly closed the gap between the two of them and embraced her, letting his lips softly touch hers and sharing in the first passionate kiss they had had since their wedding ceremony not a week and a half before. Lenora's muscles relaxed as she enjoyed the kiss, her nerves tingling and her body surrendering to her husband's will, returning the kiss with a soft moan of gratitude and disarmed comfort. For about three minutes they embraced and kissed, breaking their lip-lock with a dry pop and leaning their foreheads against each other's. "We haven't... done it for almost a whole day," Thomas chuckled quietly. "What do you think? Nobody around here but us... Alone on an uninhabited planet..." Lenora slowly opened her eyes and read Thomas's expression. "Darling... As much as I want to..." She turned her head and lamented, "we need to find food soon. Not just for us, but for Minerva and Charles and the others." Thomas nodded, "I understand. But we're not gonna let this mess up our honeymoon." He kissed her nose playfully, and she twitched her whiskers in response to the tickling kiss. Thomas turned towards the tree. "Well... First we need to get some of these fruits and nuts, and see if they're any good to eat." Lenora watched as her husband pulled and climbed up branch after branch, remarking at how sturdy they seemed. Thomas easily hopped from branch to higher branch, pulling himself up as needed. He soon reached a bundle of nuts and wrapped a leg around the branch, pulling off a pinecone-like nut. It was hard-shelled indeed, but part of it was membranous and split down the middle vertically. Thomas thought for a bit, and then realized that that split could open the rest of the nut, if it were just knifed open. He snapped off a nut and tossed it down to Lenora, who caught it. "We need to take a few samples back to the ship; I think this can be cut open." "Okay, darling!" Thomas turned back upwards to an orange fruit about three meters higher up, and began making his way towards it. He noticed that the branches remained sturdy, sure, but bowed lightly the further out on the branch he hopped. Eventually, he caught up to one of the orange fruits, and eyed it closely before plucking it. From below, it looked like it would've been shaped like an anatomically correct heart indeed... but on closer inspection, he noticed that the fruit grew almost laterally, with the stem curving around part of the fruit. The fruit itself was about the size of Thomas's larger paw, but as he held it, he couldn't help but notice something... lewd about its shape. In fact, with the stem removed, the base of that stem made the shape of the fruit more apparent to him. From below, he saw an anatomically-correct heart... but from the side it looked like the hourglass form of a woman's torso, breasts, thighs, buttocks, and all, the attachment point of the stem in the place where a navel would be. Thomas was a bit perturbed, but, he slowly made his way down to the ground to carefully hand the fruit to Lenora without a word, before scurrying back up the tree. "Just gonna go up and see what those Valentine's fruit up there are. I'll be careful." "Yes, please do..." Lenora muttered as she held the orange torso-fruit, turning it over in her hands as she struggled to identify the shape of the fruit from somewhere... only to recognize it and looked up at Thomas, who was already about halfway up the tall plant. The branches became thinner, but were not noticeably less sturdy according to Thomas. He still remained cautious enough to stay close enough to the trunk of the tree. Eventually, the thicker brush got closer and closer, and Thomas reached the level where the red heart fruit were dangling. He looked at it and saw, simply put, a heart-shaped melon attached to a thick stem. The only thing about this melon was that along the middle of the two halves of the heart, was a vertical cleft not dissimilar to the ridge of a peach or apricot. But it was large, not easily fitting in a single paw. As he gripped the stem and firmly pulled the bright-red fruit off the vine it was connected to, he struggled to hold his balance on the branch, and then almost lost grip of the melon as he stabilized himself. Holding onto the stem, however, Thomas found that he could manage getting down as long as he was calculating and careful. He slowly hopped down from branch to branch, eventually reaching the grassy soil and his bride. They walked back the way they came, their trail etched in the bent blades of grass behind them. Thomas and Lenora reached the lifeboat to find Simon beckoning them to follow him through the woods. After a trek of about twenty minutes or so, they came to a clearing and found Athena had already constructed a fireplace. Indeed, the light was going down steadily, as nightfall approached. The four chatted about what they had each seen, the flora and fauna, of their new world. It was shortly after the sun had set that Charles and Minerva made their way into the camp, carrying containers of liquid. There was apparently a watering hole not too far away, where many of the cattle gathered. It took until most of the cattle had settled in for the evening before Charles and Minerva could risk approaching the water's edge to get their fill, and the water was sweet and clean. No harmful microorganisms or pollutants. Truly, a paradise. Eventually, the lagomorphs looked over the three potentially-edible food items that Thomas and Lenora brought into the camp. The nuts were their first pick, due to the size. Using a knife, Thomas cut the vertical split and was taken aback at the sight that appeared. The splitting of the membrane of the nut was observed by everyone around, which looked like... well, Athena said it best. "What the hell? That looks like a pussy!" Simon's face reddened and Thomas gulped, as Charles rolled his eyes. Meanwhile, Lenora also blushed and Minerva began chiding the uproariously-laughing burly hare. Indeed, exposure to the open air caused the opening of the nut to expand and puff up as the chemicals inside oxidated, resembling an aroused vaginal opening. It also didn't help that the opening began to leak a sappy liquid, running along Thomas's fingers. He dropped the nut to the ground, causing Athena to laugh loudly again. As he looked at his bride, Thomas looked back at the sap and hesitated before licking it off of his fingers, much to Minerva's disgust. Then all conversation ceased as Thomas uttered, "Whoa... That's refreshing." He explained that it caused his mouth to hydrate really easily, no longer feeling as thirsty. The sap itself tasted quite sweet, he said. Charles picked up the nut and shrugged, placing the opening of the nut unashamedly to his lips as he slurped the sap. Minerva looked like she'd almost faint, now causing Athena and Lenora to laugh together. Thomas and Charles then took a drink of the water, and was amazed to find that it tasted very hydrating and fruitful. Re-energizing, in fact. Collectively, though, they all looked to the strangely-shaped orange fruit and sighed. They were all hungry, as they had no more food rations from their long journey in space. Lenora gulped aloud as she grabbed one, then lamented as everyone watched her slowly, hesitatingly bite into the thinly-skinned ... and deliciously meaty fruit. After she told them what it was like, they all grabbed one hurriedly and bit in, finally happy to be fed some edible and delicious food. Then Athena joked about Simon eagerly biting into the "woman's ass" part of the fruit first. And they all laughed and had smiles on their faces. But eventually, the laughter subsided as they all looked up into the cloudless sky and observed the stars. They had all spent their lives traveling around between them, but only now did they each look and see that they could finally watch them as distant observers, no longer involved in the conflicts of corrupt businesses and greedy brigands. This world was peaceful, happy, enriching... perfect. After about an hour of quiet contemplation, Thomas lifted himself up and eyed the heart-shaped melon. Eventually, the others noticed also and watched as he took a knife to the stem, removing it from the rest of the fruit like one would remove the stem of a pumpkin to create a jack-o-lantern. In fact, a pumpkin was closer to what the skin of the melon looked like, but the inside was more like a honeydew's, meaty past a rind of about an inch or so in depth. Slicing the meat up into pieces, Thomas handed them around to everyone, as they held their pieces in their hands and all partook together. The taste was at first heady, an aroma of something akin to strawberries and vanilla beans but mixed with the taste of sweet cherries. Then the juice of the melon seeped through, with a surprisingly warm, sweet, and even salty flavor melting into some iron-rich butter of sorts. The fruit was absolutely fantastic to eat. And then. Then. Then the stirrings began. The juice was warming indeed, enough to cause sweating and restlessness among all the lagomorphs. One by one, they began panting, tongues out, eyes heavy, and belts loosed. Indeed, each of them, one by one, shed their articles of clothing layer by layer, down to their underwear. And even then, Athena muttered a chuckle as she reached behind and unclipped her bra, letting loose her conservative but buff breasts exposed to everyone around. Thomas, Charles, and Simon all stared in awe, honestly admiring the hare's form without filter. Minerva then huffed and removed her bra and shorts, revealing her entirely to the group while exclaiming that she would not be shown up while she still had something to show off. Charles licked his lips and Simon whistled, then Thomas cat-called over to Lenora to join in as he took off his shorts, revealing his erect dong to the group. Lenora froze in a state split between confusion and terror, looking left and right to see Charles nude, kneading his sack, and Simon nude, on his knees and flexing the muscle in his penis, causing it to bounce up and down. Thomas called to her, and she finally tore off her bra - quite violently - and scuttled over to her husband, aggressively kissing him and pushing him down to the ground. From this position, she tore off her panties at the thighs and tossed the ripped garment aside, before grinding his erect member against her recently-deflowered snatch. Around them, Charles spooned Minerva, and Simon helped himself to a very submissive Athena's breasts while positioning himself for a missionary experience. Lenora moaned as she impaled herself on her husband's thick member, both of them groaning and bucking wildly as they copulated in the forest clearing. Everything else disappeared, everything else didn't matter. They thrusted and pumped and gasped again and again, moving from position to position as they spent all their energy on and in each other and satisfying their extreme need. Eventually, Lenora felt Thomas's cock swell inside her and release powerful jets of white-hot, sickly-sweet liquid into her womb, seeding her with life. And still, that wasn't enough. Lenora rode Thomas until he seized and cummed again, giving her more of his sweet nectar, and then they switched to a doggy-style position until he again cummed into her; all the while his fingers played with her nipples and clit, and he could feel her belly jiggle and swell due to the volume of liquid pumped into her. Eventually, though, the three couples ran out of energy, and simply collapsed where they were, cocks still embedded in vaginas, until the light of dawn greeted them. And they slept yet longer. Lenora washed her ears in quiet contemplation. The "passion melons", as the group is calling them, still kept her quite a bit buzzed, even after about half a day's worth of time being awake. The others no longer cared about hiding themselves from one another; all feeling of embarrassment and shame were gone. Even Minerva was dismissive about being nude in full view of total strangers like Simon and Athena. But it was definitely an experience that didn't need to be talked about - the previous night's events and accomplishments were fresh in mind, and everyone was resolved to not let such things bother them or drive a wedge between anybody else. They were, after all, the only lagomorphs on the planet. That was the point when Thomas suggested a pact among them. They had the opportunity to raise families in a null society - that is, they could decide the rules and the regulations, and the traditions of their people. Each rabbit and hare agreed that that would be an excellent idea, and from that point on they were divided into allied but separate clans: Thomas and Lenora as patriarch and matriarch, respectively, of one clan; Charles and Minerva as another, and Simon and Athena as the third. They would spent an amount of time together, but would then split off to find other locations once any of them come close enough to delivering any offspring. They were to practice isolationism from the wars among the stars; no mention of the conflicts of above were to be communicated by parents to children, and they were to keep balance and respect for the natural species of the world in which they lived. Any use of technology which they could not replicate, was to be kept locked in side the lifeboat, which they later buried and hid away to prevent accidental discovery and influence. Everyone agreed, and they set about to gather wood and materials for setting up a shelter back in the clearing, calling it the Meeting Place of Families, where all three clans would come together if they felt the need to gather and mingle. For a few weeks, they toiled together in harvesting wood, branches, leaves, and bark from trees in creating huts for them to live in, before creating a larger meeting hall large enough to fit all of them. By day they worked, and by night they played over and over again, with Athena becoming quite an exhibitionist in front of the others, much to Simon's delight. She had even teased them all by offering to "play" with Lenora, provided that Thomas would give permission to do so. Everyone laughed, recognizing that Athena was only joking, before she returned to her mate's side and began sucking him off, not met by any disapproval by the lanky and lucky leveret. In short time, however, Minerva announced that she was pregnant. According to their pact, they began looking for a place that the rabbit couple could call their new home, and found a spot by a lone brook where they began setting up a hut. Over the next week, they learned how to work wood effectively, how to make an adobe-like substance for cooling areas, how to store and stockpile their food, and how to use carcasses of animals they found. The knives they carried from the lifeboat proved invaluable in crafting and fashioning their tools. Eventually, they built a chum-like dwelling, a conical room with enough space for sleeping together and storing a few things indoors. After finishing their dwelling, the four others said their good-byes, leaving the two to expect their first batch of younglings in peace by the river side. Not long after, both Athena and Lenora also showed signs of pregnancy. The four agreed to help the hares set up their location first, which was near a knoll on the edge of a meadow. A decently-sized shelter was erected in short time, and water was located nearby in a watering hole. As the young couple of rabbits left, Simon looked towards the cattle near the watering hole and sighed. Athena chuckled, "Well, guess you're gonna have ta grow them muscles sometime." "W-what? Why would I..?" Athena rubbed her tits on her mate's back to tease him. "Well, Papa-to-be, I'm gonna need water eventually, right? And we won't be able to just wait for nightfall every time, right? So ya gotta learn how to stand up ta them." Simon looked back and groaned. He had a feeling that the muscular hare had a regimen in mind, and that he wasn't going to like it. A sizable boulder was sticking out of the ground where Thomas and Lenora decided to establish their dwelling place. Having learned some engineering tricks and solved some puzzles in the other homes they've had to build so far, Thomas felt confident in setting one up on his own. Lenora was actually quite big now, possibly ready to give birth any day. The light was fading, but even by the light of a campfire, Thomas was able to create a cozy room just for the two of them. All the while, they shared their thoughts on this new lifestyle that they were embarking on. They would teach their children which foods to eat and not eat. They would teach their children to respect nature. They would teach their children how to respect each other. They would teach their children to call them Mother and Father. They would teach their children about the other lagomorphs who live some distances away. They would encourage their children to explore and learn about the world. They would eventually teach their children about growing a family of their own. "Ah, we'll cross that bridge once we get to it." "Oh, we need to watch what we say. They won't know about a great number of words, concepts, and things." "Good thinking, my love. But we must teach them also about being open. We'll hide nothing from them except for the ... where we came from." "Hide nothing?" Thomas approached his wife, who was sitting on the boulder. "No clothing, no secrets, no shaming." He kissed her on the nose, then placed his hand on her stomach and admired her form. Purring, she cupped his head in her hand as he knelt down and kissed her baby bump. After a few moments, he grinned and kissed her lower and lower until she was surprised to feel his lips against her nether lips, licking and kissing, his breath hot. They looked at each other and went over to the food stockpile, pulling out a passion melon. They smiled at each other as Thomas sliced the melon open and into pieces, giving one to his wife while taking one for his own. They bit into their servings and sucked the juices out from the moist meat of the melon, slowly but surely feeling the heat of the passion melon work through their loins. Their breaths quivered and became hot as they proceeded to make love once again, their echoes of love pouring into the night sky to join in with the other mating calls, night sounds, and roars of passion, a symphony of sex from animal and lagomorph alike.