Sabrina backed up until she reached a couch and fell into it, still beaming at Luke. "Whatdidyou think?"
"I…don't know? Some yelping, maybe? Throwing me out while you recalibrated? Anger because this is very weird? A lot of questions?"
"I havesomany questions. Sit! You look like you're going to run away if left to your own devices! Ooooh!" She sat up straight, curiosity zooming through her. "Oh, wait. Do you run away? I mean, rabbits are a prey species, right? So somebody like that Zojurn woman coming at you mustreallyfreak you out!"
Luke closed his eyes momentarily and exhaled like it was coming from the bottom of his soul, then came to sit across from her. "You have no idea," he said after a few seconds. "It's not that bad for me most of the time because Iambig, but Emmy's rabbit is terrified of everything and its first impulse is absolutely to run away screaming. Sometimes it's really hard for her to keep it incheck. My own is…not as easily scared, but yeah, there's a real 'fight or flight' impulse when someone grabs me like that woman did. I actually tend to want to…"
He trailed off, looking embarrassed. Sabrina scooted forward to reach for his hands, which were unexpectedly cool, as if he really was nervous. "You want to what?"
Luke sighed again. "Rabbits have very strong legs so if I feel like I need to fight, my impulse isn't to hit somebody. It's to fall on my back and kick them."
Sabrina managed to compress her lips before a laugh escaped, although the rush of air then needed somewhere to go and made her ears squeak. After a moment she trusted herself enough to say, "That wouldn't have gone over well. I'm glad I was there to intervene. Um. Your…rabbit…?"
Luke grimaced. "Shifters have…wow, it's hard to explain. I've never tried before. It's like a voice in my head, but with its own strong personality. If I let it, it'll take over when I'm in rabbit form, but when I'm human, it still has opinions about things."
"Whoa. So do you get to have opinions initshead when you're in rabbit form?"
"Heh. Yeah, I do. But if I kind of relax and just let it do its rabbit thing, it's…like, if I was caught out in a winter snowstorm and shifted, it would know what to do to stay safe and alive in the weather, even if I didn't know exactly myself?"
"So like instinct. But as a personality. That changes depending on what form you're in and who…needs to be in control?" Sabrina asked, feeling her way through it. "That's amazing. Are there lots of people like you?"
"There aren't many rabbit shifters at all, but there are more shifters in general than you'd guess. We mostly live side by side with true humans, but Virtue is a sanctuary town. There are alotof shifters here."
"Oh. Oh wow.Oh! Oh,that'swhy there are people who are so very much against the railroad coming back, is it? Ooohhhhh…" Sabrina leaned back, stunned but also understanding a lot more all of a sudden. "Oh, wow. Wait. Wait, am I doing a bad thing with the new train station?"
"What? No! No, honestly you're not! The town voted on it a few years ago and there was a clear victory for bringing it back, even if the minority is a vocal one. This town…" Luke got up suddenly, like his energy couldn't be contained anymore. "Virtue's always had a reason to be isolationist, just to protect the shifters here. And even without that, small towns have struggled, you know? Jobs and people going somewhere else. Virtue was like that for a long time."
"But it's…it's so vibrant," Sabrina protested. "The holiday market! The fair! All the businesses on the square, and that incredible playground!"
Luke grinned, though he didn't pause his pacing. "Would you believe an eight year old spearheaded the playground project a couple years ago?"
Sabrina stared. "No. Really?"
"Really. Kid named Noah. He's going to be mayor of this town some day, I bet," Luke said, still grinning. "A real go-getter. Anyway, Virtue was still a good place to grow up, so I wasn't really aware it was declining until it started growing again, but…at some point it turned itself around. Just in the last decade, maybe. The last five years, for sure."
"Right, yes, people have mentioned that. It's hard to believe it was dying, but yeah, I'd heard that."
Luke nodded. "A lot of new businesses have opened here, and a lot of people have moved in. Alotof shifters. Most people get that we need the growth and the tourism and the money it all brings. But we're all still just trying to figure out how to balance safety and sanctuary with keeping up in the world."
"Wow. Wow, I had no idea. I knew there were internal politics going on because there always are, but…wait, okay. Start at the beginning. Not with the train station, but…shifters?" Sabrina's voice rose on the last word, not with fear, but with awe. "This is incredible, Luke. I had no idea. I don't even know why you're telling me!"
A flash of something like guilt splashed over Luke's face and he came back to sit across from her. "I know I can trust you."
"That's flattering, so why are you guilty about it?"
"It's more complicated than just that, but…I'll explain why later, if that's okay. Let me answer your other questions first."
"Where did you come from? Are you why we have stories about werewolves? Are vampires also real? Why are you such a huge rabbit? Where do your clothes go? Does everybody in Virtue know? Do you have a memory-wipe thing you're going to use on me when I leave so I can't betray your secrets?" Sabrina widened her eyes. "Do you have other magic? Are there wizards? Do you have a wand?"
Luke tried so hard not to smirk at the last question that Sabrina burst out laughing, blushed, and hid her face in her hands. "Maybe pretend I didn't ask that last."
"Too late. It's out there for all the world to hear. But no, there are no wizards, we don't do other magic, and I don't have the kind of wand you're talking about."
He said the last with such a straight face that Sabrina blushed harder. "Okay, but vampires?"
"Not as far as I know," Luke said ruefully. "We might be the source of werewolf legends, but our magic isn't tied to the moon. We can shift whenever we feel like it. And I don't know how shifters began. None of us do. We've been living alongside true humans for…ever, as far as I know. I like to think that we're just people with lineages that go back to when humans were so muchcloser to the natural world and to other animals that we forgot we couldn't be both, but I don't really know."
A strange ache filled Sabrina's chest and she took a slow breath. "That's beautiful. What a wonderful idea."
