The Communal Rut

The Communal Rut

Synopsis: Kassy is a young freighter dragon just starting her cargo-flying career. She's still trying to get the hang of working life, but all of a sudden she's getting involved in a communal rut/breeding program/giant dragon orgy planned by her ranch, which will involve lots and lots of sex, repeatedly, with multiple partners. It's actually pretty stressful to think about.

This story is self-contained and can be read alone.

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Barn Nineteen, Quarter Coastal Ranch, New Jersey

Jennifer pointed towards one corner of the barn. "Here, here! Put it over here." The rancher gestured with her hands, miming the position she wanted. "Right up against the wall."

Kassy obediently followed the rancher over, carefully using her tail to pull a large portioning panel which was on wheels. The dragoness moved the panel into place so that Jennifer could reach down and lock the brakes, immobilizing the panel to turn it into a temporary wall.

"So...what's all this for?" Kassy asked, as they went back to the storeroom to take yet another panel. She was a freighter dragon who normally flew cargo routes for the ranch. Today however, after Kassy had finished her morning mail delivery flight, Jennifer had enlisted her help with moving furniture. One by one they were bringing in and installing partitioning panels, slowly turning the large single-area barn into a series of smaller rooms. A half-dozen ranch hands were also helping to bring out the panels and lock them into place. But some of the wheels had gotten stuck, so the humans needed a dragon to help pull over the heavy partitioning panels. "Why are you putting up these panels?" Kassy asked.

"You haven't heard? Oh, this one's stuck too. Everyone! Three, two, one, hargh...!" Jennifer grunted as she and three other humans dragged another wheeled panel out of storage, before letting Kassy takeover the pulling. "Did you miss the morning brief? All the freighters were talking about it."

Kassy clicking her tongue and let out a soft rumble, the dragon equivalent to the human gesture of a headshake. "Tsk-rrr. I was out on parcel delivery, flying with Maxwell."

"Ah, you two were flying the NJ predawn mail express, right? Yeah that's what I remember from the roster. So I guess you missed the big announcement—we're going to be having a communal rut at the end of this month. Isn't that exciting?" Jennifer nodded cheerfully as if Kassy was supposed to understand what this meant, but this term made no sense to the young dragon.

"A...communal what?"

"A communal rut, yes. Dad says that the ranch used to do them every year or so, but they stopped after artificial insemination became the main thing. This was like...twenty, thirty years ago? Before my time." Pausing her explanation, Jennifer gestured to the next position for Kassy to push the partitioning panel, and then the other ranch hands locked it into place. "It's a more natural way to do things and it's actually very effective, but it can really mess up flight operations—except now that doesn't matter since our whole ranch was acquired by Caedry Aerospace Group, and they've got the capital and flexibility to think long-term."

Jennifer waved her hands in the air. "Plus, dad got promoted to Associate Director, Eastern Seaboard, Operations Group. Ain't that a fancy title? He still runs the whole ranch, but now y'all work for Caedry Aero. Long live corporate America, cause we're now part of big business! Hmm, what was I talking about?"

"The communal rut," Kassy prompted.

"Yes, that. Caedry Aero has this big ten-year strategic plan with more and more flights to everywhere, but to fulfil that, we'll need more dragons. And so we need more eggs, hence the communal rut. So here's how that works. Almost all species of dragons are social creatures, but your species in particular..."

Jennifer leaned over towards Kassy and patted her head. Size-wise the human was dwarfed in comparison to the freighter dragon, who was large enough to carry four humans in flight. "Grey-backed nettled gliders are communal, which means you live in groups. In the wild, you guys reproduce by having these communal ruts—where all the females go into heat and all the males go into rut at once, and then you all pair up and screw each other. Then once everyone has finished their mating round, you all meet back up again and find a new partner. It's basically a giant orgy, and usually by the end, the majority of the fertile dragonesses are knocked up. Then all the eggs get laid together and raised as a group. A community."

Kassy felt her ears pricking up. She'd reached maturity just a year ago, but she hadn't ever gone into heat yet. "Are we're...we're doing that?"

"Yep, at the end of the month. Short notice, but we'll make it work. We'll freeze flight operations for half a day and have our essential routes codeshared by Caedry AeroHub JFK, up over in New York. Which will give all you freighters a whole afternoon to get busy."

"Busy? You mean...mating?" Kassy asked. Her tail swished from side to side, though she wasn't sure if this was from nervousness or excitement.

"Indeed I do." Jennifer looked over the rest of the partitioning panels still in the store room. "I think those were the last of the stuck panels. Leon, you guys can handle the rest? Lock in all the panels, just follow the floor plan. Get it done by lunchtime, and make sure things are neat."

"Yes ma'am!" replied one of the other ranchers, nodding and raising a hand to tap the brim of his hat. "You heard the lady, no lunch till we're done! And make sure those panels are placed straight, or I'll make sure your teeth are crooked to match. Let's get it done!"

Leaving the other ranchers to their work, Jennifer left the barn and beckoned for Kassy to follow her. "Come on, we'll need to get you prepared for the communal rut."

"Me? I'm part of the communal rut?" Kassy still wasn't sure how to feel about this idea. She had never mated with other dragon, so this was all new to her. She had heard older dragons talk about mating as if it was this crucial thing which seemed very important, but she hadn't ever gotten a chance to see what the big deal was.

"Yeah, every dragon's going to be part of the rut. Except for the fledglings and hatchlings, of course." Reaching into her pocket, Jennifer took out a small notebook and wrote something down. "I'll just prep you... get you ready for the communal rut. Maxwell too, since he missed the prep session after the morning brief. We were scheduling them out, and you guys were actually supposed to be briefed and prepped during yesterday's evening shift, but hmm... Anyway, do you know where Maxwell is?"

Kassy nodded—a gesture which meant the same thing between both humans and dragons. "I think I might have an idea." Besides her, Maxwell was the next youngest freighter dragon. Since they were both relatively inexperienced with flight routes, they were usually assigned to simpler or shorter journeys, and often they flew together. Fortunately, Maxwell was a nice drake—Kassy liked flying with him, and he was fun to talk with. "What do you mean by prep?" she asked.

Jennifer waved her hand dismissively. "Go find Maxwell, then you two come find me in Barn One. I'll explain to you the prep process, then get you both ready. Shoo, shoo—off you go! I'll see you in Barn One."

Kassy thought about pressing for more information, but Jennifer was already walking off. The young dragon scampered away and went to go find her fellow freighter.

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Tree, Quarter Coastal Ranch, New Jersey

Just as Kassy had expected, Maxwell was in a tree. It was a natural instinct of dragons that they liked to perch up in high places and look down on things, but most freighters satisfied this desire by sitting on the roofs of the barns where they lived. Maxwell was slightly different in that he enjoyed climbing in trees and perching himself on branches—one day he would probably grow big enough that the trees near the ranch would be too small to support his weight, but for now the trees could put up with his behaviour.

Looking upwards, Kassy stared up the tree where Maxwell was perching on a large branch. Leaves and other branches obscured her view, so all she could see was his grey-scaled tail curled around the branch. She let out a barking cry to try and get his attention, not quite a full roar. "Rah!" Rearing up on her hindlimbs, Kassy used her forepaws to shove the tree trunk and shake the whole tree.

A pinecone bounced off her head, as if the tree was protesting this violent treatment. "Ow." Kassy used a paw to rub the top of her head. "Max! Hey!"

"What?! Huh?" Maxwell stuck his head over the side of the branch and peered down at her. "Kassy? What's up?"

"Uh..." For a moment Kassy wasn't sure how much to explain. "Jennifer wants to see us both in Barn One right now."

"Why? We just finished the predawn express—don't tell me she wants us to fly another route so soon!" Maxwell leapt out of the tree and smoothly dropped down to ground, flaring out his wings to control his descent.

Kassy flicked her wings as Maxwell landed beside her. "It's nothing like that. It's about... uh... something else. Come on, let's go." The two freighter dragons turned and started walking towards Barn One—which wasn't really a barn, but just the main complex of the ranch.

"Something else?" Maxwell asked as they walked together.

"Yeah, something else. According to Jennifer, Caedry Aerospace thinks we'll need more dragons to fly routes in a few years, so we have to make lots of eggs. That's what Jennifer wants us for—it's about...mating," Kassy explained.

"Mating!? Wait, what?" Maxwell exclaimed, coming to a shocked halt. "You mean...uh..." He looked over Kassy's body from head to tail, as if seeing her in a new way for the first time.

"No, not like that! We're not going to... I mean...? You and me...?? Maybe? But it's not like that. Not that I wouldn't, it's just...not right now. There's this thing call a communal what—no, I mean a communal rut. I don't know what it is, so don't ask me!" Kassy sputtered, feeling suddenly self-conscious. Abruptly she felt like she was making a fool of herself in front of Maxwell, a drake who she'd been flying mail routes with for the past few months. She knew him, he knew her, and yet now things felt awkward. "Jennifer can explain this better than me!"

"Alright, Jennifer can explain it," Maxwell replied. The two young freighters resumed walking towards the barn.

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Barn One, Quarter Coastal Ranch, New Jersey

In the main area of Barn One, a trio of freighters was preparing for takeoff. Human labourers were helping load and unload cargo from the dragons, quickly attaching pouches to their flight harnesses. Once the humans gave the ready signal, the dragons got their feet and strolled out through the wide open doors of the barn. Outside there was a short dirt runway, and the loud flapping of wings sounded take-off as the freighters headed out on their cargo route.

Looking around, Maxwell and Kassy found Jennifer standing off to the side where it was quieter, away from the main loading area. The rancher was pressing a small, flat device up against her head—a mobile phone. "Yeah. Yeah, I understand. No, listen, that's all backwards. Tell them to send some guy down here and then we'll talk. I won't discuss..." Waving her hand towards the two freighters, Jennifer gestured for them to wait.

Another dragon was sitting beside Jennifer, but he was different. Whereas every other dragon on the ranch was a grey-backed nettled glider, this dragon had scales of light blue colour, and he was far smaller and proportioned differently. His name was Apollo, and he was a racing dragon—Jennifer's personal transport.

All the freighters considered Apollo to be different—he was a dragon like them, but at the same time he wasn't a dragon like them. Apollo didn't fly cargo routes (unless you counted Jennifer as cargo) and he lived inside the human residences with his owner, instead of in the barns and hangars where the freighter dragons resided. Even his mannerisms were strange—Apollo was a different breed of dragon, but Kassy had encountered all sorts of other dragons on her flights, and they almost always shared a common understanding of gestures and interactions. But Apollo didn't act like a dragon—he acted like a human occupying a dragon's body, probably as a by-product of his upbringing.

Nevertheless, it was mostly only the older or formerly feral freighters who refused to have anything to do with Apollo. Kassy sometimes enjoyed chatting with the racing dragon. She found him quirky yet extremely intelligent, and even a bit cute given the fact he was so small—barely larger than a human, and dwarfed by the two freighters.

"Hello!" Apollo said to them. He raised a forepaw and waved, but this wasn't even the correct way for a dragon to greet another dragon. You were supposed to bow your head, or rock your wings from side to side, not just wave your paw at someone—you would have to be sitting back on your hindlegs for this gesture to even be physically possible. But they were on a human ranch, so perhaps human mannerisms weren't entirely inappropriate, and Apollo meant no harm.

"Hello Apollo!" Maxwell replied cheerfully. He looked mildly amused, although Kassy suspected that Apollo couldn't even read draconic body language well enough to realize that.

The two freighters sat down beside the much smaller racing dragon. They only had to wait for one minute before Jennifer finished her phone call. "Sorry to keep you two waiting. What did I need you two for?" The rancher took out her note pad and flipped through a few pages to jot her memory. "Oh, right. You guys need to be prepped for the communal rut."

"The communal what?" Maxwell asked.

"That's exactly what I said," Kassy murmured.

"Come, come, my lovelies. Let's go to the sick bay. I'll explain there." Jennifer led the way, with Maxwell and Kassy following after her. Apollo also sprung to his feet and trailed after them, weaving between the two larger freighters so he could trot beside his owner.

"So as I was saying," Jennifer continued, "we've got a target of doubling our number of active daily flights within ten years, and then doubling that number again within fifteen. Right now we've got fifty-one dragons, of which forty-two are active on flight ops. Of the non-actives, it's seven cute little juveniles too young to fly cargo, and two dragons old enough to be retired from active flight. Good old Destar and Xavier! Destar still insists on flying every now and then, but we always just give him the short routes. What a champ.

"Anyway, we need to have way more dragons to meet our flight targets. We'll be buying greybacks from a few other ranches around the country, and we're also trying to recruit more ferals to come integrate back into society and fly cargo, but most importantly we need eggs."

Even while still walking, Jennifer gestured towards the two freighter dragons following her. "The great thing about dragons is that you guys come built-in with the equipment to make more dragons! Self-replicating assets, if you will. One drake, one dragoness, some humping, and the magic happens. Although upfront we'll actually be seeing a drop in flight numbers since we're pulling dragons out from flight ops—some of the older dragons will be helping to take care of the hatchlings. I'll have to procure incubators for the eggs, and hire some more caretakers to handle all the hatchlings when the time comes. We'll be hearing lots of chirping in about a year's time! Hmm...so much to plan!"

Kassy wasn't quite sure if she was following everything Jennifer was saying. A quick glance towards Maxwell confirmed that he too looked slightly confused. Just like most humans, Jennifer loved talking. However, Jennifer was an especially smart sort of human who seemed to have many things inside her head, which meant that when she talked it was sometimes hard to follow exactly what she was saying. Fortunately if you listened long enough, then you'd figure out what Jennifer was talking about, or she would eventually summarize her own rambling.

"But right now our primary concern is the communal rut in two weeks' time. You guys know what sex is, right? Sexual intercourse—rutting, breeding, mating, screwing, fucking, mounting, making sweet, sweet, beautiful love, whatever?" Jennifer asked.

Kassy and Maxwell glanced towards each other, both wondering how much the other knew. "Uh...a drake gets his penis all stiff and then he puts it inside the dragoness and the egg grows inside her?" Kassy answered. That was what she'd learned from the older freighters.

"Precisely! What a romantic description. About two decades ago we did breeding the natural way with one dragon humping another dragon, but then science came to the rescue and now we use breeding mounts and artificial insemination to make the process more efficient." Jennifer reached towards Maxwell and patted his head. "That's something he's personally experienced."

"You? You've made an egg before?" Kassy asked, turning to stare at Maxwell with a wide-eyed expression. She had never mated with anyone before, let alone produced an egg, but Maxwell was older than her by just a few months and he'd already done it?

The male greyback looked slightly awkward as he tried to meet her gaze. "I didn't make an egg! I just...helped Jennifer test out the equipment."

"Yes he did, and it was great. Both the machine and the drake were very productive." Jennifer grinned and gave Maxwell a thumbs up. "Those new automated breeding mounts work just as well as they claim—we're going to requisition two more and leave them on automatic collection, so you drakes can just come in at the end of the day and blow your load into the machines whenever you feel like it. That should improve the yields, and morale too."

Even while Jennifer kept talking, Kassy found herself imaging what Maxwell would look like as he was using a breeding mount. She had curiously watched some of the other drakes using the old mounts, and now she imagined it was Maxwell who was the one mounting up and sticking his penis into the mount, aggressively humping away until he let out a roar of pleasure as he successfully completed his mating. That mental image made her feel...strange.

Now Jennifer turned her attention towards Kassy instead. "Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about the dragonesses. They make machines to automate the insemination process too, so we've already ordered one—it's like this rack where you can lean back, and there's this thing on an actuating piston that sticks into you and goes in and out. Maybe I'll let you test it out when it arrives." Jennifer gestured with two fingers and a closed fist.

"But you haven't actually explained what this communal rut actually is," Maxwell protested.

"Alright, here's how it works—we'll halt most flight ops for about half a day and gather all the freighters from all the different routes, along with a whole bunch of greybacks from other ranches. Then y'all will pair up and take turns to screw each other senseless. It's basically a giant dragon orgy."

"You mean...uh...everyone has to mate with everyone?" Maxwell asked. Kassy saw him glance towards her, and she just knew what he was thinking. She was thinking it too.

"Not everyone with everyone. We're still working out the exact details, but it isn't just having all the dragonesses lining up and raising their tails, so that all the drakes can take turns going down the line. That would be ridiculously inefficient. Hah." Jennifer chuckled. "We're following what you guys naturally do in the wild. It's more like...rounds. Before each round, every dragon, male or female, takes their turn calling their proposed partner. Their partner can choose to accept or deny their proposal. If they accept, you guys are considered a pair and you go to one of the rooms and do your stuff together. But if they reject, then your chance to pick someone is wasted for that round and you have to hope someone else calls you."