(Art for this story mostly done in MrDoob's online tool Harmony, with a little touching up in Photoshop.)

********

The rabbit stopped in mid-dash, and the fox halted in confusion.

"Ah, I'm done," said the rabbit. "Can't give you the slip here, so won't waste our time trying. Bone happyteat." She sat, back turned to the fox, forepaws crossed. After ten seconds of not dying, she turned slowly.

The fox felt her insides twist. Prey occasionally surrendered, she knew. She'd hoped, really hoped that they'd never surrender to her. Running or unwary prey, she was okay with those; but something that sat quietly without hope, just waiting for you... It felt horribly wrong. "You okay?" asked the rabbit with what sounded like real concern, and the fox's innards acquired an extra knot.

"I'm... heh... sorry, Ma'am, trying to remember the... etiquette for... eatingwillingprey?... Been a long time since..."

"Damn. I've made this an execution, haven't I?" The rabbit scowled at the ground. "Not fair on you. I am really sorry. Being doomed's no reason to be mean." Another half-hitch in the fox's duodenum. She tried to reply, and produced a small gurgle. "Oh hush lemme think," muttered the rabbit. "You can't let me go, you've got all those predator rules, ecologicable obligations and stuff. And me running now won't help, you'll know I'm just pretending to escape. You're a decent predator, and I've made you a gallows operative. Can't let this stand. Thinky..." And the rabbit sat, mouth twitching as if silently muttering. The fox, demoralized, just sat.

The rabbit slowly smiled. "I'm... going down your hatch whatever, can't see any way out of that. If I sit passive and you just do it to me, then it's an execution, I'm prisoner, you're hangman, and that's what you dread, am I right? Give one gurgle for yes... Okay. So..." Rabbit's eyes were bright. "I won't be passive. Let's make it something we do together. Then it's an adventure, a performance, a pass de ducks. You're my partner. And you don't have to feel bad any more, because I want this. I have ideas." She struck a bad-melodrama pose, rolled her eyes upwards. "Ohhh noble fiery hunter, I give myself to thee. Welcome me into thy glorious gut and let me dissolve in they gastric ocean and mingle my life with thine, what say?"

The fox tried to reboot her mind. The knots had migrated to her brain.

The rabbit took the fox's paws. "It's alright, really. I was always sure I'd be eaten by someone, and I'm glad it's you and not some jerk who plays with food. And we can make it mean something, for both of us. It'll be good."

Fox gave one gurgle for yes. The pass de ducks was on.

Part 2