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Lagomorphs
Copyright © July, 2015, FurryWurry
All rights reserved

Chapter 25 -- Snacks

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Relaxing on the bed, Jeff nibbled on an energy bar, trying to make it last as long as possible. He only had a couple left after this one. He hadn't done much of anything after the sibs had finally left, but he was really hungry. Fresh vegetables weren't going to be enough, he just knew it. They didn't have enough protein. And the Rabs didn't grow any soybeans, of course.

"Whacha doin'? That smells good. Can I have some?"

He hadn't heard her come in, but Gemma was staring wide-eyed at him over the edge of the bed. Blast. Of course she'd want some. It must smell really delicious to her. Fruit, oats, honey and nuts: all things that rabbits loved but which were really bad for them. Despite their size, Rabs probably had the same kind of digestive system. He hadn't seen any caecotrophy, but it wasn't as if he'd been here very long, and he certainly hadn't seen any cud chewing.

"What are you doing up so early? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" It couldn't be sundown already. No way.

"I already slep'. I'm all slep' out. An' I didn' get to party. You had a big party, didn' you? I missed it," she pouted. She had a cute pout. And she probably knew it.

Jeff sighed to himself. "Hop up here. You can have a little. Just a little though. It's my lunch. And, no, we didn't have a party. Everybody was just too sleepy. You didn't miss a thing."

She was up on the bed immediately. "Lunch? In the daytime? Tha's silly!"

He broke off a corner and offered it to her. "Not for me. I'm wide awake all day and sleep at night. Not like you. Chew it very, very slowly, now, or it'll give you a tummy ache. We don't want that."

"'Kay." She nibbled at the chunk of bar. "Oooh. Tha's good," she mumbled around the treat, drooling just a little. He used his thumb to wipe her chin.

"Yeah. I know. But lots of things that taste really good do bad things when they get inside you. That's why you should eat just a little bit. Too much can make your tummy really hurt."

"But you're eatin' it!"

"Well, my tummy's different from yours. I can't eat grass because it gives me a tummy ache. But you eat grass, right?"

"Uh, huh." She looked at him dubiously as she chewed. She probably thought he was pulling her tail.

"Well, I eat this stuff. It has lots of nuts in it. My tummy likes nuts. Your's doesn't. I'll get sick if I don't eat enough of them, just like you'll get sick if you don't eat enough grass."

The young rab looked thoughtful as she slowly masticated the last bit of her piece of energy bar.

"I never had nuts before," she finally said after swallowing. "They're sorta like winter pellets. Why don' you eat them?"

"Winter pellets?"

"Grass doesn' grow in the winter," she explained patiently. "So we eat pellets. Comon. I'll show you." She hopped off the bed and headed toward the passage. "Well? Comon!"

"Just a sec." He wrapped up what was left of the bar and stuffed it in his backpack. Hopefully it'd be OK there. He hadn't seen any ants. Yet.

She led him down the passage. "There's a special room where we eat in the winter. An' sometimes in the summer. In here, see?"

It was only a few doorways down. As its lights came on he saw a dark conical shape something like the clothes-maker in Sky's snug. This one was surrounded by a wooden table, though, with benches and stools for eight Rabs, maybe ten if they were really friendly. What looked like a water fountain was in the back of the room, near the rear exit.

Gemma hopped up on the nearest bench and rubbed the dome protruding above the table. "You do this, and out they come!" After a brief hum, a chute opened in its side and three small golden-brown, fibrous nuggets rolled out. They smelled like hay. "Not enough!" she pouted, but pounding on it didn't produce any more.

"Let me try."

"'K."

The top of the dome was just as rough as the clothes dispenser in Sky's room, and, like that dispenser, it thought longer and more loudly than it had for the young Rab. Eventually it produced a half-dozen nuggets about an inch in diameter, red-brown and somewhat less fibrous than what she'd gotten. Their odor reminded Jeff of mushrooms.

"Eww, nasty!" Gemma made a face and covered her nose.

"They smell fine to me." Jeff chewed on one thoughtfully. "Taste good, too." Maybe there was a touch of 'burger in with the mushrooms. That was a big weight off his mind, although he didn't know how the warren was making the food.

"You're weird!" Gemma proclaimed as she munched on her own pellets.

He grinned down at her. "Yup!"

She deserted him on the way back. Apparently her pillows got lonely when she stayed away too long. She wasn't really sleepy, not at all.