beforethefall
BtF - Howlawoo Special
Content Warning: Werewolves/lycanthropy, transformation, dubcon, gagging, cum-inflation, gangbang, underage drinking, musk, closeted gayness, digital escapism
Before the Fall
“2025 Happy Howl-Awoo Special Episode”
by beforethefall [Inkbunny]#
On a quiet Wednesday evening in a grungy freshman dormitory, a young rabbit sat hunched over a keyboard and gazing into the mildly radioactive glow of a CRT monitor.
Robert Bassinger was a freshly-minted Freshman at the University of Missouri, having been transplanted from his relatively-unknown, rural town a mere three hours' drive away. It was where he'd grown up as the geeky ‘counter-culture’ outcast in a community full of farm and country kids and a smattering of preppy, popular townies amongst which he had few friends, with even fewer whom he trusted to know the real, unfiltered Robert. He had precisely no friends here in Columbia, though, but at least his dorm roommate was marginally tolerable, and more importantly, the school had a blazing-fast T3 internet line that had no connection throttling after 8:00 pm as well. It was always on, and always fast; Robert finally had access to a real internet connection that wasn't sourced from the sketchy NetZero browser or an AOL free trial CD that was registered to a burner e-mail address.
With that newfound digital freedom, the overweight nineteen-year-old rabbit had discovered the Night Sky forums only a few weeks ago. It was a small community of digital outcasts like himself, hackers, geeks, techies and coders amongst whom he'd been making a name for himself. He'd rather enjoyed participating in their discussions, brainstorming through puzzles, and joking around with some of the frequent posters in late-night “Full Moon” threads, and he'd even been invited to chip in on a couple of the forum's ‘projects’ as an apprentice, tasked with digging through website code to find sloppy code and hidden ways into the underlying databases and data repositories, or hunting for ways to escalate permissions beyond those of a lowly end-user.
He hadn't done anything terribly sketchy in the short time he'd been active with the group; having only cracked into a site that hosted mp3s of west-coast DJ sets to harvest all the music they had in bulk; coastal club and rave genres like trance, D&B, downtempo and progressive house were a rare commodity in his tiny corner of the Midwest, and most of the forum members seemed to be of a similar mind, often mocking the pedestrian “Classic Rock, Country and Christian” sensibilities of their regional radio stations. Robert had even helped them take down a rival forum for a short time; some sort of stupid tin-foil hat site about conspiracies, ghosts, UFOs, astral projection, crystals, cryptids and the sort. Robert wasn't sure what the Night Sky's grudge was with them, exactly, but it was easily-enough dismissed as their sort of play; rooting around out of curiosity or with mischievous intent, more than with any sense of real malice.
The hidden sub-forum he'd been exploring that night was barren; so barren in fact that it had drawn Robert's curiosity by way of its profound emptiness when he'd stumbled upon it through a hidden link on the main page of the Night Sky forums. As he was digging through the few settings and filters to see if anything had been hidden away from him on the blank page, a new post appeared abruptly on the forum's index after a lucky page refresh.
UMBRA WHITE HOWLS. RUPES RECTA NINE ZERO FROM ZERO. COLD WATER WARM BEER.
NONS SINK OR SWIM.
dEvIl. I DiG Lakes, tack KyLe. KeLvin GrEen
-staxxx
Modcat always gets the fishie >:3 <"}}}><
It was posted at exactly 9:00:00 pm.
Robert rubbed his eyes after reading the post for the third time, then carefully navigated his mouse to save the HTML of the webpage. He took a screenshot of the post, and finally copied the text into a word processor as a third backup. Just in case.
He copied the URL into a new browser window, and the post was already gone in the ten seconds it took to load the page.
It had only taken two minutes for him to recover from his initial surprise and ensure his continued access to the post before it was gone from the forum. It was obviously a code of some sort, but he was only an amateur at this sort of thing, still settling into the first year of a computer science program. Despite the occasional games and goofs they'd do to test one another on the open forum, he'd never actually seen anything like this in the wild before, and he immediately felt a flop sweat forming under the dirty t-shirt he wore as he sat hunched over the keyboard in his dorm room while his roommate, Jack, leaned against the edge of the open window's sill as he smoked a bowl.
“That's fucked up, dude,” the bear mumbled. He was obviously too high to understand the gravity of the moment, and probably wouldn't grasp the concepts sober anyway.
“Yeah, fucked up,” Robert echoed with a hint of scorn for his roommate as he desperately analyzed the text.
“So what if it's a code, anyway? It's probably some stupid shit like, shit, what was that movie? Ha! 'Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine.' Remember that?" the bear asked, puffing clouds of exhaled smoke into the room as he spoke.
“'Be sure to drink your Ovaltine,'” Robert corrected Jack, fanning at the air with a notebook from his desk, “Dude, blow that shit outside already.”
“Huh?”
“The … the fucking thing, man. ‘Be sure’, not ‘Don’t forget'. Forget it, man, never mind," Robert smoldered, running his hands through his hair and pulling his ears back as he puzzled over the text in front of him. Anxious energy welled in his gut; his roommate wasn't going to let him focus. He had to deal with the bear, first. “Weren't you going to the Stagger tonight?”
“Aw, shit, yeah, I forgot. You coming? The Redlight Runners are playing,” the bear said, cashing the bowl in a single, massive hit before he tapped the ashes out in a sacrificial soda can and started digging through the dirty laundry on the floor to pull a grungy Tool t-shirt on.
“I'm good,” Robert mumbled.
“You sure, man? Can't spend life in front of a computer or you're never gonna' get laid,” the bear teased him, and the rabbit rolled his eyes. He was still a virgin, but was already fairly sure of his sensibilities, and the idea hooking up with random freshman girls with fake IDs at the local bar and venue was not his idea of a good time.
“Thanks for the high quality life advice, Jack, but I think the Heatwave literally fried your brain.”
“Love you too, baby. Don't be mad cuz' I can fuck like a porn star and cum like a zoo animal and you can't," the bear teased as he pulled open the dorm room's heavy door, "Be back late.” Robert simply gave a dismissive wave as the grizzly bear stepped into the hallway, and the dorm room door hissed as it eased itself closed and the latch clacked satisfyingly shut. He'd briefly considered challenging the bear's claim as he left, but knew it'd simply result in him getting dragged out by the bear and subjected to his repeated and embarrassing attempts to try and hook him up with random sorority pledges on the premise of ‘proving it’.
Despite having never had the opportunity to experiment with such urges, Robert was certain he preferred something else. He'd never dared to utter so much as a peep of that inclination to a single soul his whole life; it would've surely gotten him lynched in his rural hometown. No, that secret attraction was kept safely tucked away, entrusted only to his web browser and the anonymity assured by his newfound high-speed internet connection. Repression, guilt and denial were his way forward. The college town was bound to be more progressive in that regard, but there were still far too many ignorant idiots on campus for his comfort, so much that he'd shied away from even looking at the posters for the school's “LGBT Alliance” meetings thus far, for fear of the resident bigots outing him or worse.
Robert found himself reeling only moments into the too-rare luxury of privacy, which was threatening to allow his introspective thoughts to run away with him. He sighed with a bit of relief for the solitude, and refocused himself as he turned back to the screen. He pulled on his headphones, opened SomaFM in a browser and shut off the lights in the dorm room, finally able to be a recluse and lock in once more behind the keyboard. He was eager to be lost in the too-familiar and comfortable glow of the 1024x768 pixels that gave him a bottomless viewport into a much more exciting, diverse, accepting and interesting world than he'd ever known in physical space. He was ready to go home.
By 1 a.m., Robert had cracked only the third line of the post. After finding that Umbra White was - at least by his best guess - the key to a rudimentary cipher, he found that if he applied a numerical value to each of the capital letters, based on their position in the alphabet, it translated to decimal values, which, after a bit more research, seemed to coincide with decimal degree coordinates: 37.7250, -90.9053. He'd plugged the coordinates into the hand-held GPS gadget that he'd been given just before he moved away to school, and found that they actually planted a pin in the earth not far from him; only a couple hours' drive out into the back-country woods. After further frantic searching online, he found that the coordinates were in a national forest, and there was even a hiking trail in the vicinity of the pin's location.
Fueled by the revelation, he set his attention back on the post. Where there was a location, there might be an indicator as to something that could be found there. Or perhaps a time to meet…? Some of the words made no sense. Others seemed obvious despite the specifics being obfuscated by a layer of insider knowledge. ‘Howls’. ‘Nons Sink or Swim’. ‘Rupes Recta’. ‘Nine Zero from Zero’. ‘Cold Water Warm Beer’.
He focused on the two words that he'd never seen before, punching them into Metacrawler. A number of woo-woo conspiracy websites came up, easily dismissed - the forum's members seemed to all harbor a certain disdain for the speculative conspiracy, UFO and cryptid subcultures - but after another few links he learned that Rupes Recta was a feature on the surface of the moon - one that was only visible at a specific period in the lunar cycle. Not only that, but it was due to be visible again in only two nights' time. Friday night.
Friday night, buried in the woods far beyond the reach of such technological advancements as the internet or cell phones, and only barely within the grasp of GPS with enough tree cover.
“So if there's a date, what about a time?” the gray-furred rabbit mumbled to himself as he puzzled at the screen.
“Wuh?” a voice came, making Robert nearly topple back in his chair as he jumped, startled by the bear abruptly noticed in his periphery vision. He threw his headphones off as his chair was still coasting back from the desk.
“Gyah, fuck! When the fuck did you get back?!” the rabbit barked as the tinny treble of the headphones continued from the dangling headphones now unabated.
“Like ten minutes ago, dude. Chill,” the bear mumbled from the bottom bunk, where he was sprawled with his feet hanging off the end of the bed that was woefully undersized for him. “You having fun figuring out your hacker spy shit or what?”
Robert glanced to the clock on the wall. It was 2:18 a.m., and he quickly felt the past five hours hunched in front of the computer screen in his back as he made that realization. He rubbed his eyes and groaned, the outline of the screen still floating behind his eyelids in yellow-red-green-blue afterimages as he stretched.
“Making progress,” Robert groaned, “…Hey, you're in Trig, right?”
“Fuck Trig.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. If the clock's a circle where's zero degrees?” the rabbit wondered, looking back to the clock on the wall.
“Three usually, but angles are usually defined more- no, fuck that, I'm not doing homework tonight. Why?" the bear wondered, looking skeptical in the low light cast by the CRT screen.
“Just stick with me, dude. Where's ninety degrees from zero, then? It goes counter-clockwise, right?” Robert wondered.
“Uh, yeah.”
“What are you doing Friday night?" Robert asked his roommate, who rolled his eyes.
“I'm going back home after class tomorrow to hang out with Em for the weekend, so I'm probably going to be doing her,” the bear rumbled with a defiant grin.
“Thanks, dude, glad to know you've got my back,” the rabbit jeered.
“Always, buddy. I can't imagine anything more fun than going on some wild internet goose chase in the middle of the night. You know, instead of doing something boring like blasting my girl's guts so full of cum she'll be dripping 'til Halloween,” Jack chided back.
“For fuck's sake, dude. TMI," Robert grimaced, "You really are completely Heatwave-brained, you know that?"
“Don't hate me cuz' I'm beautiful,” the bear laughed back.
Thursday and Friday passed agonizingly slow, Robert's mind occupied without break by the cryptic message. He'd memorized it, and kept looking for more hidden layers in the message, but kept falling short. Still, in the margins of his notebooks, he kept scratching the words in mechanical pencil. “HOWLS,” “NONS SINK OR SWIM,” “COLD WATER WARM BEER”. As far as the rabbit could figure, ‘howls’ was just announcing a communication of some sort. ‘Sink or swim’ was straightforward enough that, conceptually at least, he understood that there might be a trial of some sort. He was stumped and frustrated as he puzzled over ‘non’-whats. Not in the in-group? Not the intended recipient…recipients of the message? Not a hacker? Then there was the question of the rest of the cryptic message. It was mid-October; any body of water was going to be cold, and the pin was near a lake. Warm beer? An inside joke, maybe..? Or maybe all of that was just extraneous information that was planted to throw others off the scent? That, or it might just rely on a layer of subtext that he didn't have.
As his last class of the week dismissed, Robert rushed through the cafeteria line for a quick to-go garden salad and a tofu-based protein supplement, then fled back to his dorm room to prepare for his trip in a desperate hope to ease the anxious energy that had been building steadily since he'd found the message.
Even as he emptied his backpack and began loading it down for a hike, he wondered if he was actually going to go through with it alone. It wasn't like he had anyone that had his back enough to go driving out into the middle of nowhere on a whim in the middle of the night, though. No, alone this would have to be; no big deal. Two bottles of water. His handheld GPS. His Nokia phone, not that it would do him any good out in the middle of nowhere. A notebook and pencils. A digital camera, and a flashlight. He'd have to get some cash from the ATM and fill up the tank in his car. He had no doubts that the fourteen-year-old Toyota Tercel would make the distance as effortlessly as it'd traversed its last 360,000 miles, but he wasn't sure about the quality nor the condition of the roads leading up to this place, and that gave him another point for his anxiety to cluster around.
Ten hours ‘til Midnight. Six 'til he left, which left enough time to fuel up, get food, and get lost at least once or twice. It was going to be an extremely late night, and the realization that he might have to spend the night in his car dawned on him as well. He made a mental note to pack a blanket and pillow so he could sleep in his car, then laid back on his bed to try to catch a little preparatory shut-eye, with his alarm set for 7:00 pm.
The gravel road crunched and popped under the car's tires as it steadily advanced through the inky-black woods along the forest road. Robert had paused the MP3-CD player in absolute defeat, as the washboard gravel road had already proven too much for the player's supposed “8x Shock Proof” design. The player was adhered to his car's dashboard with adhesive velcro, and its tape adapter was plugged into the car's factory radio, which read 11:16 pm on its dull-amber-lit, segmented LCD display. The GPS in his lap told him he was getting close; and according to the printed-out Mapquest directions, it should be just a few more minutes' drive down the unmarked gravel road, and a parking area was supposed to open up near a boat ramp near the end of the road. After that, it would be just a short hike on a trail in the overcast October evening's darkness.
Robert's heart skipped a beat as headlights suddenly appeared around a corner in his rear view mirror, just before a massive four-by-four truck roared past him at four times his speed, deafeningly snarling its fuel-rich exhaust out of open headers as it kicked up a thick cloud of white-gray dust that his headlights illuminated into a blinding cloud that forced him to slow even more, now simply inching along the side of the road with white-knuckled panic for fear of running off the edge of the gravel road and getting stuck in a ditch. The dust started to disperse after a minute, and he was able to proceed with more ease despite the nerves that kept screaming at him to turn and run. The rabbit was no stranger to the anxious herbivore instinct however, and he simply swallowed it back with gulps of water from his water bottle in a vain attempt to dismiss it each time it welled up.
The parking area opened up exactly where it was supposed to, where that lifted Ford pick-up truck had already been backed into a spot. Its heavily-modified engine was idling in heavy lopes now, each percussive burst of unsteady exhaust barking mechanical profanity into the silence of the forest with the ferocity of a war-crime directed against the mere idea of nature itself. Robert's instinct to bolt gripped him again for some reason, but he fought it back as he pulled his tiny economy car into the end spot as he felt the need to keep his distance for some inexplicable reason. He switched the engine off and grabbed his backpack from the passenger seat, unplugging his GPS unit and switching the screen off for the time being. Robert opened his door, and stood out of the tiny blue Tercel as he looked over the top of his car to that massive truck a short distance away.
The idling truck's engine rumbled to a halt, and the headlights went out only a moment after Robert stood up. Several agonizing beats later, the door latch popped open, and the dome light in the truck's interior illuminated, showing its occupant through the heavily-tinted windows. A hyena, somewhere in his mid-to-late 20's regarded him from inside the truck for a several more tense moments, before he turned and hopped out of the truck with a crunch of the coarse gravel under his bare feet. As the hyena rounded the back of the pickup truck and pulled the tailgate down, Robert could see he was dressed in a military jacket, flannel shirt and ripped jeans.
“You here for the night sky, kid?” the hyena asked plainly, reaching into the back of the truck to withdraw a cooler which he propped effortlessly atop a shoulder. Robert realized he'd been spoken to, and scrambled to respond as he stood, dumbstruck, twenty feet away.
“Uh. I think so,” the rabbit said, his tall ears pivoting at the sound of popping gravel in the distance, the sure approach of another vehicle, much more quiet than the hyena's truck.
“Close enough," the hyena laughed, a loud, mad cackling that made the fur on the back of Robert's neck bristle. The hyena wasn't minding his manners. “I'm xJ3kyLLx." Robert recognized the name immediately, and felt a surprising bit of relief as he did. Jekyll was a frequent late-nighter, much like himself on the forum. They'd crossed paths several times.
“Oh! Uh, R-Robert,” the rabbit replied as headlights appeared through the tree cover, still a few hundred feet down the road. “I think I've talked to you on the forum some!” he said with a bit more of an optimistic note. The hyena scoffed with a playful grin.
“What, did your mother give you that name? C'mon, man; what's your real name?” the hyena asked with a challenge, tipping his head as he stood with the heavy-looking cooler perched on his shoulder. Robert knew well that predators were naturally stronger than herbivores, owing to their higher protein intake, but was still surprised that the cooler didn't seem to burden the hyena at all.
“Oh! Yeah, you wouldn't know that, uh, sorry. I'm S1lv3rf1sh_,” Robert said, a little sheepishly. It felt weird to introduce himself by his anonymous online name, and for a second Robert fretted about linking his supposed hacker identity to his real persona.
“Woah. It's the newbie!” Jekyll laughed, “You're still as green as they get, right? You gotta' be if you've still got a screen name that lame,” the hyena cackled again, grinning and waving at the dusty-white minivan as it slowed, then began to pull into the spot between him and the rabbit. Robert's stomach tightened again with nervousness. For some reason this situation felt strange, profoundly unlike the couple high-school woods parties he'd attended, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly why as he stepped back to make room for the van, and Jekyll grinned across at him as the van eased between them. “Good on you for jumping into the deep end, bro! And an early bird to boot.”
“Uh, yeah, thanks,” the rabbit said, unsure about the criticism of his name as he fidgeted with the straps of his backpack, watching the van pull into the spot. The van practically exploded before it even came to a complete stop, the sliding doors on both sides rolling back as a crowd of people piled out, whooping and chattering excitedly. A raccoon, fox, German shepherd and bobcat piled out of the back on Robert's side, and an otter, two rats and a tiger who was old enough to look out of place piled out on Jekyll's side. To his relief, many of the others seemed about his age, and appeared to be similar; some a little overweight or scrawny, computer geeks and counter-culture weirdos through and through.
“Hey, guys! Woah, everyone in the St. Louis crew made it?” the hyena laughed as a few members of the group rushed him for hugs, and others surveyed the new rabbit with curiosity and intrigue. The German shepherd sniffed at him, and the fox just gave a big, toothy grin at the rabbit that spiked Robert's instinctive urge to flee yet again.
“Hey dude!” the raccoon spoke up, “I'm JeSter. That's,” he indicated the German shepherd, “2Face, and," he pointed to the fox, “Phase_Sh1ft. Uh, there's Staxxx,” he gestured to the tiger next, and then to the bobcat, “He's -RogueLunar-.”
“Uh, hi guys,” the rabbit said, the raccoon's friendly disposition putting him at more ease, though he was still noticing a distinct lack of herbivores such as himself. “I'm Silverfish,” the rabbit said, disconcerted as the username brought out several groans and playful jeers.
“Oh, hey dude! I know you - we totally gotta fix that username,” the raccoon laughed. “Good to meet ya though! Oh, shit, right - uh, the rats are xXFlipXSideXx and B1N4RY - She's the black and white one. FlipSide's the gray one. The otter's Rip_Tide! I think that's everyone?”
“I think so,” the rabbit laughed nervously, sure he wouldn't remember all the new names. “So, uh… Now that people are here, can I ask what exactly this meet-up is?" Robert wondered as he watched them unloading the van. Two more coolers appeared, hefted up with seemingly unnatural ease by the dog and raccoon. Robert's stomach tightened again, for some reason.
“Pool party, bro!” Jester quipped, his ringed tail swishing. “Oh, du-u-ude! It's your first meetup, right? Ha-haa! Holy shit, this is gonna be a great night,” the raccoon buzzed with energy. “So, newbie. Sink or swim?” the raccoon asked with a broad, knowing grin that left Robert out on his own as the scattered conversations in the group quieted, and Robert felt many eyes on him. Jekyll and Staxxx were already moving out to the trail however, leaving the younger members to their small-talk.
“Uh, I'm not really sure what either means, but given the options I think I'll swim,” Robert admitted, to the vocalized approval of a few of the more boisterous members of the group. “Uh…c-can I help carry something? Like-oof!” the rabbit scrambled to catch the two sling chairs that were thrust into his arms by the German shepherd who was hauling other gear from the back of the van and doling it out. “Okay, okay, that works!”
It was a considerable walk for a generally-unathletic rabbit who was heavily laden with his own backpack and a couple camping chairs. He did his best to just listen in on the scattered conversations as they walked, still wholly unsure what he'd gotten himself into; frustratingly, the eavesdropping didn't help as most of the private conversations were in a maddeningly coded sort of shorthand that was missing a critical layer of subtext required to come to any concrete assumptions. As they approached the end of the trail, the group broke into the woods proper, picking their way effortlessly through the rougher terrain, though Jester frequently slowed down to let the rabbit catch up when he lagged behind, and a few others in the group seemed to stick with him as well. By way of his listening in, he learned that there were at least three other groups that might show up, all from other college towns in the region; Fayetteville, Carbondale, and his very own Columbia.
Robert was considering how nice it might've been to carpool out than drive solo, when the little trail they'd been forging into the woods opened up to a wide clearing in the dense woods, and the rabbit found himself on the edge of a huge, rocky outcropping that overhung a pit of pitch black emptiness that stretched below them. The sound of running water was clear to the rabbit's sensitive hearing, and he knew well enough that the state had thousands of natural springs from cave systems deep under the earth; some of which pooled in ancient sinkholes where the hills had fallen through to the caves that stretched deep under the forest floor. Robert set his cargo down as the others seemed busy getting their spot set up, and Jekyll thumped him in the back with a hand as he stood beside the raccoon. The big hyena grinned.
“Sorry about barnstorming ya' earlier, can't quite help myself. I'm imagining a rabbit's night vision isn't that good, with how you were creeping along,” the hyena said as he set up a chair and slumped back into it, while the others were eagerly digging beers out of the coolers. Jester tossed one to Jekyll, and another to Robert, which the rabbit caught, but only after it had smacked him in the chest.
“Not really,” Robert said, sheepishly. “You guys all make it look easy, you must come here a lot."
“Once in a while. The water's always the same 59 degrees. Cold as shit at first, but hangin' around with us you'll toughen up quick,” the hyena laughed, “You can jump off the cliff, here; it's only thirty or forty feet down. There's a bit of a climb to get back up though.”
“So, Jekyll. Is your name a reference to MrHyde? You know - the guy that swiped a shit-ton of CIA research data a couple years back?”
“Yeah, something like that. Dude's kind of a poseur, he probably just lucked into that database with a few good guesses and a little social engineering,” the hyena laughed as he popped the top on his beer can, “You been into this stuff long?" Jekyll wondered. Robert was about to answer when he heard the tiger speak for the first time.
“Jester's first non at clear sky, so keep a leash on it, kids. First eyes come three-up, tag in after and try not to break your toy this time,” the tiger intoned in a low but smooth-voiced rumble that gave Staxxx' voice an unwavering, intense authority even at low levels, despite - or possibly thanks to - their group's frustratingly coded language. A few in the group let out seemingly-knowing chuckles at the tiger's words..
“Uh, not too long,” Robert admitted, trying to ignore his desire to try to decode the tiger's phrase. “I've been reading about it a lot but I don't have much experience. Just some puzzles here and there. Uh. The Umbra White message was the first time I'd ever seen a code like that in the real world, you know.”
“Hey, and look where it got ya'. You've got the right kind of head for it, that's for sure,” the hyena laughed as he perked an ear. “Carbondale's here,” the hyena said with a grin as he looked to the rabbit. Robert was searching, his ears pivoting blindly though he couldn't hear anything. He looked up at the hyena, confounded.
“…Good ears, dude? I don't hear anything,” Robert realized, finally turning his head to look back up the path.
“Supercharged ‘89 Mustang 5.0 with a mild cam and glass packs. That’s Midn1ghtEch0's ride; him and his girl L0v3L4c3 always show up together. You seriously can't hear it?" the hyena asked with a little chuckle of disbelief, “I thought rabbit ears were better than that.” Robert strained his ears, and eventually was able to pick out the faint rumbling of a muscle car's exhaust over the buzz of the season's lingering few insects and the group's conversation.
“Oh, yeah, I can hear it now.,” the rabbit said, laughing a little. “Yeah, you must have awesome ears, jeez,” Robert joked. The hyena laughed.
“Don't worry kid, stick around us for long enough and your ears will probably get better,” Jekyll joked, though Robert wasn't sure why that phrase gave him a fresh pang of nerves. Robert quieted himself by sipping at the beer he'd been tossed, grimacing slightly at its flavor. It wasn't bad, at least for a herbivore's palate, but he'd only had a few beers prior and had yet to acquire the taste. He noticed Jester was pacing, agitated, anxious; and for reassurance he glanced to Jekyll, who was watching the raccoon with a slight smirk.
“Is, uh, is he okay?” Robert wondered.
“Better than okay, I think,” Jekyll laughed as he leaned back in his chair, beer still in hand as he relaxed. The surroundings began to brighten slightly as Robert noticed the cloud cover splitting. Pale white moonlight slowly spread over the clearing as Robert's gaze lifted to the skies, as did the reverent gazes of the rest of the group as the moon rose from behind the clouds. The group fell eerily silent for just a beat.
“Agh!” came an abrupt shout. “N-No, no no no no, not again, not again!” the raccoon blurted frantically, drawing Robert's attention. Jester was clawing at his clothes and hair, tossing his head from side to side. In the moonlight, the raccoon jerked and thrashed, clawing his shirt off as his chest swelled, and his shoulders began to abruptly broaden. The raccoon cursed and hissed and grunted with noises that grew steadily more primal, his fur standing on end as his rapidly growing claws raked at his belt and pants' fly. Jester thrashed as his pants fell around his broadening feet, their massive claws growing from his toes and raking lines into the stone beneath them. The raccoon stumbled in the dropped clothing, falling to the ground. His body jerked and his back arched, and he groaned out an agonized note, his voice deepening to a resonant, beastly growl. His muzzle lengthened, and his teeth surged from his gums, growing into massive fangs. His ears pointed and lengthened, his face changed, and muscle tensed and rippled under the raccoon's fur until the raccoon's almost too-scruffy pelt stretched taut and tight over the incredible definition of muscle swelling beneath it.
The rabbit, gripped by his horrified instincts, centered his fullest attention on the raccoon as the change happened right before his eyes; he was at a loss for higher thought as the raccoon's features gave way to lupine characteristics. Save for his signature brown-black fur, masked face and ringed tail, the raccoon was distinctly and unmistakably lupine, now. The rabbit was frozen in place, staring in horror as Jester abruptly flipped to all fours and looked around the clearing with a bark, a snarl and a growl. And then he spoke.
“Shit. Line? I forgot my line! Fuck!” the were-raccoon barked in a deeper, gruffer voice that still carried the raccoon's unmistakable energy. A few in the group laughed at that, but Robert didn't hear them. His sight was fixated on the still-agitated seeming, predatory monster in front of him that he'd only ever read about in shitty supernatural stories. A fucking werewolf?! The rabbit recoiled as Jester rushed him, until he fell back in his chair and found the were-raccoon's snarling, masked face above his. “Sink or swim, non! Test one: You know the line, right!? What's my line?!"
Robert barely heard him over the rushing of his heart in his ears. Somehow, the puzzle-nerd in him was still working despite his terror at the creature who had his shoulders clasped in long-clawed, intensely strong hands.
“Uh…”
“C'mon, man! I'm counting on you. Line!" the were-raccoon demanded with a gruff snarl, shaking Robert who nearly peed himself at the order.
“Aw-oooo?” Robert posited lamely. Jester laughed though, and hauled the rabbit up - chair and all - to sit back upright as the were-raccoon stepped back a few paces.
“Yeah, yeah, that's right! Like - when the guy changes in like every stupid werewolf movie, right? He's like contractually obligated to give a…a… Aw-aw-aw-OOOOOOOOOO!” he threw his head back and howled. Not just a goofy, playful howl like any youth out in the woods might do during a camping trip, but a real, deep, echoing and triumphant, joyous lupine howl that reached to the skies, and was soon answered by eight others in close proximity, and two more from further down the trail. Robert's gaze darted to the howling hyena beside him who had gotten up at some point and started stripping clothes off as well; his already-enormous body was in the midst of change, broadening shoulders and chest, his tail lengthened, and his coarse fur grew thicker and longer; the hyena's scraggly-furred mane grew more prominent, hackled up into a ferocious and fearsome lupine mane. His thighs swelled tight with powerful, taut muscle and his fingers and toes lengthened enormous claws. His muzzle lengthened and filled with enormous fangs, even bigger than Jester's, as the were-hyena's now-yellow eyes locked on the rabbit's.
Robert wondered first why he wasn't already running away, and almost immediately that sense of bewilderment went to wondering why his cock was rock-hard in his jeans as he sized up the were-hyena that stood just a few feet away with far fewer theatrics than Jester had shown as he stretched and basked, nude in the moonlight and nearly nine glorious, beastly feet tall.
“Wait, what the fuck?! Werewolves are real?!" Robert blurted as he abruptly found his voice again. He stood abruptly from his chair, staggering back as scattered groans from the gathering resounded. Jester laughed again, rushing him and picking the rabbit up off his feet to swing him around like a rag-doll as the were-raccoon's hands closed around the rabbit's chest under his arms. It wasn't even a contest, he'd been snared before he even had the notion of his chance to run.
“Werewolf is a slur, carrot breath! You don't wanna get bitten, do you?” Jester laughed, as did the others, before snapping his huge teeth playfully in the air, strands of drool strung between his jaws like garlands at Christmas. “Not a full moon," Jester pointed the rabbit up to the half-moon above, "We're lycanthropes, we can change at will in the moonlight, and I'm definitely not going to explain more than that right now,” the were-raccoon cackled. Robert abruptly thought to struggle to escape Jester's effortless grasp, and as kicked his huge feet at the were-raccoon, Jester simply held his arms out further to escape the rabbit's reach. “Woah! Easy, dude, ha! Sink or swim, non! Test two! Why does your username suck so fucking bad?!”
“Because werewo-… because lycanthropes hate silver,” Robert said, thankful for his quick intuition, though he was shocked at the surprisingly casual twist that the questioning had taken.
“Ha-haa!” Jester cackled, “This one actually might stand a chance!”
“Stop playing with your food, Jester,” the massive, gray-furred were-tiger growled in a deeper, gruffer voice that only made Staxxx's tone sound more authoritative than it did before. Scattered chuckles and groans at Staxxx' comment spread through the group as they slowly milled into a half-circle around the were-raccoon and the rabbit who was struggling feebly, even in the grasp of one of the smallest of the lycans in the group. Robert just hoped that the were-tiger was still speaking in coded language.
“Awh, one more, one more. Sink or swim, non!” Jester tossed the rabbit into the air and caught him by an ankle, walking him out to the edge of the cliff and holding him out effortlessly over the empty expanse, dangling upside-down from one leg. Robert could see the glittering of moonlight reflecting off the water far below, now. “Test three! Everyone knows a lycan can make a werewolf out of someone by biting them. But how do we create a civilized lycan like ourselves?”
Robert was stumped. His struggling had ceased, though his heart drummed a stuttering beat in his chest with frequent palpitations as his adrenaline kicked into overdrive while dangling over the yawning gulf of empty space above frigid, dark water of unknown depth. He didn't even know there were differences in types of werewolves, much less that the word werewolf was a slur. He wracked his memory for any sort of notion, and tried to intuit, but came up totally empty.
“I…I don't know,” the rabbit groaned in defeat, as a breeze up from the water below made him shiver despite his terrified trembling. Jester's grip was secure, though, and he slowly brought the rabbit who was hanging limply toward him, and leveled the upside-down rabbit's face with the massive, swinging balls between his legs and the fat barrel of his sheath that was already jutting a pink, canid point from its tip.
“Then it's high time you learned to swim, non. Welcome to the pack," the were-raccoon laughed as a small group of the lycans stepped forward from the half-circle, unseen by the rabbit whose eyes were locked on the massive endowment in front of his nose.
The others joined in manhandling the rabbit who had no other obvious option than to simply surrender to their will, still stunned by the shock of the proposition before him. The rabbit's cock throbbed in his pants, aching-hard as he fixated on the massive example of lupine endowment before him. A thrill of excitement both confused and enticed him as their strong hands laid him out and pinned him down atop a broad, mercifully-smooth stone platform. He swallowed despite the absolute, desperate dryness of his mouth that caused his tongue to cling to his soft palate. Bewilderment, arousal and fear blurred together as the moment seemed to know that dark secret about him; he knew he had never told a soul, but from the space within his cozy little closet, Robert was now peering out at a scenario about which he'd fantasized finding himself in dozens of times.
The werewolves wordlessly began to drag his clothes off as the rabbit struggled to catch his breath, his heart pounding so hard still he could feel his pulse under his tongue. The lycanthropes were careful, but nothing could stop the sharpness of their scalpel-sharp claws neatly snipping the occasional holes through the fabric of his garments as he was eagerly disrobed. They weren't asking him to participate; this was happening no matter what he had to say about it. It seemed that he had no options, with the implication that outright refusal or unsportsmanlike resistance would be met with much, much worse a fate than the others had offered. Now there was no space for guilt. No space for repression. Demands were being made, and at the same time, an invitation; one which he'd be rude for declining.
So, why shouldn't he try to enjoy himself? If this is how it was to end for him, at least he'd have sampled the forbidden fruit, at least once.
“Whoa! Guys, check it out; he's rock-hard already. Bro, you're into it?” 2Face's new voice cackled, deep and gruff as it resonated in the chest of the huge, happily-panting lycan that was dragging the pants off of Robert's feet and took the rabbit's straining erection in hand to wave it for the others to see. “Dude, you're gonna' be so much fun!”
The rabbit simply laid back on the stone, compliant and blushing so hot his ears burned, overwhelmed. He dared not speak, still too fearful of raising the lycanthropes' ire…but also, now, at spoiling the moment. He was naked and fully exposed atop the cold stone, a meager five-inch spike of lapine erection jutting up from his sheath and primed to pop at a moment's notice thanks to his species' natural hair-trigger. Jester stepped forward, and the rabbit's vision went dark as his nose was buried in pubic fur, and he felt the huge, humid weight of the lycan's balls covering his eyes.
“Everyone likes it sooner or later,” Jester growled playfully to scattered laughter, “Take a whiff, bud. Probably the last thing you're gonna smell with that weak-ass rabbit nose,” the were-raccoon grinned. Robert complied, and sucked in a deep breath through the werewolf's thick fur with his nose pressed right against the side of the massive sheath that throbbed against his cheek. The scent was intoxicatingly masculine; primal, spicy, woodsy, and only the slightest distinctive scent of raccoon infused deep into that fur. Jester continued, “Good rabbit. Now, down the hatch, newbie. I hope you're hungry, thirsty and well rested, cuz' it's lookin' like there's gonna be a good turnout tonight.”
Robert opened his mouth obediently, and Jester obliged him immediately by pressing the thick, pink taper of his cock between his lips. The werewolf gripped his head, hooked a thumb at the back of his jaw to force it open a little wider, and then thrust forward, burying ten inches of throbbing lupine cock down his throat and smothering the rabbit in his balls again. Robert gagged, and the wolves laughed as Jester pulled back and thrusted forward again, smashing his sheath to Robert's lips as the rabbit gulped and gagged again, shaking in place as he fought his own gag reflex. Robert tried to hold his breath, desperately making efforts not to retch, not to refuse the offering from the lycans. Jester's cock tasted nearly as amazing as it smelled; salty and powerfully masculine, with a coppery lupine tinge that made his toes curl with delighted ecstasy as its potency bloomed warmth in his throat with massive, pulsating spurts of precum that copiously lubricated the way for his face to be fucked by the massive were-raccoon over him.
The lycans at his side slowly let go of his arms, and Robert gave them no reason to capture him back into his place. He knew know what he was here for, now; he was here to swim. As he embraced the opportunity, he held his palms out as an invitation to the lycans on either side of him even as he struggled to not choke on Jester's massive cock as it rammed down his throat again and again. Jekyll's mad cackling resounded from his left, and 2Face's excited and eager panting puffed at his left as the two lycanthropes stepped in with their arms around Jester's shoulders, and eagerly accepted the rabbit's offer by pressing their sheaths into his hands. Robert couldn't see them, but he could feel their massive members throbbing to excitement in their sheaths already; hot, thick lupine flesh filling with eager and rhythmic throbs that, bit by bit, swelled them out to massive engorgement under the rabbit's timid attentions as the three massive males pressed side-by-side around his head.
Jester kept pumping forward with heavy, long strokes of his enormous lupine member, each plunge reaming the rabbit's throat and stretching it to the limit as Robert struggled to breathe between the occasional chance the were-raccoon above gave him to catch his breath. The first pulses of watery precum landed on Robert's chest as the lycans at his sides slid from their sheaths and began to thrust into his soft-furred hands, and Robert guided their pulsing excitement to his face, painting his chin and throat with their recklessly spurting precum and soaking his soft fur with their scent and primal potency. Jester's groaning became more urgent, fevered and needy as he worked over the rabbit.
“Grrrrrh, yeaaah," the were-raccoon panted, each pass of his cockbase past the rabbit's jaws a bit tighter as Jester's knot began to swell. "Hrrrf; fuck, alright, enough goofing around. Help me flip him over to give 'im the gift proper,” the were-raccoon growled to the others around Robert as he abruptly drug himself out of the rabbit's throat and allowed his enormous, now-red lupine cock to dangle as it continued to spurt thick sprays of lupine precum onto the stone with rhythmic, loud splatters.
The rabbit was far beyond protest at this point, and rolled compliantly as the lycanthropes urged him to. He pinned his own cock against the stone platform he was sprawled upon as Jekyll and 2Face crowded in side-by-side in front of him. He glanced up to the two lycans who stared expectantly down to him, fanged maws glistening with lupine drool and glinting fangs. 2Face smirked as he tapped his thick lupine dick on the rabbit's nose a few times, before Robert got the hint and took hold of the were-dog's arousal by its base, and sunk his mouth over the end of it, taking a more active role in hungrily suckling 2Face's massive, throbbing lupine cock. Robert sunk his lips down 2Face's erect flesh to his knot, then swallowed as the dog shot a fresh spray of excited precum across the back of his throat, and the dog gave a happy groan as he leaned against Jekyll's side. Robert's free hand lifted Jekyll's even-larger cock and pumped smoothly from tip to base and back, smearing the musky precum of the were-hyena over his glossy flesh as Jekyll growled and cackled, shoving his hips forward to fuck the rabbit's hand as his pulsing arousal painted the bunny's face with thick, excited spurts of lupine-hyena precum.
“Rabbits got such nice butts, fuuuuck. Pack's gonna put this one to work,” Jester laughed, and Jekyll joined him with another mad hyena-cackle, gruffer with his now-lupine voice. Jester's positioning behind him was eager, but mercifully generous. Almost gentlemanly, in fact.. A pair of lupine thumbs split the plush globes of the rabbit's plump ass-cheeks apart, and a slobbery few swipes of the raccoon lycanthrope's tongue smeared across his pucker before the bulk of the were-raccoon's body climbed over him, and the massive point of lupine member was pressed under the rabbit's leaf-shaped tail. At first, Robert felt like he'd been backed against a brick wall, but after a moment and a concentrated push from both himself and Jester, the lupine's point stretched him open and the massive were-raccoon's arousal sunk down to its knot in a single, yawning stretch that brought forth a gurgling vocalization of mixed surprise, agony and pleasure from the rabbit's nose, issued around the length of 2Face's cock as the dog reamed his throat.
The sensation was unlike anything that Robert had ever dreamed. An intense and powerful pressure at the base of his erection, the plunging depth of masculine flesh shoving up behind his bellybutton and rearranging his guts in a seemingly impossible manner. Wet splashes of watery precum flooded inside him as Jester pulled back and drug himself mostly out, the rabbit's insides clinging to that arousal slightly before getting plunged back up into the rabbit's core with that monstrous erection's tip probing again at the depths of the bunny's guts, so deep it forced the breath straight out of him. With a desperate gurgle around the were-dog's cock, his nose was buried into thick, musky pubic fur that smothered his nose completely as 2Face's knot throbbed between his jaws and the dog hilted himself for several long throbs of his erection, before 2Face gave a purely-canine whimper as he pulled back and slipped his knot out with a loud and lewd slurp of suction.
“Maaaan, he's got these teeth,” 2Face complained with a frustrated note as he went back to pumping his cock into the rabbit's throat, “I wanna tie, man!” Despite the complaint, the dog panted happily as he bounced the rapidly-swelling bulb of his knot against the rabbit's buck-teeth. Jekyll laughed and growled down at the rabbit, raising Robert's hackles as the were-hyena smeared his cock on the rabbit boy's face and nose as he crowded his cock in against the were-dog's while Jester savagely fucked the rabbit from behind.
“Hear that, kid? Better convince 2Face his knot's stuck somewhere nice before he breaks your teeth out to get what he wants,” the hyena teased. Robert wasn't going to test the joke, however, and he released the were-hyena's cock to wrap both of his hands around 2Face's knot, wrapping one tightly behind it and the other cupping only half of the massive globe of knot-flesh to squeeze all that he could fit into his hand. 2Face responded almost immediately with a happy growl as his hips began to jackhammer toward the rabbit's attention, and Robert felt the first massive volleys of the were-dog's orgasm pulse into his throat as 2Face groaned over him, and Jester gave a growling, eager huff into the rabbit's ear from behind.
The were-raccoon was hungrily plowing forward with powerful shoves of his hips, his huge, dangling balls swinging forward with a wet and powerful slap against the back of Robert's balls each time he hammered his swelling knot against the stretched-taut ring of the rabbit's ass. Robert swallowed hungrily around the were-dog's cock as Jester panted above him, humid breaths steaming up the back of the rabbit's neck as the were-raccoon tensed and shoved forward.
“Hnnng-aah~!” Jester roared in triumphant climax as he buried his throbbing knot against the rabbit's too-tight pucker, and began to pour thick, gushing surges of lupine cum into Robert's guts, flooding his stomach with welling, fluid heat that sparked a strange twinge of adrenaline and instinct in the rabbit, as the were-dog's semen bubbled up around his arousal as he pulled out and the rabbit coughed up a volley of the thick white seed that painted his chin and the stone while he panted raggedly to catch his breath. Jester's own immense volume welled through the rabbit's guts and flooded deeper yet, swelling his already-chubby tummy with the massive outpouring of werewolf seed. Robert caught the motion from the corner of his eye as 2Face high-fived Phase_Shift, and the were-fox stepped forward, just as Jekyll tapped his pointed, lupine cocktip on the rabbit's nose and smirked expectantly down at the rabbit as he smeared his musky precum on the rabbit's nose.
“Those ears getting any better yet, kid?” the were-hyena wondered playfully as the rabbit panted and tried to choke back the immense volume of lupine semen that was already threatening to escape his stomach. A moment of lucidity caught Robert, and he realized that he could hear the very-distant crunching of gravel under tires, and the timid exhaust note of another car's approach. Robert had to cough to clear his throat, and Jester barked out a playful laugh.
“Dude, do that again!” the were-raccoon chuckled, still taking languid strokes through the rabbit's ass, though he drew himself out eventually and left the rabbit's gaping ass to release a flood of thick semen down the back of his thighs and his balls. Robert didn't see who the were-raccoon high-fived, but they didn't even go so far as introducing themselves before they mounted him and sunk balls-deep in the rabbit's ass, making him gasp. Robert's sensitive nose picked up the scent of masculine rat under the overwhelming musk of lycanthropy around him, and as the were-rat started to fuck him, Robert groaned and leaned up to smear his face into Jekyll's pubic fur for a fresh hit of the were-hyena's signature scent, which he'd secretly been lusting for since that moment in the parking area not even an hour ago.
“…Someone else is coming,” Robert commented, before dragging his tongue up the side of Jekyll's cock and going down on him with a hungry, suckling slurp that made the were-hyena cackle out loud and throw his head back, howling to the heavens. A few moments later, distant howls answered from the road, as if to prove that the rabbit's trials were only getting started.
“Kid, tonight everyone is coming,” the hyena cackled to scattered groans at the bad joke, just before he slid his cock down the rabbit's throat; right where Robert so desperately wanted it.
The powerful scent of lupine semen was all Robert could smell anymore. It was all he could taste. It was all he could feel, save for the hard stone beneath him that pressed back up against his semen-distended stomach. The firm stone reassured his drifting mind that he wouldn't fall through to the abyss of exhaustion which threatened to claim him as his unfocused eyes gazed reverently in the direction of the setting moon.
“Sheez. How many did he take again?” an indistinct voice murmured in the moonlit dark.
“Uh. I lost count. Everyone had a turn, right?” another voice wondered.
“Yeah.”
“Yup.”
“Mm-hm.”
“Yep.”
“Yuh-huh.”
The scattered responses came one after another for longer than Robert cared to count them.
“So…fourteen?”
“Sure seems that way. Surprised the kid hasn't just fuckin' gone and turned already, first-full-moon rule be damned,” a deep voice chuckled.
“Is he even alive?”
“Yeah, he's breathing.”
“He's still hard, too,” a voice cackled. Robert knew Jekyll's lupine voice well enough, now.
“Still? He shot like six times.”
“Fuckin' rabbits, man.”
“Guess we're going to have to set up a party for 'im, huh?”
“Seems that way. Next full moon is on Halloween, too."
“Ha! The kid's got good timing.”
Nearly two weeks later. . .#
Robert anxiously watched the clock as he sat in front of his computer, fidgeting and compulsively using the claws of one hand to clean the claws of the other as his mind wandered as he watched the seconds ticking by. Last week there had been no message as far as he could tell. He was starting to question if the events of that night had ever even happened. It would've been hopeless to explain what happened; nobody would believe even the most carefully sanitized version of the events that had occurred that night. So, he just told his roommate that it was nothing. Just like Jack had suspected; a wild internet goose chase with nothing at the other end of it. Despite the unreal experience and his mind struggling to cope with it all, he'd also started to feel real, genuine disgust at his own username, and was so compelled to change it that he'd gone through with retiring his old name for a new one, which fit in better with the forum's members; Buck2th.
Deep down in his soul however, Robert knew there was no way it could have been a fantasy, or hallucination, or dream. His ass ached for days, and his throat as well. But beyond those reminders, others stuck with him much more clearly. His night vision was perfect, now, where the shadows once consumed near everything in low light. He could smell things he'd never have noticed before; a whiff of musk as he passed another student, the tinge of semen spatters, body odor and stale pot smoke that always radiated from his roommate, an occasional waft of gasoline from the gas station just beyond the campus' perimeter. He could hear conversations happening rooms away, even behind closed doors. His backpack might as well have been empty, it weighed practically nothing to him, now.
More and more over the last week, he found himself drawn to the carnivorous options that were available in the cafeteria. Five days ago he'd picked up a chicken sandwich in addition to his usual salad and hurried it back to his dorm room under the pretense of picking something up for his roommate. He hid himself away, and discovered that sandwich, once wholly repulsive to his rabbit sensibilities, now smelled and tasted utterly incredible. He'd been craving another since the first, and was already beginning to resent his vegetarian meal plan. Shameful late-night drive-through visits for boxes of chicken nuggets were now a core part of his routine.
But more profoundly than all of those changes, lately he could feel the moon's light on him every time he went outside at night, more profoundly than even the summer sun's warmth. It was a peaceful, reassuring radiance that put his soul at ease and reminded him that he was no longer alone, and that he never would be alone again. It spoke to his very soul in a way he'd never felt before. The experience bordered on the religious, even. He didn't just have friends. He was part of something bigger, and better. Beyond anything the boring, offline normies could ever dream of. He had a pack at his back.
Something updated in the periphery of his vision, and Robert realized the clock on his computer had just flipped to 8:59 pm. He anxiously waited, counting the seconds down, and tapped f5 just seconds after his computer's clock ticked over to 9:00 pm on Wednesday night.
Four seconds later, the page had refreshed. As he'd hoped, a new post appeared, right on time.
LEVIATHAN SEVEN HOWLS. OLD MAN'S LIGHT, SIX UNDER THREE. BUCK2TH REBORN BY FIRELIGHT.
NONS WON'T SEE SUNRISE.
JOnes. maJick killJoy IN, tack PerJury. LiQuid Quit Joke
-staxxx
Modcat always gets the fishie >:3 <"}}}><
-END-