“Anon, honey, are you religious?”

The kitchen knife in your hand pauses in its descent as you stop and think, leaving the plucked chicken on your cutting board whole for a little bit longer. Looking up, you see an angular face reflected in the glass door of the kitchen microwave.

Humming thoughtfully, you wipe your greesy hands on your jeans and turn around, addressing the owner of the reflection. “What brought that question on?”

Standing by the kitchen table next to a few baskets of sorted eggs is Jess, your girlfriend of several weeks.

It’s been nearly a year since that fateful day you seemingly fell sideways through space. One moment, you were opening your front door after a long day at work, the next, you were falling out of the doorway of a broom closet.

Needless to say, you were pretty shocked. The owners of the office building you seemingly teleported to were just as startled. To make things worse, you seemingly stumbled into some kind of office building staffed by freaks, because nearly all of the staff were wearing fur suits.

… And then upon looking closer, you realized that those were not fur suits. Nine out of ten people were walking, talking animals.

Needless to say, the police were called, and you were whisked away. Your escorts were a regular human and a raccoon man, both wearing police uniforms. In the back of the police cruiser, you got ample time to analyze the back of the raccoon man’s head, and came to the sobering conclusion that you weren’t hallucinating

You didn’t realize that the time, but you had stepped into a completely different world, so they found absolutely no record of your existence in any database. The police, unsure what to do, simply let you go. They had bigger fish to fry and couldn’t be bothered with you.

So you were forced to restart your life in this strange mirror dimension.

It was hard. For quite some time, you were homeless and had to live off of the good graces of food kitchens and homeless shelters. Whatever spirited you away dropped you into a busy city, and thus you fell through the cracks.

You did eventually find some direction, however. On this strange not-earth populated by all sorts of different species, humans were regarded by many as the epitome of the phrase “jack of all trades”. There are few industries that would refuse a qualified human.

… The only problem is the “qualified” part. With no legal ID, and all of your resume references being in a different dimension, that left you with jobs that paid under the table, which proved to be irritatingly difficult to find. The average person, human or otherwise, is considerably more moral and law-abiding around here for a reason you cannot fathom.

Eventually, a sympathetic horse woman in charge of a warehouse on the edge of town gave you a job as a laborer, and gave you an unused office to sleep in. The work was easy enough, just loading and unloading semi trailers.

But… You began to desire something more. You’re doing nothing with this reset you were given.

After a long talk with an old, droopy-eyed St. Bernard trucker, he told you of an opportunity that he heard of.

A small poultry farmer out in the countryside has been looking for a farmhand, and it just so happens that his truck is stopping nearby. The farm owner is a sweet, understanding fox girl named Jessica, and she-

A pair of cream-furred fingers snap in your face. The sound of furry figures snapping is distinctly muted compared to when a human does it, but it still draws you out of your trip down memory lane.

Jess blinks her amber eyes and the quirks a brow. “You aright, hun? You were staring at me mighty hard.”

You give her a quick once over, formulating an answer as you do so.

Jess, like many anthros, is shorter than you are. Humans aren’t the tallest species, but they are large enough to be considered ‘tall’ by default. Jess, by virtue of being a fox, is even shorter than average. Even with her brown-tipped ears perked up, she barely breaks 5’3”

Her golden blonde hair is lighter than her mostly-orange fur, but darker than the creme color of her underbelly, hands, and tail tip. She often laments that her hands aren’t brown like her ear-tips and paws, as working outdoors leaves them stained with dirt.

On a more naughty note, you’ve resolved to meet Jess’s mom the next time her family has a reunion. Your boss-turned-girlfriend fills out her clothes quite nicely, and you want to see where Jess gets it from.

“Anon?”

You blink and smile back. “Sorry, babe. It’s hard not to stare at a woman like you.”

Jess huffs dramatically, but you can see the inner-parts of her ears darken in a blush. “So, are you going to answer?”

Staring past her and out the sliding glass door leading to the back patio, you mull her question over. “Am I religious?” You ask aloud. “Well, considering we go to church every Sunday…”

“Hun, I know you’re barely staying awake through the sermons,” Jess rolls her eyes and flicks her fluffy tail. “I’m asking you to think, deep down. I want to know, because doesn’t it seem kind of… Strange to you?”

“I can’t read minds, Jess,” you answer dryly, returning your gaze to her. “Much less the minds of wily vixens. What’s so strange?”

Jess’s tail finds its way into her hands, a nervous tic if you’ve ever seen one. “That… Shoot, don’t take this the wrong way, but doesn’t it seem like the work of God that we found each other?” She asks unsurely. “I ain’t never moved so fast with a man before, not before you. It’s just like…” She releases her tail and splays the fingers on both of her hands, then she laces her fingers together in a gesture of union. “You understand?”

Oh… Does she think that your relationship is progressing too fast? You’ve never clicked with a woman so quickly or concisely before you met Jess, so maybe she’s not comfortable with how things are going? Your first shy date was a month ago, and you’ve only been on the farm for three months total.

You step forward, gently taking Jess’s hands in your own. “Are we going too fast?” you gently ask. "I can move back into the guest room if you want. It shouldn’t take-“

Jess interrupts you by pulling her hands out of your grasp and taking fistfuls of your shirt, growling.

“Heck no!” She exclaims, giving you a hard stare and pulling you down to her level. “That bed ain’t never going to feel the same without you. If you try to pull that city boy gentleman hokey on me, then I swear I’ll…”

She shakes a fist in your face.

“You hear?”

You cross your eyes and stare at the most adorable threat of violence you’ve ever seen. “Am I religious?” you repeat once more. “You know what? I think I am. How could I not when I’ve got an angel right here?” You tell her with a bright smile.

Jess groans at the unbearably cheesy line even as the lining of her ears turns red. “Got-dang city boys learnin’ how to flirt from romance books,” she grumbles, lowering her fist. “You gotta… You just…” Flustered, she gives up on her comeback and mashes her lips to yours.

An electric jolt runs down your body from the sensation of Jess’s needy lips on yours. On pure instinct, you lean into the kiss, and even poke her lips with your tongue in hopes of-

You pause, letting a smiling Jess end the lip-lock.

Pulling away, you smack your lips. “…Is that raw egg I taste?”

Jess scoffs and looks away, but her laid-back ears give away her embarrassment. “I-I got a touch hungry when I was clearing out the coops, is all. Don’t you look at me like that!”

You smile and keep your laugh to yourself.

Dating a furry woman is never dull.