Testing the waters

You looked around the little quarantine room, which wasn't really a very clean place with a lot of furniture to work with. Besides, as excited as you were starting to get seeing this eager bunny girl before you, you still had some reservations about jumping into something really serious. Especially if things got loud and people come looking to see what's the matter!

You put your hands on Tori's shoulders. "Maybe just a little bit? Some kissing, some touching... I dunno, I don't want to move too fast, y'know?"

Tori grinned in delight. "I'll take it!" She threw herself more forcefully against you, latching onto you with her arms as she pulled you into a deep, wild, passionate kiss. She had a ton of energy like this, for sure! Maybe it was in those legs? She practically hopped at you, it seemed. You'd been worried that your hesitance would've been a disappointment to her, but Tori was the kind of woman who could sit outside for hours until she'd spot a rare bird for a fraction of a second--she had plenty of practice in patience.

As she kissed you deeply, she continued to frantically unbutton her shirt, popping some buttons on her blouse on the way. Eventually, her shirt and hoodie dropped to the floor, shrugged away until she was just in her bra and cargo pants. She quickly did the same to you, shedding your upper body's fabric, solely so she could push her warm stomach and chest to yours, to feel herself against you in a way she hadn't before.

While you certainly returned the favor and held her around her back as you maintained the kiss, you still couldn't fully immerse yourself in the moment with so many other questions floating around your mind. After all, it seemed like the Bella side of Tori briefly overwhelmed her earlier, was that still the case here? It felt like it, since Tori never acted this forward toward you! She did seem agreeable to the fact that this sort of thing could happen where she might lose control, so at least it seemed like she had a lot of trust in you to be there for her. It was just hard to know what was going through your friend's mind while there was another mind within it!

The two of you embraced for quite a while, as Tori made satisfied squeals and grunts as she pushed against you, her eyes closed deep as her hands gripped your back. You grew a little bolder, and reached up to run your fingers along Tori's recently acquired rabbit ears, and your gentle caress seemed to send shivers through her, as a low moan escaped her lips. She broke the kiss just to briefly feel the bliss of the sensation. "Oh yeahhhhhh... wow that feels... so amazing..." Tori gulped a little, and opened her eyes again as you continued to rub, one of her legs twitching in excitement. "That's a secret of channeling, when the body changes, the new features are always pretty sensitive... ngh, so good! I--"

More gunshots rang out, as the family seemed to start their second round of target practice. Tori lost her train of thought and again hugged close onto you, clearly shifting again into a frightened state due to Bella's fear of the noise. "It's so loud," she said, trembling a little. "It's probably not bad for a human but rabbits can literally be scared to **** by loud noises! And those are just .22s, if they start upping the calibers it'll be even worse for me. ...For Bella."

You pet Tori's head between the ears--unsure of what else to do other than try and treat her partly like you might a rabbit--and that seemed to calm her down again. She took a deep breath, leaned up for one final kiss, and then picked up her shirt. "I think that's plenty of evidence for me to share with Cassidy why her bunny's acting strange. Not sick, just stressed." Tori quickly dressed herself--although, with a few buttons missing on the bottom of her blouse, she had to zip up her hoodie to look decent--and you quickly did the same. Back at the pen, Tori held her hand out, and her features reverted to her usual appearance as Bella once again returned to the cage. Bella at least seemed a little more active and energetic. You couldn't be sure if Bella recognized you when back to normal, she did seem to stare at you briefly. Or, so you thought, since rabbits have such a wide range of vision it was hard to tell what she might be looking at.

Tori looked around the quarantine room, finding a few heavy blankets on one of the shelves. She covered the pen with a few of them draped over the top. "Sorry Bella, I know it'll be dark, but this should dampen the sound at least a little bit for you.

The two of you quickly packed up and returned to the house, following Tori's lead as she entered the kitchen to find Cassidy chopping up some meat with a butcher's knife. "Oh, hey there hon. What's the verdict, is Bella gonna need some medication?"

Tori shook her head. "Nope, nothing like that. She's perfectly healthy other than the stress from Bill and Ty's shooting practice. How often are they out there with Ty's new gun?"

"About every day for the past week," Cassidy said, frowning. "I know she was skittish at first and I moved the cage, but that wasn't enough, huh? Her appetite changed and everything, even later in the day, I thought it was something else."

"The distress can linger, especially if it's happening regularly. You could keep moving her cage I guess, or keep her inside during their practice, but I think a better bet would be for Bill to take Ty to the far field to set up a range there."

Cassidy nodded, briefly smiling at Tori for having an answer for her. "Well I'm glad it was an easy diagnosis and not something worse. Your fee's on the table." Her face shifted back into a frown as she walked toward her front door--butcher knife and all. "I'm gonna go have a little chat with Bill."

The two of you watched her leave, and you couldn't help but shiver a little at the sight. "Is she usually like that?"

"She can be intense," Tori said, grabbing the cash on the table before heading towards the car again. "I think we should get going though, I don't want to be a witness to anything!"

Back in the car and on the road, you glanced over at Tori, who was tapping on her phone. "So, any other destinations or jobs in the queue? Or back home?"