Chapter 1: The Good Life is Not One Immune to Sadness
Summary:
Legosi should be happy, the privileged life he leads is one many would kill for. And yet, it seems that each day gets progressively worse for him. Today is no exception. In fact, it's quite possibly the worst one yet.
Notes:
First piece I've ever published - please let me know if there's anything I can do to improve it! Updates will most likely be infrequent, unfortunately. I'm afraid that medical school entry waits for no one.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Cherryton, District of Carnivoria, The Claw Confederation – December, 1996
Legosi was running.
As the wolf sprinted through the dense thicket, his chest heaved with each ragged breath he drew under the indifferent light of the full moon. So much for being an apex predator; for the first time in his life, he was the one being chased. All around him, the trees were dense and obstructed his path, forming a maze of blackened trunks and foliage that he batted out of his face, the brambles tearing into his fur as he ran.
Behind him, his pursuer lunged at him from the darkness, its jaws snapping and clicking at his heels with an insatiable ferocity. It roared, and Legosi desperately tried to pick up the pace, eager to avoid whatever fate awaited him should he do otherwise. The wolf swiped another thick branch out of his way, its thorns ripped into his arm, drawing out streaks of crimson. He howled in pain, but what use was that with no-one to hear him?
It seemed that no matter how fast Legosi’s powerful carnivore legs could take him, he could never quite outrun whatever was after him. While he flagged, exhaustion overtaking his body, all the shadow figure seemed to do was close the distance. He eventually stumbled, a stray root curling itself around his foot with a vengeance, and the grey wolf fell flat onto his stomach with a painful thud.
He scrambled back into a familiar clearing, the macabre moonlight illuminating his features. Why was it so familiar? He frantically tried to put distance between himself and his pursuer, but it was futile while he was down. This was really it. Oh Rex.
As the creature circled in, jaws dripping with hunger, Legosi wondered to himself for the first time in his life: “Is this what it’s like to be prey, then?” As his heart thrummed in his chest.
“Who are you?” He cried, or at least tried to cry. His throat was blocked, unable to scream for help; the plea came out as a strangled whine.
The shadow said nothing, opening its maw for the kill. And yet—its teeth were… flat? What? Why did Legosi feel like he had seen this before?
He closed his eyes and braced himself as the creature lunged, consuming him. But what Legosi felt wasn’t pain—what was this? A hint of déjà vu, and a peculiar sense of completeness, but also-
“…now, if you have any other questions about the essay, my office hours are clearly listed on my door. I expect this assignment to be turned in before the deadline in January, citations included; failure to do so will result in punitive marking! Have a great holiday, everyone.”
Legosi lurched up from his desk and was just about able to make out the vague outline of his professor leaving the dim lecture theatre. That, and the blank pages of his notebook, now covered in a generous drizzling of canine saliva.
“Shit.”
He slumped back down onto the wooden desk, burying his head in his arms. His head throbbed with sleep deprivation, compounded by the myriad of other similarly overdue or uncompleted assignments currently piling up on his mental agenda. What had he been thinking, trusting Jack about doing this degree? “It’ll be fun, Legosi! It’s got great employability potential, you’re a great fit for it, and you’ll be with me!” Jack had said as they sat in front of the school’s old computer looking through the university’s confusing website.
And yet, here he was. Another lecture missed, another explanation owed to his father about why his grades were on their current irreversible downhill trajectory. Just thinking about that future conversation made his ears ring. The “Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae” really wasn’t quite what he thought it would be. Rex, he’d half-worked himself to death to get here, and yet each day seemed to get even worse than the previous. He groaned into his arms, head already awash with the inevitable scolding and additional, bonus lecture he’d be receiving from his father about his poor attendance, when a light hand gently patted his back.
“Hey, Legosi~ are you awake?”
Legosi’s mind stilled, a light seemed to shine through. It was truly a wondrous thing that a certain familiar voice could brighten his day with just those five words, as the wolf looked up to gaze upon the animal sitting next to him. The wolf’s eyes roamed over his childhood friend’s gentle facial features: the soft snout, framed by two brown, comforting eyes, and a pair of drooped ears to match, all covered in a layering of warm golden fur. It went without saying, Jack was truly an animal designed to accommodate and please, someone who had an innate ability to draw out affection from all those around him. Legosi's eyes flitted to the Labrador’s notebook on the desk beside him, its pages bursting with information gleaned from the lecture. Oh, to be like Jack… what Legosi would give to be like Jack…
“Legosi…? Legosi! Is everything ok? You seem… more out of it than usual today.”
For the umpteenth time that day, the wolf snapped out of his trance and was able to make out his increasingly concerned friend’s hand waving in front of his face. He nodded slowly.
“Yeah, sorry. Uh, just didn’t sleep well again.”
Jack frowned. “You don’t seem to sleep well most nights nowadays. Maybe you should be seeing someone about it?”
Legosi sighed, he knew Jack was just trying to be a good friend, but it did get exhausting that the Labrador was still trying to parent him at the age of 19. “No, don’t worry—it’s fine. Honestly, I just need to… sleep it off some more, I think.”
He didn’t bother trying to justify his non-answer; the wolf had bigger priorities as of late. He got up and began packing his stationery away into his bag, hands moving gingerly over the worn zippers. It seemed to satisfy Jack at least, who bid him farewell and turned away to shuffle down the row into the corridor.
Legosi picked up his notebook, its blank pages glared back at him.
“Hey, Jack—wait!”
Legosi quickly sprinted down the aisle and burst out into the heaving corridor. A sea of carnivore heads turned to face him, and Legosi wished for probably the millionth time in his life that he wasn’t so goddamned tall.
Amongst a series of nondescript student group flags, a large banner hung from the ceiling:
“KEEP OUR CAMPUS SECURE: REPORT ANY SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOUR TO FACULTY IMMEDIATELY.”
This was accompanied by a cartoon drawing of a sharp-fanged smiley face juxtaposed against the frown of a nondescript horned creature.
Fortunately for Legosi, the crowd quickly lost interest as he slouched over and flattened his ears in an attempt to appear more unassuming. From down the corridor, the Labrador turned around and tilted his head slightly to the side in typical inquisitive canine fashion.
“Yes?”
Legosi strode briskly up to his friend, mentally rehearsing his request.
“Hey Jack, can I ask you something?” He fidgeted slightly with his claws—force of habit. “What the lecture was on- because, uh, I really need to pass this assignment, or they’re probably gonna kick me off the course.”
The wolf then had the pleasure of remembering, as of the last time he’d checked, that his grade average was currently sitting at a woeful C-. He let out a frustrated groan. “Never mind, they’ll definitely kick me off the course if I don’t. Listen, um, I’ll pay for your lunch if you let me look at your notes. Please…”. He gave his best attempt at canine puppy eyes; although the irony of a six-foot, sleep-deprived grey wolf doing this was not lost on him.
Jack, for the most part, maintained his composure. However, a small laugh did manage to escape his lips, coupled with a knowing smile.
“Legosi, you can always look at my notes, you know that!” He booped the wolf on the nose playfully. “That being said, I also wouldn’t say no to a free lunch.”
Legosi sighed with relief, and drew his friend a gentle hug.
“Come on then, you know where we’re going…” the Labrador squirmed slightly under his grip.
Legosi presumed they’d be going to that one café that Jack seemed to love in the neighbourhood over. But for now, after quite possibly one of the most taxing days in his life, all he could think about was having the comfort of another living being in his arms.
Rex, Legosi had needed this today, just a bit longer wouldn’t hurt…
“Legosi…? Legosi—you’re crushing me!”
“A-ah, sorry!”
The pair had walked over to the café in the heavy snow, unwilling to brave the dense crowds of the subway at rush hour. Inside, the décor of the Rainfurrest Café could really be summed up with one single word:
Plants.
Plants on the walls, plants on the floor, on the ceilings, the windows; plant-based food. Were it not for its vegetarian offerings, the café could have easily rebranded itself as a euthanasia centre for animals allergic to pollen, with a 100% guaranteed fatality rate. Legosi had to be careful when walking in not to tread on the roots of some mysterious, exotic fauna as they snaked across the floor.
“That’ll be $39.99, please.” From behind the till, the cashier, a short grey-eyed panda, eyed the wolf with suspicion. He couldn’t blame her, really; she was almost half his height.
Legosi mentally groaned as he pulled out the cash from his wallet, each note thudding onto the counter a searing reminder of his fiscal irresponsibility as of late. His family was not short of money by any means, but with his personal allowance not due until next week, he’d have to find a way to make this last. That, or he’d risk giving his father another thing to shout at him about.
As for why Jack insisted on coming to this one specific café every day for lunch, Legosi did not know. It wasn’t far from campus, but it wasn’t exactly close either—about a 30-minute walk, straight towards the centre of the neighbourhood adjacent to the Galdona University campus, Stoneybrook.
“You must never go to areas like Stoneybrook, they’re very dangerous”, he remembered one of his nannies telling him as a child. Well, it was too late for that now, sorry Nanny McPheasant. The café itself wasn’t actually situated in Stoneybrook, but the street it was on was widely agreed upon as the boundary between it and the next neighbourhood over, so it might as well have been. The clientele was certainly overwhelmingly herbivore, and Legosi had never really felt quite so out of place in his life. They had stared as the pair walked in, sharing whispers and nervous glances with each other. A few mothers with young children had gotten up to leave, hurrying out through the front door into the cold with their offspring in tow.
As for the food: it was hard to eat at best, a culinary tragedy at worst. Grilled tofu on rice, in his opinion, could never even begin to match up to a steak. Not to mention it was also eye-wateringly expensive.
From afar, Legosi watched as Jack contentedly placed his head on his hand and took a deep inhale of one of the flowers at their table. The Labrador seemed completely unfazed by the looks the other customers gave them, perhaps he was used to it? His friend had always seemed oddly at peace here; Legosi supposed the plants did something for the Labrador that a cut of meat never could. It was honestly all beyond him.
As he awkwardly placed their bowls down, and the Labrador slid over his notebook in exchange, Legosi could feel not only Jack’s eyes on him, but the rest of the café’s as well. His friend was giving him the look. Said look was what Jack gave him whenever he was about to launch into one of his ‘concerned friend’ psychoanalytic routines. In the hopes of avoiding it, Legosi began eating and reading Jack’s notes immediately. “So, you wanna tell me what was on your mind earlier during class?”
Rex. Legosi would have been thinking wishfully if he thought he could escape the inevitable. The wolf looked up mid-page and mid-chew, his intake of both information and nutrients interrupted. He shook his head and continued read-eating.
“So, would you rather tell me about the bones of the wrist? It was the topic of the lecture today.”
“Mm-mm.”
“What about the blood vessels that supply it?”
Legosi let out a low grunt through a full mouth as he kept his eyes focussed on the table; suddenly, the patterns in the wooden surface had become very interesting.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“…”
“You were also talking in your sleep.”
Legosi coughed violently, tofu and rice flying from his gullet and onto his immediate vicinity, his eyes bulging from their sockets. He saw another pair of customers leave hurriedly, and immediately shrank back into his seat. He looked Jack dead in the eyes, a piece of rice falling from his slack jaw before he promptly closed it as he shifted uncomfortably on his chair.
“What… what did I say?” He asked in a low tone.
His mind was racing with possibilities. “Oh Rex, oh Rex, please not now.”
“Well, for starters, it seemed like you were running; you kept kicking your leg against mine.”
“Oh.” Already off to a flying start.
“And you were mumbling something; it sounded something like ‘please, who are you, please’?.”
Were Legosi’s fur not the grey colour as it was, it would have been painfully obvious to his friend sitting opposite him the deep shade of crimson that was now rushing to the wolf’s cheeks.
Jack continued, undeterred. “Legosi, is everything okay? Are you sure you don’t want to see someone about this? Because I totally get it if you’d rather not talk to me, I have contacts that I could refer you to if you needed-”
A coup de grâce, Legosi’s phone buzzed in a moment of salvation:
Juno, 4:10pm — Heya Legosi, we still on for dinner tonight, 7pm?
Juno, 4.10pm — Thought we could go here: [Link: “Meat Meet Steakhouse, Menu & Reviews” — FangsOut.cc]
Furiously typing into his phone to avoid the awkwardness of his friend’s conversation, Legosi hastily replied.
Legosi, 4:11pm — yea, i’ll book it, see u there
Legosi, 4:12pm — [thumbs up sticker]
“Legosi?”
While the wolf had been engrossed in his phone, he had the guilty realisation that his friend had been pushing his salad around on his plate, waiting for him to finish texting. He hastily took some pictures of the notebook in front of him and snapped it shut. However, as much as he appreciated that Jack was picking his brains out of a place of concern, it didn’t make each time it happened any less excruciating for him; particularly in a café filled with scornful clients and fearful eyes. He really needed to get out of here.
“Is everything okay?” Jack asked earnestly, his eyes filled with pleading. The Labrador was unbearably genuine, and Legosi still wondered to this day how they’d become friends, let alone stayed as such.
“Yeah… I’m fine, please—don’t worry.” He tried his best to smile without showing his fangs and pointed at his phone.
“Listen, Jack, I uh—I gotta go, um- Juno” The wolf mentally cursed his stutter. “J-Juno, she needs something! Like, now, right now.” He glanced down at his half-finished food—even being waterboarded wouldn’t be able to make the wolf eat the rest of that. “It was really nice having lunch with you, Jack. You can have the rest of my portion. I’ll see you later, thanks for the notes!”
And with that, the wolf hastily got up, gave his friend a brief yet crushing hug, put some cash down for the bill, and dashed out of the café with relief—nearly tripping over one of the floor-roots in the process. Jack sat at the table, part motionless, part dumbfounded by the brisk explanation and farewell. He sighed and continued eating, watching through the window as the wolf hurried down the street.
It wasn’t until he reached the subway station that Legosi remembered—he’d already paid.
“FUCK.”
Later that evening, after a furious remedial cramming session in his room with Jack’s notes as an aide-memoire, Legosi had finally decided it was time to leave for dinner with his girlfriend. He’d felt slightly guilty, leaving his canine friend alone in the café. But the fearful glances of the other customers, the anxious whispers—they’d eventually gotten too much for the wolf to bear.
He checked his watch as the train pulled into the station: 7.04 p.m. He was late, although not as much as he’d worried he would be. Legosi knew that his father disapproved of him taking public transport, he’d talked his ear off about all the potential risks; but he’d much rather stand in the newly-established mixed carnivore-herbivore carriage, than sit in the back of a dull private limousine. All the scents, all the sights of the different animals who dared to co-mingle in that compact shared space; there was an odd harmony to it. He’d hated the way they’d looked at him in the café, made him feel like an other. But here, it was different. When he got on, no-one stared or made space, they just simply were. And to the wolf, the thrill of that felt more alive than a limo saloon ever could.
Rex, were shirt collars always this itchy? It certainly felt like it, as the wolf practically barrelled through the fare gates and sprinted up the stairs to the entrance.
Under the dim glow of the restaurant sign, Juno stood outside in the lingering cold, dressed in one of her many elaborate mink fur coats. She smiled forgivingly as she spotted Legosi stagger over to her, each breath he took heaving misty clouds into the cool winter air around them.
“Lost track of time?” There was a playful undertone to her voice as she quirked an eyebrow.
“Yeah—was studying.” Legosi managed to rasp out.
“You need to start taking better care of yourself, ‘Gosi. One of these days you’ll just drop dead and I’ll be left all alone”. She stepped in and took his head in her hands, before bringing her mouth to meet his. Legosi reciprocated.
They stood there a while as he caught his breath, the still air around them acting like a cooling blanket. His eyes occasionally drifted away from the she-wolf and over to the large rotating cuts of meat in the fogged-up restaurant window, each one glistening as the tender juices rolled down their sides. A deep growl emerged from his stomach. Fuck that tofu shit, nothing would ever beat eating this.
“Let’s go in, sorry I kept you waiting”. He broke away and took her hand in his, and they stepped into the warmth of the foyer.
Inside, the restaurant had all the bells and whistles of an uptown restaurant characteristic of the area; it really couldn’t possibly be further from the café in Stoneybrook. A crystal chandelier dangled languidly from the ceiling and the walls were plastered with an ornately patterned paper, with plush furnishings and carpeting throughout. This was, of course, coupled with a set of equally expensive-looking clients to match. Upon approaching the host, an elegantly put-together snow leopard, she immediately snapped her fingers at two of the attendants to take their jackets.
“Ah, Mr Greyson, Miss Fangbourne. What a pleasure for you to be dining with us tonight!” She had a foreign accent that Legosi couldn’t quite put a label on. “I have your reservation right here, please, let me take you to your table.” The snow leopard clasped two heavy leather-bound menus against her breast and gestured for them to follow her.
“So, how was your day?” Juno inquired after they had ordered.
“Tiring, I had lectures from nine till three. Then lunch with Jack at that strange veggie restaurant he loves going to, then went back home to study some more.” He decided to omit the details of his dream and took a sip of his wine. An earthy, sweet beverage of Juno’s choosing—she certainly knew her way around alcohol. “How was yours?”
“Oh, you know, busy as usual.” She shrugged. “I had to restructure the company’s portfolio in time for the new tax year and address some of the local residents’ concerns about the new construction work down by the harbour. That, and of course the new IP we’ve acquired which we had to….”
Her eyes, Legosi had always found them so captivating, the way they glistened blue against her brown-cream fur under the fleeting light of the chandelier above. Juno was truly beautiful for a carnivore… why did he need to specify the part about her being a carnivore? She was beautiful, simple as that. And was also eloquently spoken, brilliantly intelligent, had graduated early, and now worked at her mother’s company. He supposed his father had indeed always had an eye for quality.
“That all sounds really impressive, Juno—I’m really proud of you for working so hard. I could definitely learn a lesson or two from you.” Legosi smiled, and Juno blushed and reciprocated.
Her expression briefly turned serious, and she let out a sigh. “I’m serious though, ‘Gosi; you know that what you’re doing currently isn’t sustainable, you’re basically working yourself to death…”
She leant over and clasped his hand in hers on the soft tablecloth, her claws dug into his wrist slightly, but he decided not to mention it. He wasn’t sure if she was even doing it intentionally.
“Promise me you’ll at least try to get seven hours of sleep each night this week?”
There were those eyes again, hauntingly blue in their colour. Legosi could practically swim in them.
“For me, please?” She pleaded.
Legosi nodded and mumbled something about trying his best with all his deadlines. He wasn’t prepared for what came next.
“Have you considered course transfer?” She leant in, and whispered. “I certainly did a few times while I was at Galdona.”
“Wait, you did?!” Legosi’s voice failed to match the softness of Juno’s, but he had always bee under the impression that she’d been set on studying economics since day one.
Juno gestured at him to lower his voice, the other patrons were staring, after all.
“Of course I did. During my first year, I felt relentlessly overworked and unhappy, although ultimately it did get better. However, if you’re unhappy on your course, you should absolutely consider changing—I’d be more than happy to write a letter of support for you!”
Legosi nodded and thanked Juno for her support. It felt good to have someone offering a different solution, for once.
Their courses arrived, and Legosi immediately set about slicing up his steak and stuffing it into his mouth, eager to expedite ridding his mouth of the bitter taste of the earlier tofu. Thank Rex he was having this now; he honestly might’ve gone feral if he’d had to wait any longer. Juno, by comparison, eloquently placed pre-sliced cubes of chicken breast into her maw with an almost practised precision.
How many meals they had eaten together like this over the course of their lives, Legosi probably couldn’t even count at this point. It seemed he’d known Juno since before he could even remember, perhaps even longer than Jack. Once, they had been a pair of helpless pups playing house with their plastic food; while their respective armies of nannies helicoptered around them frantically with worry. Now, they were two matured apex predators, in a relationship, and dining at an uptown restaurant by themselves. Had their parents always been planning for this eventuality? He wondered to himself.
“How are your parents, Juno? I saw your Dad’s recent election result in the news; congrats to him for that, he doubled his majority or something, right?”
Juno nodded eagerly. “That’s right. The campaigning on local issues really paid off! It’ll be his third term in the Senate, so 12 years so far now. I didn’t know you followed local politics so closely!”
He didn’t, really, but Legosi had lived long enough to know that sometimes a white lie can go a long way.
“Yeah—I uh, like to keep up with this stuff because it’s important, you know? My Dad’s always telling me about the goings-on in the Senate haha.”
His partner smiled in agreement as she finished up her last few bites of chicken.
“I couldn’t agree more. And your father, ‘Gosi? How is he—I’ve been seeing his campaign adverts for the past few weeks now. I must say, I’m a big fan of the herbivore repatriation project proposal, it seems like something that would really help improve societal stability! Especially given the recent actions of the Militia, it’ll certainly send a message to those no-good leafeaters that their actions will not be tolerated.”
Legosi bristled slightly at the mention of that. He’d forgotten about the ‘repatriation’ scheme his father had been promoting. “Repatriation to where?” He wondered.
“Yeah, he’s well. Um, he’s been quite busy because of the upcoming Beastar election and all… so I haven’t really seen him much recently. I’ll be sure to pass on your well wishes though”, he swilled his wine round his glass.
Juno, for her part, took his noncommittal answer with remarkable grace.
“I’d love it if you could do that, ‘Gosi. Please do also ask your father if he needs any help with the draft legislation! I certainly have some ideas on how to make sure we keep the country’s carnivore and herbivore populations separated as much as possible.”
There it was again. If there was one thing that Legosi had to pick out about Juno, which he thought marred her almost flawless character, it would have to be her… how could he put it? Her ‘enthusiasm’ for carnivore-herbivore segregation. He had just never been able to quite understand the degree to which she cared about it.
“That’s… kind of extreme, isn’t it…?”
“Not at all—it’s because they’re different from us, Legosi! Different groups need to be kept separate, because interspecies mixing has always been shown to lead to conflict. We saw the result of that with the War. Like your father says, power should always lie with those best suited for it. And clearly, that means carnivores.” The she-wolf was truly, sincerely spoken—in the worst possible way.
Somewhere within him, Legosi could sense what felt like the pangs of discomfort forming in response to Juno’s speech. Thank Rex the wine was finally beginning to act on him, dulling his emotions. Wait—how much had he had? He glanced over to notice that he’d already had three glasses. Time to slow down perhaps…
“Right, um, yeah, maybe… I guess I can see what you mean…” He chuckled nervously.
“By the way, has anyone told you that you have such pedigree features, Legosi? I can see your father mirrored directly within you. I’ve researched his lineage; it’s certainly impressive. I’m sure your mother's must have been too!”
Legosi shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Thanks—yeah, uh, it’s something that my family’s definitely really proud of. How far back our uninterrupted wolf lineage goes.”
He wasn’t lying, technically. In the eyes of the law, Legosi was a purebred grey wolf. So what if it wasn’t true—that was the price of peace, wasn’t it? Letting the people see what they wanted to see. Legosi swallowed as he wondered what Juno’s reaction would be if she ever saw his mother. Wondered if she’d still hold his hand in the same way, if at all.
“Obviously! It’s why you’re such a handsome devil!” She giggled and leant over to kiss him on the cheek, eyes sparkling with intrigue. “Now, tell me about what’s going on at Galdona lately. I’ve been meaning to visit since I graduated, but just haven’t had time!”
Legosi exhaled, it was over—for now at least. “Oh, well…”
They decided to skip dessert and instead just ask for the bill. Juno had never been a particular fan of sweet foods. And as for Legosi, well, for some reason the usual sweet treats he loved had never seemed more unappetising. He paid, as was custom for these dinners. At this rate, he was almost certainly going to have to ask his father for more money, a conversation he wasn’t looking forward to in the slightest.
The host bid them goodnight, brought them their coats, and saw them out into the cold. It had begun snowing again, not unusual for this time of year, although the downpour seemed rather excessive for a lone pair of wolves in the city night. Legosi waited dutifully beside Juno on the pavement for her driver to collect her, arms intertwined for security. He shivered slightly; even his winter coat wasn’t quite enough for this weather. Glancing over at Juno, he felt slightly envious of the collection of furs which his partner had draped herself in.
She looked up at him. “Are you cold, ‘Gosi?”
“Just a bit, trimmed my winter coat too short. Don’t worry about me, though—I’ll be fine.” He shivered slightly.
“Then, why don’t you come back to my place tonight?” Juno sidled up to him.
And with that, all notions of being cold were immediately dispelled, as Legosi felt an abrupt wave of heat surge through him; blood rushed to his cheeks.
“W-what?”
“I said, why don’t you come back in the car with me? It’s plenty warm, and my parents would be delighted to see you—not to mention it’s been so awfully long since we spent a night together,” she looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. “What do you say, ‘Gosi?”
Time seemed to stand still, and Legosi’s jaw tightened as his head hung low. He knew spending a night with Juno could only mean one thing, and quite frankly, he was neither prepared nor willing to go through that again after the disaster of last time. Oh for Rex’s sake, why did this day keep having to find new ways to test him?
Juno blinked, and Legosi realised that his girlfriend was still waiting for an answer. He tried his one and only, most tested tactic: “Oh, Juno. I’d love to, but uh—my uni work, I’ve got a major assignment due and I really need to get to work on it. Sorry, um, baby.”
If looks could kill, Legosi would probably be a pile of singed fur on the pavement, as he felt Juno’s eyes bore into him.
“Is that so?” His girlfriend exhaled sharply and let go of his arm. “Legosi, how long have we been dating?”
The question hit the wolf like a brick, because he didn’t actually know.
“Uh, a few months…?”
“Eleven months, actually, Legosi. We’ve been dating for almost a year now.”
He winced at that. It was one thing to get the number wrong, it was another to be so far off the mark. Juno continued, her voice becoming increasingly strained.
“And in that time you’ve been over to my place once. Once! You’ve even never had me over to yours. Why is that? Can you explain that to me, please? It’s certainly not like you’re lacking in guest rooms.” The she-wolf spoke with a tone of despair. Legosi remained silent.
“Well?”
He mentally scrambled for a response, mind reduced to an incoherent jumble. “Juno, I- I’m really sorry about all this and that you’re feeling that way. I didn’t mean to upset you, honestly… it’s just—I’m so busy these days, and I don’t feel ready, so–“
“Then when will you be ready, Legosi?” He saw his girlfriend pull on her ears in a telltale sign of canine frustration and desperation. “I’ve been waiting for you to be 'ready’ these past eleven months. Eleven MONTHS! I’m tired of just having dinner dates and walks in the park! How much longer do you want me to keep waiting? Until our parents are rolling in their graves? Until the next meteor strikes?”
The city around them was quiet; Legosi hadn’t seen a single car or pedestrian since they had stepped out into the street. And yet internally, his mind was loud as ever. Because Legosi didn’t have an answer to that. He didn’t know when he would be ready; he didn’t know if he’d ever be ready for what Juno wanted from him. She was truly beautiful, there was no denying that. But somehow, the idea of being with her like that; to be intimate with someone he considered a friend—it made Legosi recoil.
“I-I don’t know.” He dipped his head to face the snow-covered ground.
Now he’d done it. He’d seen the tears streaking across Juno’s face, causing her eyeliner to run in brilliant black streams across her fur. He couldn’t bear to look at it, the mess of his own doing. They stood there in silence for a while, a tragic counterpart of how they had stood in the very same place when they had first arrived. The snow kept falling, each flake illuminated by the dimming glow of the closing restaurant behind them.
“Legosi, look at me.” He felt Juno’s hands caress his jaw and bring his face up to meet hers.
“I think…”
She took a breath and shuddered.
“I think, we should take a break for now.”
“…what?”
“I said, I think it’s best if we take a break. Clearly, you need some space to sort out your life, and I could do with some for mine as well.” She withdrew her hands and wiped her face with her handkerchief. Legosi’s mind somersaulted.
“But—w-what about our parents? What will they say? T-the contract!”
“I’ve told mine already, and they’ve given me their blessing to suspend it should the need arise.” She turned away from him. “As for your father—I suppose you’ll have to tell him yourself.”
Her car arrived as if on cue, and she briskly went to open the door by herself.
“Goodnight, Legosi. Do let me know when you’re ready.”
Before Legosi could say anything else, the car door shut, and the vehicle roared off down the street and into the night.
And with that, Legosi was left alone on the pavement, deep within the snow-drenched metropolis. He didn’t even have time to think before a notification illuminated his phone screen:
[MYMETRO: LINE 2 SUSPENDED DUE TO PASSENGER CASUALTY ON TRACKS]
He stared at it for a moment.
“Lucky bastard.”
The wolf sighed, walking wouldn’t be an option in this weather; it was too far. He opened the maps app on his phone and tried to find a new route.
AVAILABLE MASS TRANSIT ROUTES:
Bus: 58 mins
Subway: 1hr 12 mins
Groaning, he tapped the ‘driving’ tab.
DRIVING (fastest route): 20 mins
Time to tough it out in the name of convenience. Legosi reluctantly opened his contacts and scrolled to the bottom of a fairly short list. The wolf hesitated, and then sighed as he put the receiver to his ear.
It rang twice before a gruff voice picked up. “Yes?”
“Hey, Dad. Can you send someone to pick me up, please? I’ve sent you my location, thanks.” He hung up before the older wolf could respond.
Someone would be here soon at least. While he shivered alone on the snow-covered pavement, part of Legosi wondered which spirit he’d managed to anger into giving him a day like the one he’d just had. Rex’s sake…
…when was that obstetrics paper due again?
Notes:
Yes I know that Rainfurrest is the name of that one failed furry convention. Will I be changing the name of the café? No!!
Comments are really appreciated, so please leave one if you can! If you liked this and want me to write more, then I hear they're a great motivation. But, obviously no pressure, kudos-givers are just as appreciated and loved :)
I currently have a vague-ish outline of this story in my head and on paper (or screen), but there aren't any firm details past around halfway through the story. So sit tight, I might come up with some devious plot twists...
Louis next time, see you then!
–Yan
Chapter 2: Not According to Plan
Summary:
After an unwanted rejection, Louis finds himself adrift. But with the help of his blunt panda therapist and no-nonsense rabbit friend, he begins to consider a new path.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Galdona University Admissions Office
1 University Street
11298, Galdona University District, Cherryton
District of Carnivoria, Claw Confederation
[email protected]
1 December 1996
Louis Buckhurst
Flat 41, Dandelion Court
14829, Stoneybrook, Cherryton
District of Carnivoria, Claw Confederation
Dear Mr Buckhurst,
I am writing to you concerning your recent application to our BSc (Hons) Economics Programme for 1997 entry at Galdona University.
Due to your ineligible status under Section II of the Universities and Higher Education Act (1946), we regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you a place on our programme. We would like to instead advise you to apply to other higher education institutes within the metropolitan area, such as the Institute of Applied Herbivorous Studies and Cherryton Herbivore Polytechnic.
We understand that this information may be difficult to process, and would like to therefore extend our heartfelt congratulations to you for your performance on our recent admissions test. You scored in the [1ST] percentile of all applicants.
We are confident that this should set you up in good stead for any future academic career aspirations you may have, and the fee you paid shall be refunded to your account in full within the next [FIVE] working days.
With sincere regards,
The Galdona University Admissions Team
Louis stared at the letter for a whole minute, his hands trembling slightly as he held it, before he looked up at the eager faces of his siblings seated around the table in their crowded flat. The kitchen seemed so awfully small, as if its walls were closing in to consume him. To devour him.
“Well?” His brother, Charlie, broke the tense silence. Louis looked over at him, saw how his eyes were filled with concern. They were close in age, and Charlie had always been Louis’ closer brother, his confidant. The buck had told him all about the plan: his application to Galdona, the intention to study economics, to work at a financial institution and single-handedly get their family out of Stoneybrook; Charlie had nodded along and heard about it all. But now, with the rejection letter in his hands the culmination of his efforts—what did Louis have to show for it?
Hesitating, the buck shook his head, but he furiously bit back the tears that threatened to form in his eyes. Louis Buckhurst didn’t cry, not in front of others; he had his siblings to do that for him. The deer opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, just a breath laced with anguish and a longing for what could have been. Charlie said it for him, as he wept and took his younger brother into his arms, holding him tight as he had done when they were younger; when Louis had fallen over, when he’d lost something.
The buck stared at the piece of paper strewn across the table. Then he picked it up and threw it into the bin. It was just a reminder now—a bad memory of a future that had been extinguished before its wick had even caught light. So, Galdona hadn’t wanted him? Fine. He’d just have to find work elsewhere. Louis let his brother keep holding him for a while, realising that Charlie probably needed this physical comfort just as much as he secretly did. And, somewhere deep within the now 18-year-old buck, a small fawn shed a tear.
“Carni bastards,” came a deep voice from the corner of the room. Alexandre leaned on the doorframe, his imposing antlers casting jagged shadows into the room. He was the eldest out of them, and it showed. The stag was taller, broader, hardened. “Can’t you all see it?”
He stepped further into the room, his eyes dark
“They don’t want peace; they want obedience. All so they can keep flashing those polite smiles at us, whilst their fangs are still dripping from the last one of us they tore apart.”
Charlie spoke first. “Oh Alex, for Rex’s sake, you know damn well that now isn’t the time. Our little brother is upset—what is it with you and making things about yourself?”
Their older brother grunted with indignation. “I’m not making things about myself, Charlie. I’m using what’s just happened as a way of demonstrating something that all of you are unable to see.”
Louis sighed, here they went again.
“What did they used to say to us at school? Study hard, keep your head down, don’t make trouble. You and I did that, Charlie—and now?” He scoffed. “I haul bricks, and you wash dishes.”
“I don’t just do that, I’m the head housekeeper!” Charlie protested.
He dismissed Charlie’s retort. “Sure you do. But look at Louis, our Louis. He did all those things too, and more. And what did that get him?” He pointed at the bin. “A rejection letter, printed on crappy paper. And a heart full of broken dreams.”
Louis wasn’t sure what his eldest brother took himself to be whenever he went on a monologue. A martyr-in-the-making of sorts, perhaps? If so, he certainly hadn’t done the dying part yet.
He lifted his head slightly. “You know, being loud doesn’t make you any more right, Alex.”
His brother sighed with his usual cynical exasperation. “Loud? Yeah, I am. But I guess I’m not supposed to be, right? We’re herbi, after all—quiet, discreet, cautious. Breaking our backs our whole lives so that maybe, if we’re lucky, they’ll let us die in a slightly nicer shit hole than the one we were born in.”
“Alex!” Charlie cried.
“What, Charlie? What do you want me to do? Sugarcoat the truth; pull the veil back over our eyes like they’ve done our entire lives? Not fucking happening. But of course, you’d want that, wouldn’t you? Kneeling down for them daily, licking their shoes like a good little herbivore.”
Charlie pulled on his antlers with exasperation. “You– you know that’s not what I meant! You’re not helping him, Alex! You really think this is what Louis needs right now?”
They both cared, Louis could see that. But all their noise, all their bickering—it wasn’t helping.
Their sister, Azuki, watched from the windowsill in silence. She stared at the two brothers’ shouting contest, with an analytic look hung on her face that betrayed nothing. The doe drummed her fingers on the wood of the sill with a sort of restlessness, eyes lazily moving from one brother to the other as they took turns bellowing at each other. Azuki was the youngest out of the four siblings, and yet Louis took her to be more mature than both of his brothers combined. He supposed that the circumstances under which she’d grown up had necessitated that.
It seemed like the two brothers were about to lock antlers, when the abrupt slam of the front door made the siblings jump.
“Everyone.” From the hallway, their father’s voice cut through his sons’ arguing, with a stern edge to it, and the room fell silent. Walking into the kitchen, the stag undid his tie and set his briefcase down on the table with an authoritative thud, while he glared at his children. “This is not the time for arguing. All of you, go to your rooms at once, please.” He glanced down and noticed the opened envelope with the Galdona emblem on it.
“Except, Louis.”
Oguma adjusted his glasses as the rest of the siblings trundled out. The two brothers resumed their argument in the other room, the paper-thin drywall drowning out little of their quarrel. He turned to face Louis, who was currently sweating bullets through his linen shirt. The buck knew, from experience, that these types of conversation with his father had never boded well for the recipient. He also found himself almost subconsciously setting a glass of water down for his father.
Oguma took a sip from the glass, for what Louis felt like an eternity, before addressing his son. Here it came, Louis was finished.
“I take it… things did not go as planned?”
The buck hung his head low and shook a feeble no.
“That’s a shame. I’m sorry to hear about that, Louis—I did place great confidence in your ability to succeed, despite the odds.”
Louis grit his teeth. “I’m sorry, father. It appears that your confidence was misplaced.”
The stag stared at his son, expression unreadable, and Louis began to wonder if what he’d said had been a faux pas on his part. His father dismissed him with a gesture of his hand.
“No matter, we will find an alternative solution to this.” He opened his briefcase and began setting various students’ papers onto the kitchen table.
His father’s disinterested tone puzzled the young buck; out of all the possible outcomes, he had not factored this one into his contingency planning.
“So… you’re not mad?” Louis asked, cautious.
“Of course not, my son.” Oguma didn’t even look up from the papers as he took out his pen to begin marking.
Louis blinked. That was it? No lecture, no moralising about how Louis could have tried harder? No scolding for being a disappointment?
“Just—nothing?” He thought to himself.
“So, that’s it?” Louis asked, his voice laced with a quiet fury. “You’re going to move onto the next thing, just like that?”
His father sighed and looked up from his papers, his face painted with a tinge of irritation. “Louis, I, like most well-adjusted adults, acknowledge that setbacks are a part of life. While they are certainly frustrating in the short term, they are not the end either. All this means is that a recalibration and alternative trajectory is required.”
He went back to marking, “I have contacts; we will tide this over.”
There it was again, ‘we’. As if Louis were a child and needed all his decisions made for him.
“You talk about this like it’s some sort of route charted out for me, like I’m just some project that you work on in your free time.” Louis said bitterly. “Not your own son, who’s just had his future crushed.”
The stag scoffed. “You’re being dramatic."
“I am not being dramatic.” The words came out with an acidity to them that even Louis was surprised by. “I worked years for this. While my brothers were out having fun and enjoying being kids, where was I?” He slammed his down fist onto the table. “I was sat inside studying. Stuck in a freezing bedroom, using a desk on its last legs, with all those outdated hand-me-down textbooks that you gave to me. And for all that to amount to nothing, because I had the misfortune of being born with flat teeth instead of fangs—you call that being dramatic?”
Oguma closed the paper he’d been reviewing, setting his pen down on the table with an irritated clack.
“Louis, you seem to mistake composure for apathy. Of course, I am disappointed. But unlike you, I do not allow my emotions to interfere with my rationale. What we need here is strategy, not petulant outbursts.”
Louis almost laughed at that, each rare glance he was allowed into his father’s world revealed more about how ridiculous it was. Life and all of its complications—whittled down into a series of calculations and variables, nothing more.
“You know, Alex says this whole thing is rigged,” he muttered, slightly louder than he intended. “Says that we’re all just warm bodies that they grind down until we’re easy pickings.”
Oguma’s jaw tightened ever so slightly, a single ear flick betrayed his usual immaculate composure. “And you agree with him?”
Louis hesitated, then decided to test the waters. “I don’t know anymore, but maybe I do. What if he’s right, father? What if we really are condemned to just spend the rest of our days wasting away serving those who eat us for pleasure?”
The stag sat motionless, and Louis knew that if his father’s jaw muscles weren’t as well trained as they were, they’d probably be through the ninth floor by now. He took a shaky breath before deciding to press on. “You know, maybe he has a point. Maybe we really do need to take more drastic action; the kind the Militia-“
“Enough.”
The stag’s voice was calm, still level. But Louis could sense the storm beneath.
“You know very well that violence—especially that so-called ‘Militia’s’ extremist idiocy—is no panacea for this society’s ills. It is a shortcut to chaos, to societal ruin.”
Louis rose from his chair, slamming his hands down onto the table, the glass of water next to his father shook violently. “Then what is the ‘panacea’, father? Are we gonna picket the university to death? Show them a petition signed entirely by animals who can't vote?” He snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure that’ll certainly turn up the heat—not like you haven’t been doing that since the 80s. Look how far that’s gotten us.”
For a brief second, Louis saw his father’s eyes narrow, and his voice cracked ever so slightly.
“Louis, I have said this to you before, and I will say it again. Your late mother and I named you and your brothers after kings, because we hoped that all of you would be destined for greatness. I have done my best to guide and support you all in that journey. But if you also decide to throw away your life following in the steps of fanatical extremism like your brother has, then you too will disgrace the name that we chose for you.”
The buck blinked, a deer in the headlights of paternal cruelty. The fawn within him wept, but Louis simply grit his teeth. Not now.
The stag in front of him opened his mouth to say something, but promptly shut it, as if trying to reel in the words he’d just said. “Louis-,” Oguma reached out to take his son’s hand, seemingly unsure whether to grasp or restrain it. His voice was quieter now, softer. If Louis had been paying attention, he might have just seen the flicker of something within the stag’s eyes; but the deer simply swatted him away without hesitation.
Right now, he wanted a walk—and a particular type of tea.
“I’m going out,” the buck muttered curtly, walking into the corridor. He took a set of keys from the shared bowl and slid into a pair of shoes—probably Azuki’s. It didn’t matter, they fit well enough. He strode past the lift; it hadn’t worked for years anyways, and quickly began descending down the thirteen flights of ankle-twisting stairs that awaited him.
“Louis, wait–!“ He heard his father say in the distance, a degree of urgency highly uncharacteristic of the stag. But he was already gone, the door slamming behind him.
Inside, the stag stared at the door blankly as he let his arm slowly fall to his side.
“Damn it,” he said to no one in particular, and the flat was quiet again.
The air outside was suitably crisp, and the deer silently cursed his decision not to bring a jacket as he trudged through the ramshackle streets of his neighbourhood.
Children in rags were playing with the muddy snow that had accumulated on the sides of the road, while their mothers busied themselves with hanging up their washing on haphazard lines that streaked across the narrow street. There wasn’t any concern for road safety here—herbivores couldn’t afford cars. And if any could, they certainly weren’t going to be driving anywhere near this side of town.
He reached the edge of the estate and looked across the road at the properties on the other side. Their facades were much better kept, and it was almost possible to see the line down the middle of the street where one borough’s responsibilities ended and the other’s began. A proud sign proclaimed the start of the Galdona University District, and Louis felt a sharp twinge of pain in his chest. Yesterday, he’d dreamed of belonging here. Today, it was a reminder of his inadequacy.
Turning briskly away, he continued down the street, ducking into a familiar shop. Inside, amongst a dense foliage of plants, a short panda stood at the till, reading what looked to be a book on tea-making. She recognised him almost immediately and beamed as he walked up to the till.
“Hello Louis! How are you today? What can I get for you—locals’ price, of course.” She winked and produced a laminated menu from underneath the counter. Louis shook his head.
“Hey Maisie, I was actually wondering if your Dad was in right now?”
“Oh, you’re looking for Dad? He should be somewhere in the back—I’ll grab him.” The curtain rippled as she disappeared behind it.
Louis took a seat and massaged his temples, letting the warmth of the café envelop him. He’d been coming here since he was a child; his mother had always loved this place, and so had he. Fond memories of sitting here with her, laughing over iced lemon tea on a hot summer day. Now, the sight of so much greenery in the otherwise dull concrete jungle still brought him a sense of inner peace, albeit one tinged with absence. A slight itch pulsed from his antlers, but he forbade himself from scratching. It wasn’t even remotely close to shedding season, yet his body seemed to have decided otherwise—he chalked it up to stress.
From afar, he could see what appeared to be the back of a canine—a Labrador? How peculiar, it was rare that you saw those in this part of town. If he was looking for meat here, he’d be sorely disappointed.
The curtains parted and the tall, well-built panda emerged, cigarette in mouth. Upon seeing Louis, he sighed and gave him a knowing beckon. They walked past a series of shelves with boxes and boxes of tea, before reaching a door which Gouhin unlocked.
Inside was a familiar room: a mahogany table, a worn armchair, and a stained chaise longue. Also known as Gouhin’s living room.
“You know, out of all the clients I still see these days, you’re certainly the most frequent.” The panda took a drag of his cigarette as he poured out a cup of steaming tea for himself and Louis and sat down in the armchair. “You do know I’m retired, right?” The panda opened with his usual snark, to which Louis would usually respond in kind; but not today.
The deer gave a tight smile as he adjusted himself on the chaise longue. “It certainly hasn’t stopped you yet.”
He took a sip of the tea, a strong bamboo concoction that only Gouhin could really drink. Well, now Gouhin and Louis. At first, the deer had thought it tasted like battery acid—but over time, he’d come to appreciate how its earthy taste was always able to ground him. He needed to ask Maisie for a refill to take home.
The panda grunted. “Well? Talk to me kiddo, or you’ll be wasting both our time.”
Louis took a breath. “I got rejected from Galdona. Said they couldn’t offer me a place because I’m herbi.”
Gouhin leant back in his chair, expression completely unreadable beneath the dark patches of fur around his eyes. “Sorry to hear that, kid. But, any surprises there? Hate to sound like a broken record, but they do say that they only admit carnivores.”
“It was my father’s idea. He was the one who told me to apply. And I guess…” The buck shifted his gaze to the floor. “I guess I just thought, if I tried—if I did my best, they’d look past that.” He balled his fists in his lap, digging his nails into his palms. “I probably got one of the highest scores in the country on that damned admissions test… half of the students at Galdona don’t even have to sit it—because their parents went there!” He wrapped his hands around the base of his antlers and tugged at them in frustration.
A beat followed, filled only by the sound of the space heater in the corner of the room. The panda crossed his arms.
“You do realise that this isn’t the end of the line, right? You can still go and study the thing you want. It’ll just have to be at a different college.”
His father’s words echoed in his head, and Louis’ jaw tensed slightly. “Nowhere is as high-ranked for economics as Galdona. It’d be pointless.”
“Well then, who said you have to study economics?”
Louis looked at him aghast. “I did! It was all part of the plan: study economics at Galdona, build up a portfolio while I’m at college, get a job in finance, get rich, get out of Stoneybrook…”
Gouhin raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like quite the plan for a 19-year-old. You come up with all of this yourself? I’m impressed.”
“Well, no, not entirely…” Louis shrugged.
“Then, who did?”
“I guess… my father had some involvement in it. He was the one who wanted me to study economics, and who told me to apply to Galdona. My mother always wanted me to go there as well, before she passed.”
“Right.” The panda stubbed out his cigarette on the ash tray beside him, before leaning forwards in his chair. “Describe the level of ‘involvement’ we’re talking about here?”
It came back to Louis with alarming ease.
The torturous sunny days that he’d been locked in his roasting bedroom by his father, forbidden to go outside until he’d memorised a section of the textbook. Lonely winter nights spent crying himself to sleep, as he longed for his mother’s approval that he could now never have.
“A fair amount. Let’s just say that my father took a rather active role in directing my studies. As for my mother…” He let out a longing sigh. “Well, I guess she sort of still influenced me, in a way. She told me her dream was to see at least one of her kids go to university.” He laughed bitterly. “Not that me getting in would have changed that.”
Gouhin nodded and went to pour out another cup of tea, but the teapot was empty. He set it down and leant back in his chair for a moment, before lighting a new cigarette and sitting with it for a short while. He then stood up without a word and went over to the kettle to prepare more tea.
“Louis, can I offer you a thought?” He said from the counter, back faced towards Louis.
The kettle began to boil, Louis swung his legs off the chaise longue and sat up. “Go on?”
Gouhin didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he remained motionless at the sink, watching the water in the kettle slowly begin to move, his brow furrowed.
“It sounds to me that for most of your life, the majority of the big decisions haven’t really been yours. Your father directed them, and your mother’s dying wish has loomed over you.” The kettle hissed, its spout now billowing steam. “But these aren’t the things you should be letting control your life.”
He paused. “What happens if you stop chasing that approval? What happens when you start doing what Louis wants?” He turned slightly over his shoulder to look at the deer. “Because trust me, you don’t want to wake up at 30 and realise that you’ve wasted your entire life, having lived it for someone else.” He sighed. “Because I’ve been there, kid. And I can tell you—it ain’t worth it, not one bit.”
He poured the boiling water into the teapot, letting it steep with the bamboo leaves, watching as it turned a vivid shade of dark green. Louis watched him in silence, unsure of what to say.
The panda finally turned around and held up the teapot. “More tea?”
Charlie, 5:14pm: Lou, u there?
Charlie, 5:15pm: where did u go?
Charlie, 5:20pm: pls respond, we r worried abt u
From the crowded subway carriage, Louis gazed at his cracked phone screen, wracking his brain to give him a reply. He pocketed the phone quickly, not wanting to think about it anymore. He didn’t have the words, not yet. Not for Charlie, not for anyone. The herbivore car was more crowded than usual today, the transport authority having recently reduced the number of carriages exclusively reserved for them; but Louis would sooner die than ride in the mixed carriage. He’d also considered walking to his destination, but the heavy snowfall and his lack of a jacket had made him think otherwise. The fare was worth still having all his fingers, after all.
The announcement for his stop came, and the deer practically fought his way out of the doors, mindful not to gore anyone with his antlers. The station itself had certainly seen better days, the platform in a state of disrepair, and a few homeless animals sleeping in blankets near the entrance. He took the exit for the herbivore market, placing his hands in his pockets in preparation for the brisk walk. As he walked down the bustling street, he noted the stalls brimming with various decorations for Rexmas. Tired sellers wrapped up in several layers of clothing, which were undoubtedly warmer than Louis’ thin jumper, hawked their goods to passers-by in the dimming sunlight. The decorations were simple products; herbivores had to make do with what they were allowed to buy after all. But each one’s imperfections, their intricate differences—Louis believed it gave them soul.
He purchased some food from one of the stands, manned by an old sheep who specialised in spicy, chewy rice cakes paired with mushrooms and tofu. The buck watched as she expertly packed the generous helpings into impossibly small Styrofoam containers, heaping them in with a deep red sauce and toppings. He thanked her and continued on his way to his destination, ensuring not to make eye contact with any of the other vendors—wary that they may try to pry a product into his hands. Beneath his feet, the ground was littered with posters for recent marches and rallies, a few with his father’s face on them. He sighed and kept walking, hoping that ignoring the posters would make them go away.
“CONEY FL WERS”
It was missing an ‘o’. Repairs were expensive though, especially in this part of town. A bell dinged as he entered, and a lackadaisical voice from the back of the store murmured:
“We’re running low on stock because it’s the middle of winter and it isn’t growing season, so our prices might be higher than usual.” He followed the voice to its source, a pair of long white ears sitting behind the counter.
“Hello, Haru.” He greeted the rabbit, who was in the middle of a magazine, and watched as she looked up at the horned creature staring down at her and nearly fell off her stool.
“Rex, Louis! Give a girl some warning, will ya?!”
The buck apologised and accepted the rabbit’s hug. He wasn’t one to do them often, but it had been a while since they’d last talked, and today was certainly one that merited an exception.
“So, what can I do for ya?” But before Louis could open his mouth to speak, she cut him off.
“Because I hope it’s not flowers you’re after… Ma and Pa had me put the prices up by 50%. Said it’s cuz of a supply shortage, but really it’s cuz it’s almost Rexmas. I just know it is. Got all sorts of animals coming in to top up their emergency table centrepieces.” She pointed a finger at him. “You’re not one of them, right?”
Louis blinked. “No—I’m not.” He lifted up his arm to show the takeaway containers. “I brought dinner, you said your parents are out of town for a few weeks, right?”
Her eyes lit up and she smiled. “That’s right—I’m impressed you remembered.” She looked around the quiet store; Louis was the only remaining customer. “Let me just close up shop then, mind giving me a hand?” Together, they set about rolling down the various large metal shutters and grills on the storefront, before engaging a series of deadbolts on the door.
Then, having gone up a flight of rickety stairs into the family flat above the store, Haru called for her younger siblings to come downstairs for food. They tumbled down the stairs in a stampede of white fur and long ears, before eagerly seating themselves at the table as Louis placed the containers down. He portioned some out for them, himself and Haru, before sitting opposite his friend.
Louis looked around the flat, noticing how little had changed since he’d first come here after school with the rabbit as a child. There were the same family photos, the worn carpet, an old TV in the corner—all tied together with a floral wallpaper cursed to always look slightly dated, no matter the decade. It beat the comparatively sterile nature of his own flat that had come about after his mother’s death; although he supposed that only Oguma, of all animals, would use meticulous cleaning and order as a means of coping with grief.
“So, tell me, what’s been going on with you?” Louis asked mid-chew, as his flat teeth bit into the chewy rice cakes.
“Oh, same as usual. Shopkeeping and babysitting this lot. Business has been good though, we’ve been able to keep on top of our rent while still turning a profit, despite the landlord doubling it.” She rolled her eyes slightly before forking another rice cake into her mouth.
“And you? How’s your tight-ass Dad.”
Louis scoffed. “Oh, he’s fine—rigid as ever.” He sighed. “As for me, well… I got rejected from Galdona today.”
Haru stopped eating for a moment, before ordering the younger kits upstairs. She watched as they sulked up the staircase, before turning her attention back to the deer.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine—I saw Gouhin earlier today, helped me figure some stuff out.”
“I’m glad to hear. What did he have to say?”
“Oh, he gave me his usual snark. But we also talked about my Dad—Gouhin said that I needed to start ‘doing what Louis wants’—whatever that’s supposed to mean.”
A silence fell over the table, as Haru paused for a moment and chewed thoughtfully.
“So, basically, you’re saying that he told you what everyone else already knew.”
Louis raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Haru leaned in, a mischievous grin on her face. “Can’t you see it, Louis? He told you that you have…”
She paused for dramatic effect.
“Daddy issues.”
Louis almost choked on his rice.
“WHAT?”
The rabbit giggled. “It’s true! Think about it, did you ever really want to study economics? He had to lock you in your damn room so that you’d read all those boring books, instead of coming out to throw snowballs with us like a normal kid.” She was clearly enjoying this, as a wide grin spread across her face. “Not to mention, it’s the course with one of the highest dropout rates in the university—life as a Galdona economics student is miserable!”
Louis sat there, speechless. He didn’t say anything, just chewed. Haru had no idea how lucky she was that he’d known her for this long. Most animals wouldn’t get away with speaking to him like this; maybe not even Gouhin.
“But really, Louis, maybe it’s time that you stood up to him a bit more. He’s always preaching about peace and order at those rallies he organises, but maybe it’s time you switch it up. Do something that he doesn’t like, something crazy maybe.”
She leant back in her chair as she popped the last rice cake into her mouth.
“But of course: my version of crazy, and Louis Buckhurst’s version of crazy, are probably very different,” she laughed.
Louis didn’t laugh; he stared down at his empty container, the rabbit’s words still echoing through his head.
“Something crazy…” he muttered.
Haru shot him an inquisitive look. “Wait—what are you thinking?”
“Nothing. Just wondering what my version of crazy… might look like.”
Louis thanked Haru for having him for dinner and told her to keep the leftovers, as he trudged back through the snowstorm. The market, bustling only a few hours ago, was now empty. The subway car was, thankfully, less crowded on his journey back.
The buck took out his phone and finally punched out a short text to his brother—it was only four hours late.
Louis, 9:39pm: im alive
Louis, 9:40pm: omw home
Louis, 9:40pm: tell alex 2 wait
Charlie, 9:40pm: lou where u been???
Charlie, 9:41pm: ok… told him
After walking up the 13 exhausting flights of stairs, Louis finally got back to the flat much later than he usually would. His father had already gone to bed incredibly early, as usual, as had his sister. Charlie rushed up to him and gave him a tight hug, before admonishing him and ordering him to say something if he planned to stay out late again. Louis nodded and asked after his older brother, after which he was directed to the living room.
Alex sat upright on the couch, dumbbell in one hand, TV remote in the other. The channel was set to the evening news, where interviews with various leaders of the equality movement were airing. When their father came on to give a brief statement, Louis saw his brother visibly scowl.
“Hey, you busy tomorrow?” Louis asked, setting down his keys.
Alex glanced up, eyebrows slightly raised. He put the dumbbell down with a soft clunk and muted the TV. “Depends. You okay?”
Louis hesitated, before shrugging. “Yeah… just wanted to check something out. Thought maybe you could take me.”
Alex looked at him for a second longer than usual, his brow furrowed. Then he nodded. “Alright. Just wake me if I’m still not up.”
Notes:
Anddd it's published! I was in a hurry to get this one out, it didn't feel right to give one protagonist his chapter without following up with the other. After all, it would kind of undermine the message of equality in this story, wouldn't it? Also, today's my 5-year AO3 birthday, and I felt like I had to post something today to mark it.
Anyways, that's it from me for a while. This story will continue to be updated, but for now I need to lock in for my UCAT because it's in two weeks. If you don't know what that it is, look it up, and be grateful that you don't.
Expect the next update sometime in late August! Thank you everyone for all your support, I really do appreciate it. Feel free to leave a comment if you'd like :)
Until next time.
–Yan
Chapter 3: Reckonings
Summary:
Legosi finally has to confront his father... and the chaos that follows.
Notes:
Trigger warning: in light of recent... events, I would like to disclaim that this chapter contains an attempted assassination scene during a political speech. If themes of political violence are upsetting to you, please do not read the final scene! Read with care.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It wasn’t often that Legosi saw his father these days; Miyagi Greyson was, after all, far too preoccupied with furthering his glittering political career. But if he did, it would most likely be on Saturdays—for their weekly scheduled brunch. The wolf wasn’t quite sure how long they had been going on for, a few years, maybe more? But one thing never changed: their inevitability.
‘Yes, that’ll be fine.’ ‘Can we circle back to this later please?’ ‘I’ll see to that in a moment.’
Sitting dutifully, the young canine observed his father’s entourage of staff swarm around the opposite end of their painfully long dining table, each one eager to extract as much attention out of the politician as possible during their short allotted meeting time. It reminded him of his high school biology lessons, studying ancient vultures that circled the dead, waiting to eventually consume them. He recognised some of them from being around when he was a pup, yet he knew none of their names—any attempt at conversation with his father’s staff had never gone beyond a simple greeting, if anything.
The winter sun shone languidly onto their meal through the tall arched windows of their private dining room. They revealed a scenic vista overlooking the affluent neighbourhood of Rexington Heights; its rolling hills dotted with large houses, now coated entirely in a thick blanket of sparkling white. And Legosi, despite his disdain for these compulsory lunches, had found he did have some use for them: extracting concessions from his father was almost always easier when done in person. That, and he couldn’t deny that the food made by the house chef–Fumio–was almost always delicious as well.
Legosi pondered for a moment how best to phrase his request, but his attention snapped back to the present as his father waved his assistants away. They trundled out of the door with a definitive click as it closed behind them, leaving the pair alone. Legosi fixated his gaze onto the plate, scrambling runny egg yolk onto his muffin like his life depended on it.
‘Son.’ The gruff voice reverberated across the room and Legosi winced slightly. His father was now staring directly at him. The two wolves weren’t dissimilar, both sharing the same coat of dark grey with distinctive cream pattern. But Miyagi was taller, broader, and his coat was thicker. His eyes, unlike Legosi’s unexpressive pinpoints, were dark and full of mystery.
‘Yeah?’ Legosi pushed a leaf to the edge of his plate. His father didn’t speak for a moment as he placed a slice of bacon into his mouth, the room filled only with the sound of clinking cutlery.
‘I’d like you to tell me about your week.’
Legosi twirled his fork in hand for a moment while considering his response. Usually, their conversations were uneventful—to say that the wolf’s life was exceptionally dull would hardly be an overstatement. But as the events of his dinner with Juno flashed through his mind, Legosi began to feel quite inexplicably warm. Rex, was it getting hot in here? Maybe it was time to open a window…
He shifted awkwardly in his seat. ‘It was good. I had lunch with Jack and caught up on some of my uni work. Oh, also I’m on Rexmas break now, so, more time to study, I guess.’ He picked up his fork and continued eating.
‘That is all?’ His father raised an eyebrow.
‘Uh, y-yeah.’ He cleared his throat slightly—it was time. He braced himself.
‘Also, father, I was wondering if…’ He placed a hand behind his head and forced himself to concentrate. ‘…if I could go and visit mother today?’
An uncomfortable silence fell over the table, broken only by one of the servants shuffling over to refill Legosi’s coffee before retreating back into the kitchen. The wolf wished so badly that he could go with him.
‘Slightly discourteous to demand things from me, without even asking me about my own week—wouldn’t you say Legosi? I thought I raised you better than that.’ His father tutted and sat back in his chair, an unreadable expression drawn across his face as he took a sip from his cup.
‘Well, before I consider your request, I suppose I’ll indulge you first, and tell you a bit about my week.’ Miyagi got up and strode over to the window, resting his arm on the windowsill.
‘You see ‘Gosi, the most peculiar thing happened the other night—I received two calls direct to my mobile.’ Uh oh, this couldn’t be good. People never called his father’s personal phone; not unless it was serious. Legosi sat up slightly.
‘The first call was from your university, your supervisor. He told me that you’ve been missing lectures; and of the ones you do attend, sleeping through them.’ He rapped his claws on the glass. ‘Your overall attendance for this term was 40%.’
Legosi opened his mouth to defend himself, but his father cut him off with a frustrated flick of his wrist.
‘As for the second call, it was from Senator Fangbourne.’ The older wolf studied the snow-laden gardens outside, before turning back to face his son.
‘Senator Fangbourne doesn’t often call me, as you may know. Granted, we see each other enough in the Senate as-is.’
He sighed.
‘But I suppose this particular occasion warranted an exception, since he seemed rather incandescent over the phone. Said that you and his daughter had a… slight falling out over dinner?’
The hackles on Legosi’s back stood to attention as he gripped his cutlery with force.
‘Shit.’
‘Slight falling out’ would be a generous way to describe the events of the other night with Juno. But Legosi wasn’t one to fan flames—the ones currently licking hungrily at his heels were hot enough already.
His father’s gaze narrowed onto him. ‘Care to explain what he meant by that?’
Legosi flailed about in his head, his mind lurching into answering before he could think.
‘I-it’s not what you think! I was just trying to-‘
‘Trying to do what, exactly? Break her heart, drive her away? Damage the relationship between our families that I’ve so painstakingly kindled over all these years?’ Miyagi’s stern face swept over the younger wolf, triggering a defensive stance he’d known instinctively since he was a pup.
‘Legosi, do you have any idea how important this arrangement was!’ His fangs were out now.
‘I was just trying to tell her the truth!’ Legosi pleaded.
His father almost laughed. ‘Oh, please—do enlighten me, Legosi. What “truth”?’
The young wolf opened his mouth to answer but abruptly shut it, letting the words die on his tongue. A profession about his romantic preferences to someone like his father was absolutely not a good idea; in this moment, it would probably see him skinned alive. If not, worse.
He dropped his head and stuffed another forkful of egg into his mouth. ‘N-never mind, it’s nothing. I’m sorry, father.’
His lie was evident, and he knew his father could tell; the latter’s acting roots had never quite fully left him, after all. The older wolf regarded him with a scornful gaze, frustration plastered across his face.
‘It goes without saying that I’m very disappointed in you, Legosi.’
A beat followed, and Legosi sat in mournful silence as his father considered a worthy punishment for his unruly son.
‘I’ll be cutting off your allowance until further notice. You will also not be seeing your mother today, nor for the foreseeable future.’
Ouch. Legosi hadn’t seen his mother since term started, that was almost 4 months ago; and last time he’d said he’d visit again as soon as possible. Not that that information was of any importance to his father, as he walked over to Legosi and leant down to glare at him.
‘Have I made myself very clear?’ He practically growled.
The young wolf felt his ears droop behind his head.
‘Yes, father…’
‘Good.’
And with that, Miyagi turned to leave, his tail flicking from side to side in irritation from behind his pressed suit.
Legosi leapt forwards before his father could turn away, his chest tightening with panic. He couldn’t lose this opportunity, not now. ‘Father, please! Wait!’
Miyagi continued towards the door, quickening his pace.
‘Just listen, please… I haven’t seen mother since September, I–.’ His voice cracked slightly, as the words spilt out of his mouth faster than he could catch them; the wolf wasn’t used to begging like this.
‘Father, I’m sorry about Juno, I’m sorry about not going to class. I–I know I’ve messed up’. He caught the edge of the door frame in a desperate bid to stop it from closing.
‘Just please don’t shut me out. I–I’ll find a way to make it up to you. Anything! Just let me see her, please!’
That was a stupid thing to say, and Legosi knew it. But he couldn’t bear the thought of not being able to visit her before Rexmas. He’d never not gone, not since she’d been admitted.
In front of him, his father stopped, and turned round to face him.
‘“Anything” is certainly a bold bargaining chip to offer, are you sure?’
Legosi gulped, this was either about to work out in his favour or massively against it. He nodded.
His father paused for a moment, lips pursed slightly. ‘Very well then.’
‘Legosi, as recompense for your suboptimal performance this term, over this winter break you’ll be working on my campaign team. I expect you to take part in canvassing, administration and policymaking as well as any other activities I see fit.’
Well—Legosi couldn’t say he’d had high hopes for any deal his father would propose, but he hadn’t expected it to backfire quite so badly either. Though, if it meant being able to see his mother, then he supposed he would simply have to endure. He muttered an acknowledgment, unwilling to back down
His father paused before continuing so he could straighten his tie, while Legosi processed the information.
‘If, and only if, I am satisfied with your performance by the time you return to university, I will reinstate your allowance. That, and you will be allowed to visit your mother without requiring my prior approval from then on out.’
‘Wait, what?’
‘You heard me. Furthermore, to motivate you in assuming your new responsibility, I shall also permit you, for today only, to visit.’
Legosi nodded, slightly unable to believe what his father had just offered. Was he being serious? Perhaps this would end up working out for him after all…
Miyagi turned once again to leave, this time with a more satisfied spring in his gait.
‘Brilliant. I’ll have Bill forward you the details later, then.’ He flicked his wrist to check his watch.
‘Oh and Legosi, you’d best get going soon.’ He tapped the face of his watch. ‘The sanatorium’s visiting hours are shorter on Saturdays—have a pleasant day, son.’
Legosi opened his mouth to reply, but the large door shut in his face loudly, leaving the wolf alone with just his thoughts for company.
He sighed—what new hell of a mess had he managed to get himself into now? He checked his own watch and realised that he had little time to dwell on it, as he hurried to get ready to leave.
The car bumped gently as it rolled along the windy hill road towards the sanatorium, and from the backseat, Legosi could see Ibuki squinting at the SatNav to try and figure out where exactly it was that they were going. He carefully balanced the Tupperware on his lap as the car wound around the road’s various bends. Generally, he preferred to make the trip himself—but given the sanatorium’s reduced opening hours, and the fact that the nearest subway station was a 30 minute walk—he’d found it necessary to expedite his journey by car.
Ibuki was a kind soul, the lion had worked for his father since before Legosi was born. The wolf had fond memories of going to the seaside with him as a pup to get ice cream—a simpler time. But he had always been duty-bound to report back to his father, and as the wolf had gotten older, their trips had become more infrequent before eventually fading to nothing. After all, the last thing Legosi needed was a tighter paternal leash around his neck than the one he already had.
The car eventually came to a stop at the top of the hill, in front of a large, familiar building. The building itself was mostly featureless, a drab hunk of concrete set in a mostly scenic area of natural beauty, it truly was an eyesore. Its only distinctive features were a large set of cast-iron gates, and enough fences to form an obstacle course surrounding it. A worn sign adorned the entrance:
‘CHERRYTON SECURE CARE FACILITY’
Ibuki made eye contact with Legosi in the rear-view mirror. ’Are you sure you don’t want me to wait, kiddo? Because I’m more than happy to just read a newspaper if you-’
‘I’m fine, Ibuki. Thanks for offering, though,’ the wolf cut him off before he could finish.
The lion nodded curtly, before opening the door for Legosi to step out. The wolf walked up to the checkpoint, expecting to hear the car engine start as Ibuki drove off. But no such sound came, and Legosi mentally groaned when he glanced back and saw the car still sitting on the curb—probably under direct orders from his father. Legosi had been foolish to think that he would be free from surveillance, even here.
Sighing, he walked up to the security guard and provided his ID, before being promptly waved through to security for a thorough patting down and body search. Once through, he checked his watch and realised with alarm that only twenty minutes of visiting time remained.
A tall, unsmiling bear escorted him down the many winding corridors of the institution. No matter how many times Legosi had walked down these halls since his mother’s institutionalisation, the uniform glare of its white walls had never become any more familiar. They reached a nondescript door where the bear brought him to a stop with his arm.
‘You have 15 minutes—make it count.’
He opened the door, and Legosi stepped into total darkness as it shut behind him.
He inhaled for a moment, taking in complete pitch black of the room. Appearances had always been important for his mother—he supposed that absolute darkness was a way of protecting herself from the judgement of others. Legosi called out into the void:
‘Mom?’
A moment of silence filled only by the echo of his own voice followed. The wolf’s night vision, though more advanced than most, still struggled to make out just about anything within the room. The last time he’d been here, he’d been helping her fix the tape over the wall mirror—he wondered if he’d need to do it again.
‘Legosi.’
A pair of hands found him from the dark, guiding him gently towards the corner of the room, where Legosi was just able to make out the outline of a bed. Once they sat down, the hands wrapped around his snout, they roamed around the back of his head and down his back, found his arms and stroked the fur up and down on them. She’d always done this, but Legosi had only recently realised why:
She was checking for scales.
He sat patiently through the examination, until a sigh of relief finally came from opposite him and the hands withdrew from his fur into the black. Legosi tried to find his mother’s hand, and after some failed attempts, managed to take it in his.
‘Mom—uh, how are you?’ He picked up the containers and offered them in the direction he thought his mother was sitting. ‘I brought your favourite, the egg noodles and shrimp that Fumio makes…’ He held out the Tupperware into the darkness.
‘Thank you, Legosi.’
The hands took the Tupperware and vanished into the shadow again.
‘And, to answer your question, I’m fine. Thank you for asking.’
Legosi could sense the forlorn tone in her voice, but it was pointless inquiring about it—the answer was never any different. But uncharacteristically of his mother, Leano struck a more positive tone in her next sentence.
The new director here… is a kind man. Much kinder than the previous one.’
She shifted her weight further back onto the bed to rest her back against the wall.
‘He’s told the staff to be more respectful, of my privacy that is. And they’ve given me a hat and shawl to wear when I want to leave my room and walk around the facility gardens.’
‘So at least, there’s that.’
‘I’m really glad to hear that, Mom.’ Legosi gave his best smile, but he wasn’t sure whether she could see it.
‘What about you, Legosi? I don’t remember the last time I saw you—time runs differently in here, especially since I so rarely get visitors.’
‘I’ve–’ His voice faltered as he tried to find the right words to say, his brutish maw unable to spell out what he wanted to convey. ‘To be honest… I’ve been better, Mom.’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Just… life.’ The wolf lay back onto the bed to stare up into more nothingness. ‘I’m uh—getting these nightmares, where I’m being chased… where I get devoured. They’re keeping me from sleeping at night, and it’s messing up my life…’
‘Have you tried seeing someone about it?’
‘Yeah, Jack’s told me he can recommend someone—I guess I can go see them…’
They fell into a deafening silence, both unsure what to say, before his mother finally spoke up.
‘That’s not everything though. Is it, Legosi?’
Legosi wondered what to say. At least in here, in the total darkness, he was safe from his father’s prying eyes—a rare place where he could be completely honest with others. Perhaps even himself.
He exhaled slowly, pondering how to best phrase the absolute mess that was currently his life. ‘I guess you could say that…’
‘Tell me?’ Her hand tensed slightly around his wrist.
‘Well, a lot of things don’t seem to be going right for me right now. I’m failing school, can’t stay awake during lectures, bad attendance.’
‘Maybe it’s the course? I remember you saying you weren’t sure about it—have you considered changing, maybe?’
‘That’s what Juno said to me as well… oh, Juno.’ He groaned as the events of the night at the restaurant came back to him again with searing clarity. ‘I also…’ He hesitated again—but what use was there being evasive? There were few people who he could talk about this with, and his mother was probably one of them.
‘I screwed up my relationship with her—we got into a fight. And now Dad’s more mad at me than he usually is because of it…’
He brought his hands up to cover his face. It wasn’t for anyone else to see in particular, not that they could anyways—just for his own sake.
He let out a long, deep sigh.
‘I just don’t know what to do, Mom.’
His mother didn’t say anything for a while, and the two wolves simply sat in silence, each processing their own thoughts, before she finally spoke up.
‘Legosi.’ She took his hands in hers and squeezed it tightly. ‘That really does sound like a lot—I get why you feel like everything’s slipping out of your control.’
Her voice softened slightly. ‘But—in the eight, beautiful years that I got to watch you grow up, I saw you overcome challenges that were much greater than these, why should this be any different?’
‘Mom, the problems I had back then weren’t nearly as big as the ones I have now, you know that.’
Leano sighed nostalgically. ‘I think you’ll find that they’re not as dissimilar as you think actually, Legosi.’ The wolf heard the bed creak as she shuffled towards him ever so slightly.
‘Do you still remember when you were little, and the other kids at school used to make fun of you for how quiet you were?’
Legosi nodded.
‘Most wolves would lash out, snarl, bite—but you never did any of that. I used to get so worried when I came to pick you up, worried that one of the other kids had finally managed to push you over the edge.’ She laughed sadly.
‘And yet time and time again, you always proved me wrong—always staying kind, even when it really hurt. It’s that which has brought you further than you think, Legosi. It’s why you have friends like Jack, people in your life who truly care about you—even when those who should, don’t.’
‘I know things are difficult right now… and I know it seems like nothing’s going right. But you’ll find a way to get through it, I know it. And you’ll always have people looking out for you along the way, myself included.’
His mother paused for a moment, and Legosi’s heart spoke faster than his head.
‘But what about Dad?’ He blurted out abruptly, before trying to regain his composure.
He exhaled raggedly. ‘He forced me into working on his campaign, and I’m still meant to fix things with Juno. I’m not even allowed to see you until I’m done with it…’
Legosi balled up his fists and gripped the sheets covering the creaking bed frame.
‘I don’t get to choose anything anymore. Dad says, Juno says, Galdona says—and then it just is. And I’m just left here, left stuck here…’
He felt what seemed to be tears pricking at the corners of his eyes; Legosi didn’t cry often—he wasn’t allowed to. But here in the pitch black, in his mother’s embrace, it was getting increasingly difficult not to.
Perhaps for once, it was okay to do so.
‘I don’t know what to do, Mom… but you’ve got it worse, in here. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t even be talking about myself–’
Leano cut him off. ‘No, Legosi. Do not say that. Your struggles… they matter too.’ She trailed off into silence.
In the dark, all he could her was the sound of his racing heartbeat, and her soft breathing. For a split moment, he wondered if she could even answer what he had just told her, but then—
‘Legosi…’ her voice wavered for a moment, and it became painfully apparent to the wolf just how small his mother seemed, all alone in this dark room. ‘Believe me, I know what it’s like to be trapped—to feel like your life is being decided for you.’
She sighed.
‘But you’re not me. Your life—‘ She hesitated, searching for the right words. ‘You’ve still got so much of it ahead of you, so much of it still undecided. Please, don’t let anyone—your father; Juno; or your fear of them, convince you otherwise.’
And then Legosi’s mother did something very rare—she hugged him. And Legosi, for the first time in a long time, did something even rarer.
He let himself cry.
He tried clenching his jaw, squeezing his eyes shut—but it was no use. The tears streamed down his face in a hot, ugly and wet mess, as Legosi’s mother held him close. He took in her scent; the unique softness of her fur interspersed with smoothness of scales, as she ran her hand over his ears and down the back of his neck in a soothing motion. Legosi could hear the emotion breaking in her voice as she spoke.
‘Legosi… all this, I know it’s hard—it’s so, so hard’. She sounded quiet, pained, as her voice caught on her words, and her hands trembled slightly as she held him.
‘And I know firsthand how bad your father can be. I really do.’
She took a deep breath and steadied her voice. Legosi felt her hand stroke the base of his ear, slow and steady.
‘You know that I can’t fight this for you, not while I’m stuck in here. But… I’ve always noticed how you’ve always had this certain way about you… a kind of gentleness.’
Legosi sobbed into his mother’s shoulder, unable to form a coherent response—but he didn’t need to, she had him.
‘Your father might tell you it’s weakness, I know. But it’s not, it’s stronger than you think—stronger than those nightmares, stronger than him.’ Her fingers moved over his knuckles, the palm of her hand warm against the back of his.
‘Promise me that you won’t let anyone beat that out of you, not even him.’
She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. ’Can you do that for me, Legosi?’
The wolf managed to choke out a yes, before a loud knock came from the door.
‘Visiting hours are over! Please exit the room.’ Came a muffled voice in the hall.
But Legosi wasn’t listening—he was content being here, in a pitch black that he would be happy to stretch on forever, so long as it meant he could be with his Mom. For the first time in a while, he’d finally felt seen; he’d felt heard.
‘I love you, Mom.’
‘I love you too, Legosi.’
They’d stayed that way until the security guard had begun threatening to kick down the door. Legosi had to bid his mother a brief, yet tearful goodbye.
The wolf rubbed his eyes furiously as he walked down the industrial white corridor, partly to adjust to the glaring light, partly to obscure the fact that he’d been crying.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he reluctantly fished it out like an unwanted visitor.
[UNKNOWN NUMBER ~“BILL TIGRIS”]
~Bill, 2.31pm: Hii Legosi, this is Bill! I’m your Dad’s assistant. :)
Legosi audibly groaned; he knew damn well who Bill was—they’d had the misfortune of going to high school together.
Legosi, 2.32pm: hi
~Bill, 2.32pm: Hi!!
~Bill, 2.32pm: Your Dad’s having a rally this evening, said you’d be coming!
~Bill, 2.32pm: I’m sending you the de–
The wolf pocketed his phone before the tiger had the chance to finish typing out the message; he’d think about whatever it was the striped sycophant wanted later.
Upon exiting the facility he saw Ibuki leaning on the car, cigarette in hand. Rex, now would’ve been the perfect time for Legosi to have a destress-cigarette—that was, if he smoked. The lion opened the door for him, and the wolf gave him the order to drive home.
He had a long night ahead of him yet.
Fur gel, a whole lot of fur-gel—that was all Legosi could really smell as he sat rigidly in the back of the car on the way to his father’s rally. He’d felt like his father’s stylist had practically assaulted him when the time came to tame the young wolf’s messy coat; vivid scenes had ensued involving pulling furiously with furbrushes and applying gallon after gallon of gel to smooth out unruly patches. Not a single strand could be allowed to stand out of place, not when in the company of Miyagi Greyson.
‘Be there in about 5 minutes, kiddo’ said Ibuki from behind the wheel.
Legosi nodded and rested his head on the car windowsill, nose wrinkled slightly to reduce the chemical smell overwhelming it. He’d considered texting Juno, but it didn’t feel right—he didn’t even know what to say. As they approached the stadium, the car slowed, and Legosi overheard shouting. He craned his neck to see the source.
From behind a tight police barricade, a small, yet fierce group of herbivores were picketing the venue. They brandished signs scrawled with various slogans and chanted slogans that Legosi couldn’t quite make out.
The car crawled agonisingly slowly past the demonstration and into the stadium parking lot. Legosi was subjected to his second patting down of the day, followed by a metal detector, and proof of ID. To add insult to injury, once he was finished with the gruelling security process, he was presented with a familiar yet unwelcome face: that of Bill Tigris.
‘Gosi! So good to see you—been what, two years since we last saw each other?’
The tiger strode up to the wolf and pulled him into what could be best described as a smothering ‘bro’ hug. Legosi wheezed in acknowledgment, trying his best to wriggle free of his iron grip. The tiger hadn’t changed one bit since he’d last had the misfortune of seeing him—at graduation. Bill checked his watch and Legosi saw his expression drop.
‘Okay, ‘Gosi, we gotta be quick—speech’s starting in five’
‘It’s Le-gosi.’
‘Yeah, yeah whatever. Through here.’
Legosi was ushered hurriedly through a series of corridors populated primarily by staffers, before being shoved abruptly into a dressing room.
From the far end, he saw the imposing outline of a wolf seated in a chair, attended to, of course, by a small army of beauticians. When he spotted Legosi walking towards him, he ushered them all away with a flick of his hand, and turned to face his son.
‘Glad you could make it, son. Please, take a seat.’ He gestured to a chair opposite him.
Legosi sighed softly as his father began to list out—in excruciating detail—his expectations of his son during the speech. That, and political rally etiquette: when to stand, when to clap, to sit up straight. The list was dizzyingly long, and Legosi’s mind wandered. What was Jack doing right now?
‘He’s probably studying, isn’t he? Or maybe eating. If he is, it’ll most likely be some of that nasty tofu stuff as well—yuck…’
His father’s voice cut through the daydream. ‘Is that all clear, Legosi?’
The wolf nodded with gusto, eager to escape the searing gaze of his father.
Miyagi raised an eyebrow. ‘When are you supposed to stand?’
‘Uh… when you start speaking?’
His father pinched the bridge of his nose, before starting from the top, tone even more irate than before. The young wolf was only saved by a staffer timidly announcing from the doorway that it was time for them to go on stage.
“LADIES AND GENTLEBEASTS, PLEASE WELCOME TO THE STAGE, YOUR SENATOR: MIYAGI GREYSON!!!”
Legosi winced slightly as his father’s name blared out on the loudspeaker. He shuffled awkwardly towards the chair allocated for him on the grandiose stage, praying that his furgel didn’t come undone as he began to sweat under the intense headlights pointed directly at him.
In front of him, he saw his father stroll up to the podium; a dossier in one hand, refined confidence in the other. Quite frankly, it was a biological wonder that the two were related at all. The crowd roared as Miyagi placed his papers down and spread his arms wide as if to embrace them, carnivore fans of all shapes and sizes. Some held up large placards with his father’s name on them, while others screamed his name. There were even some pups in the crowd, hoisted up on their parents’ shoulders—Rex, wasn’t it too loud for them in here?
Thankfully, the crowd didn’t pay him any attention—it was all centred on the wolf at the podium, after all.
Eventually, the pandemonium died down as his father gestured for the audience to be seated, and he adjusted the microphone to his height.
‘Everyone, thank you all for coming tonight! First of all, I would like to thank all of those here who voted in the recent Senate election—it was YOU who ensured stability and prosperity for our great nation. I am indebted to you all, truly.’
Legosi jumped as the stadium erupted into cheers, animals began chanting his father’s name and the sign-holders began jumping up and down frivolously.
‘Never again.’ Legosi thought, as he tried his best to resist the urge to cover his ears on stage.
Miyagi then launched into his carefully pre-planned speech, primed to sound authentic with its various quips and seemingly original jokes slotted in appropriate places. To most, it would seem that the wolf was a talented orator, as he proudly extolled the values of national pride and patriotism; but Legosi knew that the words scrolling along the teleprompter were barely his father’s, instead having been assembled by a fleet of staffers, with minimal involvement from the former.
His father listed various campaign promises for his next term in the Senate, while Legosi barely listened: more funding for local schools, tax breaks, the abolition of the Herbivore Senator role and criminal investigations into its current holder, Yafya Galahad. Legosi had heard his father complain to no-end about that horse, but realistically, what was there to complain about? The Herbivore Senator was by their lonesome in the Senate, and didn’t have voting power—their power was solely through words. He remembered that much from high school politics, at least.
But then his father arrived at the crown jewel of his speech its climax—his ‘herbivore repatriation proposal’.
‘Ladies, gentlebeasts, I don’t need to sugarcoat it. We’ve all seen it, the scourge that run on our streets, making our neighbourhoods unsafe, spiking crime rates. Need I talk about the h word.’
The stadium burst into an angry frenzy, animals began booing, showing their abject hatred to the nation’s underclass—what they viewed as a blight on society.
‘Ladies, gentlebeasts! Please! Worry not—we, your representatives have heard you! That’s why our party have devised a six-point plan for herbivore deportation and repatriation.’
Miyagi gestured at an infographic on the board behind him, depicting caricaturised herbivores being rounded up in detention centres, sharp horns and devilish grins on their faces. They were then forcefully loaded onto boats and sent away, pushed out to ‘return’ to a promised land that Legosi had only heard of in fairytales from his nannies as a child.
The wolf couldn’t help but feel slightly perplexed as the crowd cheered on what his father proposed. Didn’t it all seem a bit… inhumane?
No matter, based on their reaction, the crowd absolutely loved it. His father stumbled for a second, and Legosi looked up from the floor of the stage to see what the issue was. The teleprompter had turned off, and the technical staff scurried around the stage, trying their best to remain out of sight. His father chuckled awkwardly, the continued regardless, in what Legosi assumed was an attempt to proceed as normal—someone was definitely losing their job today.
‘Now, ladies and gentlebeasts; I know I’ve bored you enough with my campaign policies, but I have one more key piece of information to announce!’
The stadium went deathly quiet, eyes transfixed to the stage. Even Legosi waited with bated breath—with the teleprompter broken, his father was, for once, speaking off-script.
‘I know that there have been rumours flying around, and I’ve seen the opinion pieces, the speculation.’ He placed both hands on the podium and leaned forwards towards the audience. ‘So, I would like to proudly announce that all of that ends today.’
‘I…’
The audience waited, the teleprompter flicked back on, and Legosi’s heart dropped when he saw what was written on it.
‘Would like to announce my candidacy for Beastar!’
A terrible cracking noise ripped through the air, and the stadium went silent before it could begin cheering.
It had happened before Legosi could even process it, as he felt a warm, sticky substance begin trickling down from the top of his head. He reached, his hand shaking, to feel the top of his ear—or what was left of it at least. Around him, animals began to scream, then the whole stadium began to scream. His father turned around to look at him, shock written on his face, before he was immediately surrounded by his security detail in a protective clump.
‘Legosi, Legosi!!’ Someone cried, from somewhere.
‘We need an ambulance—now! Evacuate the stadium!’
The screaming continued, animals climbed over rows to get out, others wrestled with each other to find the exit. The wolf felt faint, while the blood continued to pour down the side of his face, onto his clothes. He tried to stand, but instead fell sideways out of his seat, as his vision darkened. Blurred figures ran towards him, while the world narrowed into chaos, blood and panic.
But his final thought was simple. That right now, if this was where it ended, Legosi only wished for one thing.
His mother.
That she could hold him.
Notes:
IT'S FINALLY POSTED. LEGOSI IS GOING TO BE FINE, PLEASE DO NOT WORRY.
Guys, I really am so sorry for promising another chapter in late August, when it's now mid-September! I am never going to promise a timescale that ambitious again. UCAT really destroyed me, ngl. And then after that I was just so burnt out that I could barely bring myself to do anything but lie in bed and sleep all day, so erm—sorry again for the delay. (This chapter was also such a pain to write, just something about it, I couldn't get it to work. I hope that this'll do for the time being. I'll probably go back and edit it retroactively though :>)
And, if any of you are wondering about my UCAT, the exam that sucked out my soul, it went really well! Thanks so much to all those who sent me well wishes, it was really appreciated—and encouraged me to study for it more hehe. I should have a good chance at getting into med school now!! :D
Finally, thank you again for all your nice comments and support! It means the world to me, honestly. It'll be Louis next time, so see you then (whenever that is).
–Yan
Chapter 4: Something Crazy
Summary:
A deer of his word, Louis decides to take Haru's advice and do 'something crazy'. Little did Haru know just how crazy he was thinking...
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
‘Do something that he doesn’t like, something crazy maybe.’
Haru’s words danced around in the darkness of Louis’ mind, as he dreamt of a land far, far away. What had they called it in those fairytales? Ferndahlia? Florelia? He couldn’t remember, just that he had heard of it many times before. The image of his mother came to him, her sad eyes, her caramel fur—a soft voice that told him stories of a place where there was no suffering; where herbivores could live freely. A true paradise where food was plentiful, where the weather was always warm. What was it called–
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP–
Louis jolted up and slammed his antlers into the roof of the bunk with a sharp clang, the shock rolling through his skull and down into his shoulders.
‘FUCK!’ He cried out in pain and clutched the top of his head to try and soothe the aching pain that was now coursing through his head, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as he frantically rubbed his scalp for relief. Nineteen years in this bunk bed—and he’d still never gotten round to padding its ceiling.
‘Way to go, Louis—what a fine Galdona student you’d have made.’ He thought to himself.
When the burning around the base of his antlers eventually died down into just the dull itch he’d been experiencing for a few days, he finally opened his eyes again, coming muzzle to muzzle with the concerned face of his older brother hanging down from the top bunk.
‘Everything okay? Sounded like that hurt.’ Charlie asked.
Louis nodded and grunted an affirmative yes, before moving past him to join the long queue for their floor’s shared bathroom.
Back in their cramped kitchen, breakfast was the usual affair: an uninspiring mixture of various out-of-date greens heaped in with a helping of seeds. Louis sat down and shovelled in mouthful after mouthful of the tasteless food until he couldn’t bear it anymore; he probably wasn’t going to get any taller, but it didn’t hurt to try. His father sat opposite, reading the newspaper, briefcase on the table. The two deer said nothing to each other as they ate in icy silence, before Oguma eventually got up to go to work. Meanwhile, his eldest brother, Alex, watched expectantly from the doorway.
‘Ready to go?’ The stag asked when the buck finally gave up and put down his fork. Louis nodded and went to get his coat, a hand-me-down from Oguma. He brought his hand up to the top of his head to relieve an itch, when it was swatted away by Alex.
‘Don’t scratch, you’ll damage your fur’ he said. Louis rolled his eyes before grumbling a ‘fine’, and the pair set off down the winding flight of stairs—the lift was still, after all, broken.
The herbivore carriage was unusually empty that day, as the train rattled from side to side through the tunnel. The two brothers sat in silence—neither had said out loud where they were going, their destination unspoken. But one knew where it was, and the other trusted him to take them to it.
The intercom crackled to life as it announced the next station, and the train rolled tiredly into the line’s neglected terminus: Edgehill Park.
Louis couldn’t remember a time that the park hadn’t been in its current state. Deep within the city’s herbivore district, its main users were teenagers from the estates looking to cause trouble, and the local drug addicts who went on the abandoned playset to shoot up. Looking around, it was hard to believe that area had once been an affluent neighbourhood. That was at least, until after the war, when all the carnivores took off to move to the north side of the city; and the herbivores were left behind to rebuild the ruins—without any funding from city hall, of course.
Winter had somehow managed to make the park look even more bleak than it usually did. Litter was strewn about the paths, benches rotted away in their iron girders. Hell, even a generous covering of snow couldn’t hide the reality of the place: that it was an abject shit-hole.
Louis followed his brother closely down the paths and into the overgrown foliage, sticking close to the older stag for protection. He’d heard the stories of what happened to young, unassuming animals who were unfortunate enough to find themselves inside the park gates after dark—not that it being daytime made him feel any safer.
The branches grew thicker, and Louis could only assume that by this point they’d left the park’s perimeter, having entered into the wilderness behind it. He focussed on not getting his antlers tangled in the dense covering of evergreen leaves and twigs, trying his best to keep up with his brother—who seemed to have no issue ducking and swerving with seemingly practised ease. They came across a fast-moving river, and Louis rather humiliatingly had to accept a ride on his brother’s shoulders, since he couldn’t swim.
However, after what seemed like a serious trek through the wilderness beyond, the vegetation finally thinned, and gave way to a clearing. The winter sun was just able to shine through the canopy above, dappling the ground in a pleasant warm yellow glow.
In front of him, Alex stopped, without turning around to face him. But before Louis could ask where they were, he felt something cold and heavy press against the back of his head.
‘Don’t. Fucking. Move.’ Came a voice.
Louis opened his mouth to call out his brother’s name, but he was denied that chance when a sharp thud to the back of his head sent him reeling towards the ground. The pain was immediate, as if fractures were bursting all over his skull. He saw the faint outline of his brother walking towards him, before the world spun into black.
When he came to, the deer found himself slumped over in a rather uncomfortable fold-out chair.
The first thing he noticed was the pain. It was agonising, like the back of his head had been taken to with a sledgehammer. But the nausea, the feeling that his stomach was ready to leap out of his mouth at any moment. Rex, it was so much worse.
The room he awoke in was dimly lit, a singular naked lightbulb dangled from the ceiling, the shelves surrounding him hinting at some kind of storage room. And in front of him, a familiar set of antlers led down to a familiar face.
He tried his best to stand, stumbling in the process—his head spinning and dizzy. But the surge of adrenaline through his veins propelled him forwards to his target.
‘Hey, Louis–’ was all the stag managed to get out, before his brother lunged at him. Despite their comparative size difference, Louis was still able to pack a punch, knocking the air out of his brother as he hit the ground.
‘Where. The hell. Are we.’ Louis almost growled, as he watched Alex’s usually collected demeanour evaporate under his iron grip.
‘Local– chapter–‘ His brother wheezed as he gasped for breath. ‘Had to– ugh- be careful–.’
Louis eased off him the moment he got his answer—so his brother did take them to the right place. He watched slightly regretfully as Alex pried himself off the floor, refusing his offer of a hand up.
‘Kid’s got a fighting spirit, starting to like him—even though you didn’t tell us you were coming.’
Louis looked up.
Standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the bright light behind him, stood what looked to be another deer. Wait, no—their horns were shaped differently. Some sort of antelope, maybe?
The figure stepped into the light, and Louis became even more confused.
His muzzle was shaped like a predator’s, too flat to be a herbivore’s—and it was lined with rows of sharp teeth. And yet, on top of his head sat a pair of distinctly gazelle-like horns, with a pair of gazelle ears to match.
‘W-what–’ Louis took a step backwards as the gazelle(?) moved towards him.
‘What… what are you?’ Louis asked, in disbelief,
‘Bit rude to ask that when we’ve just met, don’t you think?’ The not-gazelle replied, expression souring slightly.
To his right, Alex stepped in to defuse tensions as he clutched his side, shooting Louis a dirty look. ‘Louis.’ He cleared his throat and gestured to the figure. ‘This is Melon—the leader of our chapter.’
‘I’m sorry, what?’
The animal clapped his hands together. ’That’s right, kid. I run the show around here—got anything else to ask?’
The deer stared at Melon, then at his brother, then back at Melon in utter incredulity. Surely, this had to be some kind of sick joke—right? Or maybe he was still dreaming, and this was his mind’s way of coping with the fact that he, Louis Buckhurst, had just let someone else knock him unconscious.
Melon seemed displeased with his silence, confirming that he was in fact, not dreaming. ‘Oh lighten up, don’t tell me you’ve never seen a hybrid before, have you?'
Louis had, actually. Stoneybrook was home to its fair share of outcast hybrid kids—the unfortunate offspring of couples doomed to fail, torn apart by the social stigma of mating outside of one’s species. At school, he’d been told by the other children to stay away from them, on account of the fact that they carried a risk of catching all sorts of nasty ‘hybrid’ diseases. The deer’s mind conjured up a distinct memory of a zebra-horse girl in his year, sitting alone on a bench in the corner of the playground, because nobody wanted to even come near her. Those had been simpler times. Well, for him at least.
But those had been herbivore-herbivore pairings, genetically plausible and viable offspring. Not this—whatever this was. He tried his best to phrase his answer delicately, Louis Buckhurst never stammered in front of strangers; but despite his best efforts, it still came out jumbled.
‘I have but… not your specific mix. Who– what are your parents?’
‘Irrelevant.’ Melon caught Louis’ confused gaze and rolled his eyes.
‘But if you must know, my Mom was a cheetah, Dad was a gazelle—both are dead.’
His tail flicked behind him in irritation. ‘Now are you done asking me questions? Because I’ve got a fair few of my own for you as well.’
Louis still had many to ask, but he decided to holster them for the time being. He nodded and sat down in the chair as Melon pulled another one up opposite him. From above, the naked lightbulb harshly illuminated his unusual features, accentuating them in the dim light.
‘Now then, for starters, who are you?’
‘I’m Louis… Louis Buckhurst—Alex’s brother.’ He stuttered, uncharacteristic of him. Usually the deer would have no problem charming someone into getting what he wanted; but right now, talking to Melon—it felt like his tongue was made out of lead.
‘And…?’
‘I–I originally wanted to study economics, at Galdona. But they didn’t want me, so…’ He looked over at Alex expectantly, signalling for him to continue the conversation.
His brother rested an arm against the shelf for purchase, still slightly unsteady from just being winded by the buck, but he came to Louis’ rescue nonetheless.
‘Let’s just say that he’s got a bone to pick with the fuckers that run this country, he got rejected from Galdona—even though he’s smarter than 90% of the rich kids who go there. He wants in.’
Melon looked unimpressed.
‘That’s a nice sob story, but we don’t take in just any reject who got their feelings hurt by a university admissions team.’ He turned to Louis and narrowed his eyes. ‘Besides, you should have known better, they are a carnivore-only university.’ The deer groaned—as if he hadn’t been told that by so many people already. Melon turned back to Alex, not waiting for Louis’ response. ‘So, apart from some academic trauma, what can he actually offer us?’
‘Listen, as his brother, I promise that he’s worth our time… he’ll prove himself.’
When Melon’s expression didn’t change, Alex turned it up a notch. ‘Just give him a chance Mel—please? You won’t regret it, I promise.’ Louis wasn’t used to seeing his brother beg for things, and he would be lying if he said that it didn’t gave him a strange feeling seeing it firsthand.
Louis saw Melon’s eye twitch, as the gazelle-cheetah cleared his throat.
‘Buckhurst, two things.’ He got up and walked over to tower over Louis’ brother. ‘One, don’t ever call me ‘Mel’ again.’ He jabbed a pointy finger into Alex’s chest and glared down at the stag.
‘And two, you of all people should know that I do not place any importance on bloodlines. In fact, you could even say that I abhor them.’ He scoffed, picking at what Louis had just noticed were very sharp claws. Alex gulped.
‘I mean just look at him—kid’s clearly got some issues of his own that he needs to sort out. He’s not even able to speak for himself!’
He glanced over at Louis dismissively before rolling his eyes.
‘If he’s useless to us, then he’s not coming in—simple as that.’
That stung, being told that he was useless. As if he hadn’t heard it enough before: from Galdona, from his father. Being told that he was useless was essentially the story of Louis’ life. Alex opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it and hung his head.
‘Oh and, Buckhurst—make sure you knock him out before you leave, I don’t want to have to relocate base again.’ The gazelle-mix got up and made for the door.
‘I’m not useless.’ Louis muttered under his breath. To his right, Alex raised an eyebrow, before mouthing something to Louis. It didn’t matter, the buck wasn’t paying him any attention.
Melon paused in the doorway.
‘What?’
‘I said, I’m not useless.’ Louis repeated louder, getting up from his chair and walking towards the door where Melon stood.
Melon turned back towards him, a lackadaisical grin hung on his face. ’Oh really? And how are you going to show us that?’
Louis hesitated for a split-second, before committing:
’Fight me.’
‘Louis, this is crazy!’
In the corner of the space cleared in the centre of the chapter’s mess hall, Alex knelt down next to his brother; his face ashen with concern. It seemed like the buck was going to have quite an audience today—he didn’t even know the local chapter of the militia had this many members, as they crowded around the ring in the centre of the hall.
‘Don’t do this, please. You’re gonna get yourself hurt, this isn’t one of our play fights—this is serious!’
‘I’m fine, I can handle myself.’ Louis brushed his brother off and strode into the centre of the room, where an alpaca around his height stood. From the side of the room, he could see Melon watching attentively; beside him, a stone-faced rabbit with odd colouring, who he assumed was a co-leader of some kind, muttered comments to him in whispered breaths. The deer was still annoyed that the hybrid hadn’t agreed to fight him himself, although another part of him felt a slight relief that he wasn’t going to be facing up against those sharp claws.
Louis reached the centre of the ring, and stood face-to-face with the alpaca. His wool looked soft, his face cordial. Quite frankly, the deer had never seen quite such an unthreatening animal.
‘Hi!’ The alpaca smiled, in a way that was slightly too friendly given the context. ‘I’m San, nice to meet you, Louis.’
‘Hi, San.’ Louis nodded in acknowledgment. ‘So, what do you want me to do?’
‘Oh, it’s quite simple really. You just to need to overpower me, or at least try your best to. Just give me your all, and don’t hold back—no rules!’ He grinned.
They were counted down from 3, and on the count of 1, Louis lunged at San, rearing his antlers in the alpaca’s direction. San simply moved to the side, and stuck out his leg—sending Louis careening face-first to the ground.
Pain erupted all along his arms as he tried his best to brace his fall. The deer felt like his body was crying out for him to give up then and there, begging for mercy. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Alex’s posture tense up, see him grip his beer bottle with a rigid hand.
‘Not now’, he told himself as he inhaled—Louis Buckhurst was no quitter, and Louis Buckhurst was not weak.
He lay there for a moment, baiting the alpaca into coming over. But underneath his chest he balled up his fist, just like his brothers had taught him as a kid to protect himself on the estate. When he could see San’s shadow above him, he swung.
It didn’t quite connect, the alpaca’s reflexes shielded his face. But it did knock him in the shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.
San stumbled backwards, but when he looked up at Louis, all the deer could see was not anger, but instead what seemed to be a profound sadness in his gaze. The two ran at each other once more, this time locking hands in a wrestling match. Louis pushed up desperately against his opponent, audibly grunting as he felt every sinew in his arms strain. But underneath all that wool, San was clearly stronger, overpowering the deer and pinning him to the ground beneath him. Louis struggled frantically, screaming as he strained to move—but it was no use, the alpaca held him down with his weight.
So, the deer squeezed his eyes tight, and brought his forehead against the alpaca’s.
San howled and rolled off Louis as the deer tried to retreat to the corner of the ring, the world a blurry mess as he stumbled around blindly. The deer could just about make out the distant cheers of the crowd around them, despite the ringing in his ears and the blood he could feel trickling from a nondescript location on his face.
On the opposite side of the ring, he saw San wrench himself up, and Louis raised his fists in preparation. The alpaca strode towards the deer calmly, a practised step in his gait. When he reached the deer, Louis swung again. But before he could make contact, San’s hands shot out and hit the deer between the ribs.
The effect was immediate, as Louis gasped out in pain, staggering away from San as his ribcage lit up in flames. But it was no use, he had left himself unprotected, and the alpaca followed up with a square blow to his throat. The audience’s hollering grew further, more distant, as the deer fell to the ground, gasping for air.
His nose had begun to bleed quite profusely by this point, and just about every muscle group in his body was screaming at him to stop what he was doing. San loomed above him, and looking up into the harsh lighting that outlined his frame, it felt like the deer was looking at the silhouette of an uncaring god.
In the periphery of his vision, he thought he could see Alex looking away, the stag shielding his eyes from the finishing blow that was going to turn his little brother’s face into a bloodied pulp. Why had Louis insisted on doing this? It wasn’t like he was the only one being hurt by this, the distress on his brother’s face was evident.
San straddled Louis, breathing ragged, the same sad look in his eyes. He raised his fist, and Louis thought he could just about make out the alpaca whispering ‘I’m sorry’.
‘Sorry?’ Really? No one was going to finish off Louis with a fucking ‘sorry’.
The alpaca paused, confusion spreading across his face, as the deer below him began giggling maniacally.
‘W-what are you laughing about?’ He panted out, furry eyebrows knitted together with bemusement.
Louis didn’t respond, instead taking advantage of San’s momentary distraction. Using what strength he had left, Louis threw himself at the alpaca.
They slammed onto the hard ground, wrestling again for dominance. The deer screamed as he struggled. Not because of the pain, but with a raw primal rage that came from deep within. San managed to pin Louis again; but the alpaca, clearly seeing Louis angling for another strategic headbutt, took the deer’s shoulders and threw him backwards into the floor.
A cracking sound shot through the air, and Louis felt an abrupt warm sensation trickle down from the top of his head.
Oh.
So that’s why his head had been itching—makes sense.
In front of him, he could just about see San backing away, the alpaca’s face contorted in what looked to be horror. Well, alpacas didn’t have horns after all—Louis supposed that this wasn’t something he’d seen before.
To the uninitiated eye, he imagined he probably looked quite the sight. Blood pouring from the stumps on the top of his head, bruises all over his body; like something out of one of those herbivore boogey-man stories parents told their children to scare them into staying out of trouble.
Louis rolled onto his knees and, after a few failed attempts, eventually managed to lever himself up. He looked behind him to see where his antlers now lay detached from him on the ground.
Shame, he’d really liked that pair—they were the best he’d grown yet.
The mess hall had gone eerily silent, but Louis wasn’t done yet. Doing his best to wipe the blood out of his eyes, he began stalking down a now visibly pale San in the corner of the ring, the crowd clearing away from him as he did.
‘Stop!’ Someone cried out in the distance—or did they? Louis couldn’t really tell, his vision now tunnelled towards one thing, and one thing only: planting his fist as far into that alpaca’s face as possible.
From the corner, San looked him up and down, shaking—probably unsure how the deer was still standing, as Louis brought his arm up.
‘STOP!’
There it was again, that annoying voice. Fuck did they want?
He was about to make contact when–
‘I SAID STOP GODDAMMIT!’
That wasn’t Melon’s voice, so who–
A small furred hand tugged on his tail. Louis spun round to see the small rabbit with the strange fur colour. Who the fuck did she think she was? Pulling on his tail–
His face was immediately graced with the searing sting of a slap.
‘I fucking told you to stop, moron! Fight over! Rex—you’re just like your brother, always trying to get yourself fucking killed.’
She handed him a towel, and pointed at the crown of her head—as if Louis didn’t already fucking know where all the blood was coming from. Louis looked her once over, before bringing the towel to cover the top of his head.
‘Does– does this mean I’m in…?’ He just about managed to rasp out.
She shot him an exasperated look. ‘Yes! Fuck, you’re in, ok?’ The rabbit pinched the bridge of her nose. 'I’m not dealing with kids getting themselves killed just to prove a point today.’
The rabbit shooed him away in the direction of his brother.
‘Just… go get yourself cleaned up already. We’ll talk more later, when you’re not covered in blood.’
Louis nodded, and the rabbit went off to deal with the still shaky San behind him. With the world gradually dimming at its edges, Louis just about managed to stagger over to his brother, before collapsing in the stag’s arms.
‘Welcome to the family,’ the rabbit said, making no effort to conceal her lack of enthusiasm as they walked into a very messy office. Melon and the rabbit slumped down at their respective desks, a mountain of documents between them.
Louis ran his hand over his head again, feeling the now-bandaged stumps to check for bleeding. He heard his brother exhale behind him, probably still cooling down from the severe dressing-down he’d given the buck once he’d woken up after the fight.
Shouting match with his brother or not, that fight had been worth it.
The pair gestured for the brothers to sit.
‘So, what now…?’ Louis asked as he carefully sat down in the chair to avoid the pain rushing through his body again.
‘What do you mean, “what now”?’ Melon said, putting his feet up on the desk.
‘Well, what now for the militia? Anything I need to be aware of?’
Melon laughed. ‘That “what now” is none of your concern, unless we say otherwise.’ He leant under the desk and gathered together a large stack of papers, setting them down on the desk with a loud slam. Louis looked over at the pile, amazed that the rickety desk somehow hadn’t collapsed under the sheer weight of it.
He raised an eyebrow. ‘So, what do you want me to do, then?’
Melon grinned. ‘Well, while we look for a more permanent role for you, we’ve realised we have some demand for a paper-pusher around here; that’s “what’s now” for you.’ He tapped a finger on the stack of papers.
‘Your job is to see if you can sort through these records that we got from one of our informants. It’s for an upcoming operation—we’re looking for Greyson.’
Wait, wait—what? Louis’ jaw dropped. ‘Hey! You can’t just make me your fucking PA!’ He said angrily.
‘Actually? Last time I checked, I can.’
‘Well, that’s bullshit. I’m not doing that, count me the fuck out.’
‘Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, then? Your performance in the arena told us just about everything we needed to know about your fighting abilities—or lack thereof.’
Louis bristled at that, like hell was he going to let this genetic freak tell him what to do. He started trying to get up out of his seat, taking a deep breath into his lungs.
‘You mother–’
‘Louis.’
He felt a stern hand on his shoulder as his brother stopped him. The buck let himself be guided back down into his chair by Alex, as he tried his best to keep his mouth shut.
‘Kyuu, Mel, look, I get it. You guys have a bit of a shortage in the admin department… but Louis, Louis is so much more capable than that. And both of you know damn well that’s the truth.’
The buck looked over fondly at the older stag. For all the times that his brother was an asshole, he knew Alex would always have his back, one way or another.
Kyuu, whose name Louis just learnt, opened her mouth to say something—but she was promptly overridden by Alex.
‘Perhaps… Louis could know a few details about our upcoming op?’ The stag sat back and let a smug smile spread across his face as he waggled his eyebrows at the pair.
Melon’s expression was one of silent fury, and Louis found himself quietly revelling in it, as the gazelle hybrid spat out his response. 'Buckhurst, for the love of Rex, you’re walking on seriously thin ice right now. I’m warning you.’
‘Upcoming op…? Oh please, do tell—I’m all ears.’ Louis further goaded the pair.
As if boxed into a corner, Melon looked at Kyuu, then at the brothers, then back at Kyuu.
‘Well…?’ He asked her.
Kyuu shrugged. 'He looks ordinary enough—on the smaller side, no antlers is a plus as well. Could be of use,’ she muttered. Melon took another moment to consider, claws drumming on the armrest as he pondered. Eventually, the gazelle-cheetah acquiesced.
He narrowed his eyes at Alex. ’One fuck-up, and you’ll take the fall for this, Buckhurst. It’ll be national command dealing with this, and even I won’t be able to save you.’
Alex sat up in his chair, clearly caught by surprise. ‘Wait, what do you mean?’
Melon ignored him, turning to Louis. ‘You. One word about this to anyone, and we will know, and you’ll regret even thinking about telling them in the first place. Your brother won’t be able to help you, your Dad won’t be able to help you. No-one.’ He pushed the stack of papers off the table.
‘Got it?’
Louis nodded. ‘Got it.’
The hybrid sighed, and looked over at Kyuu.
‘I’m tired of talking, you do it.’ He said to her lazily.
Kyuu rolled her eyes, this clearly wasn’t the first time.
‘Fine. Militia’s planning a hit, a pretty big one. Target is a famous politician.’
She dug around underneath her desk, before pulling out a file out from a drawer and opening it to reveal a collection of schematics and pictures. She pointed at one photo of a smartly groomed wolf, and Louis was pretty sure he recognised him from somewhere. ‘Know this guy?’ Louis shook his head, and Kyuu sighed. ‘Impressive—strong start, kid.’ She dug deeper into the file and pulled out a few more sheets to lay out on the table. ‘Miyagi Greyson, Senator, and recently announced candidate for Beastar.’ She tapped on a picture of a clipping from a newspaper. ‘Militia recently tried to take him out at a rally, but as you might be able to tell by his not-being-deadness, the operation was bungled. Ended up hitting someone else instead.’
Louis eyes widened, and he felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple. The deer looked over at the photo in the clipping, showing a handsome young wolf being carried off stage, blood pouring down his face; just an hour ago Louis hadn’t looked too dissimilar.
‘W-was he ok…? The wolf...’ He pointed at the picture.
Kyuu raised an eyebrow at him. ‘What’s it matter to you…?’ When Louis shrugged, she sighed. ‘From what I can tell, yes. Shame really, he could’ve been great collateral.’
‘Right…’
‘Yeah. Anyways, since I’m assuming that you live under a rock, this Greyson has been a real general pain in the ass for us—and his supporters are hardly any better. Order’s from national command that he’s dealt with ASAP, and since he lives in Cherryton, it falls under our chapter.’
Louis sat back in his seat. ’So, how are you going to make sure the hit succeeds this time?’
‘We’re gonna bomb the shit out of his fancy-ass mansion.’
Oh.
Kyuu pointed at him. ‘And I think you’ve just landed yourself a role in doing that.’
Louis grinned through a bruised face, perhaps his ability to charm hadn’t worn off after all. But to his left, the deer thought he heard his brother’s breath hitch ever so slightly.
They were then awkwardly shuffled into yet another incredibly crowded room, but the difference was that this one actually had about a dozen animals in it, not just stacks of paper. All voices went silent, as they turned to face the group that had just come in. Louis recognised a few of them from his fight crowd earlier, the very same animals that had cheered on as that alpaca beat his face into the bruised mess it was currently. Alex had been unusually quiet ever since his participation in the operation had been confirmed, Louis supposed he would have to ask about that later.
Kyuu cleared her throat as they walked in. ‘Everyone, meet the newest member of the team—Louis.’
The deer gave his best confident smile to a room of unfamiliar faces, but just as quickly as they looked up, everyone went back to what they were doing before. The rabbit beckoned them up to a large board at the front of the room, depicting what looked to be a house with a square footage that was probably larger than all of the flats in Louis’ tower block combined.
‘The house in question.’ She gestured to the blueprint behind her.
Louis studied the blueprint for a while, as Kyuu gave him a brief rundown of the plan. The operative was going to take advantage of the foliage in the garden to obscure themselves from the scheduled patrols of the grounds by the guards. Said operative would then file their way along the back of the house, eventually planting the bomb just outside the house’s master bedroom; which, conveniently for them, had large windows overlooking the house’s expansive gardens. Once in safe range, kaboom—light the place up like a Rexmas tree.
It seemed simple enough, but one question lingered in the deer’s mind: ‘How on earth are we going to get into this compound without setting off the alarms?’
Kyuu’s reaction was surprisingly muted. ‘We go in via the side gate, using a staff keycard.’
‘And you somehow have one of those?’
‘No, not yet, but…’ she looked over at Alex, ‘your brother here has conveniently found a way for us to source one.’
When Louis attempted to inquire about this, he was immediately shut down by his brother with a dismissive wave of the hand. Rex, what’d gotten into that stag?
He turned back to face Kyuu. ‘So… it’ll be Alex who's doing this then?’
Kyuu shrugged. ’Well, that was the original plan… he is one of our most experienced field agents after all. But…’ She tapped the top of her head, ‘those antlers of his make him pretty distinctive, don’t you think? So here’s where you come in.’
‘Oh?’ Louis heart rate quickened slightly—and, in the corner of his vision, he saw his brother visibly tense up. She stepped up to the deer, closing the distance between them. ‘You didn’t think we were just showing you all of this top-secret information for fun, did you?’ A slightly-disconcerting smile crept across her face.
‘You’ll be the one doing the infiltration, Louis.’
The train ride back was tense, and the two brothers sat in silence as the still-empty carriage rattled through the barren neighbourhoods of the city’s herbivore district back to Stoneybrook. Alex had refused to even look at him after they’d left the chapter’s base, except for when he’d had to blindfold the buck before the went out the entrance. ‘We’ll give you one day. Give us a ring on this, and make it count.’ Kyuu’s words still repeated in his head, as Louis silently regretted not making up his mind there and then. One day wasn’t a lot of time, but really, the deer already knew what his final decision was going to be. Who was he to pass up a chance to make something of himself? And, more importantly, one that was divorced from the wishes of his father?
No, it wasn’t that the deer needed any time to think through a foregone decision—really, he just wanted to find out what the hell was up with his brother. The stag was sitting next to him in stony silence, eyes fixed on the ground, hands shoved in his pockets. Louis looked him up and down inquisitively, before prodding him lightly on the arm.
Alex ignored him, and so Louis poked him again, and again, and again—until eventually he’d taken the stag’s entire arm in his hands and was shaking him as hard as he could, which was no easy feat, given Louis’ small size.
Alex sighed with frustration, and looked over at his younger brother.
‘What?’ His tone seemed faraway, distant.
‘What’s up with you?’ Louis got right to the point.
‘Nothing… just…’ Alex sighed. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Don’t understand what?’
‘–don’t understand why they’d just let you do that… do an operation that’s been in the works for months.’
Louis chuckled. ‘Maybe they trust my ability to sweet-talk the guards if I get caught more than yours.’ He smiled at his brother, who didn’t reciprocate.
They sat in silence for a while longer, eventually reaching their station.
‘Louis.’ Alex said after the buck vaulted over the barriers, touching down on the other side with a practiced ease. It was easier now, being liberated of his antlers meant less counterbalancing their weight, after all.
‘Yeah?’ The deer looked over his shoulder. He snorted, ‘don’t tell me you’re about to lecture me about fare evasion—you’re equally as guilty of it as I am.’
‘No, it’s not that.’ Alex closed the gap between them as he too slid over the ticket gates, ignoring the forlorn gaze of the stationmaster in the ticket booth to their right; it was Stoneybrook, no-one here ever paid their fare. The stag put a hand on the buck’s shoulder, in what Louis assumed was an attempt at being sincere. ’Louis, I don’t want you doing it.’
The deer shoved the stag’s hand off his shoulder, and they walked out into the cool night air. ’Why?’
Alex shrugged. ‘It just seems… odd. Something’s off, I know Mel and Kyuu. There’s no way they’d let someone with no experience do something as important as this.’
‘You heard what they said, having no antlers and being small makes me an ideal candidate for it.’
‘Yeah, but—they have plenty of other agents who can do that as well.’
The deer felt his eye twitch slightly. ‘Alex, don’t you dare try to fuck this up for me, I swear to Rex if you try anything–’
The two brothers spent most of the rest of their walk home from the station bickering, while also trying their best to keep their voices down due to the content of their discussion. It was getting late, and as they began their climb up the stairs to the flat—out of breath after talking in circles for too long—Louis received a text from Charlie asking where they were.
Alex saw and told him to tell their brother to let them in quietly, so as to not wake their father while trying to force open their door’s defective lock from the outside.
‘Oh, hey Lou–’. Charlie was about to give Louis a hug when he opened the door, as he usually did, before he recoiled in horror after seeing the buck’s bruised features and lack of antlers. ‘Whoa- what the fuck? Louis, what happened?!’
Louis was unsure what lie to fabricate—but it was pointless anyways, he knew his brother wouldn’t believe any of them, so he just said nothing.
Charlie stared at Louis a while longer, taking in the state of Louis’ face, before he shot Alex a cold glare. He sighed. ’Fuck me, I’m too tired to deal with this right now. There’s ice in the freezer, Lou.’ He said, before promptly turning around to go back to bed.
‘Charlie.’ Alex said.
The deer stopped in the corridor, his posture rigid.
He was silent for a moment, before replying. ‘Yes?’
‘Let’s talk—kitchen, now.’ Alex beckoned for Louis to follow.
The three brothers sat down at the kitchen table under the dim flicker of the ceiling lamp, Charlie’s face contorted into an expression of displeasure of not only having to talk to his older brother, but also at being forced to stay up this late on a work night. The silence between them stretched on for what felt like an unbearable eternity, before Charlie finally decided to break it.
‘What do you want, Alex?’ He sighed. ‘Where have you two been all day anyways? And what the hell happened to Louis’ face?’
The stag shrugged. ‘That isn’t your concern, and it shouldn’t be anyways.’ He reached inside his jacket pocket, and pulled out a string of photos to lay on the table. ‘But this,’ he pointed at the incriminating evidence, ‘this should be.’
Louis saw his brother’s face go pale, and when he leant over to get a better look at the photos, he immediately knew why.
Each of the photos, clearly taken from a distance due to their grainy quality, showed two figures. One of them, the one with horns, was unmistakably Charlie. But the other figure Louis didn’t recognise at first. Then he did.
A tiger.
The content of the last photo was the worst: Charlie and the tiger, mouths pressed together, arms around each other.
Charlie swore and lunged for the photos, but Alex was faster, wrapping them around in his hand.
‘The fuck– where the FUCK did you get these?’ Charlie stood up angrily, the kitchen light above them swinging precariously as his antlers bumped into it.
Alex remained calm, he didn’t flinch. ‘Where I got these from doesn’t matter. What I’ll do with them if you don’t co-operate, that’s what matters.’
‘Now,’ the stag pointed down at the chair, ‘sit down.’
Charlie did as he was told, and Louis could see that he was shaking slightly.
‘Charlie… what– why…?’
Louis couldn’t quite find the words to convey his thoughts, because right now, the deer honestly felt like he was going to be sick. An acrid taste formed on his tongue, and Louis had to grip the edge of the table to steady himself. Charlie avoided eye contact with him altogether, burying his face in his hands and sobbing.
‘What… what do you want…’ Louis wasn’t sure he’d ever heard his usually upbeat brother sound so utterly defeated. Alex leant over and tapped the table.
‘Your work access card—give it to me, and none of this goes anywhere. For now.’
Charlie looked up at him, his eyes were red, cheeks damp.
‘My access card… b-but why? What do you want with it?’
‘None of your concern.’
‘But… I have work tomorrow!’
‘Then just say you lost it.’
Alex held out his hand expectantly. Charlie hadn’t agreed yet, but both he and Louis knew that he couldn’t, and wouldn’t say no. Reluctantly, the deer reached into his jacket and pulled out his wallet, pressing the card firmly into Alex’s outstretched palm. In return, the stag flicked the string of photos across the table, and Charlie gathered them up hastily, shoving them into his pocket.
Louis opened his mouth to speak, to say something. But the words died on his tongue, because he had none. He had no words for his brother, who he’d once respected even more than Alex, who he now didn’t know if he’d ever even truly knew.
What did they call it in books? Fraternising with the enemy? And yet somehow this was worse than that, because it wasn’t just fraternising—it was full-on fucking.
‘You can go.’ Alex said flatly, and Charlie got up from the kitchen table slowly. His eyes met Louis’ briefly, but Louis broke the contact immediately, unable to look his brother in the eyes.
‘Sweet dreams, carnifucker.’ Alex spat, and Charlie swore at him before storming out of the kitchen.
Louis slept on the living room couch that night. Part of him couldn’t bear to be in the same room as his brother right now, let alone the same bunk. His brother, his own brother, had been tonguing with a fucking tiger. He’d heard his brother sobbing from the down the hallway for most of the night, they’d only stopped about an hour or so ago.
The deer turned onto his back. It wasn’t even just revulsion that he felt, it was betrayal. Azuki’s birth parents, his friend from school, their own fucking mother — how could Charlie forget what they had taken from them? What had his brother done with those thoughts when he’d pressed his lips against the tiger’s? When he’d let those clawed hands roam all over his body to places unknown?
Louis groaned and turned over again, not wanting to even begin picturing that, lest he feel like he was going to be sick again. The deer looked at the clock on the wall:
6.30am.
Sleep was probably pointless at this point, he wasn’t going to get much of it anyways, not after the events of last night. Swinging his legs off the couch, he felt around in his trouser pocket for the piece of paper Kyuu had given him.
He flipped open his phone, eyes squinting at the harsh glare that illuminated the darkness of the living room, and began punching in the number.
The phone rang for two beats, before the line went active.
‘Well?’ Said a familiar voice.
Louis took a deep breath, and stood up from the couch to look out of the window at the rising sun, as it crested the snowy horizon. He hesitated for a moment, before bringing the phone to his mouth.
‘I’m in.’
Notes:
This long-ass chapter was simultaneously such a joy and such a pain to write, but at least we now have an idea of what Louis' idea of 'crazy' really is! Thanks for sticking with me in the meantime, everyone. :)
And also, sorry it's taken a while, I've been horrendously busy with school, tests blah blah blah (you know the story by now). Buttt, I've just submitted my application to medical school! So hopefully I should be a *bit* less busy now.
Also, I know this story is quite OC heavy, but I'm a big believer that OC's can be good as long as they serve a purpose in the story. But, please let me know what you think of Louis' brothers! :)
And finally, the keen eyed among you might be able to see how the events of this chapter are going to lead to our two protagonists meeting in the next one!! (YES, I KNOW, IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING.)
Excited to see you guys when that happens!!
–Yan
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