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__________________________________ Lagomorphs Copyright © July, 2015, FurryWurry All rights reserved

Chapter 23 -- Bath __________________________________

"Do you know where you'll be sleeping?" Jeff asked Swimmer as they entered Jeff's snug.

"No, not yet. I'm sure Sunny will find out from Flower. She'll know which snugs are available. Is it OK if I wait here?"

"Of course! It'll give us a chance to talk, too."

"Talk? What about?"

"Didn't you say you had something you wanted to discuss with me?"

"Oh, that." The Rab avoided meeting Jeff's eyes. "I guess."

"Look, why don't you rest on the bed while we're waiting for Sunny and Diver. Those are their bags, right?" The three small bags that Swimmer had carried in earlier were still on the table. Not much to bring to a new home.

"Yeah." The Rab glanced in their direction, not meeting Jeff's gaze, but not getting on the bed, either.

"Aren't you tired? It's pretty late in the morning by now. I got a little sleep last night, but I'm guessing you were up the whole time, right? Please, relax. Take a nap. We don't know how long it'll be before they get here."

"Yeah. I guess. Sky's probably lecturing Diver. That could take the rest of the day, maybe. Diver can be pretty dense sometimes. When he wants to be." But he still just stood there, looking at his feet. Was it just that he was too shy? The other times, he'd been following Diver's lead or Sunny's. Was he that submissive? Did he need direction?

"Come on." Jeff started to put his arm around the Rab so he could urge him toward the bed. Umm. Maybe that wasn't quite such a good idea.

"Swimmer, uh, do you mind if I take a shower? I think I really need one."

There wasn't any curtain or door to keep water in or to provide privacy. He'd seen the floor absorb Cloudy's spit, so maybe that part didn't matter. Sky's loose fur from the brushing seemed to have disappeared, too. The lack of privacy, though... Oh, well. He'd just have to get used to it. The Rabs obviously had a different lifestyle. When in Rome.

The Rab glanced over at him. "No, of course I don't mind. Actually, well, that was sort of what I wanted to ask about." He paused, then burst out with "Would you let me groom you? Well, wash you mostly, I guess, since you don't have much fur. I promise I'll be gentle. Please?" He looked at Jeff hopefully.

Jeff looked at the Rab. Really? Swimmer actually wanted to do that? Nobody had given Jeff a bath since he was a little kid. There had been a couple of times he'd considered sharing a shower with someone, but nothing had come of it either time, much to his disappointment. He didn't think Swimmer meant it as a sexual proposal, though. Could it be part of the Rab dominance thing? Despite his size, maybe Swimmer's shyness was because he considered himself subservient.

"That's all you want? Just to give me a bath?"

Swimmer nodded vigorously. "That's all I want." Then he smiled. "But it doesn't have to be all, if you want more. Sex doesn't do anything much for me, but I do enjoy making other people happy."

Umm. Right. Mounting often was part of the rabbit dominance ritual. Sky had done something like that earlier, although it had seemed almost perfunctory. Jeff wasn't sure that lying on someone counted as dominance if you were spacing out on their scent. Swimmer certainly was attractive, he'd said he was willing, and he was more than large enough to keep Jeff from doing anything unwelcome. Still, it felt too much like taking advantage of someone who simply couldn't object: highly inappropriate.

"Getting clean is all I'm interested in right now, but thanks."

"OK. Why don't you sit on this while I do your hair first." Swimmer put one of the stools in the shower stall, then took off his breech clout and tossed it on the bed. "Well?"

"Uh, right. Sure." Of course. Wet cloth would be uncomfortable. Naked Rab. Sharing a shower. Thinking about it just wasn't quite the same as actually doing it. It already felt much more intimate than he'd expected. Jeff tossed his new loincloth on the bed along with his medallion, then sat on the stool, trying to keep his attention elsewhere, trying to minimize any physical reaction. The statuette. It had been well done.

"Swimmer?"

"Hmmm?" He was pulling down on the showerhead, which came out on a long hose. It had lots of thick bristles sticking out of it, almost like tiny fingers, good for massages?

"Who made that statue, do you know? It's really well done."

"Runner chewed it. He made one for me, too," the Rab said sadly. "It's in my bag. I'll show you later."

"Oh, OK, thanks."

"What are you guys doing?" It was Sunny. Of course. He really should think things through more. Of course she'd come back before they were finished, or even started. But he really wanted to get rid of the stink. Oh, well, Swimmer was standing between them, providing just a little privacy. Maybe. For a few seconds.

"I'm about to give him a bath. Do you want one, too? It won't be too long."

"Nah, I'm fine." She jumped on the bed.

As Swimmer turned back toward him, Jeff had a close-up view of something he'd noticed when they were getting their new loincloths. Despite his size, the Rab was sexually immature. His scrotum was small, his testes flaccid and undeveloped, very unlike Sky's. Sky's had been large, firm and fully descended. How did that work? Was Swimmer subservient because he hadn't developed sexually or had his development been suppressed because other males were dominant? Or was it a bit of both? But it did explain why he might not be interested in sex for its own sake.

"Close your eyes. The soap'll sting." The Rab rinsed Jeff's head, then started rubbing an odorless foam into his hair. The massage felt good.

But while he had a chance.... "Sunny, you know stuff about the Makers, right? Do you mind if I ask some questions? I don't know much about them at all. My folk have pretty much forgotten about them." He squinted at her. The soap did sting a bit.

"That's sad. We have lots of songs about them. Do you want me to sing some of them? They're kinda long."

"Well, how about just telling me a little of what they say?"

"OK. What do you want to know?" She pulled his red pillow over, propping her elbows on it, making herself comfortable.

"Well, for one thing, when did the Makers go away?"

"The Time was a long, long time ago. More summers than I can count. Gran'Dam says her own Great Gran'Dam saw one once, though. So that must have been, what, fifty summers ago? Maybe more. She said it was beautiful."

Fifty summers? That couldn't be right. Gan'Dam's Great Gran'Dam would have been five generations ago, so that should be closer to a hundred and fifty years. Certainly way more than a hundred. He didn't want to contradict her, though. There was no point in arguing over something like that.

Swimmer rinsed out his hair, then gently rubbed suds on Jeff's face, using his bare hands. No washcloth? "Keep your eyes closed."

"Beautiful? What did they look like?" Jeff sputtered.

"Maybe you should keep your mouth closed, too." Swimmer sounded amused.

"The songs don't say. We argue about it a lot. I think there must've been lotsa different ones. I guess each of them made folk that looked like themselves when they remade their four-legged companions."

"Four-legged?"

Her brother sprayed warm water on his face. "OK, done with that. You can look now." Jeff wiped his face.

"Yeah. In the long-ago Before-Time, the Makers had different kinds of four-legged companions, but they wanted real folk to live with them, too, to sing to them, and to help make things. So they remade some of their four-leggers into folk with two legs, giving them two hands and a voice." She held her hands up, admiring them. "That was us! And other folk, too, of course. Like you. I guess they wanted some that smelled really good." She grinned and buried her nose in the pillow, taking a deep breath. Jeff was a little surprised she hadn't pulled over his breachclout, but maybe that would have been just a little too personal.

"And they made places for your folk to live? Like this one?"

Jeff swayed back and forth a bit as Swimmer massaged foam over his shoulders, rinsing them off while Sunny answered.

"Uh, huh. Warrens for Rabs and Dens for Sheps, anyhow. It's nice enough, but the songs say our Warren isn't our perfect home. That's with the Makers. In the Before-Time, Makers visited us all the time, searching out the best Rabs to come live with them. They had lots of really hard tests and competitions. Most of the winners were Taken up to be with the Makers, but some had to stay here to be the next Sires and Dams. As a consolation, the Makers helped them mate. They had incredible sex! But the Makers haven't come for anybody for a long, long while. Not since the Time." She obviously was disappointed.

"The Time? When was that?"

"Stand up," Swimmer murmured. "Lift your arms."

"Long, long time ago, a hundred summers at least. You see, there were two types of Makers, Dark and Light. The Light Makers made folk like us. The Dark ones made things like Raptors, Wolves and other meat eaters. Some really big ones, too. 'Balance of life' they called it." She shuddered, clutching the red pillow.

Swimmer smoothed suds along Jeff's arms, then massaged more into his armpits, which really needed it.

"The Light and Dark Makers hated each other and were always fighting. When they had their final battle, they filled the night sky with green and red flames that lit up the whole world. The fires burned away the Sun and Moon and their ashes covered the ground, leaving everything dark and cold. Then it got even colder. Colder than the coldest Winter that ever was. Nobody knows how long the dark Time lasted, but it brought the Demons with it. The Warren kept us warm and fed; it kept out the Demons, too. After a long while, the Moon and Sun were reborn and Day and Summer slowly came back, but nobody ever saw any Makers ever again. Well, maybe Gran'Dam's Great Gran'Dam did." She sounded a little dubious.

Finished with his arms, her brother rinsed Jeff off again, then, bracing him with one hand, Swimmer used the other to rub more foam onto Jeff's lower back, then switched and did his chest and stomach. The warm, smooth pressures felt really good. Maybe a little too good.

"You mentioned Rabs and Sheps. Do they live nearby?"

"Oh, sure. Well, not really close, but there are Warrens and Dens maybe a couple of days away." She frowned. "Some of the Sheps used to visit a lot, every few days even, but Gran'Sir got in a big argument with them a few weeks back. They haven't been around since then. They were really friendly and we sang together every time they visited. I miss them."

The Rab knelt and started on his legs.

"Hey, you missed a spot!" She obviously was paying much too close attention to what her brother was doing. Maybe another question would distract her.

"So they're a lot like Rabs, then?"

Sunny laughed. "Of course not. They're Sheps! Their ears are short and their tails are long, just the opposite of us! They're mostly furrier than we are, with black and brown spots. And they can't wiggle their noses like we do." She wiggled hers. "They don't eat grass, either. They're like you that way, I guess, but their teeth are a lot more pointed than yours." She frowned. "Well, maybe they do eat grass once in a while. Maybe. I'm not sure."

"Pick up your foot." Jeff balanced himself by putting a hand on Swimmer's strong shoulder. The Rab rubbed Jeff's toes and cleaned between them.

"Are their noses black?"

"Wet, too. Have you met them?"

"No, I've just seen some four-leggers that look something like that." Like the wolves. "They sound like they must be fun, though." Not like the wolves.

Putting down Jeff's other foot, Swimmer smiled as Jeff swayed and grabbed his shoulder. There were just a couple more places to clean. Ones Sunny apparently was interested in.

"They are! And they really like to sing without words, especially when the moon's up."

"I heard they aren't always so much fun," Swimmer interjected, pausing in his ministrations with one hand on Jeff's shoulder. "I talked with Walks-the-Hills a few weeks ago. He's one of the bucks Gran'Sir sent looking for strawberries. Walker had a run-in with Sheps while he was down in the lowlands and they chased him all the way back to the Warren. He said they had a really scary stare, like maybe they wanted to bite him."

"I think that's what they were arguing about with Gran'Sir, too," Sunny added. "They didn't like him sending so many bucks out for strawberries. Maybe you'll meet them while you're hunting for Rabs. Maybe they can help!"

Jeff closed his eyes again, but not to keep out the soap. He spread his legs a little and leaned sideways against the male Rab. One strong, warm hand was rubbing foam up and down between his butt cheeks, cleaning around his anus, pressing on it gently while the Rab's other arm hugged Jeff close. Just for support, of course.

"Maybe. I hope so." The Rabs might not be sheep, but it seemed someone was looking out for them. Some of the time, anyhow.

That left just one area to be cleaned.

"Maybe I should finish," Jeff started to offer.

"Nope. I'm washing everything." Swimmer was quite firm. The part of Jeff that they were discussing probably would have been, too, if Sunny hadn't been watching so closely.

Swimmer knelt and very gently finished the ablutions. Despite the audience and his best intentions, the Rab's warm hands and the slick suds started to cause an involuntary physical reaction that Jeff found quite embarassing. That wasn't the case for the others in the room.

"Are you really sure you don't want me to do more?" Swimmer smiled up at him.

"He gives really great blow-jobs," Sunny volunteered. "Just ask Diver!"

TMI. Again. Rab families seemed to be both far more intimate and far more public about such things than Jeff felt comfortable hearing about. Or this family was, anyhow.

"Great hand-jobs, too. Are you absolutely certain?" Swimmer seemed almost anxious about it.

"No. Thanks. Really." Jeff worked his fingers into the damp, curly fur between the long ears, rubbing and scratching firmly, not-so-incidentally pushing the Rab away a little. It was the Rab's turn to close his eyes, though, and Jeff could feel him purring. "Just get me dry. That'll be enough."

The showerhead didn't dispense just water and foamy suds. Its hot, dry air was very relaxing. Thank goodness.