Goodbye Annabelle, we're off to visit new friends.

After the eventful time with Annabelle, the three of you cuddle on the couch. For a while you just lie there in a lazy pile, but then you start talking. The conversation about how fun playing pirates was somehow segues into talking about the friends you and Ashley have made at college, and you mention the two pet-owners who had invited you to come over sometime. Your girls think it's a great idea, so that's exactly what you tell Eric and Ian the next day. They're happy to hear it, and make plans for you to come over during the weekend.

The rest of the week goes well for everyone. Ashley has another doctor's appointment on Friday, and the next day you decide to take the city bus instead of driving yourself since you don't know if you'll be fit to drive home later. You didn't plan on getting drunk today, but according to your big brother getting drunk is one of those things that just happens when you go to college.

You get a couple of looks at the bus stop, probably because of the matching cuties at your side. Your pets decided to really look like twins today by braiding each other's hair and wearing similar brown dresses. Tibby chose a rich brown almost the colour of her hair, and Ashley’s is a lighter sandy brown, but the necklines and hemlines are the same. Each dress comes with a flat depiction of the appropriate tail printed on the back; a long and slender tail curled up from the base of Tibby's spine, and Ashley's bunny tail represented by a large white circle on her lower back and butt. Of course both girls are sporting their prettiest ears and collars, jewelled for Tibby and lace for Ashley.

But it's not just them. Ashley and Tibby wanted their owner to match too, so this morning they simply handed you an almond-shell brown shirt with buttons and told you to wear it. They did let you choose your own pants, so you're wearing a pair of dark indigo jeans.

Thankfully you weren't at the stop long before the bus arrived. Since you didn't get a chance to yesterday, you ask Ashley how her checkup went once everyone is settled into the bus' fuzzy seats.

"It's good news this time," Ashley says, showing a new confidence by being able to talk about this within earshot of a bus full of strangers. "My hormones are stabilizing near the pet baseline so they don't expect any more side effects, but my drive to be a biologist is unlikely to go away. Basically I'm the same old me, just more..."

"Cute and cuddly?" Tibby supplies with a grin.

"Sure," Ashley laughs and proves it by squeezing Tibby into a tight hug.

"And less fertile?" You lean in to ask quietly.

This time Ashley blushes and looks around to see if anyone heard you. When she's satisfied that everyone is minding their own business, she says, "The doctors aren't sure about that yet, they want to wait until my levels are stable before they run any fertility tests. Until then I'll have to keep my IUD in, unless you want to wear a condom."

"Just one?" You ask cheekily. "I don't think they're that reusable."

"Oh shut up John," she smiles. "You know what I mean."

"And I'm sure she'd let you take it off for butt stuff," Tibby snickers, earning herself a light smack on her exposed thigh.

"Ix-nay on the utt-bay stuff," Ashley scolds while Tibby adjusts the hem of her dress. "Please behave when we visit people."

Tibby pouts. "But we're not even there yet. Shouldn't I get it out of my system before we get there?"

"Fine, get it out," Ashley grumbles.

The next thing you know, the devious cat raises her voice and chants, "Butt stuff, butt stuff, butt stuff!"

"Tibby!" Ashley exclaims, her face red.

"Oh relax. The bus is already stopping, so we can get out with no harm done."

While you’re walking from the bus-stop, you talk to your pets about Eric and Ian. Tibby remembers Eric from when you gave her a tour of the campus, but you didn't meet Ian until later and of course Ashley hasn't seen either of them.

You know Eric is the one opening the door when you see studded wrist bands. The door opens wider to show a faded grunge band t-shirt, stretched by his broad shoulders and half concealed by a dark red flannel, and then exposes his blond head with gauges in both ears. He ushers you all into the living room before making introductions.

Ian, a pale young man with a head of short red hair and a pair of thick-framed glasses perched on his nose, has a more vanilla style than Eric. Skinny jeans, a loose black t-shirt, and no piercings that you know of. He's sitting on a couch with his arm draped over Melanie's shoulders. She's a brunette of average height but damn is she thicc. She looks almost chubby sitting next to the wiry Ian, but she's not fat. While she does have a bit of a paunch, it's overshadowed by her curvy hips and large bust. A bust which you have an unobstructed view of, as there's not a scrap of fabric anywhere on her body except where Ian's clothes happen to touch her. Instead, Melanie is covered from head to toe in grey, brown, and white paint in the pattern of a husky's fur.

You're not the only one who can't help staring at her, and Melanie smiles brightly as she stands up to let your pets get a closer look. After answering a few questions about her paint she sits back down and snuggles up to Ian, who tells everyone to get comfortable before introductions continue. Seeing that one of the two armchairs in the room is unoccupied, you sit down and your cute bunny climbs onto your lap, while the perpetually perky Tibby bounds to the couch to sit on Melanie's other side.

The only person who hasn't been introduced yet is Denise, a petite dog girl who prefers to go by Deedee. She's dressed all in white: loose white shorts that stop just short of her knees, soft knee-high socks with red bands circling their top edge, and a fluffy short-sleeved sweater. The look is completed by her unruly, almost shaggy hair, which is dyed the same shade of snow white as her clothes. Just barely peeking out of that mane are the tiny white triangles of her ears.

She's been reclined in the other armchair, watching casually as everyone gets to know each other. As Eric circles around to stand behind the chair and put his hands on her shoulders, you notice the twin sets of helium balloons attached to the back of the chair. Most of them are ruby red, with "Happy Birthday" written on some while others have stars. Each set has a black foil balloon with a large, glittering gold 20.

"Whose birthday?" you ask.

"Mine," says Denise who is seated below the balloons, looking like a queen with her loyal pet behind her. Except she's the pet, and he's her owner.

"Happy Birthday," all of the Buccaneers say at once.

"Thank you."

The seven of you start chatting. Topics quickly move away from school since most of the petgirls are not interested in hearing stories of people they don't know. The topic of fashion doesn't stick around when the boys get bored. Everyone gets a chance to join in when someone mentions the pet park.

Ian pipes in, "Yeah, we play Frisbee there all the time. We normally can get quite a large group to play with us. Mrs. Dimple really likes it because her pet is too energetic for an old lady with a cane. She adopted her pet after her husband passed away, and she loves the companionship but Lulu is used to a more active lifestyle than she can keep up with. She feels great satisfaction sitting on the park bench watching us play Frisbee with her."

Eric grins down at his pet, "We should show them the toy we got you after last week's game of Frisbee. I'll go get it from our room... or is it in yours, Ian?"

Deedee stands up with a huff. "Like you don't know where it is. I'm the one who should fetch it in any case."

Tibby's eyes glint like she's thinking naughty thoughts. "Separate bedrooms huh? So the four of you aren't..."

Ian looks at her in shock. "No, eww! We're just sharing an apartment."

Denise giggles. "Boys can be such prudes, right Melanie?"

"Yeah. It's a shame because they look so cute together. This one time they fell asleep on the couch after some drinks, and they were super embarrassed when they woke up in each other's arms."

"Hey, shut up! Don't tell anyone that!" yelled a blushing Ian.

"But it's true," Melanie says. "We're making progress though. They really like it when we do things like this."

Escaping Ian's grasp, she pounces on Deedee, lifting the smaller pet's shirt up to let everyone see her pert breasts.

Denise blushes cutely, but makes no immediate move to cover herself. Sure enough, the boys like what they see... and that includes you!

Noticing you shift beneath her, Ashley coughs discretely. Melanie grins and steps away from Denise, who waits another second before pulling her shirt down and sashaying out of the room.

Not much later she reappears, holding a long brown foam stick in her mouth. She runs right up to Eric, who stole her seat while she was away, and crouches by his side. Eric reaches out for the stick, only for Deedee to start growling and pulling her head back to stop him from taking it.

After a brief tug-of-war, the stick slips out of her mouth and Denise falls back, her body shaking with laughter. Once she's able to stop laughing, the white dog girl sits on the recliner's armrest and sighs happily. "I know it's silly, but the guys have been making jokes about me playing catch like a real dog ever since I caught one Frisbee with my mouth. And by 'caught' I mean someone threw it at my head, but you think that gets me any sympathy? Well it doesn't, not from these jerks."

Her words sound cross, but her expression still shows amusement. "Anyway, they got me a stick. Worst birthday present ever, I know."

"Aww, but you love it!" Eric interjects. He ruffles his hand in her hair.

"I do. That's not the point."

Ian stops them with a laugh. "Nobody will ever hear the point if you two get into a back-and-forth, so let me take over. We got her a fake stick. It's not even good for playing catch. But Denise has yet to get bored with the version of fetch we invented for her, where we all take turns hiding her stick around here so she can retrieve it. What can I say? Some girls are easy to entertain."

"Heeeey!" Deedee exclaims. "You have to be nice to me, I'm little!"

"Yeah watch it, that's my girl you're talking about," Eric grins as he wraps a thick arm around his white-haired pup. "I could beat you up you know."

Melanie shakes her head at Eric's machismo. "If you're going to get physical, it better be in the form of a shirtless wresting match to give Deedee and me a show."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Eric asks, his face oddly flush. "Why are you girls always trying to turn us gay?"

"It's only bi-curious," Deedee comforts him with a pat on the arm. "And we do it for the same reason guys like to watch women wrestle. Be glad we're not asking you to do it in a mud pit!"

"Of course not, how would you admire his muscles if they're hidden under a bunch of mud?" Ashley giggles.

Tibby piles it on with a "No amount of mud would hide those shoulders. And the contrast to Ian's lean panther physique? Meow!"

"Did she just call me a panther?" Ian asks, perplexed.

"You're my protective panther," Melanie confirms. "You could definitely hold your own in a sexy wrestling match, don't let Eric intimidate you."

"I'm not... can we change the subject please?"

The girls reluctantly agree to talk about something else. You're just glad you were left out of it. Mud or no mud, shirt or no shirt, you have little interest in putting on that kind of show.