The cold silk of fine pillowcases soothed his half-dreaming head, which was throwing off heat like a sparkler in July. There was sun on his face, but he was too comfortable to move. He felt balanced - cold on top, warm on bottom, coddled but competent, helpless but set on the right course. He'd dreamed of tornados, but they hadn't scared him.
Consciousness slowly broke Todd's reverie, and he opened his eyes to midmorning sun shining hard against the pulled white drapes. He slid up the headboard and immediately regretted it. His head pulsed in agony, and he swallowed hard to avoid puking on the nice white sheets. He inhaled sharply through his nose, and realized that preserving the sheets might be a lost cause; mixed with the odor of Canadian Mist on his breath was the familiar smell of morning urine. He pulled the pillow up behind his back, swallowed hard again with a click, and moaned.
"You sound even worse than you look." The deep male voice came from the side of Todd's bed, startling him. He rubbed his eyes, and the black blur hovering over him resolved itself into Brutus, not completely naked this time. He was wearing a thick, white disposable diaper. Todd swallowed - click.
Brutus saw the direction of Todd's blank, spacey gaze. "Well, I didn't have time to properly undress for you. I just woke up, and they told me you'd arrived in the wee hours."
"'Properly undress.' Nnnnng." Todd rubbed his face. "Why is it always the males? Why couldn't your reception Rabbit be a Traditionalist? Maybe I wouldn't have run quite so - hey!" Todd shifted his body under the sheets, feeling something strange, and threw them back. He saw himself naked, except for a thick diaper matching Brutus's. He snapped his head towards Brutus as fast as his pain threshold would allow, and raised his lip in a snarl.
"Relax, Todd. The diaper was a matter of practical necessity. It appears to have saved the sheets. Now that you're awake, you may remove it whenever you wish." Todd immediately dropped his lip and blushed, pulling the sheets back over his obviously wet diaper. He sat up further and immediately wet himself more, the warmth spreading across his rear. God, how drunk did he get?
"Eh... I think I'll keep it on for now. Can you just get me some pants?" Brutus nodded and gestured to Todd's shirt and jeans, freshly laundered, and folded on the nightstand. Todd reached for them and slid his pants on under the sheets, crinkling.
"Thanks."
"Come on, let's get some food in you." Brutus held his paw out to Todd and helped him out of bed. The lanky ferret bumped his head on the low ceiling, winced, and followed Brutus out of the room. The corridors here were still long and low, but not as sterile as the reception room, with incandescent lighting and wood-paneled walls instead of white plaster. This was an older part of the building.
Shortly they came into a well-lit, warm room that doubled as a kitchen and small dining room. "Shower's through that door," said Brutus, pointing at a side exit. "Get yourself cleaned up, and I'll make some breakfast."
"All right, but I'm going to have some questions for you when I get out."
"I assumed as much."
Todd stepped through the door into the white bathroom, stripped his pants off, and looked at himself in the mirror above the sink. He felt a disquieting mixture of shame and gladness as he saw the soaked diaper between his legs - shame that he had sunk so low, but gladness that he wasn't waking up at home in a puddle of his own urine. He sighed and undid the tapes, then, unsure of what to do with a wet diaper, placed it open on top of the toilet tank.
In the shower, the abused feeling in Todd's stomach and head began to fade. He lathered his fur with the shampoo in the toiletry basket; it smelled like lily of the valley. He closed his eyes and leaned into the warm spray, letting it soak his face and wash the suds away. He began to feel a little more like a Sentient, and idly wondered if he was going to see Lisa today. He felt a little jolt of panic at that idea, and forcefully stopped his train of thought before it could ruin his mood. He rinsed, stepped out of the shower, and toweled himself off.
Lifting the towel from his frizzy head, he saw that, while he showered, Brutus had left a fresh, folded-up diaper next to the sink. Todd rolled his eyes, opened the door a crack, and shouted "nice try!"
"It was worth a shot."
Todd closed the door again and, ignoring the diaper, pulled his jeans on. He considered his reflection in the mirror, admiring his fuzzy, freshly-dried chest. "Hey, you don't clean up too bad, mister," he said to his shirtless image. He caught the smell of frying bacon and stepped back into the kitchen. Brutus was just setting two plates at the table - some kind of omelet for himself, bacon and eggs for Todd. Todd sat and marveled at the plate. "You have no idea how much I need this right now."
Brutus sat and grinned. "Best hangover cure there is. Drink your water. And when you're ready, ask your questions."
"Er... well, first, I wasn't sure what to do with the - um - disposable underwear I used."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." Todd was embarrassed at the idea of Brutus cleaning up his wet diaper, but dug gratefully into the breakfast.
He finished half his plate, guzzled the water, and leaned back in his chair, regarding Brutus for a long moment. "All right. What is this place? And don't give me any of those half-answers I kept hearing yesterday."
"The problem, Todd, is that explaining what we do here in words is very difficult. You really have to see it at work to understand it. In short, though, there are certain values which the establishments of today have failed to instill in the people who need them. Those who are fortunate or wise enough to know they need help with these values come here, stay as long as they wish, and leave with a better understanding of love, and all the gifts and mysteries that come with it."
Todd blinked. "Right," he said skeptically. "OK, so what's with the diapers?"
"I would be lying if I said I understand why they help. But they do. You could say it started as... a historical tradition. But the ways in which they have become useful in our line of business are astounding in their variety. Sometimes they provide comfort. Sometimes they encourage humility. Sometimes they provide a welcoming environment for people who genuinely need them, and find only discomfort and distance in the general populace. And sometimes they're little more than a fetish, but even then I've never seen a case where they didn't help somehow."
"And you think they could help me."
"Like I said, I've never seen a case where they didn't."
Todd sighed and leaned his head back. He was in deep here, and wondered if coming back was a drunken mistake. He'd heard the same kinds of justifications from Lisa, though less articulate and often weepier. As far as he was concerned, it was bunk. Pseudopsychological constructions set up to validate a selfish and infantile fetish. Brutus seemed like an all-right guy, though, even if he did insist on shunning pants. "Well, fine then. I'm here. Let's see how deep the rabbit hole goes."
Brutus rolled his eyes as Todd repressed a smirk, and then stood up. "If you're finished, then, follow me, and I'll show you the inner warren."
***
Todd stood next to the large Rabbit in the hallway that ended in the looming, wooden double doors. Brutus walked toward them and Todd followed, seeing as he got closer that the wood was elaborately carved in sections of relief, with figures fighting and dying and celebrating. They reached the doors, and Todd ran his paw along the grain, noticing it was sun-parched and weathered.
"This used to be the main entrance to the aboveground portion of the warren," said Brutus, perceiving Todd's interest. "The brick and plaster building was constructed around it."
Todd felt his love for antiques taking over, and examined the carvings. "This is a history... the end of the species war, right?"
"That is correct."
He placed his paw on one relief picture: a Wolf, standing tall in a cape and military cap, jaws open in a vicious snarl. "That's Arvetis."
"Arvetis Agathos, The last of the Wolf-Tyrants. And the most brutal. This relief tells the story of his demise and the release of the Rabbit folk." Brutus sounded controlled and measured, as if he was consciously keeping emotion out of his voice.
Todd moved his paw over another carving, this one depicting the semi-legendary leader of the Rabbit resistance who toppled the Wolf regime. "But this door must be over a hundred years old. That would make it almost contemporary with the events it shows."
"Yes?"
"Well, this looks almost like the modern, mythologized version of the story. Wouldn't someone carving this right after it happened tell it in a more historical way?"
Brutus smiled and shook his head. "Come on, let's go inside and introduce you." He opened the door and led Todd through.
Through the doors was a huge, dimly-lit room, as large as a house, with a smooth, polished wood floor and several support pillars along its length. Inexplicably, a large, functional fireplace occupied one side of the hall - not a common sight in Florida. Plush, soft cushions were scattered haphazardly, some with furs laying on them. Perhaps two dozen people occupied the gathering hall, most of them still asleep. The light susurrus of snoring filtered through the air, and the syrupy twang of incense filled Todd's nostrils.
Brutus closed the door quietly and led Todd through the room, between sprawling furs, diapered and pyjamad. The ones who were awake looked up at Todd curiously. Some of them drew blankets over themselves to cover their diapers, embarrassed. He considered the crowd; they were about half Rabbits, but the rest were mixed species. He saw an Otter, a few sleeping Dogs in a pile, and, stretched out on a huge green pillow, wrapped in a deep crimson sari - "Is that a Tiger?"
"Yes, that's Raakhi. She's lived here for three years now."
"Wow... don't see that every day."
Todd saw where Brutus was leading him. In the far corner, on their right, was an elderly tawny Rabbit, floppy-eared and in his early seventies, or possibly even older. He sat on a simple brown cushion. In his lap, lying with his face nuzzled deep into the Rabbit's belly fur, was some kind of large, grey canine, naked except for a thick and droopy diaper. The Rabbit stroked the canine's belly, and he rolled over lazily. Todd saw that he was a Wolf, at least as old as the Rabbit.
"Uh... don't see that every day either."
"This is a special place, Todd. Come on." Brutus walked up and greeted the Rabbit deferentially. Todd followed, hesitating. The old Rabbit said something affectionate to Brutus softly, then shifted his attention to Todd.
"Hello, young man. You must be Mister Parks." Despite his appearance, there was something lively and eager in his eyes.
"Please, sir, Todd is fine."
"Forgive me, Todd, I'd stand and shake your hand, but I've got a bit of a full lap." The belly-up Wolf opened one eye slowly, regarded Todd, and appeared to go back to sleep. Todd noticed that there were red scars on the Wolf's cheeks, one thin line under each eye, long healed but permanent. "My name is Geraden," said the old Rabbit.
Geraden. Fitting, thought Todd. It was a very traditional Rabbit name, shared by the folk hero depicted on the hall's great doors. By the look of him, this Rabbit was born about one generation after the end of the species war. Geraden would have been a very popular name at the time. "Pleased to meet you, sir. Am I correct in assuming you're the Chief Rabbit here?"
"Such an antiquated term. But yes, I run this place." Geraden smiled, the creases by his eyes folding in remembrance of many smiles past. The old Wolf wiggled and shifted in Geraden's lap, apparently discontented by the lack of attention his belly was now receiving.
"And this great, useless lump of fur is Arvetis," said Geraden.
Arvetis opened his eyes just in time to catch the look of shock on Todd's face. This particular Arvetis looked a little more peaceful than the enraged fascist carved on the gathering hall door, but Todd took a step backwards. "After my grandfather," said Arvetis. "Used to be a very common Wolf name, you know."
Todd closed his mouth, blushing, and nodded quickly. "Of course. I'm sorry. It's just... Geraden and Arvetis. There's a bit of irony there, you know."
This was one of those horrible moments when Todd knew he had just said something very obvious and stupid, or something uncouth, or, more usually, both. He shuffled his feet, and there was an awkward second or two. Finally, he looked back up to Geraden and said, "boy, how pissed were YOUR parents when you brought him home?"
Todd clapped a paw to his mouth, certain that he'd not only crossed the line, but flew over it while breaking the world land-speed record and playing the Star-Spangled Banner on his car horn. But Geraden threw his head back and let out a loud burst of laughter before catching himself, stifling it to avoid waking the others.
"They were suitably annoyed, I'm sure," rumbled Arvetis.
"Hush, you. They did better by you than they had to."
Arvetis waved a paw lazily back at Geraden and rolled over, nuzzling back into the Rabbit's fur. "Never mind him," Geraden said. "He can be rude when he's - ah, hello, dear."
"Todd?" A soft voice squeaked over the ferret's shoulder. He turned and saw her.
Standing at just about three-quarters his height, holding her smooth, graceful tail in her paws, and wearing the pink footed sleeper he had often complained about, but, if he was being honest with himself, he'd always thought was a little cute, was his Mouse. His Lisa.
