Jayson's eyes open. He is back on his bed in his burrow. He sits up with a start and looks around the room. Everything is tidy. The rug is clean, the closet is organized, the bedsheets and pillows have barely moved from his slumber, his slippers are at the foot of the bed and his blue scarf is hanging from a hook on his door, just as he left it.
On the wall are framed documents. Marriage license, real estate and bakery graduation certificates, and his burrow deed.
Jayson crawls out of the bed, wearing orange pajamas akin to a prison outfit. He slides into his slippers and cautiously goes to his bedroom door. Every step is slow and heavy, and the air is thick and stale.
He hesitates.
Then opens it.
Stepping out of his bedroom, Jayson sees the rest of the burrow is dark and a wreck. The furniture is destroyed, the wedding dress is in the fireplace, shattered dishes lay scattered. Gurgling catches his attention, and he looks down the hallway and sees bloody water seeping from underneath the bathroom door.
Jayson's eyes widen and he turns around and sees his bedroom is also destroyed, with the mattress shredded, the framed documents destroyed, and scratched into the wall in jagged letters over an eye with butterfly wings is "“Come See With Me”.
Bloody water touches Jayson’s feet, making him jump and turn around.
Lexanne stands in the middle of the bathroom doorway, its door now gone. Her shadowy, lanky figure sways in her spot, blood red lines trailing the radial arteries of her arms. The torn fabric and messy hair floats in the air like wisps in the water.
Lexanne’s eyes open and her mouth stretches to a grin, showing three white voids.
“There you are, Jayson,” says Lexanne. She extends her hand to him. “Come see with me.”
«««O»»»
Jayson's eyes open. Sunlight pours through the windows of Derrick’s nest, and Jayson lays tensely on the couch, coated in sweat and holding his weapon tight. He sits up and rubs his head with a shaky hand and looks outside.
Derrick is still on the porch, sipping coffee and watching the area lit by the morning sun and energy coursing through the cracks in the sky.
Jayson's head flops on the pillow and he stares ahead at the black screen of the TV. His reflection stares back at him. Then one of his ears perks when he hears a ruckus.
“Al... Most... There!” grunts Lexia, her loud voice muffled by the glass door.
Jayson sits up again and looks outside just in time to see Lexia flop over the railing and land awkwardly on the porch, wearing her armor and carrying her weapons. Derrick nonchalantly sips his coffee.
“You need to work on your climbing,” says Derrick.
Lexia sits up, leaning against the railing to catch her breath. and Jayson steps onto the porch.
“Please tell me you have some breakfast. My mom ate all the food in the burrow again,” says Lexia.
“I can make some now that you’re both here,” says Derrick.
He leads the two bunnies inside and goes to gather breakfast materials while his partners take a seat at the dining room table, cleared off of all figurines and painting equipment while Jayson slept.
“How was your dinner with the fox?” asks Derrick.
“You mean Morty?” says Lexia.
“He doesn’t like being called Morty,” says Jayson.
“Right. Well, anyway, me and Mortimer had dinner, and it turned out nice.”
“Did you... Did he...?”
Jayson’s voice trails off, and Lexia looks at him with a raised brow while Derrick continues gathering supplies for breakfast.
“Did we what?” asks Lexia.
“Did you try killing each other?” asks Jayson.
Lexia smirks and leans back while tapping her chin. “Well, let me think about how our dinner went first. Just so I can jog my memory.”
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(((((O)))))
Lexia arrived at the Crystal Plate restaurant, dressed to impress in her black dress with a broad slit on the skirt and thin gold chains connecting the edges of the v-cut opening. Mortimer was already there, looking dashing in his tailored suit, the fabric hugging his lean fox frame in all the right places. Their eyes met, and his sparkling predatory eyes made Lexia’s heart skip a beat and her knees weak.
Lexia approached Mortimer with a sway in her hips, meeting his gaze with a confident smirk, despite the anxiety tearing apart her body.
When Lexia reached Mortimer, he gently grabbed her white furred hand and planted a soft kiss on it, his lips lingering just a moment longer than necessary. This sent shivers down Lexia’s spine, and her smile held as they were seated at a cozy candlelit table, the flickering flames casting an intimate glow across Mortimer’s handsome face.
As they scanned the menu, their hands found excuses to brush against each other, the lightest caress sending electric surges of pleasure through Lexia’s body, making her little tail wag and her patchwork of brown and white fur stand. Mortimer ordered for both of them in flawless French, his voice like velvet. This sophistication only enhanced Lexia’s growing arousal.
The growing need to take him then and there was becoming harder to ignore.
Then the meal came.
Tacos stuffed with succulent meat and bright vegetables, scalloped potatoes deep fried and smothered in chocolate, and the finest root beer. But it paled in comparison to the amorous looks Mortimer kept giving Lexia over the top of his P-Cola collector’s glass, his gaze smoldering with barely restrained desire. They fed each other decadent morsels, fingers grazing lips, each touch adding to the pressure building between them.
As the evening progressed, the sexual tension became unbearable. Unable to resist any longer, Mortimer pulled Lexia into a passionate embrace right there at the table, his strong arms enveloping her, his mouth claiming hers in a fiery kiss that left Lexia weak all over. She melted against him, lost in the taste and feel of him.
Oblivious to the other patrons, they made out feverishly, hands exploring, tugging at their clothes. They fell on the table, wanting more of each other until Claribel, the scaley wench who had been reduced to a lowly waitress, meekly suggested they get a room, jealously and sadness sucking all life out of her.
Heeding the words of the reptile, Mortimer scooped Lexia in his arms and carried her out of the Crystal Plate, both of them laughing giddily, drunk on lust and ready to indulge in the sexual desires that had been growing between them ever since they first laid eyes on each other on the pier that fateful evening under the cloudless full moon night sky when Jayson dumped Lexia for Claribel at the gas station because Lexia told him the cold hard truth about burritos.
And that is…
Burritos are gross.
(((((O)))))
Lexia smirks salaciously at Jayson as the story finishes, delighting in the confused sneer on his face as the lurid details of her dinner with Mortimer sinks in.
Meanwhile, Derrick rolls his eyes and adds the finishing touches to his breakfast dishes.
“And then we had sex,” adds Lexia bluntly.
“You’re a pervert,” says Jayson.
“It was wild.”
“Now tell us what really happened,” says Derrick as he sets up the plates.
“That was it!” says Lexia defensively.
Derrick puts the plate of food in front of Jayson but holds Lexia's plate over her head. She reaches for it, but he holds his hand out, pressing against her head and keeping her seated.
“I was watching you eat at Crystal Plate. None of that happened,” says Derrick.
“You were watching me!?” says Lexia angrily.
“My crosshairs were on Mortimer the whole time. The only reason why he wasn't shot was because he was eating, and he hadn't tried anything against you. Now, what really happened?”
Lexia stops fighting for the food and slumps in her chair.
“Fine... It was like this... We ate. He griped about me ruining Clarilame’s hat. I gave him some relationship advice and then I got stuck washing dishes to pay for the meal because he dined and dashed like a douche,” says Lexia.
Jayson points at Lexia with a wicked smile. “Ha! You got stiffed!”
Lexia glares at Jayson. “Shut up, Jayson!”
“Karma for your usury.”
Derrick gives Lexia her breakfast. “That's enough. Lexia, in all seriousness, you need to manage your finances better.”
Lexia chows down, speaking with her mouth full. “My finances are fine. By the way, did you guys get a weird envelope offering reward money for some guy named Ramsey Prosper?”
“Yeah. How much did they offer you?” asks Jayson.
“Fifty-k, plus putting my mother in a state-of-the-art rehabilitation center.”
Lexia reaches behind her and puts her envelope on the table. With it is the papers Jayson and Derrick got, but there is also a brochure for "RENEWAL REHABILITATION FACILITY." It has bright colors and very inspiring pictures of hope and renewal.
“I'm going to have a look at it before I take them up on the offer,” says Lexia.
“Smart move. I'm having my contact in the PD dig up information about Trafford Augustine. He gave me that envelope with the same monetary offer,” says Derrick.
“How long has he been looking?” asks Lexia.
“All morning,” replies Derrick.
Then Derrick's phone rings, and all three look at it. It rings again and Derrick answers.
“This is Marlow,” says Derrick.
“Hey, Marlow. It's Nermal,” says Nermal over the phone.
“What do you have?”
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Detective North Nermal is sitting at a lone table in the basement of the Bliss Town Metro Police Station. The scrawny black and white spotted rabbit draped his ratty jacket over his chair and files clutter the table, all lit up by a single light from a slow spinning ceiling fan.
In front of Nermal is Trafford Augustine’s file, and with it, a copy of his death certificate.
“Yeah, that Trafford Augustine guy you had me look up. He's dead,” says Nermal.
“How long?” asks Derrick.
Nermal studies the copy of the death certificate. “Records say almost ten years. A nasty car wreck involving him, and a female named Angelica Havens. She was dead on impact, but he died at Revival Hospital in Solstice City.”
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Derrick leans against the wall, his expression hardening, earning him concerned looks from Jayson and Lexia.
“Thanks, Nermal,” says Derrick.
“We're going to bring this guy in for questioning. Want to help me catch him?” asks Nermal.
“Definitely. Have your units set up at the Bliss Town Mall. We'll lower him into the food court and then you can get him.”
“Got it.”
Derrick hangs up and looks at Lexia and Jayson. “We have got a problem.”