“I think it’s fair. We’re in your house, after all,” Bunny said. “And you’ve probably already had an emotional heart-to-heart, so this is just the next step.”

“If that was my reasoning, I could have started with you, Bunny,” Jack said, and Bunny ducked his head in embarrassment.

“Can’t I enjoy a nice quiet talk with my new husband without everyone making a big deal of it?” he asked.

That question was never answered, as Pitch spoke next. “It’s because you’re the most human, North. I should think that would be obvious.” He smiled a little. “Then, if what you have to say is simply too frightening for him, he’ll know that he’ll have to take things very, very slowly before he asks anyone else the same question.”

Sandy poked Pitch in the side. Don’t act like you weren’t too overwhelmed for anything but missionary when we started working things out this time.

Pitch turned to give him a pained look. “I didn’t even have enough strength to forego sleep when you approached me—that was why you could approach me. Surely you haven’t forgotten the rest of our history?” he asked, snaking his arm around Sandy’s shoulders.

Of course not. Sandy smiled slowly. And your recovery is progressing so well.

“And that’s very good news,” Tooth said warmly. Pitch looked at her, surprised, and she sighed dramatically. “Did you miss our last very serious talk? We all want you to be back with us, Pitch! That’s why Sandy approached you in the first place, to see if it was possible. If we were just humoring Sandy’s ideas of cosmic balance we wouldn’t keep inviting you over!”

“Bunny hasn’t invited me to visit the Warren, yet,” Pitch pointed out.

“Bunny.…” North began, reprovingly.

“Now hold up, hold up,” Bunny said. “I know you’ve all been busy, but is Pitch really the only one to notice? I haven’t invited anyone to the Warren since we decided to see about salvaging Pitch and letting Jack know just how big his oath was. Pitch, you hit me where it hurt, that Easter. But now that you’re back and we’re working things out, well—I may still be twitchy about inviting you to the Warren, but I don’t think that’s permanent. And so I won’t be inviting anyone until I can invite everyone.”

“Oh,” Pitch said softly. “That’s not what I expected.”

“Well, it’s not what I expected of myself, either,” Bunny said. “But, like Tooth implied, this isn’t supposed to be a night for a big, serious talk.” He turned to North. “You’ve had some time to think, now. Are you going to get on with answering Jack’s question?”

“Ah, well.” North put one hand on the back of his neck. “I do have an answer to give, though of course it is something that is just strange for me. I think we would never get anywhere if we had to think about what is strange in the minds of others.”

“Considering how most spirits do a double-take when they realize we’re not just allies?” Bunny said. “Yeah, that’s legitimate.”

“So answer already!” Tooth moved forward on her seat. “I’m dying to know if I was involved.”

North looked down at his drink. “Again, this is what is strange for me. And, ah, yes, Tooth, you were certainly involved. Everyone except for Jack, naturally, was. And what it was, well, it was not actually me that did anything. I had been persuaded to simply—accept what Tooth and Bunny and Sandy and Pitch wanted to give me. In fact, when we talked about how it was going to play out, I was specifically told many times that I should not even think of reciprocating. I was offered a great deal of oral attention, among everything else, that evening. I, ah, enjoyed it very much, though I am usually wiser than to ask for it, as I am aware of the difficulties.”

“Wait, is that why you never accepted us pampering you again?” Tooth asked. “I mean, I don’t want to speak for anyone else—” She glanced over at Sandy.

Sandy grinned at North. Two of your four partners were able to deepthroat you, he signed. That’s a pretty good ratio. I don’t understand that would keep you from asking for it again.

North made a face. “I only say this because it is absolute fact, but Pitch told me that he and Sandy did a very small bit of shapeshifting to make this comfortably possible for them—”

“Wait, wait, I remember telling you that,” Pitch said. “I thought you’d be flattered! I mean, maybe I wasn’t thinking a lot when I told you, as I was riding your cock at the time, but, seriously? What’s a little shapeshifting between ones like us?”

It really is very easy, Sandy agreed. Fitting together better for any penetration. It’s automatic, almost.

“We…can discuss that later,” North said. “But, there! I have answered the question. It was a time when I only received and did not give. Does everyone agree that this is strange for me?”

The others nodded.

“All right,” Jack said. “So far, I’m not too worried. But, then again, I am going to ask everyone the same question.”

“Pour Bunny another drink, North,” Tooth said. “So he’ll be able to answer when it’s his turn.”

North obliged, Bunny accepted the glass with a roll of his eyes, and Jack turned to Tooth.

“All right. So. Tooth. What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever done?” Jack gave her a look of intense concentration. “You can’t just say the same thing as North, though.”

“And I probably shouldn’t say something in the same theme, either,” Tooth said.

“Well, that just wouldn’t make sense,” Bunny said, nudging her with his shoulder. “It’s much easier to convince you to let yourself be pampered than North.”

Tooth blushed. “I like to make the most of my time off, that’s all,” she said. “All right. Let me think.” She drew her brows together and sipped her drink. “Well, I know that something like mid-air sex would be considered strange for most people, but I have wings so why not? And, thanks to Sandy for indulging me so much in that.” She glanced toward Pitch. “But, as for the strangest thing…well, you know I was often the first one to seek out Pitch after bad fights.”

Pitch nodded. “I do remember that, and I also remember that you sought me out when it would have been far wiser to leave me to myself for a few more days.”

“That’s true,” Tooth said. “But it only got you back sooner, didn’t it?”

“But that’s not what we’re talking about, now, is it?”

Tooth laughed nervously. “All right, well, maybe it wasn’t the best of ideas, but I really liked the feeling of pretty much actual danger I got when we had sex then. That’s why, after all my goading, I always ended up on my back with my wings trapped.”

“It is not only with Pitch that you are on your back with,” North pointed out.

“That’s true, too,” Tooth said. “But usually, I want you all to be careful, and you are. It’s just that rarely, there was an opportunity to experience something close to real danger, and I took it.”

“That’s shockingly irresponsible,” Pitch said, entirely sincerely. “So much could have gone wrong.”

Tooth shrugged. “But it didn’t.” She reached out and put her hand on Jack’s arm. “If you need sex ed, ask someone else for it so Pitch won’t worry.”

Pitch grumbled as Jack raised his hand and solemnly pledged to get any sexual facts and advice he might need from a reputable source.

I think he was excluding you from the category of “reputable source,” as well, Sandy noted. He turned to Tooth. What are you going to do now that Pitch knows about this?

“Savor my memories,” Tooth said with a laugh. “And eventually find something else that gets me the same way. So, Jack, what do you think so far? I mean, we haven’t quite gotten into however much nonhuman freakiness you might be worried about.”

“True, true,” Jack said. “Maybe I should have asked what’s normal to you that might be strange to others. But then again, maybe I’ll end up enjoying any surprises that end up happening.”

Bunny raised his eyebrows just as Jack turned to him.

“All right, I was going to ask you next, anyway,” Jack said. “What are you raising your eyebrows for, and what’s the strangest thing you’ve ever done?”

“I’m raising my eyebrows because I’m not sure what kind of surprises you’re expecting,” Bunny said. “So I figure I ought to tell you that I don’t have a mating season, or a rut, or what-have-you. I don’t think I’m more like an animal than anyone else while having sex, and I don’t lose control or go feral or anything like that.”

Jack gave the others an odd look. “Was this something Bunny had to clarify with you?”

“No, no,” Tooth said. “But when other spirits have learned about our relationship, some of them have said some pretty rude things.”

“It is true, though it is not a rut, that Bunny does become more randy during the springtime,” North said.

Bunny wrinkled his nose. “All right, but it’s not like it’s biological or anything,” he said. “It’s just that the more springtime comes to more people in the world, the better a mood I’m in.”

And the more likely you are to actually relax, Sandy signed. He smiled at Jack. You may not have seen it yet, but it’s incredible how obvious it is when Bunny’s naked and when he’s not, considering that he never wears clothes in the first place.

“You going to say the same thing about Tooth, then?” Bunny asked.

Tooth may work hard, but she never gets uptight, Sandy signed. It’s not as obvious a change.

Tooth preened a feather or two and Bunny shook his head at her gently. “I’m assailed on all sides,” he said. “I’d better offer up my strange thing before this goes any farther. All right. Mine also has to do with shapeshifting. Sandy and Pitch, one-on-one, and together, too. I asked them to shapeshift into rabbits like me,” Bunny said.

“That doesn’t seem that strange,” Jack said.

“Well, it is, because I’m not part of a species.” Bunny looked down at his hands. “I’m one of a kind. I was human before the Man in the Moon chose me. So why would I—why would I want—there’s just no reason for me to want something like that. But I did, and Sandy and Pitch helped me out with that weird little fantasy,” Bunny finished. “And who knows why I’m telling it now, except that I don’t want to keep any secrets from Jack, and North mixes drinks really strong.”

“I don’t think that there’s anything to be embarrassed about in that kind of strangeness,” Jack said. “You just didn’t want to be so different from the people you were intimate with.”

“That’s a better way of putting it than just saying I’m interested in fur,” Bunny said. “And that might still be true, but I don’t know if that’ll be a problem for you, considering that you’re here having this conversation with us in the first place.”

Jack laughed. “Yeah, fair enough. Now. It’s time.” He turned to Sandy and Pitch, resting his chin in his hands. “Should I ask each of you separately, or should I just ask that you give me two stories? I’m kind of guessing that both of you are going to say things that involve each other.”

Sandy nodded at once, and Pitch just a half-second after.

“I suppose that the mention of our own shapeshifting makes such a conclusion inevitable,” Pitch said.

“You’ve also had a few thousand more years to get up to whatever you’re going to get up to,” Bunny said.

“I can’t think that that makes much of a difference by this point,” Pitch said.

But it does make a difference that we’re not bounded by having physical bodies, or by the boundaries of, well, good taste, Sandy signed.

“Uh-oh,” Jack said. “Now I’m really worried about what you’re going to tell me.”

Pitch smirked at him. “I could tell you almost anything, and you wouldn’t be able to naysay it.”

Yeah, only I could do that, Sandy signed. I have an idea of what you’re thinking of, he told Pitch.

Pitch turned to him and raised his eyebrows. “I suppose I could give Jack a joke answer and say that missionary is the strangest thing for us.”

“That’s an answer I would accept,” Tooth said, and Bunny toasted her.

Sandy laughed silently and leaned against Pitch. I would like it if we could cop out that way, but it’s totally not true.

Pitch rolled his eyes, but he didn’t move away from Sandy. “It’s not in your best interest to make fun of me for enjoying vanilla sex,” he said, “especially since you have a fondness for nights when you just lie back and think of Dreamland, or whatever.”

Sandy stuck out his tongue. I assure you I’m thinking of you when we do that sort of thing.

Pitch coughed. “Anyway,” he said, “you can’t be thinking of saying the same thing I’m thinking of, because the thing that I’m thinking of is something that I would never tell anyone about.”

Are you sure we’re not thinking of the same thing? Sandy fixed Pitch with his gaze and slowly, deliberately, licked his lips.

“Well, if that’s the case, we’re going to have to come up with something else to tell Jack,” Pitch said.

“Oh, come now,” North said. “You have made us very curious now.”

“I think Sandy and I could come up with a few ways to make you forget that curiosity,” Pitch said, uncrossing and recrossing his legs.

“No, no,” Jack said. “This seems like something it might be absolutely vital for me to know.”

Sandy tilted his head back and forth. Well, not really. It’s not actually something that would be possible for you or anyone else other than Pitch and me. It’s not something that we could or would ask of you.

Pitch folded his arms protectively across his belly. “Sandy’s right,” he said. “It’s enough for us to know we agree on the strangest thing we did together. What you really want to know from us is the strangest thing, in your opinion, that we would ever ask you to partake in. Don’t you think that would be more useful?”

“Well, I—I guess,” Jack said. “But it doesn’t tell me the same kind of thing about you as North’s Tooth’s and Bunny’s answers did.”

Oh, don’t worry, you’ll learn plenty about us in other ways, Sandy signed. I think you should be interested in what we might suggest to you. I mean, no one else has brought up anything more outlandish than having sex with beings shaped fairly similarly, regardless of how those ways interact with our personalities.

“Yes,” Pitch said slowly. “I have found it strange that North, Tooth, and Bunny didn’t bring up certain things as unusual.”

“Oh, well,” Tooth said, “whatever you’re thinking of, you always treat us well.”

“And you always allow yourselves to be pleased,” North said. “Even when you are, ah, somewhat overwhelming, even to me.”

“You’re forms are always different from mine,” Bunny said, “so it’s the times when they weren’t that are notable.”

“If you don’t tell me what you’re getting at this time, I’m going to have to sulk,” Jack said.

“Well, we wouldn’t want that,” Pitch said. “Sandy, why don’t you do the honor of asking?”

Sandy smiled sunnily and leaned conspiratorially towards Jack. All right. Jack, how do you feel about monsters? In particular, monsters with a lot of tentacles? How would you feel about being pleasured by such a monster? Or, because we are all very lucky, two such monsters?

Jack blinked slowly a few times. “Ah, well….” He downed the rest of his drink in one gulp. “Sure, I’d give it a shot.”