Vixen A.D. 2 | Chapter 1

Morning Fluff, Impressions

Mace stretched beneath the delicate woven sheets.

He has a lot on his mind. Even while tired, his thoughts raced. Just several days ago, he was nobody—just some random jerk who came to in a pile of white-hot, sparking metal and shrapnel. Now, this morning, he was cuddling a kitsune, thinking about Cinder, the Singe, the stalkers, and whatever else he could.

He remembered most things—not all of them, though. Some memories had yet to resurface, and some questions remained unanswered. Where had all the other colonists and personnel gone? Why did no one else make it in? There should have already been some stuff there, including the techs and a small group of miners managing the geothermal.

So where were they? Mace sighed.

Beside him, Faye snuggled. She clutched her arms around his body as if never to let go. How she felt—fluffy, warm, and cozy—made it difficult for him to rouse himself from sleep. Though he stirred, Faye’s comfort was sedative.

When he dreamed, he saw impressions of blackness. Glimpses of other beings, like shamblers, wraiths, and stalkers, would emerge. Mace assumed this was because of exhaustion.

But his mind flashed with the looming entity that disabled the UTV. He couldn’t quite see it in his mind’s eye because he had never had a look at it. No, the thing was firing rockets at them.

Unless it was a mirage. He didn’t know for sure. They hadn’t run into anything wielding firearms yet, at least wherever they were. Mace could check the map to get a better sense of location.

Otherwise, he remembered everything without issues, at least while awake. Mace Frost needed to remember as much as possible. Delta was secure… mostly. You could only be so certain. Upon their arrival, he lacked time for meticulousness.

No, just basics and whatever upper levels they were on.

The mining systems were massive. Delta sat atop a deposit of iron, copper, other metals, trace elements, and silicates. Between all the ore conveyors, processing stations, and smelters, there could be anything down there.

If Delta’s defenses and scanners didn’t pick something up, that’d be trouble.

So, once Mace was out of bed, it’d be one of the first things he checked. That, and get some breakfast. He could feel hunger through the heavy weight of comfortable, deep sleep.

And how could he not? Faye enticed him. Her fur acted like another blanket almost, keeping him just another degree or two warmer throughout the night. Mace didn’t mind that. Actually, he preferred it.

Cinder seemed comfortable too, he mused.

Cinder Valentine, the kitsune. He wondered how serious either of them was about the one-off comments involving a threesome, then discarded the thoughts.

They couldn’t be serious… right? If they were, it wasn’t like he’d turn them down…

Next to him, Faye yawned. She stretched, then fluttered her eyes. Mace did much the same, gazing at the darkness in the suite, then over to Faye’s attractive face.

He ran a hand behind her head, then ear, and tenderly scratched. She smirked, closed her eyes, and let him continue. “Does that feel good, Faye?”

The kitsune’s tail swished. “Oh god… yes,” she murmured in delight.

“You want me to rub behind your ears more often?”

Faye nuzzled into him. “Yes. That feels great.”

“We have things to do today,” Mace said. His hand still worked the soft fluff and gentle skin behind her fox ears.

“Yeah, like, lay in this bed,” Faye teased.

Mason laughed. “I wish.”

“Ugh, what is it?”

He sat up. “I didn't have a chance to examine the rest of the facility. I need to run through and do that. We should also check our ammunition and weapons. All medical supplies should be checked. This place is stocked, but it doesn’t hurt to verify. Inventory hasn’t been updated since the initial stock, and I have no idea if someone else has been here.”

Faye stared at him. “…Do you think someone else is here besides us?”

Mace shook his head. “No, I don’t. At least not on these floors with us. Top two levels and sub-levels should be clear.”

“Alright. Well, Lt. Pilot-Engineer Guy, it sounds like we have a plan.” Faye slid a clawed hand to his groin, eventually meeting with the flesh of his cock. “And maybe I can have some more of this later?”

Mace smirked. “Of course.”

She smiled widely. “Sounds good to me.”

Mace chewed on his lip, then turned to her. “Hey, Faye?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you… did you ever see any of the Singed using firearms?”

Faye stared at him. “The who?”

“Sorry. I just remembered, the coats—the scientists, I mean, that’s what they’re referred to as sometimes—they called it the Singe. Something about radiation and some germ, or whatever.”

“Huh. Didn’t know they gave it a name.”

Mace shrugged. “Easier to track, I guess.”

“Use firearms?” Faye glanced at the bed. She furrowed her brow, thinking deep. “No,” she said, “I don’t think I have.”

He nodded. “Alright.”

“Why?”

“The thing that took out my UTV. I thought it was a big one. Huge, and it looked like it was shooting rockets. What’s more plausible is that it was a friendly fire. LPGs misfired in our direction. I just…”

Faye stroked his shoulder. “I remember a sense of… horror.”

“Well, maybe your mind inserted stuff to, like, cope?”

He sighed. “Maybe. I remember a lot, but maybe I do not recall correctly. We should stay vigilant, though. Just in case.”

“We can do that, Mace,” she said. “I don’t want to take a rocket to the gut. There won’t be anything left.”

“Agreed,” Mace laughed and smiled.

She stretched, her large, fluffy tail swaying. “Anything else on your mind?” Faye asked.

“You know, the coats, they had a name for this thing going around causing all these problems.”

“What was it again?”

“The Singe,” Mace replied. “Something to do with radiation and burning.”

“Ominous,” Faye said. She crawled further upward, resting her head on his chest.

Mace smirked. “Does that scare you?”

“A little.”

“Want me to make it better?”

Faye nodded. “Please.”

He wrapped his arms around the kitsune. “Come here,” Mace commanded.