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Anthro Sex Squad Story 3 - Oaky's Story

By Killenor

Arc 1 - Origins

Chapter 5

"So tell me Oaky," Ermana puffed as she tried to keep up with the quick little toad, "Why... why live out here on your own? I mean... phew... surely your talents and... *gasp* stamina could be a real asset, some people find that really attractive."

"Well, you just said why," Oaky said without the slightest hint of a grumble, "I'm not attractive. Females would choose thieves and liars over me. I'm ugly. And no one cares about my talents. The council of elders doesn't need another pond-watcher, even if I was old enough. They hate people telling them how wrong some of their policies are. Waters too warm for females, berries rotting too quickly for bug harvests, cicadas staying under a whole extra year. But the elders don't want these... "depressing"... forecasts and happenings to be known."

"Sounds like just about any other government," Ermana said grimacing, "Just about any 'council of elders' would say that sort of thing. 'Everything is fine! Keep giving, keep working! We'll protect you!'... nothing ever works out like that. People are too... what's the right word... variable, for that sort of thing."

Ermana paused and considered for a bit, "Is it really that bad for your people Oaky?"

"Worse, according to Grubber we are going to have to move to a whole new forest for over eight generations before things get any better. He says there is an ancient blight creeping in, an old manifestation that he can't hold back forever. He says there is going to be a famine and maybe even a plague before it's all done. The elders don't like legends or talk of ancient things. They are too set in their ways to see what is going wrong." Oaky explained grumpily.

"Why don't you just speak out against the elders then? I mean, show the people proof of this blight, they'll all decide to leave."

Oaky burst out with a laugh, "Me? An apprentice speaking out against the elders? An ugly, unpopular freak who is the student of another unpopular freak telling the normal folk what's what? They wouldn't listen."

"There is that word again. Now, I'm no judge of toads, but how are you ugly, and how does that have any bearing on telling people about a horrible blight?!"

"Well, the popular people are usually the oldest. The oldest are usually the best spawners. The best spawners are either the most skilled or the prettiest... well, it used to be that. Come to find out even some of the ugly ones can spawn if the price is right."

Ermana laughed, "So you toads have prostitutes too huh?"

"Pros...i ... what?" Oaky said confused.

"Prostitutes," Ermana said plainly, "Women, or even men, who let people do sexual things to them for money, gifts, or favors. The oldest profession don't ya know."

Suddenly, Oaky's mind careened back to that fateful day on the stump. The day he learned about the trickery of the females. Ripple's necklace, Wasp's refusal, a dozen other failures... the story about Birch... it all made sense now.

"Yes, it does seem a lot of our females are prostitutes then." Oaky glumly admitted, "A good and attentive provider I could have been, but she gives herself up for sneeze-face and his necklace."

Ermana giggled, "Sneeze-face? That's a new name."

"Myco," growled Oaky, "The only toad in the whole settlement with worse bumps than me. He's a skinny, shifty-eyed, burble-tongued... grrr... but he gets my friend Ripple, cause of some dumb necklace. He probably stole it anyways."

Ermana's features grew concerned, anger like this could break her charms. She needed to appease the dark feelings creeping into her little thrall's mind, and quickly, lest she have an angry, armed toad-man.

"I'm sure those girls will realize what they've lost. I'll bet it won't be a whole season before they regret their choices and think of the life you could have given them."

It had worked. She could see the anger melting from Oaky's face.

"You think so?" Oaky said hopefully, "You think they'd want me at next years dance?"

Ermana thought of something. "You toads only mate once a year?" she inquired.

"Well yeah," Oaky said matter-of-fact-ly, even condescendingly, "that's when the waters are best for eggs. How often do humans mate? I mean, since you mammals don't need ponds and all."

"We," Ermana said pausingly, as if explaining sex to a child, "we can mate whenever we want to. Any time of the year... pretty much any place we want." She broke into a giggle, "You know, there was this one time in my teacher's broom closet..."

She suddenly went red in the face. A color change that Oaky noticed with some alarm.

"Are you alright?!" Oaky said in surprise. Color change was a very unfamiliar condition amongst the toad-folk.

Ermana's face slid into confusion. "Why shouldn't I be alright?"

"Y-your face!" the alarmed toad exclaimed, "your face is all red!"

Ermana burst out laughing, "It's red cause I was... well. I was thinking about all the times I had sex with my teacher. It makes me blush from those good memories. There's nothing wrong with it."

Oaky was still amazed.

"Wow," he sighed, "You mated with your own mentor? Feh, almost makes me wish that Grubber might have been female. Well... how many of your children survived?"

"Children?" Ermana said confusedly, "I don't have any children. Never really wanted them. I just like the sex really, it's part of what gives me my magic."

"NONE?!" Oaky said shocked, "You've mated so many times and never had any children? ... and what do you mean never... wanted? You mammals can choose not to have children?"

Ermana rolled her eyes in amusement. "Some people think that people should only have sex to breed. I don't though. I don't think that most beings that have sex even put together that sex MEANS babies. They just know that it feels good... so why shouldn't it just feel good if we want it to?"

"It kinda does for us," Oaky said a little sheepishly, "when we mate, the eggs come out of the female. Anyone who has watched eggs hatch understands the connection."

"Well... do you toads have to worry about taking care of your young?" Ermana put matter-of-factly.

"No," Oaky said, barely understanding the relevance of this question.

"Well, imagine giving up everything that you had ever dreamed of doing, stopping all your plans for the future, just to take care of someone that you only have because of one hour of fun. I mean, if you want to take care of children for your life, that's great, but there are so many other things to do! I shouldn't be stuck with doing something I don't choose to just because of the body I was born in."

This struck Oaky as profound. He had never realized mammals had it so hard? Had the many mammal mothers he had treated over the years felt this, even in their own primitive way?

"But..." Oaky wondered, "but... I mean... you don't HAVE to... you aren't obligated to care for your young are you? Your babies don't have mind powers that force you..."

Ermana shook her head, "No, there is nothing compelling us to remain with our babies. However, what you don't understand... your mothers lay eggs right after you mate... imagine having to carry all those eggs around with you for nine months, having to take care not to break them. Even more, you'd have to keep them alive with your own essence and they will grow larger as you go! Finally, when they hatch, the children are completely helpless and would perish without your constant vigilance. To see that they become adults in their own right, they depend on you."

Rocked by this revelation, Oaky could barely keep his mind upon his walking. For several minutes the human and the toad strode wordlessly, side-by-side, their destination all but forgotten.