#vanna apologized as soon as it happened

[veggieteensofficial]

Hey @veggieteensofficial are you ever gonna do Boyz in the sink or Vanna Banana in the series as well as some bios for them. I'm just really curious and I'm glad your posting again. And like Larry would say. "OH WHERE IS MY HAIRBRUSH!!!"

Hello and yes!

Though I do ask for your patience. As always, life manages to get in the way of me posting on a regular basis.

Lately, because of work, school, and other events, I’m not able to draw and pump out content like I want to. just so you know, it will be a little bit. Please understand. I apologize it’s taking sooo long. But please know it will happen fairly soon. :)

Thank you for your patience!

[sageblogsthings]

🌹

Vanna slouched across the table, squeezing Xalia’s hand in apology.

[pidayforpi]

“Flickering Flames”

Two waterfowls stood in front of a castle. A duck and a goose, to be exact.

Though it was already spring, the highlands of Scotland beckoned cold wind from all directions.

The green duck stood unfazed, but his yellow goose companion was shaking from the chilly wind, despite the goose wearing twice the amount of clothing of the duck.

Seeing his friend trembling in the cold, the duck reached out for the goose’s tiny palm. Although, their hands were equally cold.

He might not be able to warm his body, but he could at least warm his heart.

——————————————————————

Duckula put down the heavy bag of golf equipments, and knocked on the castle gate. He tapped his feet impatiently, hoping to quickly get this chore done. He believed Heinrich would like the same, as he was visibly very, very cold.

How Duckula wished he could understand his feeling right now. Vampires were permanently cold. No matter it was in the scalding summer, or the snowy winter, Duckula could only feel...nothing at all.

Perhaps there really was a difference. Duckula had been trying to be empathetic, but there were still a lot to learn.

Through the air current, he could hear grunting, wheezing, mumbles and footsteps. The resident was awake. Or, woken up. At least he knew he didn’t have to knock again. The least he wanted was to annoy the already grumpy old duck inside.

The huffing and puffing got closer and closer to the entrance, while the footsteps got louder and louder. Eventually, the wooden gate creaked open, and the master of the castle inquired after a cough.

“Where are ye frae? Where are ye fr- Oh, it’s ye lads...” Rory spoke from behind the door of his home, with only his crimson eyes visible to both guests outside.

Heinrich slightly tightened his grasp on Duckula’s hand in the presence of another vampire, while the older duck greeted his relative playfully.

“Good mornin’ Unca Rory! We are here to return these golf-“

“Get in!” Rory shouted from inside the building, interrupting his nephew.

“Huh?” Duckula was a bit confused, but continued nonetheless. “We will be dropping these golf equipments you-“

“Get in and we’ll talk!”

“R-really! We are just going to return these thingies you lent us for preparing the Highland Games. Won’t take you a min-“

“GET IN THE BLOODY CASTLE! YE TRYIN’ TO KILL ME, LAD?!”

Rory screamed at the top of his lungs, jumping up and down the stone floor grumpily. The shouting caused him to cough afterwards, and the two younger birds to stand still in shock.

Duckula felt wronged. He was just trying to give his uncle back his golf tools, and now he was overreacting hysterically, as if Duckula had placed a bomb in the bag. He believed none of the people present would want to prolong this meeting: Duckula was bored, Heinrich was freezing, and Uncle Rory was...well, stingy, even with time. He just wanted to say hi, drop the bag, and go home. How was this killing his uncle?

Just when Duckula was still processing and feeling bad for himself, Heinrich tugged his sleeves to gain his attention. The shorter gosling pointed up, signalling the green duck to look up. He did so, shielding his eyes from the morning sunlight-

Oh. Sunlight.

Duckula suddenly remembered not all vampires were immune to sunlight.

In fact, he’s the only one.

Duckula sheepishly grinned, sticking the tip of his tongue out. “S-sorry, Unca Rory...” Heinrich, despite innocent, also bowed his head in apology.

Rory grumbled lowly, controlling his temper with a deep breath. “It’s alright, nephew. And don’t call me that.”

——————————————————————

The two youngsters followed Rory into the castle. He lit the candles on the dining table, the torches on the wall, and the fireplace opposite of the gate.

“Take a seat.” Rory signalled his two guests to sit down at the long dinning table situated in the living room, even pulling out two chairs himself. The two felt a bit uneasy, but sat down with a nod of gratitude nevertheless.

After they had settled, Rory proceeded to what they assumed to be the kitchen or the pantry. Duckula and Heinrich looked at each other in confusion as sounds of running water, clanking utensils and liquid boiling echoed from wherever the host was. Their questions were soon answered, however, when Rory returned to the living room with a tea pot and three cups on a tray. The smell of camomile tea filled the area, giving the spacious room a homely feeling.

Both the mallard duck and the gosling were surprised. They were just here to return some stuff, and now they were treated like  old friends from afar.

“W-woah! Unca...I mean, Uncle Rory, that’s...very kind of you...!” Duckula exclaimed. Even his butler wouldn’t serve him (pure) tea without him asking in the first place. Not to mention Rory was his senior.

“I have to live up me name as the ‘Scourge of the Glens’!” Rory proudly said as he put down the tray. He poured some tea into two of the three cups, and put them on top of two circular plates, before serving them to the two guests.

“S-s-so...y-you are g-going to p-p-poison us...?” Heinrich whispered, looking at the yellowish-green liquid suspiciously.

Seeing his good intentions were not well-received, Rory again hopped up and down, throwing his hands, along with his wooden cane, in the air.

“Then don’t drink it, I dare ye!”

And the two guests really did not touch the two cups for half a minute.

Not wanting his freshly brewed tea to go to waste, Rory eventually gave in.

“It’s not poisoned, I promise.”

Seeing that both cups were filled from the same tea pot, Duckula took the initiative and drank his cup first. Hopefully whatever poison (if present) worked for both vampires and mortals, so that he could be a viable test for toxin.

Of course it wasn’t toxic.

After witnessing his friend drinking his cup without appearing sick afterwards, Heinrich slowly picked up his and took a sip. Still hot. Perfect for his freezing body.

“S-sorry for doubting y-you, Mister McDuckula...” Heinrich looked at Rory shyly, regretful for mistaking his hospitality for hostility.

Rory’s expression softened when he heard the gosling’s apology. “It...it’s fine, laddie.”

“Heh. You should have seen Heinrich’s reaction when I handed him a Bockwurst sandwich!” Duckula beamed, recalling his first encounter with his little goose friend.

Heinrich blushed with embarrassment. “D-D-D-Duckula! I h-haff s-said I vas s-s-sorry!”

“Oh? What was it about, nephew?” Rory leant onto the table with a curious grin.

“Same as what happened just now, only it took him waaaaaaaay longer to get used to.”

Rory chuckled, crooking his already crooked back. Duckula scooted closer to his friend. “Sorry, Heinrich. It just reminded me of that day.”

Heinrich was still pouting a bit, but his cheek had returned from pink to yellow.

“Don’t blame yerself, kiddo. Ye’re a vampire hunter, after all. It is a foolish act to accept food or drink from a vampire. Ye never know if that meal will be yer last, before ye become one yerself!” Rory reassured Heinrich with a pat on his head, who smiled nervously in response.

“So, err, what are ye two here for today?” Rory finally questioned his two uninvited guests about their intentions, while pouring himself a cup of home-brewed tea.

Duckula remembered why they were here, and quickly put down his cup. “Oh! We are here to return these.”

Duckula picked up the heavy bag from the floor, jogging to the other side of the table, while Heinrich followed.

“Thank you for lending us your precious golf equipments! We won’t disappoint you in the coming Highland Games!” Duckula handed the bag with a smile.

“Lemme see...Three flags, five golf clubs, seven golf balls...Yes. Exact amount. Learnt yer lesson from the last time, hm?” Rory glared at Duckula, who let out an anxious chuckle.

He then turned his focus onto Heinrich, before smirking mischievously.

“Say, nephew. Ye do know how to please an elderly. So nice of ye to bring me...breakfast.” Rory stared at the gosling straight in his eyes, causing the latter to cling closer to his friend.

Duckula understood his uncle’s “joke”, and sighed. “He’s not your breakfast, lunch, dinner or midnight snack.”

“Then why are ye bringing him to me lair? Ye do realise...I am...a vampire!” Rory hid his face behind his cloak mysteriously, before revealing himself, showing his sharp, white fangs with an evil smile. Heinrich gasped, rushing to hide behind Duckula.

On the other hand, Duckula was visibly unamused. “So am I, uncle. He’s just accompanying me. And his name is Heinrich. You know that.”

Rory laughed to himself, before questioning his nephew again. “I think he is with the doctor?”

Duckula rubbed his forehead. “That’s a long story. Goosewing got to attend an inventors’ conference today, and Vanna also got lessons at the university. So I am taking care of Heinrich for the day.”

“And before you ask, no. I won’t leave him behind at the castle. I can’t guarantee I can return his assistant alive to Goosewing. He would definitely be killed, intentionally by Igor, unintentionally by Nanny.”

“Then why didn’t ye send yer dear butler Igor to do the chore? Ye’re a count, for heaven’s sake!”

“This is a small task. I can handle it myself.”

Rory raised an eyebrow at Duckula’s response, obviously not buying his explanation. Duckula saw the suspicion in his uncle’s red eyes, and let out a big sigh.

“Okay, you got me. Igor is on strike.” Duckula confessed.

“For?”

“For...him.” The count moved to the side, gesturing the young vampire hunter behind him.

“Even for a year, he still can’t accept Heinrich and his family. That stubborn old vulture...How can I possibly entrust Heinrich to him? I can’t even let Heinrich out of my sight at the castle! Might as well take him with me...”

“...Even someone else’s castle is safer than mine...”

Duckula sulked, looking down at his webbed feet. Heinrich also lowered his head with a frown, feeling sorry for Duckula, and even more guilty for worsening the relationship between the count and the butler.

After ten seconds of hanging his head down, Duckula snapped out of his thought. He realised the awkward situation he had made. He just vented out his family conflict all of a sudden, making Heinrich extremely guilty and Rory rather uncomfortable.

“I...I am sorry...” Duckula’s eyes darted between his friend and uncle, desperately trying to reverse the situation. But he didn’t know what to say other than apologies. “I am sorry...I am sorry...”

Rory took a deep breath, and sighed quietly. He also didn’t expect the just-warmed-up room to freeze again in a mere minute. But if the atmosphere had turned serious, he might as well go along.

“C’mere, kids.”

He placed all the tea utensils onto the large rectangular tray, and picked it up. He turned around, inviting the two to join him.

The elderly walked towards the fireplace, while the two youngsters followed in silence. He placed the tray onto the coffee table next to the fire pit, and sat down on one of the two sofa chairs facing the fire. He gestured his hand to the other chair, asking the duo to sit.

“Y’know, ye aren’t the first Duckula-Von Goosewing friend duo I know.” Rory looked at the cracking flames, seeing memories of the past emerging from the burning firewood.

“I may be a hermit, but news comes and goes. And this bag o’ feathers has been around for who knows how long.”

“I have even met one pair in person - more than one pair, actually. Usually, the drake count would be introducing his new gander friend to this  relative of his, perhaps a symbol of genuine friendship.”

“Sometimes the goose would be angry. Sometimes he would be scared. Sometimes he would be rather easy-going. Whatever their first impression, we would always have fun while we could. I always served them camomile tea on their first visit. They say camomile tea can calm ones’ nerves, whether it is fear or agitation.”

“They might visit once, thrice, five times, ten times...”

The old vampire stared at the flickering flames: Sometimes roaring, sometimes dying. His pleasant smile changed to a melancholy frown, his pupils dilating from sorrowful reminiscence.

“But they all stopped coming, eventually.”

“Perhaps they were tired of me, or they never intended to visit me regularly. But no. They stopped visiting anyone. Not together. Not anymore.”

“And before long, I would hear from the newspapers, that a member of the Von Goosewing family managed to vanquish another reincarnation of the foul Count Duckula, granting peace to the people of Transylvania for a century.”

“Or maybe, during family reunions, I would hear from the current Count Duckula himself, that he managed to trick a Von Goosewing into having his neck bitten, making a meal out of him and a humiliation out of his family.”

Rory turned his face away from the two and towards the fireplace. He sniffed gently as he looked into the flames of destiny. Life really was as fickle as fire, wasn’t it?

“And then a pair of duck and goose would visit me again. And another, and another, and another...”

“I would always welcome them with a smile and a pot of camomile tea. But I knew: There could only be two endings, both of which were tragedies.”

“I should had warned them. I should had told them the cautionary tales of their ancestors. But I was such a coward. But I was such a selfish person. Who am I to intervene with the relationships between Counts of Duckula and the Von Goosewing?”

“I didn’t want trouble. I didn’t want responsibility. I kept me beak shut. I witnessed tragedies after tragedies. I faced this punishment again and again.”

Rory took off his red tam o’ shanter, holding it in front of his chest. He closed his eyes, praying quietly.

Duckula and Heinrich looked at the elderly in awe. Surprised that they weren’t the first, sad that they weren’t the first as well. They could only imagine what tales of woe had happened in the past, and the feelings of regret the old vampire had been experiencing.

After a minute of silence, Rory put his cap back on, turning to face the two friends.

“Pray, I beg of ye. Pray don’t let this relationship end with a stake through the heart. Don’t let this friendship end with a bitten neck. Let it end with a genuine smile. No...”

Rory leant closer to the two, his crimson eyes filled with sorrow, his hands held tightly together.

“Pray, never let this friendship end...”

He freed his right hand, extending its pinkie.

“Promise me...Promise me...”

Rory looked at Duckula and Heinrich with utmost sincerity. It must be a request like no other, when the “Scourge of the Glens” practically begged and resorted to such childish promise-keeping ritual. Neither the mallard duck nor the young goose would understand how Rory felt, but they knew it must had been truly devastating for him.

This time, Heinrich took the lead, and stretched out his pinkie to hold onto the old duck’s. Duckula was a bit surprised at his normally cowardly friend’s initiative, but he understood once he saw the empathy in the gosling’s yellow eyes.

Duckula looked at his uncle with determination, and extended his pinkie.

A pinkie promise, but a promise stronger than any other.

“Thank you, lads...”

Rory hugged the duck and the gosling, tears flowing out of his crimson eyes.

For once, the flames in the fireplace did not die out.

——————————————————————

“Sorry, boys. Must had been embarrassing seeing this old duck weep.”

Rory settled back in his seat, wiping away traces of tears with his sleeves.

“It’s o-okay, Mister McDuckula. I c-cry all ze time.” Heinrich beamed, his smile spreading onto Rory’s face.

“Ye really are a kind child, Heinrich. The doctor is blessed to have ye as his assistant.”

“T-t-thank you so much, Mister McDuckula!”

“And ye too, nephew.” Rory smiled at Duckula. “A thoughtful and responsible young man. I am honoured to have ye as me guest at ‘Glen Sparrows Hotel’.”

Duckula blushed at his uncle’s compliment. “Aw, shucks...”

With another deep breath, Rory got up from his seat.

“Thank you for hearing this geezer’s mumbling. Shall I see ye out?”

Duckula exchanged gazes with Heinrich, who affirmed with a nod.

“Actually, if you don’t mind...” Duckula stood up, holding the tray in his hands and a smile on his face. “We would like another cup of camomile tea.”

Rory blinked a few times, feeling his heart getting sour again. He held back his tears, forcing a grin.

“Then ye better have some interesting stories up yer sleeves! This tea ain’t free! And I have told ye so much, ye better have something equivalent!” Rory took the tray to the kitchen, teasing his nephew and his friend.

“You bet I do, Uncle Rory!”

And so, a blood-sucking vampire, a vegetarian vampire and a vampire hunter’s assistant spent a day at the castle on the highlands of Scotland.

Windy the mountains might be, the stone wall kept the castle a homely abode. Quiet the wilderness might be, the laughter of its occupants kept the castle a joyful place.

The flames in the fireplace were still burning, forever sincere and pure.

(28-12-2020 ~ 31-12-2020)

———————————————————————

- The “Bockwurst Sandwich” incident is a part of Duckula’s first encounter with Heinrich (and vice versa). This will be included in my coming long story detailing the start of their friendship. Bockwurst sandwich is the favourite food of (my) Heinrich, by the way.

- I had thought for some time about where to end this story. I usually end my stories with a conversation, so I was thinking with the “We would like another cup of camomile tea” or “You bet I do” sentences. Eventually, I decided to end this with the fireplace, with “fire” symbolising “friendship”, and also use it as the story title.

[askdawnandvern]

Vernon: Er...I don't know iffin' I want to touch on that.

Zach: C'mon now Vern, the little Miss ain't here fer this one. So it ain't like it's gonna make her feel bad.

Vernon: What if she reads this later?

Vanna: Not to put more strain on you Vernon, but if I recall Dawn is quite adamant about facing the truth in order to heal. She doesn't want to 'forget' what she did so that she can continually strive to be a better mammal.

Vernon: Yeah, but hearin' the same stories constantly can't be good fer long term moral. How many times we gotta talk about these experiences before it's 'enough'?

Dorian: One last time then? Fer the sake of who asked it. After that, we'll try and avoid this kinda talk from now on.

Vernon: *Sigh* Fine...Well....Durin' the incident I was in college, studyin' architecture. When it first came to light that preds were goin' 'Savage', most of the folks at school thought it was some sorta disease.

Vanna: There was a similar sentiment at the ZPD. Although there were a few who feared-.

Vernon: That it really did have something to do with a preds 'nature'?

Vanna: *Nods*

Vernon: Well there were no shortage of them folks too, especially among the prey students. Eventually, protests broke out, prey protestin' preds goin' to school durin' the epidemic, preds standing up for their rights to go. I tried to keep my head down and out of it, focusin' on the schoolwork and leavin' my personal worries about the howler fer when I was home. But eventually things got so bad most of the pred folk were permitted to stay home and finish out their classes online to avoid any trouble on campus, and I took the out.

Zach: We had to deal with a lot of sheep protestin', neighbors we thought we knew startin' to look at us sideways.

Dorian: Prey became more aggressive outta fear, made 'em less cooperative with us preds in law-enforcement. Then as things got worse a bunch of our pred officers started stayin' home and refusin' to work. They were afraid of turnin' on a neighbor or innocent citizen at the drop of a hat due to whatever the howler was. That left us purty strained, lots of long shifts on nothin' but coffee fumes and collapsing into bed as soon as we finally got home only to get about two to three hours sleep at most.

Vanna: The ZPD also started losing officers in droves. Those preds who didn't see themselves shifted to out of sight desk positions either resigned or took out all their vacation days in order to wait out the storm, even if there didn't seem to be an end in sight.

Yuri: Seaodder didn't see to much of a frenzy over it. I mean there were o' course the hushed whispers of stuff among the preds on the force and a few prey perps, but generally the fact that it hadn't spread outside of Zootopia's borders kept it from affectin' thangs all too much.

Xavier: It was similar in San Francisgoat, although it was definitely more talked about. Nearly every public television was constantly fixed to ZNN, keeping the howler epidemic on almost every mammal's mind.

Malcolm: It was a frequent topic of conversation at the diner. Pred and prey musin' over the cause, arguments sometimes breakin' out whenever someone started to lean on what that bunny said might of been the cause. Had to kick a few customers out over them kinda scrapes.

Xavier: On the streets however, most mammals were still civilized. No riots, no protests. If it wasn't in our state, it wasn't urgent.

Trenton: Durin' the Howler scare, I got a lot of uncomfortable glares from the various burrowfolk I had to deal with. Not that I didn't get them before, there just was a sharp uptick. It weren't all that much of a surprise though. In the burrows, old beliefs die hard, and new 'evidence' just provides vindication.

Qali: It was hard not just for my family, but our community. Foxes glen is largely a pred town. Foxes, wolves, a stray puma or bear. Our prey population is very small. But during the howler epidemic it got that much smaller. A lot of the prey folk went on long term trips to stay with family, and some went as far as moving out entirely. Thankfully it didn't cut into the local economy too sharply, but it took a bit of a toll on moral, and it made a lot of us scared that our farms would go under due to the pervading fear of predators cutting our customer count during harvest season.

Wade: I was put behind a desk, as was my partner. Of course, it was a huge strain on Precinct three, not just because we were put behind the desk, but more than half of our staff was. I mean, it's no secret that the Tundratown ZPD is made up largely of pred officers. The other precincts had to help pick up the slack, and they were already strained as it was. As fer my personal life, I played it like Vern. Kept my head down, limited myself to work and home, and to occasional grocery pick up. I was just prayin' it would all blow over soon.

Ada: While it may have been easy for ol' Yuri dere, da hospital was hell. Wese always had an issue wit employee retention, but neva was it more strained den durin' da night howler ting. I mean, da hospital was considad ground zero at da time in toims of gettin' infected. Most preds taught it was a disease, and so woikin' a hospital was a big risk in most o' dere eyes. It also made prey patient more scared of bein' treated by pred doctas' to da point where we always had to have a big, honkin' prey nurse accompany every prey docta around to put da patient at ease.

Audrey: Thankfully it wasn't the season for corn and pies or I'm sure my stall woulda suffered fer it, but I still got looks from the neighbors, hell even old friends. Mammals I knew since I was a pup even hesitated around me just a might. They may not a thought I noticed, but I did. I can't say it didn't make me sad, but I can't say I blame 'em either.

Vernon: Afterward? Well I mean things mostly went back to how they was. Sure, there was a few pred supremacist marches and so on, but the quickly tapered off as the majority of the city seemed more interested in mendin' the wounds. Most mammals weren't willin' to hear out folk blamin' 'all sheep' fer what happened, rather than the actual...er...culprit...and I'm thankful for that.

Dorian: It was worse up here, as y'all know. The native wolves dug in sharply, takin' the opportunity of what Dawn did to try and draw more folks into their way of thinkin'. And of course, y'all know what happened next...

Zach: I still don't regret it. If not for saving that little lambs life, than for the damage the shooting did to that little attempt at a native wolf revival movement. Pretty much all support fer anti-prey sentiment dried up thanks to that nut and his pistol.

Wade: Me and my partner went right back on duty. It was almost as if nothing had changed, which was kind of a relief. I was afraid there would be a dark cloud hanging over the station ferever after what happened. But hey, that's the Tundra Town way I guess, resilient in the face of unyielding cold and what not.

Qali: While the mammals who moved away never actually returned, maybe because it was easier, or maybe out of shame, the other families did. Most of the prey who returned went above and beyond to apologize to everyone they could, of course most refused to accept the apology, my Dad included.

Ada: Dat's cold.

Qali: Not like that. I mean they felt that their neighbors had nothing to apologize for. Most of them felt that had they been in the shoes of their prey neighbors, they would have done the same, especially if the had kits. Still, that didn't stop most of the pred families from getting buried in baked goods. *giggles*

Vanna: I transferred to the North Meadowlands, so my experience was muted significantly. By the time I was working with Zach, the tension in the community was fading fast.

Macolm: Things purty much went back to normal at my diner. The arguments over what was the cause o' the whole night howler problem went right back to arguin' over who's sport team was the best.

Xavier: Only thing that changed for me at that point was an uptick in discrimination suits. Most of the prey discriminating predator out of fear of the whole night howler issue when it was thought to be an illness or mental problem. Despite the case being solved, those civil suits still needed to be settled regardless, although if I remember most of the prey mammals in those cases ended up settling.

Ada: Da hospital was still strained o' course, but it was less bad den it was durin' da whole epidemic. Da patients got less finnicky about who took care of 'em, and we even managed to snag some new recruits afta a few weeks to lessen da load on da rest of us.

Audrey: After what happened to Zach, any bit o' hesitation on the part of my neighbors and friends kinda vanished overnight, instead replaced with guilty admissions and lump sum payments in baked goods.

Vernon: I hope y'all got what ya wanted to hear from this...I don't imagine it was too entertainin'...

Wade: Kind of a downer really...

Vernon: But now we never have to talk about this again...I hope.

[blastovkatamarinecromancy]

[OC] Chapter 4 - The Phantom Revenge Strikes Back!

And the 4th chapter of my OCs, the Mu5keteers. You can see more about them in my blog by following this link. Anyway, big shout out to my boy @theoneandonlyspudbud for being so awesome!

ENJOY!!

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*******Scene 1: school daze (I just got this pun!)********

***************************************************************

The ancient Bell of Atlantica Academia's famous clock tower clanged loudly in a melodious tune, signaling the end of classes for the day. Soon afterward, a throng of students filled the quad, as some made their way toward their extracurricular clubs. Others hurried outside to spend the rest of their afternoon in the city before either returning home, or getting back to their dorms before curfew.

Among them, Lance and Bob walked leisurely through the quad.

"Maaaaan" Lance yawned, stretching his arms "you wanna hit the city? I don't want to hang out here much longer..."

"You're trying to avoid her, aren't you?" Bob smiled slyly

"Ugh! You would, too, if you were me! Every single day, I hear that annoying shrill voice-"

"Yoooohoooo! O Sir Laaaance!!" The annoying shrill voice rang out behind the two, sending shivers down Lance's spine. Lance begrudgingly turned toward the voice.

"Hi, Zilvana..." Lance sighed as he addressed the smiling Fencing club captain. Her coiling long blonde hair gleamed in the afternoon sun as a single streak of pink hair playfully curled in front of her face.

"Oh I am ever so glad to have ran into you" Zilvana tried to speak casually, failing to hide her shortness of breath "but drat it all, I must be off to attend my club duties!"

"Hmmm, yes..." Replied Lance curtly, seeing a variation of this scene replaying for almost every day since the school year started "...well, I don't want to keep y-"

"I know!" Interrupted Zilvana awkwardly, her face blushing red "how about you accompany me there? We c-can talk...um..and th-then maybe you'd consider sparring for a bit, y'know, up to you whatev."

"For the last time, Zilvana" Lance sighed irritatingly "thanks, but no, thanks! I don't want to join the fencing club. Period!"

"But why not?!" Zilvana asked in frustration, stomping her foot on the ground "is it because of what happened on Orientation Day?! I already apologized to you two about that!! And also..."

Zilvana looked around cautiously at the nearly empty quad before whispering "...I kept 'Bob's' identity a secret, just like I promised!"

"It's got nothing to do with that!" Lance irritatingly replied. "It's just...ugh...how do I put this-"

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST SAY IT ALREADY?!" Zilvana shouted suddenly with her head down, shocking Lance and Bob. They looked toward her as she slowly raised her head, tears streaming down her puffy red cheeks.

"...you just don't like me, do you?" Zilvana blurted as she wiped her tears ineffectively with her hands and sleeves "no matter what I do, you'll always hate me!"

"N-no, that's not it" stuttered Lance, trying to avoid Bob's accusatory glance while reaching out an uncertain hand toward the crying third-year student "...Zilva-"

Suddenly, Lance felt a playful pounce onto his left shoulder as a slender arm wrapped around his left arm, and soft fingers casually grasping his own.

"Aww, you heartbreaker. You made another girl cry! How mean~"

"Yu-Yukio?!" Lance was startled by the sudden entrance of the former Motorcycle Bandit, of the now-defunct Wheely Rad Bandit team/family. She wore Atlantica Academia's uniform with the plaid skirt and long black stockings. The notches on the shoulder decorations of her jacket identifies her as a second-year student.

"Aww, you do remember me!" Yukio smiled, gently caressing the arm of the blushing Lance "I guess our kiss made an impression on you~"

"Ki-KISS?!!" Bob and Zilvana shouted in unison, before looking at each other for a second and glancing away in embarrassment, their cheeks burning red.

"Haha!" Teased Yukio "y'all Jealous?"

Yukio's satisfied smile quickly changed when a bike helmet lightly smacked her over the head. She rubbed the top of her head, letting go of Lance and looking toward her attacker.

"Owie! What the heck, Randy?!" She groaned at her brother, who was wearing a one-piece biking suit, while walking beside a red ten-speed bike.

"Quit teasing the kid, dum-dum" Randy scolded "you just stole a peck on his cheek when he wasn't looking. What are ya, his Grandma?!"

"Wow! I didn't know you two went to school here!" Lance exclaimed, trying to change the subject and avoiding the glares of Bob and Zilvana.

"Hey there, Lance!" Randy beamed an earnest smile, that's missing a few front teeth "well, she is, but I ain't. My street smarts ain't good enough to get me enrolled here. Not like mah smarty-pants sister!"

"Aw it's a darn shame, Randy!" Yukio pouted "I would've liked if we went to the same school together..."

"Now now, sis..." Randy patted Yukio's head affectionately "ain't no use hitching yer wagon to a derailed train like me. You're gonna do great things, kid! Yer the only one who can keep up with Pop when he gets all science-y on ya." Randy then turned toward Lance and the others, bragging while beaming with pride "did y'all know Yuki got'erself a full scholarship, on account of her engineering smarts?!"

Lance opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a shrill bird noise blaring from his SmartBand. His brows knit as his face took on a serious expression. He whipped the SmartBand in front of him, with the HoloOrb facing upward.

"Lance, here" he spoke clearly toward the blinking HoloOrb, which immediately glowed and a rectangular HoloScreen floated in the air at eye-level. "What's going on, Feiroz?"

The former Leader of the Love Maidens furrowed her thick eyebrows "Lancelot! We have a situation at a construction site downtown, near 4th and Bradley Street! Details are sketchy, but it looks like a Challenger Team. The rest of the team are en route, proceed with caution!"

"Understood!" The HoloScreen flickered off, while Lance took off his backpack hastily.

"Lancelot?!" Snorted Bob derisively

"You shouldn't make fun of other people's names, 'BOB'!" Lance said defensively, throwing his backpack toward his dorm mate "can you please take this back to our room with you? Sorry, but I gotta go, guys!"

He then sprinted toward the general direction of downtown, bringing the SmartBand closer to his mouth as he yelled into its microphone.

"ONE FOR ALL..."

Holographic spikes of ice sprawled across his body, covering him whole in an unintentionally comical running ice cocoon, before shattering completely as he emerged fully clothed in his Ice Musketeer outfit.

"...AND ALL FOR VICTORY!"

The Ice Musketeer switched from sprinting to summoning a patch of ice that appear slightly in front of him, allowing him to slide endlessly if he wishes it. He used his cryokinetic Psy-Q ability once more to create a huge ice ramp to clear the school main building in a single leap, accompanied by the thrilled cheers of the students watching in the quad.

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********Scene 2: Demolition ZOOne***********

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"RRRAAAGH"

A primal roar emerged from a hulking figure in the strange black outfit with a slight owl motif. Her fists curled up inside the unusual gauntlets she wore that resemble giant wrecking balls. She punched another steel beam in the almost empty construction zone with her massive fists, completely bending it out of shape and nearly tearing it out of the ground where it was firmly rooted in the foundations.

"GRAHAHAHAHA! Ja almust gutt it, Sally" a thick Scandinavian accent bellowed from behind the muscular woman, which belonged to a big-bellied, half-naked, bearded man.

"What's it to ya, Bull Dozer?" Growled Sally, flipping her neon-purple hair that's jutting out of the modified boxing headgear she wore.

"Isa nice puunch but iv ja vanna do some real damage..." Bull Dozer boasted, a strange mechanism on his back lifted his massive shoulder pads and locked them firmly in place on top of the long bullhorns attached to his hardhat. He turned toward another steel beam and knelt down, aiming the gigantic shovel-like contraption on his head. "...joo call da Bull!"

Bull Dozer's massive mechanical boots hummed softly as their light-up display glowed red, just before he thrusted his massive body with astonishing speed! He kept his head low as his tree trunk-like legs propelled him ever closer toward his helpless target. The impact was undoubtfully devastating, the steel beam completely got torn from its foundation and was sent flying to the far side of the construction zone.

"Gahahahaha! JA! I am de 'Epic', ja?" Rojoiced Bull Dozer triumphantly, patting the dirt from his thick fur loincloth.

"Bah!" Spat sally disgustingly "all you did was send it flying away. What if that was an opponent and they landed safely on their feet?"

She turned back toward the bent steel beam she punched earlier and expertly took an orthodox boxing stance. Her blue eyes grew colder as she stared down the steel beam.

"It's easy to destroy the weak." She unleashed a flurry of jabs at the steel beam, bending it in different directions with each punch.

"But it's so much fun to play with someone strong. Someone who's almost at your level, who thinks they can beat you." Her eyes lit up with chilling bloodlust as she switched up her stance and delivered explosive right-left hook combos, causing the steel beam to bend and twist in uncanny angles.

"And then mercilessly maul them in the ring" her relentless barrage became even more savage, the steel beam is practically putty between her fists! "Destroy every shred of hope, every iota of self-confidence, watch their very essence drip away with every punch that pulverizes their pretty little face..."

Suddenly, Sally stopped her murderous assault and smugly sneered at the steel beam as it stood twisted beyond recognition for a few scant seconds, before collapsing sadly to the ground.

"...and then watch them wither away right before your eyes." Sally flashed a sadistic grin as she looked at her handiwork with a perverse sense of pleasure.

"...I-I uh joost leik rooning into things and watch them fly off rully far..."

"Pathetic" snorted Sally in disappointed disgust.

"Quit yer belly-achin' and get ta smashin'!!" Growled a hairy, hunchbacked man carrying a gigantic wrench that's almost as tall as he is.

"You're sure this will get their attention, Seamus?" Asked Sally.

"Dun ya worry none, Wrecking B-owl. Nuthin' attracts a super-team more'n property damage-"

The rest of Seamus's words were drowned out by the deafening sounds of an erratic locomotive a few feet away from them. They both turned toward the source to find a thin tall girl hopping on one prosthetic peg leg, while the tip of her other peg leg extended and retracted rapidly like a mini jackhammer.

"Umm...Mr. Chang, sir?" Meekly implored the girl with the mostly shaved head, a tuft of blonde hair with red highlights just above her forehead shook violently with the vibrations from her malfunctioning leg "it's happening again..."

"Aw, fer Christ sake, Jackie..." Seamus Chang slid a hidden knob on his gigantic monkey wrench while making his way closer to the frightened girl. The side of his wrench opened up like a Swiss army knife, revealing an assortment of tools. He grasped the Phillips head screwdriver and pulled it out along with a long retractable cable attached to the end of it. Then he grabbed the erratically shaking peg leg under his arm in an attempt to stabilize it while using the screwdriver to navigate its circuitry.

"I tol' ya ta be careful with the controls, lass. These things are very sensitive." Seamus grumbled, finally able to shut off the incessant hammering. He tugged slightly on the screwdriver, and the retractable cable dragged it back into its compartment.

"S-sorry, Mr. Chang..." Jackie answered pensively.

Seamus's features softened as he extended a giant hairy hand, stroking her cheek reassuringly "Ah, it's all right, lass, it's what I'm here for. Are ya ready fer action, Jackrabbit Hammer?"

Jackie smiled enthusiastically at the mention of her superhero name and she replied confidently "You know it, Monkey Wrench!"

With a click of a button on the built-in controls in her gauntlets, the jackhammer tips of her peg legs were replaced with two powerful springs. She took a few practice hops, reaching higher and higher with each leap, before crouching low upon landing with her third hop and shooting up three stories into the air!! She pressed the buttons again at the acme of her ascent, switching back to the jackhammer tips upon her descent toward a pile of stacked cinderblocks. The thunderous impact tore through the blocks faster than a greased up hamster shooting out of a potato gun, while Jackrabbit Hammer maniacally laughed in satisfaction.

"I'm all for destroying private property of those capitalist tower tycoons" Sally sighed "but I don't know if clearing out the area was a good idea. They may have gotten here sooner if we had a few hostages-"

A whizzing whistle ripped through the air, forcing the weirdly-garbed vandals to look upward to the source of the sound. Only to be met with a good-sized ball of fire whose size keeps getting gooder and gooder with each passing second.

"Look out!!" Monkey Wrench shouted as he leapt backward to avoid the fireball, which exploded threateningly in the empty space between the criminals.

"First contact!!" Panted the low-flying Fire Musketeer "I win!!"

"Tristan, you flying butt!" Priya slid from a nearby street light and onto a stack of steel pipes with the aid of the electromagnetic soles on her boots, acting like a miniaturized maglev train. "Throwing stuff doesn't qualify as 'first contact', you dork! I was way ahead of you!"

"Be that as it may-" Tristan rebuttal was interrupted by the sloshing sound of an oily projectile that hit its target with a satisfying SPLAT. Tristan looked down at his clogged up boots, then at Monkey Wrench holding what used to be his namesake and now is a weird-looking greaseball shooting catapult, and finally looking down at the rapidly approaching ground. It all happened within the span of one second, which is why he didn't even have a chance to yell for help.

Fortunately, help was already on its way in the form of leafy vines forming a soft intertwined ball to cushion Tristan's unscheduled landing.

"Phew!" Sighed Tristan in relief, turning toward the Green Musketeer with gratitude "thanks for the save, Blossom!"

"Any time, fearless leader." Smirked Blossom, riding on a throng of sturdy green vines.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lad!" Monkey Wrench pressed another hidden lever on the catapult, returning it to its original wrench form. "Was I supposed ta wait fer ya ta finish yer squabblin'? Too bad the Demolition ZOOne ain't so accommodating ta yer domestic nonsense. How's about you concede yer sanction to us, and we'll let ya be?"

"Blossom, watch out!" Priya shouted to warn the Green Musketeer of the 400 pounds of Scandinavian fury barreling down toward the redhead. Blossom used her Botankinesis to manipulate the vines, vaulting her into the air and over the head of the charging Bull Dozer; who crashed into the cluster of vines as they were tightening around him while Blossom landed gracefully behind him.

Priya was so captivated by Blossom's performance, that she barely noticed the huge fist charging ominously toward her face. Fortunately, the Lightning Musketeer anticipated it with cat-like senses and dodged it with even cat-ier reflexes!

"VANDERLUSS!" A chilling scream echoed through the construction site/warzone as Wrecking B-owl stared at Priya with menacing glee.

"S-Sally?!" Priya flustered "didn't recognize you in that outfit...they say black is slimming, but you're still as massive as ever..."

"YES!" Sally snarled, grabbing a steel beam and lifting it like a gigantic baseball club "spout your boastful quips! Your bravado will make your crushing defeat all the sweeter!"

Wrecking B-owl swung the steel beam in a sweeping wide arc, barely missing the ducking Tristan who was fighting the strangely agile Monkey Wrench.

"Ach! Watch where ya swingin' that thing, ya daft-EEEEEE!!" Screeched Monkey Wrench as he narrowly dodged Sally's second swing.

"I got'em, Mr. Chang!!" A cheerful shriek arose from Jackrabbit Hammer as her peg legs sprouted springs to enable her to swiftly cross the construction site in three long leaps.

Just as she was about to land the third leap, a sheet of ice formed underneath her projected landing spot. The slippery ice robbed the teenage dynamo of her equilibrium, causing her to slip and fall comically on her face.

"I got her!" Proclaimed Lance, approaching the fallen rabbit to deliver the not-really-final-but-still-quite-incapacitating-and-involves-an-ice-prison blow. But before he could even form a single icicle, Jackrabbit sprang to her feet with an impressive somersault launching over Lance's head. She switched her peg legs' configuration to the mini-jackhammers in mid-jump, crushing the icy ground as she landed. With a flick of the built-in controls in her gloves' palms, the motors on her legs came to life with a terrifying roar! She lunged at Lance, delivering a spinning flurry of kicks and somersaults in the direction of the retreating Musketeer.

"Uhhhh, I DON'T GOT HER!" Lance yelled panicking as a high-kick knocked his rapier from his hand and lightly grazed his cheek.

"LANCE!" Cried out Blossom, inadvertently loosening her Botankinetic control over the vines ensnaring Bull Dozer. The energetic Scandinavian took the chance to wiggle his way out of his leafy prison.

"Guahahaha! Worry about yooself, gurl!" Bull Dozer snapped the vines like a stick of slimjim! His mechanical boots glowed red with a menacing hum before he charged toward the distracted Blossom. Suddenly, a heavy figure crashed from the sky between Blossom and the charging Bull!

"Looks like I'm just in time for the rodeo!" The Love Musketeer girded himself for the ensuing impact, as the two giants collided violently "Blossom, go help the kid!"

"Thanks, Lee!" Blossom yelled back, allowing a cluster of sturdy vines to carry her rapidly toward the struggling Ice Musketeer and away from the brawling titans.

Nearby, the battle between Priya and her hulking rival still rages on, the Lightning Musketeer staying on the defensive as she dodges Wrecking B-owl's wild swings.

"You can't Rope-a-dope me, Vanderluss" snarled Sally ecstatically "I can do this all day! On the other hand, you're looking a bit sluggish!"

Sally swung the massive girder in a vicious low arc, sending the gravel and dust bellowing upward. When the dust settled (literally), Sally was surprised to find that Priya was nowhere to be seen!

"Up here!" Sally turned her head to see Priya perching atop the far end of the girder, the soles of her Tesla Boots stuck on the metal surface like magnets.

"I wasn't trying to tire you out" Priya smirked as she used her Fulgurkinesis to gather the static electricity in the air toward the coils on her Tesla Gauntlets, which channeled the electric current throughout its conductive lining. "I was just learning the timing of your swings so I can do ...THIS!"

Priya thrusted her left hand on the girder, sending a massive electric shock toward the unsuspecting Sally. The gigantic brute let out a short yelp as she dropped one end of the girder onto the ground, which was more a reaction of surprise than a response to pain. Priya, still magnetized to the fallen girder, took advantage of Sally's brief opening to build up the charge in her right hand, which ended up becoming almost twice as powerful as the one she unleashed from her left hand just now.

She then used her Psy-Q ability to build up a magnetic charge on the soles of her feet to do something slightly different. Priya always used the magnetic capability of her Tesla Boots like a maglev train, allowing her to simply hover and slide over most metallic objects. Now, she's building up opposite magnetic charges around the girder and herself, her Tesla Boots lighting up like a Christmas tree.

Like a flash of lightning, Priya shot up the length of the metal girder toward the unsuspecting Wrecking B-owl, who was still holding up the girder with both hands. Priya's right fist clenched low as she aimed it at Sally's face to deliver a...

"Railgun Uppercut!!"

Her fist exploded into Sally's unprotected jaw in a fury of sparks! Sally's whole body lit up with electricity as it went stiff, she then immediately fell flat on her back.

"You always did have a glass jaw..." Mumbled Priya as she rubbed her bruised knuckles.

"HA!" Heckled Tristan, as he dodged another wide swing from Monkey Wrench's monkey wrench “I thought you were too embarrassed to do attack names!"

"It was embarrassing when you said it, nerd." Priya materialized a pair of handcuffs from her SmartBand's custom teleportation app, and used them to restrain the unconscious black-clad behemoth. "When I name them, they're awesome!"

"Just keep yappin' yer fool mouth" grunted Seamus "it's anglin' for a good smackin'"

Suddenly, an 8-bit rendition of William Tell's overture blared from Tristan's SmartBand, before a holo-screen floated from the glowing HoloOrb.

"Now's not a good time, Sarah!" Cried Tristan, ducking another close swing before Priya stepped in to divert his attacker's attention.

"Well, make time!" Sarah replied impatiently "you have to get everybody out of there! The area's not safe."

Tristan somersaulted over the charging Monkey Wrench, letting Priya press on her attack, and answered Sarah as he tumbled on the ground "what do you mean it's not safe?"

"I had Theresa run a topographical and spectrographic scan of the area" Sarah leaned slightly off to the side to reveal the smiling former Love Maiden beside her on the neighboring dispatch console "and we found that the construction crew didn't dig deep enough for their foundations! There is an underground air pocket approximately 200 meters below the surface, which does not correspond to any subway or sewer tunnels"

At that moment, Tristan glanced around to account for his teammates and their opponents. The Lightning Musketeer was keeping Monkey Wrench occupied. The Love Musketeer was locking arms with Bull Dozer, neither of them budging an inch. And finally, the Green and the Ice Musketeers were fighting off Jackrabbit Hammer, who launched herself into the air, only to dive feet first into Lance with her mini-jackhammer peg legs chugging away madly.

Lance deftly dodged her attack as she sank into the soft ground that he occupied seconds ago.

"Haha! You're good, little flea!" Chuckled Jackie trying to free her peg legs from the gravely surface, only to be surprised when the ground sucked her in further! "Wa-Whoah!"

"Oh no!" Tristan shouted in panic, both members of the Mu5keteers and Demolition Zoone alike watched in fear as the ground around Jackie crumbled and the sinkhole kept getting wider and deeper.

"JACKIE!" Shouted Monkey Wrench, ignoring his fight with Priya.

"BLOSSOOOOOM!!" Yelled Priya, panicking as she saw Blossom stumble into the sinkhole while trying to rescue her opponent!

"LANCE!" Tristan cried out, running in his gunked-up boots toward his brother who struggled to hold up the weight of the two girls, before the ground crumbled underneath them.

***************************************************

************Scene 3: Down the Hatch!********

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All members of both teams still above ground (and conscious) rushed toward the edge of the sinkhole-

"STOP!"

Blossom's voice bellowed from below, causing everyone to tense up and slowly look into the abyss anxiously.

"Blossom..." Priya dried her tears, looking toward Blossom while feeling partially relieved. "...you're ok..."

"Not  ...ungh... for long" Lance replied, his back pressed against the wall of the hole, as his feet are firmly planted on one of Blossom's vines portruding horizontally a considerable distance down the dark chasm.

"Lance is right, this hole could collapse at any second" she was nestled gently in an outcropping of vines as she was cradling an unconscious Jackrabbit Hammer in her arms.

"Dammit! My boots are too gunked up to fly down there to you guys!" Yelled back Tristan in frustration.

"M-my girl...how is Jackie?" Seamus trembled as he inched closer to the edge to look at his teammate with a terribly worried expression. "...please tell me she's all right...?"

Blossom gave him the most reassuring smile she can offer given the circumstances as she said "It's Mr. Chang, right? Well, she's still breathing, but I think she's concussed from one of the fallen rocks hitting her in the head. We need to get her medical attention immediately!"

"Well -unghhh- we can't have her shimmy up the wall" Lance winced "I'm doing all I can just to keep this -urrgghh- hole from collapsing on us any further."

Blossom glanced up at the partially frozen, muddy wall, as she fumbled with the controls on Jackie's gauntlets. Blossom pressed the button that she saw Jackie press earlier which retracted the jackhammer tips of the unconscious girl's peg legs and produced the industrial-strength springs she used to hop around.

"Tristan!" Shouted Blossom standing up with the comatose Jackie, getting the girl up on her springy legs and angling her body carefully "I'm going to make her hop up to you guys-"

"WAIT" Tristan shouted back "don't let her hop straight up, she needs to be launched at an..." Tristan paused, his lips moving soundlessly as he did the math in his head "...82 degrees angle- just lean forward a b- no, that's too far- yes, perfec-"

"NO, ya rube!" Seamus interrupted gruffly, trying to hide the tears in his eyes "ya need to account for wind resistance, lean her back a bit more! I'll catch her...please..."

"Ok, Mr. Chang, sir." Blossom smiled sweetly, obliging Seamus's instructions.

"Ungghh, Blossom?" Inquired Lance, straining against the steadily collapsing wall.

"Yes, sweetie?" Replied Blossom casually, readying Jackie's limp body for its flight.

"Your vines, rather -urghh- this wall, can't support the recoil from launching her up in the air. You do know that, right?"

"We don't have any other choice" Blossom answered resolutely "she needs to be looked after right away."

"I think I heard some of these -unghh- fallen rocks hit water down there. If we fall, actually when we fall..."

"Yes, I heard them, too."

Lance looked at Blossom with determination "...do you trust me?"

"Always."

Blossom smiled as she made the springs on Jackie's legs coil tightly, before they unfurled upward, launching Jackie's unconscious body at the agreed upon angle into the arms of the relieved Seamus. As predicted, the recoil from the jump tore the vines viciously from its roots on the wall, bringing a good chunk of half frozen earth tumbling down.

In the mess of tangled leaves, clay, and ice, the two Musketeers were free-falling down toward the abyss. Lance dove quickly like a bird of prey toward the fallen Blossom. He embraced her tightly as they fell into the nearly-bottomless pit!

"LANCE!!"

"BLOSSOOOoOM!!"

The cries of the panicked Musketeers aboveground barely reached their two fallen comrades as the hole started expanding and collapsing in on itself.

"Hold your horses!" Leopold yelled anxiously, firmly restraining his two friends from getting closer to the dangerous abyss "you'll fall in, too!"

 ***************************************************

*************Scene 4: The Hole***************

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"Ok, Blossom" Lance was closing his eyes in deep concentration, letting his Cryokinesis reach the mystery body of water far below- hopefully faster than their bodies would physically reach it "Get ready..."

Lance somersaulted in mid-air with Blossom in tow, making himself stand upright while princess-carrying the Green Musketeer. Suddenly, a spiral of ice sprang from the dark depth of the pit, connecting perfectly with Lance's feet.

"...hold on tight!" Blossom obliged, grasping her arms around his neck closely. Lance's eyes glowed a faint blue as they widened in gleeful terror. The downward spiral they were sliding on gradually slowed down their insanely fast descent. After several dozen spirals, they were finally at a leisurely speed where they gently skidded to a peaceful stop, barely causing the water at their feet to ripple upon their intrusion.

Nonetheless, the tension and strain from this harrowing ordeal brought Lance to his knees as he groaned with exhaustion and relief. Blossom, who landed gracefully on her feet, knelt down beside Lance while tenderly caressing his cheek.

"You did it, champ!" Blossom said affectionately.

"Y-yeah..." Lance mumbled, his cheeks blushing, as he gently patted her hand away. He stood up and looked up at the far dim light up above. "...we're a long way down..."

A distant creaking sound emanated from the ceiling, just before a handful of dirt floated down to the waters below.

"It's not safe to stand here" Blossom commented, using the Lantern App on her SmartBand to look around.

Lance wiped some of the fallen dirt off his hat, only to halt his hand while touching the blue feather adorning it. He took off his hat to have a closer look.

"Blossom?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"There's an air current here, see?" He pointed the feather gently wafting to a faint breeze "there must be another exit somewhere..."

"KZZzzshhhtt..you guys-kzzhhtt-ear me?"

The garbled voice emanating from the glowing HoloOrbs on their SmartBands startled the two Musketeers. Blossom hurriedly answered back "Tristan? Is that you?!"

"BLO-Kzzsshhhtt-ooomm!! Ar-krsssshhhh-ou Okay?!"

Blossom sighed upon hearing Priya's panicked voice "Calm down, Pri! We're all right."

"But this hole does not look safe" added Lance grimly "it could collapse at any minute. We can't risk climbing out the way we came. We have to find another way out..."

"Where wo-krrssshhtt-ind another-rsshhkkzz-ay out?!"

"Leopold, there's a faint breeze in this tunnel coming from the opposite direction of the hole" Blossom replied "we're bound to find another way out if we follow it."

"NO! It-skkshhhh-dangerous! W-whoaa-ksshhhhhSZZZzz!"

"Tristan? You ok, bro?" Lance asked worriedly. He was alerted to the noise up from the ceiling as Blossom dragged him out of the way of more falling debris.

In a few seconds, the shaft they occupied earlier was completely blocked up with mud and rocks, as the two Musketeers caught their breath in a nearby tunnel.

"Well..." Blossom cleared her throat as she stood up straight and looked toward the far end of the tunnel with the aid of her SmartBand's lantern App. "I guess we better mosey on, yeah?"

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**********Scene 5: The Underworld**********

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The two colourful figures roamed uncertainly through the drab and damp structures underground. The cavernous and drafty path they were walking through is not really a tunnel so much as a geometrical nightmare of collapsed buildings and concrete structures.

Lance managed to stammer an inquisitive "wh-what are those buildings?"

Blossom did not break her stride as she replied "there were many floods during the Apocalypse, many of which were strong enough to destroy numerous coastal cities lining the Atlantic."

Blossom then touched the HoloOrb on her SmartBand which caused the Lantern App's light to condense into a spotlight. The focused beam of light swiveled between the different monuments and mangled street signs, all of them belonging to various countries that bordered the Atlantic Ocean.

"The debris from across the world..." Blossom continued solemnly “...the tides pulled all of those broken pieces into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. When the Arachnae landed on Earth over a thousand years ago, they decided to build Atlantica city on top of the wreckage."

"That doesn't sound very safe..." Chimed in Lance, while looking around in the dark.

"It wasn't..." smiled Blossom "...sinkholes like the one we fell through were quite common in the early days of building the city. But eventually, they were able to stabilize the foundation to a reliable degree."

"Wow" said Lance "you sure know a lot about this stuff..."

Blossom sighed and replied "...it's kinda hard to ignore history..." She turned her spotlight toward a fallen skyscraper that may have once been a grand hotel. The light shone brightly on the mostly rusted sign with the Stylized 'E' in the logo of the 'Everglades Towers' emblazoned on it "...especially when your name keeps popping up whenever there's mentions of corruption, greed, and total disregard for basic human decency..."

"Blossom..." Lance reached out a hesitant hand towards his teammate's shoulder, only to freeze midway as his eyes see a peculiar movement "...we're not alone here..."

The ominous words hung heavily in the air between them as they both became keenly aware of a distorted space just hovering in front of the stylized 'E' on the rusted sign in front of them.

"Oh no..." Lance muttered fearfully, slowly unleashing his rapier "...not this guy again"

An impossibly white hand burst from the distorted space. The rest of the pale body followed through the distortion and floated eerily in front of them.

"So..." Blossom stood defiant and upright, taking a measure of the apparition "...that's the Phantom Musketeer?"

To say that the Phantom was glowing would be inaccurate, its body simply did not allow for a single shadow to lay its dark tendrils upon its pale form. Even in the dark depths of the underworld, the white ghostly figure was clearly visible.

Blossom took out her wooden rapier from its sheath and said "... I thought it'd be taller."

***************************************************

*****Scene 6: The Menacing Phantom******

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Lights from the Musketeers' HoloOrbs danced wildly in the dank underground, accompanied by the distorted clangs of metal-and-wood-on-warped-dark-matter. Blossom and Lance tried to surround the Phantom, flanking it from both sides, but it was more than capable of warding them off - even overpowering them a little. The Green Musketeer took advantage of a slim opening to deliver a deadly thrust, but it was anticipated by the ghostly figure as it evaded it deftly before bringing its blackened blade down on the leafy rapier. Blossom rapier's blade broke off cleanly in the attack and she stumbled to the ground due to her unspent momentum.

"BLOSSOM!!" Lance screamed in a panic, a thick wall of ice erected itself between Blossom and their attacker.

"Lance, no!" Blossom shouted after her young friend, a twinge of anger and frustration laced her words. From beyond the wall, she can hear the distorted sounds of swords clashing and the desperate grunts from Lance.

She reached for a grenade pellet from one of the pouches of her belt, which was a bigger version of the pellets that she normally shoots from her sword's firing mechanism hidden in the hilt. She threw the grenade onto the ground, shattering it upon impact, prompting a rapidly growing cluster of huge vines! Each one was as thick as a tree trunk.

"Dammit, boy..." Blossom muttered to herself, her angry eyes smouldered with a faint green glow, as she directed the leafy tendrils with her hands to demolish the icy wall! Lance stared in awe as the vines continued their undaunting charge by slamming the Phantom and carrying it along several feet into the air, before smashing into the ruins of a toppled skyscraper.

"Whoah..." Lance exclaimed before being jerked to his feet as Blossom grabbed him roughly by the collar "B-Blossom...?!!"

"What the hell was that?!" Blossom's brow knit angrily as she spat out those words "that was stupid and reckless!"

"I-I just..." Lance stumbled on his words trying to avoid Blossom's enraged stare "...I was just keeping a p-promise..."

"A PROMISE?!" Blossom suddenly released Lance's collar from her grip, causing him to stumble and fall on his butt "what kind of promise makes you risk your life like that...and for what?! You think it's your job to rescue me or something?"

"B-Blossom" Lance stuttered nervously, slowly getting up and patting the dirt from his outfit "that's not what-"

"I don't need to be rescued!" Blossom interrupted forcefully "I know what you're doing! You're trying to be like him, but you can't! Stop trying to copy Armand, you'll never be like him-"

Blossom stopped herself in mid-sentence, her angered expression quickly changed to one of guilt and regret.

"Oh no...Lance...I didn't mean... I-I'm sorry" Blossom covered her face, backing away slowly, before turning around and running down one of the tunnels at full speed.

"Blossom! Wait!" Lance hastily ran after her.

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***********Scene 7: Big shoes to fill***********

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A pair of green boots stamped through ankle-deep waters covering the darkened tunnels through the underground ruins. Followed closely by a similar pair of blue boots of someone much shorter.

"Blossom" Lance panted behind the Green Musketeer, who was sprinting a few feet in front of him "w-wait up...huff..."

Blossom ignored him as she ran ahead, which prompted Lance to call out to her apologetically "look, I'm sorry! I don't know what I did that upset you...huff puff...so much...but I'm sorry!"

Blossom reached the end of the tunnel that opened up toward a wide open cavern where pipes and various tunnels protruded from all over the concrete and steel makeshift walls, spilling their liquid content in the center where a huge pool of water-like substance sort of rested at the bottom.

Noticing the precipitous drop, Blossom turned around toward the rushing Lance. As he got closer, Lance noticed Blossom's watery red eyes that looked toward him with great sorrow and shame.

"Lance, I-" her words were drowned out by a creaking sound from below her feet, as the ground groaned under her weight and finally gave out with an awful shrieking noise, dragging Blossom downward and out of Lance's sight.

"BLOSSOM!" Lance's panicked shout almost rivaled the cacophonous sounds of the fallen debris, as he sped toward the edge to look for his teammate.

"Stay back!" Blossom called out, hanging on to a protruding pipe with one hand, while her other arm dangled limply by her side.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Lance climbed carefully down the side of the cliff toward Blossom.

"I-I think it got dislocated when I fell. I can't pull myself up..." Blossom winced in pain "I told you to stay back! You'll fall, too"

"No, I won't" Lance's boots froze to the side of the cliff "I told you, I made a promise-"

Blossom's eyes widened in rage as she interrupted him "What kind of promise forces you to risk your life like an idiot?!"

In her outburst, the damp pipe in her hand started to slip away and she lost her grip on it. Lance shot his hand toward hers and grasped her arm firmly.

"The promise I made..." Lance strained as he held on to Blossom's arm “...is the same one you made! I made this promise to you, to Tristan, to Priya and Leopold!! I MADE A PROMISE TO ANYONE IN DANGER!"

"L-Lance...?"

"One for All..." Lance grunted, every muscle in his body tensed and coiled desperately "...AND ALL FOR VICTORRRRRYYY!!"

Lance used every ounce of his strength to pull Blossom to safety, the ice on his boots becoming thicker and spike-ier. With the Green Musketeer sitting safely in the half-collapsed tunnel, Lance slowly melted the ice anchoring him the Cliffside before pulling himself up as well. They both sat in the relative horizontal safety of the tunnel as they panted from relief and exertion.

Eventually, Lance broke the silence, looking at Blossom wistfully "I know I'll never be Armand...he's...he's someone I look up to and respect a whole lot... His are big shoes to fill..."

"...Lance..."

"But I don't want to wear his shoes! I am my own Mu5keteer! I will proudly walk in his footsteps, but at my own pace..."

"Heh..." Blossom managed to smile bitterly "you think you could squeeze in a few more walking metaphors in there?"

"Ha...I guess I've been thinking about it a lot...metaphors help me put painful things in perspective..."

"Hey, speaking of pain..." Blossom grabbed her limp arm with her functioning one, and with one sharp motion she shoved her arm back in its socket. Her shrill scream of pain lasted all of two seconds, but it packed so much agony in it.

"Oh Lord!" Lance exclaimed in shock, drawing closer toward the wincing Blossom "are you ok?!"

"M'fine..." Whimpered Blossom sheepishly, while ineffectually rubbing her recently un-dislocated shoulder.

"Kzzssshht~an you hear me~shhzzztt"

Lance and Blossom perked up upon hearing the familiar, yet static-laden, voice of Tristan coming through their SmartBands. They quickly raised the HoloOrb closer in order to hear the garbled words more clearly.

"Tristan!" Lance exclaimed "we must be close to the surface."

Blossom craned her head to look up at the ceiling of the cavern where they almost fell earlier. The ceiling was a tangled mess of girders and concrete that - just barely - allowed a dim light to trickle in from above.

"I have an idea." Smiled Blossom as she fiddled with the capsule-shooter at the hilt of her broken rapier, selecting a specific capsule containing one of her patented mutated Edan plant strains. She then aimed the firing mechanism downward toward the pool of liquid and fired of a capsule.

"I hope that's mostly water down there..."

***************************************************

**************Scene 8: Rosethorn*************

***************************************************

Lance and Blossom watched as a single, thick vine rose steadily from the waters below, thanks to Blossom's Psy-Q ability of Botankinesis. The Green Musketeer concentrated on the mutated plant below, her eyes glowing a faint emerald hue.

"Ok, get on" Blossom said as the top of the vine made its way closer to their perch on the cliff's side. It then curled up, accommodating a mostly flat surface for the two Musketeers to stand on safely.

"Now, just like what we did with the Big Bandit a few months ago" Blossom turned her head toward Lance and smiled gently "I need you to slightly freeze the water in the vine, and use your powers to stabilize it for me."

Blossom then lifted her hands dramatically, in an effort to gather concentration for her powers "I'll focus on directing it upward."

"Aye aye, cap'n!" Lance cheerfully answered as he lifted his head up toward the dim light, his eyes glowing a soft blue. Alas, his happy-go-lucky demeanor evaporated once he spotted an uncomfortably familiar ripple in the space just above them.

"Uhh...Blossom..." Lance whispered nervously, a primal fear response urging him to flee just as pure determination roots him steadfastly on the leafy green platform.

"I see it" Blossom pulled out her broken rapier from its sheath and stopped the plant from rising any further "whatever happens, I need you to keep this platform stabilized. I will deal with the Phantom."

"But, you don't -"

"Listen, before we fell in, you asked me if I trusted you." Blossom interrupted resolutely, taking her eyes off of the slowly emerging Phantom Musketeer and smiled at Lance reassuringly "now I'm asking you: do you trust me?"

Lance smiled confidently back at her and answered "always."

His smile wavered a bit as his gaze floated down toward what's left of Blossom's wooden rapier. Upon noticing his concern, Blossom chuckled bravely "haha, don't worry about it. As long as I have water..."

Blossom abruptly bent down on one knee, and in one swift movement, she stabbed the engorged vine at her feet with her broken blade. At the same time, the Phantom Musketeer floated down menacingly, his dark blade shimmer and distort the space around it madly.

"...I am never unarmed!" With another swift movement, Blossom pulled out her newly regrown blade from its wet, makeshift sheath as she blocks the Phantom's strike!

"Whoah!" Lance looked dumbfounded at the miraculously repaired blade, its edge looked even sharper than before.

"Heh, you liked that?" Blossom smirked as she expertly parried the Phantom's furious attacks "well, you're gonna love this!"

With that, Blossom's eyes flared with green fire as the rosebud decoration on the hilt of her rapier bloomed majestically. It caused the leaf-like crossguard to expand outward, the sword's handle elongated far beyond the grip size for a one-handed weapon, and the blade itself thickened and grew even longer.

Lance looked in awe as he witnessed, right before his eyes, how Blossom's wooden rapier transformed into a fearsome Zweihander, its dark mahogany blade shimmered in the dim light.

"Say hello to Rosethorn, the Everlasting Blade..." Blossom balanced the long blade in her hands and lifted it skyward "...there's nothing that she can't cut!!"

With a dramatic flourish, Blossom brought down the gigantic sword down on the Phantom Musketeer, who lifted his blade in an attempt to impede it. However, unlike their previous encounter, Rosethorn was not in the mood for any nonsense from the shifty distorted mess standing between her and the juicy, might-be-flesh of her target. Rosethorn seemed to grow bigger and stronger as Blossom's eyes glowed a brighter shade of green.

With a sound like glass breaking running through a distorted synthesizer, the ebony blade of the Phantom Musketeer cracked for a split second, before shattering in all directions like confetti! Rosethorn merrily completed her devastating arc to slash across the Phantom's chest. Instead of blood spurting from its wound, inky black tendrils sprang out eerily, accompanied by an unearthly silent screech that almost shattered the two Musketeers' eardrums.

Lance and Blossom were conflicted whether to plug up their ears to stop the noise, or to cup their hands over them to listen to it better. It was like the absence of sound made it even more deafening.

The Phantom convulsed violently, as shadows crept along its body, making his features more defined. Blossom's eyes widened in shock, staring intently while the shadows roughly sketch an anguished expression on the blank canvas of a face in front of them. The long nose, high cheekbones, and pointed chin were all too familiar to the two Musketeers; but it was Blossom who tried to reach closer with her trembling hand in disbelief.

Suddenly, a low rumbling like a distant locomotive could be hear from above. Lance looked up - while Blossom was still entranced by the Phantom's appearance - only to find the tip of two miniaturized Jackhammers pierce through the ceiling. Debris fell gently beside them as a ray of warm sunlight gently wafted through, illuminating the whole cavern below.

Blossom and Lance winced, their eyes adjusting to the harsh light, and was surprised to see the Phantom vanishing before their very eyes! They looked around incredulously, and then at each other. Blossom finally spoke, tears welling up in her eyes as her knees fell to the ground "that...that was Armand's face...wasn't it...?"

Lance hurried over and kneeled down besides her, holding her shoulders gently "I...I don't know what we saw...but we'll figure it out..."

Lance then hugged her closely, hearing her softly sob on his shoulder, before continuing "...it's what we do, after all..."

"Hahaha! There they are!" The cheerful cackle from above prompted the two Musketeer to look up toward a smiling Jackrabbit Hammer with a bandaged head while she was being lowered in a harness. "My heroes!"

"BLOSSOOOM!!" Shouted Priya, trying to dry her tears ineffectively "you're all right! Thank goodness!"

"I'm so happy you're safe" Tristan smiled wearily "not that I had any doubts, mind you..."

Leopold put a reassuring hand on both Priya's and Tristan's shoulders and just smiled silently, while watching the two prodigal Musketeers are hoisted out of the darkness of the ruins and into the light of a new dawn.

***************************************************

*********************Epilogue*******************

***************************************************

"Yes? Sorry, there's no training for today."

Zilvana called out upon hearing the soft sound of the gym door slowly opening.

"Oh, sorry...I'll come back tomo-"

"Oh, L-Lance!" Zilvana whirled toward the familiar voice "I-I didn't know it was you! Please, do come in."

Lance sheepishly entered the gymnasium and closed the door gently behind him. Zilvana looked on with great concern as she inquired worriedly "Goodness gracious! You're all bandaged up!"

Lance absentmindedly scratched at the bandages on his arms, before stopping to stroke the little tuft of hair that managed to peek out from the bandages. He nervously managed to squeak out a reply "Y-yeah, it was one crazy weekend...but listen, that's not why I'm here..."

"Then why are you here?" Zilvana asked sternly, memories of their last encounter still left hanging in the air between them.

"Zilvana...there's something I need to explain to you..." Lance said pensively "...after I became the Ice Musketeer, I began to feel that all eyes are on me... I felt like I'm always being compared to...him..."

"Lance..." Zilvana softly mumbled "...you know that's not true..."

“Of course, I do!” Lance snapped, only to apologetically add “…sorry…I do know that…but the feeling just made me defensive…I wanted to distance myself from Armand any way I can…”

Lance then looked toward Zilvana with a remorseful expression “…which included being in the fencing club…but I was wrong to use my hang up to be so rude to you…”

“Lance, you were not rude to refuse my invitation…” Zilvana replied regretfully “…I shouldn’t have pushed after you have said no…I was just…I was so impressed by how skilled you were! I felt it was a waste NOT to be in the club…”

"To be honest, I was a flattered..." Lance interjected "...I didn't have a fencing club in middle school, so I never experienced someone wanting me to join one so badly."

"Hey, now...I wasn't THAT desperate!"

"The point is..." Lance smiled "...I have to give it a chance...but...I don't think I'm ready to dive deep into the club..."

Lance looked at the excited Zilvana before continuing "...do you think we can start with a few sparring matches here and there?"

"EeEeeeeeeeee!" Zilvana squealed with glee while jumping up and down "that's all I ever wanted! Here!" She then threw some of the fencing gear lying on the ground toward Lance.

"What? Now?!"

"Oh, like you've got anything better to do!" She hurriedly put on the fencing vest, helmet and gloves "c'mon! First to ten points win! En garde!"

Lance sighed concedingly as he donned the borrowed gear carefully. He then adopted an orthodox stance while replying with a smile through the mesh of the face guard.

"En Garde."

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*******The End of Chapter 4*****

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[askdawnandvern]

A Lamb Among Wolves Ch:25

So here we are, the dramatic confrontation between Dawn and Vernon's Father. I've been trying to play catch up with my chapters, trying to get enough of a buffer going to get back to posting weekly, but with commissions and the holiday it's going to be quite a strain to do it. A may have to go so far as to taking a week away from the AskDawnAndVern page so I have a bit more flexibility, but we'll see how that goes. As for right now, please enjoy the latest chapter of the story, and keep tuned in to the blog for updates on story stuff.

And if you'd like early access to chapters and access to other perks you can check out My Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/wastedtimeee

-WT

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Chapter Twenty Five: The Alpha

Alcohol. That was the first thing that assailed the ewe's senses upon entering the wolf's office. The distinct smell of spirits seemed to linger faintly in the room. Dawn immediately recognized the scent of some sort of brandy, the pungent aroma of the liquor masked only slightly by a hint of fruity like sweetness, although the ewe couldn't place the brand. Brandy hadn't been her Father's drink of choice, but it was certainly prominent in his regular alcoholic rotation. The stench alone managed to dredge up flickers of those painful memories long past, and the ewe did her best to shake them off as she pushed forward into the dimly lit study.

The low and intimate lighting gave the prodigious looking study a warm and inviting atmosphere despite what Dawn would have imagined the wolf would have preferred someone like her to feel upon entering. The olive green padded oak furnishings and golden flourishes seemed to twinkle like the flickers of a candle flame, making the room appear almost as if it were something out of the old world. Every piece of furniture seemed to exude a refined and handcrafted charm that only amplified the feeling that the room was a home to a long line of Hunter history in some form or another. The book shelves lining the walls on either side of the room practically spilling over with texts and tomes, many that by the look of them told Dawn they were unlikely to be found in the Savannah Central Public Library. Most of the bindings she could make out seemed to have handwritten labels scrawled on the ends, much of which appeared far too refined to have been written by modern paws.

Easing her way into the room, the ewe followed the source of the low lighting back to the large oaken desk at the head of the room. It was emanating from a lone, jade green office lamp that was pointed toward the center of the desk, the top of which had been covered by a large, wide brimmed Sheriff's hat. Under the most intense portion of the lighting the large white wolf sat, his face obscured partially by the top portion of a large sleek black laptop. The wolf's attention was fixed on the device as he quietly typed away. In his free paw he held a large crystal glass, half full of a deep brown liquid that he idly swished in the container as his attention remained fixated on the computer screen.

"M-Mr. Hunter." Dawn squeaked weakly. Her mind immediately scolding her for already failing to follow Vanna's advice. The ewe cleared her throat before attempting to rebound in a firmer tone. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

Dawn watched as the wolf's eyes flicked her way, his ears suddenly standing sharply at attention before slipping back into a more relaxed position.

"Well..." Dorian grumbled. "This night just keeps gettin' better and better..." The wolf sighed, bringing his paw over the lid of his laptop before easing it closed. Dorian turned his attention back to the glass in his paw. Reaching across his desk, the wolf pulled a large decanter filled with the same brown liquor that had partially filled his glass. Dorian tipped the bottle into his cup, slowly bringing the level of the fluid to the brim before placing the larger bottle back into the shadow of his desk from whence he had pulled it.

The wolf let out a another sigh as he leaned back into his chair, placing his free arm on one of the chairs armrests as he took a small swig of his brandy. His eyes seemed to be studying the lamb, scanning every portion of her with keen attentiveness. It was something Dawn was certain he did when it came to casing criminals, exactly the behavior Vanna had warned her about. He was looking for a tremble, a flinch, something to grab at, and it took every bit of Dawn's willpower to keep still as she waited for the wolf to continue.

"Well, go on..." The wolf muttered, gesturing toward the ewe with his glass. Dawn blinked rapidly for a moment. The wolf had caught her off guard. She certainly hadn't expected him to be so willing to give her the first word. In that moment Dawn found herself unsure of where to begin, how to even approach saying what she felt she needed to say. The surprising turn had seemed to strike her dumb, and her mind struggled to find the starting thread.

"You wanted to talk...?" The wolf added, swishing the brandy in his glass idly. "Well, talk." The tone in Dorian's voice grew irritated, and with it Dawn felt her heart rate starting to rise. The ewe reasoned it was best to just press onward, to lead right into the focus of why she had entered into his office and hope the conversation remained on that particular topic.

"I feel as though we may have started off on the wrong hoof." Dawn said, her voice even and calm despite her elevated heart rate.

The wolf let out a weak chuckle. "That's putting it lightly." Dorian took another small swig of his brandy before returning to idly swishing it in his glass.

Dawn simply tried to ignore the wolf's snide remark, continuing to press forward with her agenda.

"I know my being here has caused a lot of stress." Dawn continued. The ewe swallowed hard, but did her best to hide the muscle movement from the wolf's watchful eyes. "And I'm not going to mince words, I know I've been the cause of quite a number of incidents."

The wolf raised the paw on his armrest, bringing it behind his head as he leaned back into his chair. The old chair let out a groan as the wolf's form dipped out of the concentrated cone of light, his head now obscured in the darkness behind the desk as he swished his drink again.

"We talkin' about all of them or the latest one?" Dorian muttered from the darkness. "The whole breakin' the house rule fiasco?"

Dawn stumbled slightly. She had been uncertain that Dorian would jump to that particular incident so soon in the conversation, but considering it had just happened perhaps she should have been expecting it.

"Y-you heard that?" Dawn stumbled, once again mentally cursing herself for showing weakness.

"Who didn't?" Dorian replied. The wolf had begun to gently rock his chair back and forth, periodically revealing his face to the ewe as it slowly slipped in and out of darkness. "I know my son's howls like the back of my paw." Dorian continued. "O'course hard fer any wolf not to recognize a matin' howl."

Dawn cleared her throat sharply, trying to regain her foothold on the conversation.

"Yes, well that was an unfortunate lapse in judgment on my part, and I can assure you it will not happen again." Dawn added, taking a moment to adjust her glasses.

Dorian leaned forward, his muzzle shifting back into the light of the desk lamp. His face had an irritated expression as he eyed the ewe suspiciously.

"Is'sat a fact?" The wolf gave out a slurred grumbled, taking another swig of his brandy. He drank deeper now, his sips graduating from small to something more average as the ewe heard him emit a hearty gulp before placing the glass on his desk. "I 'spose I should take you at yer word on that?"

Dawn gave a sharp nod. "Yes sir."

"Easy to say somthin' like that after already breakin' the rule." Dorian sneered. "But I guess you Bellwethers aren't much inclined fer followin' rules are ya?" The wolf gave another weak chuckle, but this time it was as if there was slight malice imbedded within it. "So why start now?"

"Mr. Hunter." Dawn interjected despite the sting of the wolf's words. "I'm not here to start picking at old wounds of any kind." Dawn said, clearing her throat again. It felt as though it were drying more and more as the wolf glowered at her. "I came here because I wanted to apologize."

The white wolf quirked an eyebrow, squinting slightly as he stared back at Dawn. The ewe wasn't sure if he was appraising her movements to try to tell if she was lying, or merely trying to process what she was saying.

"Apologize?" Dorian said, leaning back into his chair. The desk chair groaned as the wolf slid back into the darkness behind his desk.

"Yes." Dawn continued. "I wanted to apologize for everything I've caused over the past two days. To own up to my mistakes and try my hardest to make up for them."

Dawn watched as the wolf remained in the dark, his paw reaching out for his glass before pulling it back into the shadows. She could hear another hard gulp as the wolf presumably took another swig.

"I want to try to make a fresh start between the two of us. A do-over if you will." Dawn continued pleading her case. "If not for me, then for Pu-" Dawn stopped to correct herself as her emotions began to affect her professional tenor. "Then for Vernon's sake."

From the shadows the glass returned, now completely free of the brandy it had once been filled with. Dorian however, remained in the dark, leaving the ewe's words to hang there in the silence of the study. Dawn's uneasiness continued to rise the longer the wolf remained silent, but she did her best to keep the rising anxiety below the surface.

"A-All I'm asking for is a chance Mr. Hunter. I really care about your son and I don't want to be the cause of a rift between the two of you." Dawn continued, her voice rising as she continued her entreaty. "And I certainly don't want to be the cause of any problems between you and your wonderful family."

The wolf remained in the dark, still silent as ever, but the ewe could tell by the faint glimmer of light reflecting off his eyes that they were still fixed on her.

"I want to fix the damage I've done, to heal this family I've grown to care about so much. Please." Dawn concluded, offering a weak but hopeful smile. She had managed to remain mostly cool and collected through the most important parts of her planned speech. The ewe felt she may have thrown herself a little at the mercy of Dorian's feet toward the end of it, but she imagined even Vanna would have been impressed with her so far. The ewe waited as the wolf remained silent, seemingly still locked in his position in the darkness beyond the desk lamp. Dawn felt herself begin to wring her hooves, but quickly slapped them down as her anxiety continued to rise.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity Dorian slowly leaned back into the light of the desk. Reaching into the dark, the wolf withdrew the decanter full of brandy before bringing it down on the desk hard enough to make the ewe flinch despite herself.

"There are some types of damage that can never be undone..." Dorian muttered, lifting the bottle once more and pouring himself another glass of brandy. With that simple statement, the ewe's hopeful smile immediately fell. Dawn could feel a lump forming in her throat, but with its rise came the need to protest. Any effort the ewe could make to keep the conversation on a positive level.

"B-But Mr. Hunter, surely something can be-"

"And apologies don't carry much weight when ya'll already tore everythin' apart. Ya'll got nothin' to lose by apologizin' now, nothin' to risk. Ya'll just get to make yourself feel like a better mammal for doin' nothin' but saying a few hollow words." The wolf grunted.

"Mr. Hunter." Dawn cleared her throat. "I mean what I'm saying. I have every intention of-"

"I told ya'll not to go to the fair!" The wolf snarled, taking another gulp of liquor and wiping his maw tersely. "I told that boy exactly what it would do, but did he listen to me!?" Dorian spat. "No!" The wolf slammed his glass down as harshly as he had the bottle before, causing some of the liquid to slosh out onto the desk.

Dawn could feel the fear rising as her stomach twisted into knots. Not only was the wolf starting to raise his voice, but the scent of the alcohol coupled with the increasingly aggressive atmosphere was starting to play on the ewe's childhood trauma. It was the last thing she considered having to worry about when entering Dorian's office. Not only having to remain brave in the face of whatever Dorian could throw at her, but to keep the old wounds buried in her mind from opening back up under the strain of horrific familiarity. The yelling, the stink of alcohol, all of it was starting to call back to those terrible memories. Flickering images of a crumpled lamb crawled up her spine, balled up on the floor with her hooves out and desperately trying to hold back her Father's belt. And while her rational mine told her she was safe, and that the situation was nothing like those that had come before, the rising fear was still something extra she now had to keep in check. She needed to keep her head on straight. To keep the painful feelings from her past from mingling and blurring with the feelings Dorian was now bringing upon her.

"I didn't know until after the fair Mr. Hunter!" Dawn protested, her voice wavering slightly as she balled her fists. "Vernon didn't tell me what you had said! What Zach had said!" Dawn let out a harsh exhale. "If I had known, I would have been willing to stay home. I m-"

"I'm sure you would have." Dorian scoffed, flicking his free paw dismissively at the ewe.

"I would have!" Dawn said sharply, her muzzle tightening into a grimace as she bit back the building anxiety.

"Bullshit!" Dorian fired back. "If' that were true ya'll would have never come out here in the first place."

"I came here to meet my mates family!" Dawn protested, her voice remaining stern despite her growing unease.

"Ya'll came out here expectin' everything to go your way. You didn't think about the strain you bein' here was gonna put on this family, what it was going to do to the community we fit into. You were thinkin' about yer selfish needs! You both were!" Dorian spat back.

The wolf took another harsh swig of brandy, wincing slightly as he choked it back. It was clear in the wolf's rising belligerence some of the liquor had slid down the wrong pipe. The wolf let out a ragged cough, wiping his muzzle as he tried to compose himself.

"Vernon was always a bit naive." The wolf continued, the anger in his voice subsiding slightly, the coughing fit having seeming to have at least calmed the wolf's flared temper. "He makes a lot of choices without really thinkin' em' through. Too much thinkin' with his heart, and not with his head." The wolf tapped a claw to his brow to emphasize his point. "So bein' selfish is natural to the boy. It ain't on purpose o' course. But the boy just expects everyone to come around to his way of thinkin', and doesn't spend the time to reason out the complexities of why someone else can't."

The wolf pointed a claw toward Dawn, his eyes squinting as he sharpened his gaze.

"But you're too smart fer that." Dorian muttered. "I can't imagine ya'll didn't think of the things Vernon refused to think over, but ya still agreed to come." Dorian's tone started to rise again. "You pushed, and pushed, and spurred the boy on, and fer what? What were you thinkin' exactly?"

"I didn't push for anything!" Dawn protested. "But Vernon believed so strongly that you would accept me, so much so that I couldn't argue with him!" Dawn sighed. "He believed in me too. He believed in me from the start, despite everything I had done."

"After what you've done..." Dorian growled. The wolf took another swig of his drink, placing the glass down as he leaned back into the shadows.

"I know you have a problem with my criminal history Mr. Hunter." Dawn lowered her voice, but her emotions were beginning to slip. Her fear was quickly giving way to ire.

Being reminded of her Father, feeling like she was in that place again was causing repressed rage to boil up to the surface on top of Dorian's already unreasonable behavior. She knew she was going against Vanna's playbook by even touching on her history, but it felt like there was no other choice. "But I've done my time, and I'm trying my hardest to make up for my mistakes!" Dawn's breath grew shallow as she did her best to keep her anger from boiling over. "I didn't want to point to what happened during the 'Last Night' fiasco as if it simply cleared my guilt, but at the very least it should count as some sort of proof that I'm trying!"

Dorian fell silent, leaving the ewe to stew in her own mind as she waited for the wolf's reply. Dawn didn't like feeling angry, but in this situation it seemed the only way the ewe could remain on track. The growing ire was keeping her focused, preventing her from backing down from the belligerent wolf.

Slowly the wolf leaned forward, placing his glass on his desk before following suit with his arms. The wolf leaned his muzzle against his paws, letting out a long and tired sigh.

"Do you even think about all the damage you've done in yer life Ms. Bellwether?" Dorian mumbled. "About all the mammals you hurt when you went about drugging up predators and turnin' em loose on a city full of innocent mammals?"

Dawn froze, feeling the anger begin to drain away as the wolf's words cut deep into her. Her part in the Night Howler Scandal was something that had never left her since the moment she had been caught. The guilt and sorrow had hung over her like a dark shroud, and despite therapy and every positive and negative event that had happened in her life since the guilt had always remained, and she was certain it always would. It was something she accepted as necessary, and well deserved. It remained a constant reminder of how low she had sunk, as well as a motivation to work twice as hard to improve the world around after she had done so much to destroy it.

"E-every day." Dawn said somberly. "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about the mammals I hurt."

Dorian gave a slight nod, his eyes remaining fixed on the ewe. "All of 'em?"

Dawn arched an eyebrow in confusion. "W-well yes, of course." Dawn replied. "I've even tried to contact the families of those who were targets, and apologized even if they didn't accept it." Dawn sighed sadly. "Only the Ottertons were willing to hear me out."

"What about the city then?" Dorian muttered, pouring more brandy into his glass. Once again it was filled to the brim, and the wolf took a small sip before placing it back down and returning to his position, his muzzle up against his paws.

"I-I've been doing all I can to help those in the city, but relations have improved quite a bit between predator and prey since we were stopped." Dawn replied, unsure of where the wolf was going with his line of questioning. "Even more so since my Father's plan was stopped. I imagine that predator and prey relations are better than they've ever-"

Dorian cut her off with a weak chuckle.

"What?" Dawn asked, placing a hoof on her hip.

"What about the world Ms. Bellwether..." Dorian grimaced.

Dawn opened her mouth, but found she couldn't form a reply. She wasn't sure exactly what Papa Hunter was getting at. Surely the wolf wasn't expecting that she knew everything about what the scandal had done to Animalia as a whole, let alone could even begin to mend something of that magnitude.

"The reason I'm askin' this is because I want to see if you've really ever thought about how what you did affected the lives of each and every mammal from here to Sibearia." Dorian gestured his paw in a sweeping motion as if to symbolize the distance. "About the long term damage you've put on their everyday livin', even if it was miniscule."

"Mr. Hunter..." Dawn paused, putting her own hooves to her muzzle as she tried to figure out how to proceed. "I-I've certainly thought about it, but you can't expect me to know how every single mammal in the world may have been affected by what I did, or be able to fix it. I-I'm just one lamb." Dawn could feel the lump in her throat starting to reform.

"I ain't askin' you to fix it." Dorian replied, taking a sip of his liquor. "As I told ya'll, some things can't be fixed. I'm just asking if you've thought about it."

Dawn nodded meekly. "Y-yes...I have." The ewe sighed.

"Zootopia is the city the entire planet looks to when it comes to the pinnacle of modern society. Outsiders see it as the place that dictates how all mammals should see each other." Dorian grumbled. "What we all want to strive to be."

"Mr. Hunter." Dawn said, wringing her hooves nervously. The anxiety was starting to creep back in despite the wolf's oddly calm demeanor. "I know I'll never be able to grasp just how much I've hurt everyone globally. As I've said, I'm just one lamb. But if-"

"Fine, Fine..." Dorian muttered. "Then let's scale it back to our own little country. Lets say, right here in the Meadowlands. Just shy of the city proper." Dorian sighed, taking another sip of his brandy. "You ever wonder about how what you did affected us out here in the Meadowlands?"

Dawn felt her stomach began to drop as it was becoming increasingly apparent as to what the wolf was drawing her toward. Somehow, some way, the Hunters had been affected by the crimes she had committed over four years prior. Whatever it turned out to be, it must have been what was fueling the wolf's mistrust and dislike of her.

"M-Mr. Hunter." Dawn stuttered slightly. "If my actions have caused any-"

The wolf held up a paw, looking away from the ewe as he silenced her.

"Can you even imagine what the 'Night Howler Scandal' did to this community? Hell even with just the tenuous relationship sheep and wolves already have? The frenzy and panic it sewed into the fabric of this community?"

Dorian's voice began to rise slightly as he wrapped his paw around his glass. "Let me paint ya'll a picture. One of a sleepy little police station whose phone lines lit up more and more with each passin' day. Neighbors turnin' on neighbors, and the increasin'ly ornery domestic disputes that came out of that."  Dorian grit his teeth. "Mammals that had been friends for years stopped talking because they were afraid of 'em goin 'savage'!" The wolf took another swig. "We had preds locking themselves in their own homes, terrified they'd hurt their neighbors. Afraid of some airborne virus or mental 'tickin' time bomb' that was liable to transform 'em at the drop of a hat."

Dorian sighed as he placed his glass back down before bringing his fingers to his temples. The wolf began to massage them lightly.

"Thanks to that dumb bunny shootin' her mouth off, the predator community was petrified they were all just waitin' to go feral, like it was simply a matter o' time." Dorian groaned. "The resignations were pourin' in. So many of my officers were so wrapped up in the 'savage' frenzy they were afraid they weren't fit for duty. That they we're a danger to public safety rather than its protectors."

The wolf picked up his glass again, finishing the remainder before bringing it down. At this point Dawn had lost track of just how many full glasses the wolf had downed with the growing heat and tension of their argument keeping her attention on the wolf. But As Dorian reached for his decanter, he froze just shy or pouring it. It seemed the wolf had forgotten as well just how many drinks he had, and the look on his face told the ewe he was having an internal argument with himself as to the exact number. Dorian's eyebrows scrunched briefly before the wolf nodded to himself, mouthing what appeared to Dawn as the words 'one more' before topping off another glass. The wolf then placed the large bottle back on the edge of his desk before scooping the fresh glass into his paw.

"Y'know seventy five percent of the North Meadowlands Police Department is operated by Predators?" Dorian asked, arching an eyebrow as he evidently expected a response.

"No." Dawn said meekly. She was certain the figure was accurate. Just her recent  research alone had justified why so many wolves had ended up in positions of authority and peace keeping. But it was something that was evident even back in her days working in politics. Predators seemed to congregate at the top, and prey willingly put them there regardless of how times changed and species evolved. They were seen as natural leaders, powerful and strong, and capable of protecting all those under their care. It was a self sustaining cycle that neither side seemed to be able to struggle against, the same one that would force a mammal like Vernon into police work, or Judy into farming whether they wanted to or not.

"Can you imagine what it was like to have half yer office up an leavin' over the course of a few weeks? All while the community is in the throes of eatin' itself?" Dorian grimaced sharply. "Do you think crime just stopped to adjust fer the lack of mammals on the force? Between me, Zach, and the pawful of officers I had we could barely keep this community together." The wolf huffed.

"And that ain't even countin' the demand for resignations from the Meadowfolk." Dorian growled. "On top of the limited paws available, the prey community was pushin' to clear out the remainin' preds from our ranks." The wolf took a small sip of his brandy. "Thankfully ol' Ruddy went to bat for us, or else the department would have been working at twenty five percent or less capacity." Dorian lowered his glass harshly against the table, causing the ewe to flinch again despite herself. "With the rising anti-pred demonstrations and calls fer violence we were strapped to capacity as it was. We were pullin' double and triple shifts, fueled by nothin' more than coffee and devotion to the job. Devotion to the community we grew up in! That my family has been a part of since the county line was re-drawn a century ago! And most of us were prayin' every night that somethin' would give, that somethin' would just turn the tide and end it all."

The wolf lowered his gaze, his eyes fixing on the ewe as the squeezed sharply into hateful slits. Dawn felt a shudder shoot down her spine as she stared back at him, and had to force herself to maintain eye contact despite the overwhelming desire to look anywhere else.

"Then you got caught..." Dori grumbled.

The lump in Dawn's throat gave way to bile as she swallowed hard to keep it contained. Audrey's pumpkin pie was not as pleasant coming up as it had been going down it seemed, and the ewe did her best to keep from wincing as she forced it back into her stomach. Just thinking about that day in particular had always managed to cause the ewe's stomach to turn without fail. It was not the fact that she was stopped that made her feel ill, in fact she was glad for it. But rather, it was how far she had been willing to go before being stopped. How her fear and madness had driven her to attempt to take Judy's life, to force the rabbit's own friend to maul her to death against his will. For Dawn, not a day had gone by that she hadn't been thankful that Nick and Judy had the foresight to swap her pellets with blueberries. For if things had played out the way she had intended in that moment of insanity, the ewe was certain she would never have been able to live with herself beyond it.

Dorian took another sip of his brandy. As he went to lower the glass he stopped just before touching the table. Instead he raised the glass again, pointing a finger toward the ewe.

"You know, The North Meadowlands ain't very diverse when it comes to Pred and Prey." The white wolf said, clearing his throat. "It's mostly made up of sheep and wolves, much like things are back in Schottram and Norwulff." The wolf bobbed his glass slightly from side to side. "With a smatterin' of other prey and preds here and there, but it's largely just wolves and sheep."

Dawn nodded slowly, once again unsure of where Dorian was going with the conversation.

The wolf took another sip of his brandy, letting out a satisfied sigh as he finally placed the glass down. The white wolf leaned back in his chair, allowing the dark to overtake his face again.

"Ever think about how the 'Night Howler Scandal' affected yer own folk Ms. Bellwether?" Dorian asked. "How it hurt sheep folk?"

Dawn blinked in slight surprise. She had always known that to some extent her kind had suffered for what she had done. Sheep already had quite the interesting history depending upon the mammals you had asked. Conspiracy theories about a secret order of rams pulling the strings behind everything that goes on in modern society. About caprids coming from space to enslave the rest of Animalia's mammals. She was sure those were things a mammal like Ulric knew like the back of his paw. But she knew her families legacy had certainly done its fair share to add credence to those crackpot theories. But still, when it came to the duress sheep had suffered as a direct result of her scheme, she was embarrassingly less informed on the subject than she had been with the general effects.

"Honestly..." Dawn murmured. "I really haven't thought about it as much as I probably should have."

Dawn heard a creak from the chair, but the wolf remained cloaked in shadow.

"When you got caught, I was hopin' things would improve. That everything would go back to the way it was..." Dorian sighed. "But instead, it just flipped on its head overnight."

The wolf leaned forward, placing his paws against the tip of his muzzle.

"The anti-pred groups all but disappeared, and in their place came the anti-prey groups. The anti-sheep demonstrations. Angry groups of wolves and other preds stabbing claws toward the sheep in this community and fosterin' the idea that they were at the base of all of societies ills." Dorian drew a paw through his scalp. "Our staff started to come back, but the frenzy stayed the same, even worsinin' in some ways."

Dorian picked up his glass of brandy, taking another sip before letting out an appreciative sigh.

"Crops were burned, homes were defaced, and there were a number of protests that went violent, only now instead of prey supremacy holdin' sway, native wolf ideas about prey were starting to take hold among the pred population." Dorian muttered. "It was the same shit show, with a different face. And once again we could barely keep the peace."

"Mr. Hunter." Dawn spoke. She had let the conversation drift far out of the territory that Vanna had warned her to keep it in. But after hearing the wolf's testimony, she knew just why it had been so important for him to bring to her attention. It was clear Dorian and the Meadowlands as a whole had been through a great deal at her hooves, and the wolf cared deeply about the place his family called home. Her actions had hurt the community in ways that would never be considered by most, in ways she had never been put to trial for. She had hurt wolves, sheep, the Hunters and everyone in the North Meadowlands in some way. And while she couldn't undo all the strain she had caused, she could at least make an earnest try to atone for it.

"I can't even begin to properly apologize for everything I've caused." Dawn said, her voice warbling slightly as the pang of guilt ran through her. " To you, to your family, to this community. I know that nothing I can really say will help fix anything my actions created all those years ago." Dawn sighed, looking down to her feet in shame. "All I can do is try to make up for everything to the best of my abilities. To do what I can to drive the evil sentiments I helped stoke in pred and prey alike back into the shadows where they belong." Dawn placed a hoof to her chin as she searched for the proper words to explain herself.

"I'm hoping the book I'm writing will help in some small way, even if only a few mammals ever do read it." The ewe looked back to her feet as she twiddled her hooves. "I know I don't exactly have the reach I once did to contribute anything major. But that doesn't mean I'm not trying my hardest to find ways to help fix some of the damage I've done." Dawn sighed.

"And thankfully, Pred and Prey relations have recovered significantly since my scheme, and even more so since the 'Last Night' plot. I mean things still aren't perfect, but I can at least help keep the ball rolling in the right direction." Dawn said, a twinge of hopefulness rising in her voice. "To try and help fi-"

"Some things can't be fixed." The wolf snarled gruffly as he finished of his glass of brandy. Dorian turned the glass upside-down before bringing it sharply down against his desk.

"I already told you that..." He grumbled, slurring slightly. he wolf wiped his maw aggressively. "All the tryin' to smooth things over now won't undo what you caused! What you did to my boy!"

Dawn was confused to say the least. The wolf had jumped from blaming her for the communities response to the 'Night Howler scandal' to what Dawn could only assume was blaming her for Vernon's behavior. Or perhaps he was blaming her for Vernon choosing the ewe as his mate. But it didn't seem to go with how the wolf felt about his community, and about prey in general. He cared for prey and sheep as much as his own kind, or it least it seemed that way. The only logical reason the ewe could come up with was once again, that Vernon had chosen someone with such a terrible and very visible criminal record.

"Vernon?" The ewe asked, warily cocking her head.

The wolf chuckled, his laugh ending in an almost pleasant sigh as he drifted back into the shadows. Dawn could see the gleam again, the tell tale sign that though Dorian was in darkness, his eyes remained fixed on her.

"It was just about...two days. Two days after ya'll got picked up." The wolf laughed again.

"We got a call to head down to this rally." The wolf continued, the chair creaking as he began to rock. "A bunch of uppity native types were sewin' unrest into the local wolves about their sheep neighbors. Talkin' about superiority of preds and such. Same 'ol dribble." The wolf sighed. "Only this time mammals were listenin' to 'em."

Dawn watched as the wolf placed his paws on the desk, leaning himself back into the light. The expression on his face one of somber recollection.

"And it was a public place o' course. So naturally there were caprid folk around, doin' their best to mind their business." Dorian muttered. "But the demonstrators we're gettin' too riled, and they started lookin' fer blood."

Dorian placed a paw over his head as he leaned into it. "By the time we got there, they had dragged this little ewe away from her family. She was probably only about seven 'er eight." The wolf grumbled. "The leader of them screamin' some nonsense about how 'it starts with the youngins'' or somethin' like that while his buddies were holdin' her parents back." The wolf sat back up, bringing his paw down on the table as he turned his gaze back to Dawn. "I suspected it was just another show of bravado. Those young native types are always lookin' to put the scare into prey folk, especially with the way things had been since the night howler scare. I was so used to that by then I simply wasn't movin' as fast I should have been to break up the whole thing." Dorian turned his muzzle down to his desk, his paw idly playing with the glass he had left upturned as he let out a sigh. "I was never much to concern myself with the ravings of them native types, as ornery as they got they only ever talked a big game. Words can't hurt nobody."

The wolf let out a grumble as he reached back toward the dark edge of his desk, recalling the bottle of brandy from its hiding place. Dorian flipped the glass, pouring himself another tall glass of the liquor. His paw seemed to tremble as the liquid reached the top, causing it to spill slightly before the wolf placed the bottle back on the end of his desk. Dorian took a long sip of his freshly poured brew, gulping loudly before bringing the cup back down to the desk. The wolf wiped his muzzle before turning his attention back to Dawn.

"But a pistol sure can, one that I barely caught a glimpse of as that fella pulled it out of his coat and aimed it at the kid..."

Dawn drew a gasp, placing her hooves over her muzzle as the wolf's words hit her. "Lamb sakes!" The ewe couldn't stop herself from shouting in shock. She couldn't believe any mammal would do something so horrible, and was now gripped with terror as to the fate of the little ewe. "Did he-?"

"I wasn't fast enough..." Dorian sighed. "But Zach was." Dorian shook his head dismissively. "That dumb boy...damn dumb boy." Dorian muttered, his eyes now wandering to the glass he was holding in his paw. Dawn could see the wolf seemed to be swaying slightly, the alcohol digging deeper into the wolf's system.

"Always has to show off!" Dorian grumbled. "Has to look the hero type!" Dorian spat. The wolf leaned over the table, staring Dawn directly in the eyes. The ewe did her best to keep from shrinking into her shoulders, but the glare the wolf was giving her sent chills down her spine.

"He should have just disarmed him! That dumb boy!" Dorian hissed, taking another sip of his brandy before slinking back into his chair. "But what does he do!? He jumps on the girl, uses his body as a shield!" The wolf huffed. "So instead of stoppin' the wolf from firin', he just made sure he'd get at least one shot off. One shot before I could get to him!"

Dawn's hoof remained over her muzzle as the realization hit her all at once, he eyes widening as her breathing hitched in her throat.

"N-No..." Dawn stuttered, her mind grappling to wrap around just what the wolf was telling her.

"No kevlar, o' course no kevlar." Dorian continued. "We never needed it out here before, so why would he be wearin' it!?" The wolf slurred slightly.

"M-Mr. Hunter, y-you-" Dawn stammered, her mind lost between finally understanding what the wolf was leading her towards while desperately wishing it hadn't.

"Right over his heart the doctors said." Dorian took another swig. " 'Nicked the peri-peri..." The wolf mumbled, seeming to have difficulty with the word. "That sac 'round yer heart." The wolf leaned back into the darkness behind his desk. "Caused it to fill' up with blood, stopped his heart 'fer a minute or two."

She could hear the wolf let out another tired sigh. "If we hadn't been so close to the hospital... Lupa help me. I don't even..." She could hear Dorian's breath hitch slightly, his voice wavering as he struggled to clear it.

This what Dorian had been holding against her above all else, above how her actions has affected Zootopia, the Meadowlands or even the whole world. It all came back to the fact that she had directly hurt the family without even being aware of it. That she had indirectly endangered the life of one of his sons.

"Mr. Hunter. I-" Dawn felt like she could barely breath, the weight of the renewed rush of guilt feeling as though it was crushing her lungs. "V-Vernon never-" Dawn struggled to get the words out. "He never told me. I never knew-"

"O'course he didn't tell you!" The wolf snapped as he came back into the light. "By the time we got news out to the other boys the danger was long over! It had missed his heart, it wasn't serious to 'em!" Dorian spat. "They weren't there when it happened! To see the worst o' things!"

The wolf slammed the rest of his brandy down in a single swig before bringing the glass down hard against the table, eliciting another sharp wince from Dawn.

"Even Zach had dropped yer role in it outta' his mind till I reminded him of it this mornin'! That boy, never takes a damn thing seriously!" Dorian hissed. "That's why I had to get him a partner, someone to keep him from actin' like a damn fool all the time!"

Dawn stared back in surprise as she put the pieces together.

"Y-you mean Vanna was-?"

"She's a damn fine officer!" Dorian sneered. "Calm and collected, and sharp as a tack. Someone to keep a leash on that boy of mine!" The wolf wiped his face, dragging his digits over his features slowly. " Never expectin' to get a daughter-in-law out of it, but now he's got someone to keep him in line even when he's off duty."

The wolf's gaze fell on Dawn again, freezing her in place. The look on Dorian's face was as if he had just noticed her there. It was as if this entire time the wolf had simply been rambling to himself, and was suddenly aware of his audience. The wolf's eyes squinted as his lips curled into a tight sneer. In that gaze the ewe could feel nothing but malice and contempt, the cold and unfeeling stare reaching deep into her chest and freezing the blood within her heart solid. Dawn opened her mouth to speak, but her mind had overwritten any calm, collected words she had planned to say. Dorian's hateful yet hauntingly familiar gaze had stolen her words, replacing them with memories of her Father's same hideous glare.

"And whose hooves do I lay that mess at the feet of Ms. Bellwether? Hmm?" Dorian spat. "Who do ya'll think is at fault fer nearly puttin' one of my sons in an early grave?"

Dawn blinked in shock, her mind trying to parse the wolf's words properly. The stinging memories of her Father's beatings still playing in the back of her mind as she struggled to respond to the situation at hoof. Dawn fought through the painful mess of her own thoughts, trying to get her voice to the surface in an effort to protest the wolf's accusations.

"Y-you can't possibly blame me for something like that!" The ewe managed to croak out despite herself. "I-I didn't make Zach jump! I didn't put the gun in that wolf's paw!"

Dorian snarled back at the ewe, causing her to shrink into her shoulders as her heart began thumping loudly in her chest.

"Not direct enough for ya? What about how yer Father nearly killed Vern?" The wolf spat. "That's two of my sons your family's tried to take from me!"

"W-what!?" Dawn stuttered. "That's not true either! We we're both ca-"

"If my boy hadn't gotten involved with yer mess of a life, if he hadn't been so fixated on you, he never woulda' been in that factory would he!?" The wolf growled. "Knowin' you is what put him there!"

Dawn could feel the tears starting to rise as the battle skewed against her. The wolf was on her now, his words stinging with each baseless accusation and half truth he threw her way. She could feel herself crumpling under his intimidation, her hooves starting to raise toward the wolf in defense despite the fact he hadn't left his seat.

"Let's face it Ms. Bellwether, this relationship you think you have with my boy, well..." The wolf paused, rolling his eyes lazily as he seemed to mull over his words. "Either yer foolin' yerself or your tryin' to distance yerself from all you've done."

"My boy may be foolish enough to think yer in love with him, but I can read you like a book little lamb." Dorian continued, rising from his seat only to slam his paws on the table. "This ain't nothin' more than a hollow attempt to ease yer troubles about all the things you did."

Dawn was feeling sick as the sea of terrible memories from her childhood bled into her consciousness, mixing and mingling with the rising fear being brought on from the wolf's verbal assault. Her mind was screaming at her to run, the nerve endings in her skin stinging as she recalled the feel of the leather strap as it swung down on her. They were trying to warn her, drag her mind back to that of the little ewe she once was and get her to flee.

But somewhere in that swirling sea of emotions a flame began to grow. The words that Dorian was saying were outright lies now, and part of her had heard them. The part of her that was tired of running. The part of her that knew she wasn't a little lamb anymore. The part of her that had fought to keep her alive in the hospital three months prior. It was growing angry, and slowly but surely the tainted memories of her past and the fears of her present were being pushed aside as the primal ire crawled its way to the surface.

"You want to make everyone look at you and think 'Well look at how progressive Bellwether is now! She's matin' with a wolf'!'" Dorian continued, his glare remaining leveled at the ewe. "And now yer here to worm yer way into our pack fer the same reasons! So you can tell yerself you are a good mammal." Dorian hissed. "So you can rest easy thinkin' how much of a great mammal you've become because you'd allow a wolf to-"

"I LOVE VERNON!" Dawn snapped, the ewe grit her teeth as the rage inside quickly boiled over. Dawn took a step toward the wolf, doing her best to match his glare in equal severity.

The wolf looked surprised, raising an eyebrow briefly before seeming to shrug it off. Dorian pounded his paw against the desk again as if to shake control of the conversation back from Dawn's sudden outburst.

"Bulls-!"

"I love Vernon, and frankly I don't care what you have to say about the matter Mr. Hunter!" Dawn cut the wolf off, placing a hoof on her hip as she straightened her stance. The ewe stood tall, despite her diminutive stature, her eyes remaining locked on the wolf's own. "You can refuse to believe in it all you want, but it's there! And I know it's the real thing!

The wolf simply scoffed, easing back down into his chair and crossing his arms defensively.

"And you're right! I am selfish!" Dawn spat, earning an eyebrow quirk from the slightly drunken wolf. "There is a part of me that would love nothing more than to spend the rest of my life far away from Zootopia! Some quiet, secluded little farm where Vernon and I could simply live out the rest of our days together. To not have to worry about what anyone else thought of us, or be constantly reminded of the crimes I've committed. Just to live out the rest of my quiet life with the mammal I know in my heart is my soulmate!"

Dawn placed her head in her hoof, letting out a shuddering sigh as the fire inside his continued to lap at her heart. It was pounding furiously now, turning the hateful memories of her Father's beatings into the fuel that was getting her through her confrontation with the wolf. It was as if the fight Dorian had been so dead set on having with her had become the catharsis for those long repressed offenses. The ewe now directing the energy that she had held in to one day tell off her own Father quickly turning on Dorian.

"But I know I can't..." Dawn let out a ragged sigh. " I know I owe the world to try for as long as I can to make things better! To try to make up for everything I've done wrong! And even if I can't fix everything, I'm damn well going to try!"

As Dawn took another step toward the wolf's desk, Dorian opened his muzzle to speak. But Dawn was done listening. It was Dorian's turn to listen now, and whether any of it would sink in or not the ewe had simply stopped caring.

"And I'm thankful every day that by the grace of the gods, someone up there saw fit to send me Vernon despite everything I had done!" Dawn huffed, stabbing a finger at the wolf in the chair. "A reward I didn't ask for and I know I certainly don't deserve!" Dawn snapped. "To stand with me, and to lean on while I try to heal what wounds I can."

Dawn let out a tired sigh, drawing a trembling hoof over her face as she turned away from Dorian slightly. The ewe dragged her hoof slowly down her face, tugging gently at her features as it slipped down and away.

"I only agreed to come here because Vernon wanted me to." Dawn said sadly. "He was so eager..." The ewe trailed off slightly. "So excited to introduce me to everyone." Dawn let out a weak chuckle. "I couldn't help myself, his enthusiasm was so infectious it made me actually hope that maybe, just maybe, you would prove to be as kind as he had been."

Dawn looked toward the ceiling, letting out another sigh. "That you might be willing to give me a chance to be a real part of your family." Dawn squeezed the bridge of her muzzle tightly as she turned her attention back to the seated wolf.

"Vernon was so set on making me a member of this family....and I just..." Dawn shook her head sadly. "I just wanted to make him happy. That's all I wanted. To give him back some of the happiness he was able to give me."

Dawn turned back toward the office door, holding her hooves out to her sides before allowing them drop to her sides.

"And then I come here to find so many of you willing to accept me with open paws. To embrace me as one of your own and fight for me despite everything I ended up causing." Dawn slumped slightly. "It made me start to hope that I really could find a place in this family. That I really could be a Hunter."

"You think..." Dawn turned her attention back to the wolf seated across from her. The wolf rose wobbly in his chair, planting a paw down on the desk to steady his gait. Dorian let out a wheezy chuckle. "You think I'd ever accept you as one of our own? That I'd believe any of that drivel comin' outta yer yap!?"

Dawn grimaced, the fire inside flaring back to a roar as she balled her fists.

"Vernon told me you were someone who believed that rehabilitation could change mammals!" Dawn cried in frustration. "So why can't you find it in your heart to believe me! To give me a chance to prove-"

"I don't believe anybody anymore little miss!" Dorian snarled. "I know better now." The wolf grabbed the glass empty glass from his desk, twisting it around in his paws as he eyed the ewe suspiciously. "As long as I'm head of this household, you ain't never gonna be a Hunter."

That was the last straw as the burning pit in Dawn's seemed to erupt into her bloodstream. It felt as though fire was flowing through her veins, her skin tingling with the scalding heat burning below the surface. Dawn's heart screamed over her logical mind, pouring all her fears and anguish directly into the hateful angry pit that was burning deep inside. Instinct drove the lamb forward, forcing her to the front of the wolf's desk without a second thought. Her size should have made standing so close to the desk that much more intimidating, her head the only part of her able to rise above the edge. But any fear or discomfort Dawn should have felt was buried by burning ire. The ewe grit her teeth as she stared daggers back at the still towering wolf.

"Well frankly, you don't have much of a say in that Mr. Hunter!" Dawn hissed through clenched teeth. "I'm going to be a Hunter with or without your consent, so I suggest you get used to it!"

Dorian snorted in response, evidently only slightly thrown off by the lambs sudden rush to confront him. The wolf remained silent, his hateful stare remaining fixed on the ewe.

"When Vernon and I return to Zootopia on Monday we are getting a partnership license." Dawn flashed the wolf a smug grin. "And we're planning to have a caprid wedding ceremony within the coming weeks!" Dawn crossed her hooves, a wide grin crossing her muzzle as she stared up at the increasingly appalled wolf. "I'm afraid that last name is as good as mine!"

Dorian let out a snarl, baring his teeth to the ewe as he glared down at her with wide, almost maddened eyes. It was clear he was struggling to find the words. That somewhere between the buzz of the brandy and the ewe's sudden aggressive posturing, the wolf was stumbling for a response. Failing to find his words, Dorian let out an angry roar, whipping the glass he had been holding over the ewe's head in a sudden sharp motion. Almost as soon as it had left his paw the ewe could hear the resounding crash as the crystal glass shattered against the wall somewhere distant in the room.

Dawn had somehow remained stoic in the face of the wolf's sudden violent outburst, her gaze remained fixed and unflinching as Dorian stabbed a claw directly into the ewe's face.

"Legally Vernon and Zootopia can do what they please, but without a tithin' ceremony you'll be nothin' more than some cheap lil' gimmer my son is experimentin' with!" The wolf glowered. "That name will be as empty an' hollow as yer intentions."

Dawn thought she was beyond the sting of Dorian's words by now, but that had managed to cut her deep. She could feel the fire finally starting to subside, her fuel nearly spent as the sorrow and misery began to well back up in its place. Dawn blinked sharply, doing her best to keep tears from starting to form as she turned away from the wolf's desk. She marched her way across the partially carpeted floor, not even thinking of the glass that could lay in her path as she made it back to the door.

Opening the large oaken door, the ewe turned back to look at the towering wolf one last time.

"If acting like you is what it means to be a Hunter, than I certainly want no part of it." Dawn eased herself around the edge of the door and back into the hallway. "But regardless, Vernon and I are staying together."

With that, Dawn closed the door behind her, leaving the miserable drunken wolf to himself. Not that the ewe was fairing much better. Now that she was out of the wolf's line of sight she could feel all the weight of what had happened flooding to the surface. The dam she had forged with her anger and resolve had now completely given way, and the deluge of rushing fear and sadness was hitting her like a tidal wave. Dawn tried to walk toward the kitchen, but she only made it about three steps down the hall before falling to her knees.

Dorian was never going to give her a chance, he was completely set in his ways. Regardless of what her or Vernon tried he was simply unwilling to see reason. At the very least she had a reason now, she understood why the wolf had been adverse to her presence from the moment she arrived. Had she known about Zach's injury before hoof she never would have agreed to come. Even now the fresh guilt of her connection to that event was compounding on the nausea gnashing at her stomach chambers.

But surely Audrey had known about the wolf's injury, and she had been willing to give the ewe a chance.

"Audrey..." Dawn mumbled as tears began to form behind her lenses. The she-wolf had been willing to give her a chance before, but what about now? She had let her down, tarnished her faith in her. Dawn's guilt deepened as she placed her hooves on the hardwood floor, balling them into fists.

The sudden clack of the porch door drew Dawn's attention up from the wood below to see Audrey entering the home. Behind her, Vernon was holding the picnic blanket they had left behind during their futile attempt to slink back into the house.

"I swear, yer lucky this thing didn't blow out of the county just leavin' it-" Audrey stopped as she caught Dawn trying to scramble to her feet. Dawn did her best to wipe away the swelling tears, but they just reformed with each terse pass of her hooves.

"Dawn?" Audrey murmured in concern.

Dawn sniffled sharply, trying her hardest to compose herself. but she was beyond that now. She had used all of her resolve up in Dorian's office, and now she was breaking down.

"Oh Darlin' don't cry now!" Audrey quickly kneeled to the floor, scooting toward the now trembling ewe.

"Ma! Look what you did!" Vernon cried.

"Oh hush now!" Audrey snapped back at the wolf before retuning her attention to Dawn. The ewe watched as the wolf opened her arms wide, and before she could react the she-wolf had pulled her into a tight hug. Dawn didn't want to cry, especially in front of Audrey. The mammal who had somehow seen her as being strong. But with her sudden gesture of pure, Motherly kindness the ewe had reached a breaking point. Dawn felt the heavy wave of painful anguish she had been trying so hard to keep buried rise up from deep within, and once it reached the surface there was no going back. The only thing she could do now was bury her face into the wolf's shoulder as the first of the loud sobs erupted from her muzzle. Dawn slid her glasses up into her hair as she wept into Audrey's side.

"Aw Honey..." Audrey tutted. "Shh...Shh..." The wolf cooed as Dawn sobbed heavily against the she-wolf's plaid shirt.  Dawn could feel her paws gently patting her back as she gingerly consoled the ewe.

"I didn't want ya'll to take it that badly Darlin'." Audrey chuckled. "You're fine, it's fine, this ain't the end of the world."

Dawn continued to weep despite the she-wolf easing some of her guilt. She didn't know about what Dorian had said, but regardless the she-wolf's presence was something the ewe now desperately needed. Her motherly demeanor only helping to sooth the fresh wounds carved out by her husbands barbed tongue.

"I just want ya'll to excercise better restraint from now on, but that certainly doesn't mean I hate you now or nuthin'" Audrey continued.

Dawn felt a weak chuckle escape through the choking sobs as she pulled herself away from Audrey slightly. The ewe wiped her eyes, trying to regain her composure as she appraised the concerned she-wolf. Even with all the pain, Audrey's comfort was bringing Dawn joy, a ray of sunshine through the gloom of her sorrow and worries. In that moment she could see her own Mother's face reflected in the she-wolf's warm smile. Audrey reached out a paw, wiping a few stray tears from Dawn's eyes with her thumb.

"I...I'm just happy..." Dawn whimpered, wiping her muzzle as she choked back more tears. "It...It's like I'm being scolded by my own Mother..." Dawn shuddered. "I mean, not that I don't respect you rules." Dawn looked down, letting out a sob choked sigh..."It just...it makes me feel like you care. Like I-I'm one of your own."

"Aw sweetie, you are one of my own." Audrey replied without hesitation. "You're a Hunter now Darlin', regardless of what that old stubborn mutt thinks."

With those words a fresh flush of hot tears stung Dawn's eyes, and she quickly returned to her place buried in the she-wolf's shoulder. Her ragged sobs causing her to tremble with each harsh exhale. She had said the perfect thing, the most sweetest, kindest words Dawn could stand to hear at the moment. Dawn felt awash with renewed love for the family, but at the same time the hollow sting of just how contradictory Audrey's statement inadvertently was.

She couldn't know they were a direct contrast to what her husband had said moments before. That the head of the family had seen fit to forever brand her as an outcast. And as she thought of what that might do to Vernon's relationship with the older mammal, as well as his relations with the other members of his family, her sobs grew deeper and more pronounced. How could she tell them? How could she tell Audrey or Vernon what Dorian had said to her.

"Shh...easy Darlin'." Audrey cooed, patting the back of the ewe's head. "Yer gonna hyperventilate." The she-wolf's voice was laden heavily with concern. "Vernon, get me a hot washcloth."

Dawn continued to sob harshly, getting as much of her pain out as she could with each wracked gasp. She had lost track of the time, or the area around her as she let herself go into the warm motherly embrace of Mother Hunter.

It was only when the she-wolf pushed her away slightly, did Dawn regain her sense of self awareness. And as Audrey brought the warm washcloth to her face, Dawn returned to her concentrated effort to push the tears back down.

The hot towel stung slightly as Audrey gently wiped the ewe's eyes and cheeks. Holding Dawn steady as she squirmed uncomfortably away from the towel.

"Now, now, quit yer fussin'." Audrey tutted. " This'll help, just trust me Dawn."

Dawn gave a hard sniffle, doing her best to follow the she-wolf's orders like an obedient child. There was something rather comforting about being doted over so carefully that kept forcing a smile to the ewe's face despite the lingering tears.

"T-Thank you Mrs. Hunter." Dawn stuttered.

"Aw Darlin', call me Audrey."

Dawn caught a wave of fresh tears in her throat, pressing it down sharply as she resisted the urge to cry again. The fact that they were back on a first name basis was enough to push her right back into another sobbing fit.

"There, now that's better." Audrey sighed, giving the ewe another gingerly wiping with the cloth before passing it back to Vernon. "You look so much better when yer face ain't all red and puffed up Darlin'. Don't she Vern?"

Vernon nodded without a moments hesitation. "Yes Ma'am."

Dawn giggled slightly through the lingering sniffles as the she-wolf handed her thick glasses back over to her. At some point the must have fallen off the ewe's head. Dawn wiped her nose one last time before sliding her frames back on.

"Feel better now?" Audrey said, giving the ewe a playful boop on the nose.

Dawn laughed, squirming into her shoulders as she pushed free of Audrey's grip.

Dawn let out a sigh of relief. She was feeling better, at least in the moment. But still, the thoughts of Dorian's words hung heavy in her heart. And so the ewe was hesitant to reply, her words coming out shaky and awkward.

"Y-yes.." Dawn muttered, twisting a hoof awkwardly against the hardwood floor.

"Hmm..." Audrey said, rising to her feet. "I tell you what, I think it would do the both of you some good to come back to the fair tomorrow with me. Help me run the stand."

Dawn looked up at Audrey in shock, the ewe's mouth hanging agape at the she-wolf's surprising suggestion. Glancing over, Dawn could see her mate bearing an equally surprised expression.

"Ma?" Vernon asked warily. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean Pa said-"

"Ah to hell with what old Dori says." Audrey huffed, crossing her arms. "Until that stick finds its way out of his butt he ain't worth listenin' to."

"Mrs. Hun-" Dawn paused to correct herself. "Audrey." Dawn was certain returning to the fair would only lead to more trouble. And if things weren't already bad with Papa Hunter, returning to the fair would only make things worse. "I'm not sure-"

"I ain't takin' no fer an answer." Audrey said with a firm expression. "Besides, Malcolm is cookin' fer the barbeque back here tomorrow so I need the extra paws." Audrey flashed a wide grin. "It'll be fun, plus I can teach you all the family recipes!"

Dawn couldn't help but smile at the she-wolf's enthusiasm. Much like Dori, the ewe knew this was another argument she wasn't going to win. But at least this one, she was more than happy to lose.

"But what about-"

"Oh Dori can pitch a fit all he wants when we get back Vern, this ones on me." Audrey tutted, giving her son a pat on the shoulder.

"Audrey?" Dawn asked timidly.

"Yes Darlin'?" The wolfess replied.

"I-if it's possible....could I..." Dawn trailed off, looking down at her hooves. "Get another hug?"

"Darlin' you never have to ask." Audrey chuckled as she kneeled back down to the ewe's level, inviting Dawn back into her embrace. The ewe scurried back into her arms, hugging her as tightly as she could muster. This moment was perfect, and that's what Dawn wanted the rest of the weekend to be.

Even if Dorian never came out of his office, even if he refused to accept her, Dawn could still bask in the acceptance of the other Hunters. Dori's words, his stance on her was something the ewe was going to have to bury. To keep to herself until the weekend was over at the very least. If she told Audrey or Vernon now, it would destroy any chance at squeezing joy out of the remaining days she had left on the ranch, and she couldn't bear to do that to herself. She couldn't bear to do that to everyone. Dawn elected right then and there, to simply grin and bear it.

Letting out a soft sigh, the ewe released her grip, pulling away from the she-wolf's warm grip.

"So..." Vernon muttered, drawing Audrey's attention back to him as she rose to her feet. "Since you two made up, does that mean I still gotta do all the dishes?"

Audrey crossed her arms, arching an eyebrow at the wolf. "Of course you do! I ain't lettin' you off the hook just yet, you ain't paid yer dues like she has." Audrey gestured to Dawn.

"Aw c'mon Ma, can-"

Audrey glared the wolf, and in a flash he scurried into the kitchen. As Dawn heard the water turn on full blast, Audrey offered the ewe a sly smile.

"If yer good, I may teach you how to get a boy to heel like that tomorrow too." Dawn placed a hoof to her muzzle as she tried stifle a laugh, but Audrey's own laughter proved too infectious to resist.

[askdawnandvern]

Here we are, finally the next chapter in the story. This time around, Dawn gets to know the rest of the Hunter girls a little bit better on the ride out to the fair. Also, the picture above is the chapter card for this chapter. I only tend to use these on FA and SF, because they have the option. But I figured i’d share them here as well from now on.

Check out my Patreon page and help me keep my time devoted to making stories and art instead of worrying about bills and social skills! Now with tiers with perks! https://www.patreon.com/wastedtimeee

-WT

Chapter Fifteen: The Hunter Girls

Dawn did her best to hide the blush the sneaky kiss left by her mate had caused to radiate off of her muzzle. It was utterly pointless though, judging by the warm grin she could see had curled its way up Audrey's muzzle. The older wolfess let out a wistful sigh as she leaned on her paw.

"You two are just adorable." Audrey cooed. "You are really making me hanker for my younger days, back when my husband was a bit softer and more bright eyed than he is now."

Dawn frowned slightly. "O-oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

The wolfess held up a paw as she chuckled. "You apologize too much Darlin', ain't yer fault I thought of that."

Audrey slowly rose to her feet. Getting out of her chair she slid it back into its place near the table. "Ya'll two are just making me miss when things were new and exciting."

Dawn could see the other members of the family at the table more or less starting to do the same. They were packing up what little remained at the table and placing their own chairs back in their settings. Dawn prepared herself to clamber down her chair, only to find Audrey offering a paw to help her. With the she-wolf's aid the ewe made it to the floor with ease, and as Dawn looked over to the small arctic fox seated across from her, she could see Vanna more or less helping her the same way.

"I told ya that Dori was a lot like Vernon when he was his age." Audrey said.

"I just don't see it." Dawn's attention drew back to Qali who was now off her seat. The arctic fox strolled over to the pair lazily. Dawn found herself starting to wonder if all foxes walked that way considering the rest of the foxes she had come to know in her life seemed to show off the same trait.

"I mean, he's seemed so grouse and cold every time I've met him." Qali continued. "I certainly don't see any of that in Trenny, or really any of the other boys." Qali stretched an arm, seemingly trying to wake herself up. "Well, maybe Yuri." She shrugged.

"Well time changes mammals." Audrey lamented as the rest of the family started to migrate toward the head of the table. "As well as the job ya pick."

Audrey shook her head briskly. "But none of ya'll probably have to worry about that, 'specially you Dawn." The she-wolf smirked. " Vernon is a bit softer than Dori, and he ain't a cop. That'll alone will probably keep that lovey dovey personality in him burning bright."

The wolfess let out another wistful sigh. "Anyway, enough trips down memory lane, we better get a move on!"

Dawn watched Xavier and Wade group up together, while Trenton was already making his way toward the kitchen.

"I'll ride in the back of the food truck. Least then I won't have to listen to Yuri talk." Trenton muttered as he made for the exit.

"Hold up." Audrey barked.

The white wolf stopped in his tracks, glancing back at his Mother curiously. Dawn watched as Audrey rifled a paw through her jean pocket for a moment, before pulling a set of keys out. Raising her paw to the air, she motioned for the other wolf to catch them before the she-wolf lobbed the keys in Trent's direction. The white wolf caught them effortlessly, without even turning his body around.

"Just bring the pick-up around for me, okay sweetie?" Audrey asked.

Trent gave a simple nod before finally making his way out of the room. With the white wolf gone, Audrey turned her attention to the other males.

"You two heading with yer Pa?" Audrey asked the other two brothers. Xavier gave a polite nod.

"While I'm not a fan of riding in the backseat of a squad car, I don't have much of a choice. It's not like Zach's going to give me the passenger seat." Wade shrugged.

"Well he is technically the Deputy of this District, I suppose it's only fair he gets that seat." Xavier added.

As the two brothers followed after the white wolf that had left before them, Dawn watched a beleaguered looking Malcolm enter the room. The red wolf wiped a paw through his sweaty mop of head fur as he swept it clear of his eyes.

"Well, I saved most of 'em Ma." Malcolm puffed. "But we lost about three plates and a mug."

"That Ulric." Audrey shook he head dismissively. "I swear that boy..." The she-wolf trailed off as she muttered inaudible curses. Dawn wasn't much of a lip reader, but the phrase 'nit headed' seemed to stick out among the she-wolfs grumblings.

Audrey suddenly turned her attention back to the remaining mammals, clapping her paws together loudly. "Alrighty, that means the rest of us are in the pick-up. Malcolm Darlin', yer riding shotgun." Audrey grinned as she patted the wolf's shoulder approvingly.

Keeping her paw on his shoulder, she began to steer the pudgy wolf toward the kitchen. With her other free arm, she waived to the rest of the girls to follow suit.

"Time's a wastin' girls! Let's get a move on."

Dawn did as she was told, dutifully following behind the clan as they moved into the kitchen. Dawn was sticking as close to Vanna as possible. Despite knowing she was more or less safe with the rest of them, the kinship she had quickly developed with the large tigress added an extra layer of security for her. Especially seeing as how once again Dawn had managed to catch another odd stare from Qali. The arctic fox tried to play it off, but it was clear despite her assurances that she held nothing against the ewe, there was still something going on with her.

As the group exited the nearby porch, Dawn could see Audrey's familiar faded pinkish truck. The golden rays of the early morning glimmered off the bits of exterior that still had some form of enamel on it creating an almost blinding effect. Dawn raised a hoof above her glasses to cut the glare, doing her best to make out the wolf already seated in the truck. Vernon's brother Trenton was easing his way out of the driver's side as the group approached, the wolf handed off the pair of keys to his Mother with a smirk.

"Here you go, no more scratches than usual." Trenton said.

"Thank ya Darlin', I'll take over from here." Audrey replied, spinning the set of keys around a finger by its chain loop. Flashing a grin to the rest of the assembled mammals, the she-wolf beckoned them with a paw.

"Alright, all aboard everyone, next stop the Harvest Festival!" The wolfess gave a hard pat to the hood of her car before clambering into the driver's side. In one swift motion she slunk into the seat and slammed the vehicle door sharply behind her.

With Audrey in the car, the group started to disperse, with Malcolm heading around to the passenger side while Vanna and Qali began their stroll toward the entrance to the truck bed. Taking her cue, Dawn scurried back up to Vanna, practically falling into lock-step as they made their way around the car. Once poised at the trunk of the vehicle, Vanna crouched to ground level, placing her paws out flat on either side of her.

"Step on up." Vanna said, motioning for the mammals to use her paws as a boost. Qali made it with little trouble, her tail swishing as she practically bounced off the tiger's paw and into the bed. Dawn took it a bit slower, steadying herself by grabbing the frame as she climbed into the back. It was a little shaky, as the ewe wasn't quite used to using Vanna as a stepping stool, but she figured that with time perhaps she could develop the confidence the little fox seemed to have when it came to what the tiger could support.

Now on board, Dawn made her way to the back of the cab, peeking over it to see across the Hunter yard.

Trenton was still near his Mother's side of the car, now leaning on the rusted frame as he made small talk.

Farther across Dawn could see a rather large moving van. It was a old, beat up looking thing, similar to Audrey's pick-up. The faded grey paint that coated the frame was peeling off, with swaths overtaken by patches of rust. It was also rather plain, lacking any kind of lettering or logos that Dawn assumed would mark the families food delivery truck. The ewe wondered if it had either worn off over time, or they had simply never placed one on it as the truck was something they probably didn't use often.

Dawn shrunk slightly as she noticed the black wolf standing by the side of the truck. His muzzle was twisted in a scowl, but thankfully his eyes weren't on her. Instead they were locked on the spotted hyena standing next to him. The large canid also bore a scowl, baring her teeth as the two seemed to be trading harsh words. Dawn watched warily as the darker wolf crossed his arms and shook his head dismissively as the hyena continued to bicker at him. Ada raised her paws up to the sky, and Dawn heard what she could only describe as a somewhat guttural snarl. But what happened next surprised her.

Dawn watched Yuri's frame slacken a bit as the hyena continued to chatter at him, and soon enough the wolf had an uneasy expression on his face. Yuri seemed to scratch the back of his head awkwardly as Ada's odd tirade seemed to come to a close. With her rant concluded, Yuri looked down and mumbled something before giving the hyena a quick kiss on the side of her muzzle. It was a shocking moment for the ewe, one that based on what she experienced in the dining room she could scarcely conceive. It had looked as if the seemingly heartless wolf had a tender moment with his mate.

It was then Ada suddenly caught Dawn's eyes, and the ewe quickly turned away to look at something else, praying the hyeness hadn't seen her. Dawn didn't exactly know if those sort of moments were something the couple kept to themselves, and the last thing Dawn wanted to do was start off with the peculiar cackling canid on the wrong hoof.

Near the corner of the house Dawn could see Dorian's police car. Wade and Xavier were leaning against it, talking to one another, although it was much too far away to pick-up any of what they were saying. But she couldn't see Vernon's Father. Placing a hoof above her eyes, the ewe squinted at the windshield, which was heavily obscured by the morning light. Despite her best efforts she could only barely perceive the outline of a mammal in the driver's seat, but that was enough to confirm for Dawn the older wolf was in there.

Dawn stumbled slightly as the pick-up truck rumbled to life, its frame shimmying as it idled in place.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Dawn turned around quickly to find Ada running up along side the parked car. Without missing a beat, the hyeness pushed herself off the edge of the frame with one arm, boosting herself up and into the bed in one swift motion. Now sitting in the truck, Ada brushed her swooping mane of hair back into its previous place.

"Can't trust old Auddy wit dat lead foot of hers." Ada chuckled. "Don't wanna get left behoind."

Glancing to the opposite side of the bed, Dawn could see that Vanna was now seated opposite Ada. The tigress let out an irritated sigh as she closed the trunk door she had clearly left open for the hyena.

'SLAM!' The sudden clatter drew Dawn's attention back to porch the family had exited from. By the time Dawn had spun her head to the source of the sound she just barely caught a glimpse of the grey and white blur that was Vernon as he stomped his way out of the house. The wolf looked absolutely furious as he stormed toward the food truck, his muzzle twisted into the sharpest, teeth grinding grimace the ewe had ever seen.

"Vernon!" Dawn's own attempt to call out was cut short by Zach's own. The reddish tipped wolf now stood in the open porch doorway, reaching out in vain toward the wolf who had sped off. The beleaguered looking wolf ran a paw through his mop of head fur, running it back over his scalp.

By then Vernon had closed the gap to the food truck, and giving one last glance back at Zach, the wolf piled into the back of it.

"Sweet sawgrass, what now?" Dawn could hear Audrey say. Looking back toward the cab, Dawn could see Trent was now leaning away from the car, a paw still clasping the door to hold him up as he stared off toward the van where Vernon had hurriedly tromped to. The white wolf scratched the back of his head.

"Zach, what'd you do?" Dawn could just barely hear Trent mumble over the engine idling.

The white wolf quickly glanced back at his Mother.

"Don't worry Ma, I'll make sure he's alright." Trenton said as he released his grip from the door. Taking a few slow steps back from the truck, the wolf seemed to noticed Dawn leaning over the edge of the cab.

"Don't worry Ms. Bellwether, I've got this." The wolf grinned sheepishly. "He'll be fine by the time we get to the fair, don't worry!"

Despite his words of assurance, the ewe felt considerably uneasy. She couldn't conceive exactly what happened to send Vernon off in such a huff, especially after the family had managed to turn his mood around so well at the end of breakfast. As Trenton jogged over to the back of the food truck the ewe found herself regretting not traveling with Vernon on the ride out. The look on his face alone made her wish she was there to comfort him, helping him through whatever had set him off so badly. With that, the ewe glanced back at Zach worriedly.

By now the wolf was slowly making his way toward his Father's squad car. His ears sagged as he stumbled in a slow backward walk toward the vehicle. He was looking toward the food truck Trenton was now making a beeline for with a mournful frown. One which only deepened as he managed to catch Dawn's gaze. The wolf's stance withered as he looked back at the ewe, heavy shame marking his features as he continued to cow from the unwanted attention. In short order, the wolf turned away from Dawn, scurrying to the passenger side of the squad car and getting in as quickly as possible. Whatever had happened, it was bad, and based on the wolf's body language, Dawn was clearly involved somehow.

The ewe couldn't leave Trent to handle Vernon. It was clear to her that she needed to be there to take care of the wolf. Perfume or not, Vernon needed the love and understanding that only she could provide. Getting to know the other girls of the Hunter brood would have to wait, Dawn needed to be on that food van.

But as Dawn turned to make her way off Audrey's truck, the vehicle lurched forward causing the ewe to stumble into a seated position. Now sitting on the floor of the moving cab, Dawn could see the other girls leaning over the sides of the truck, eyes fixed on what Dawn assumed to be the food van Vernon had disappeared into. Now that the car had begun to move, the other girls returned their focus to the truck interior.

They were now all exchanging looks of concern, eyes darting from one to another as they seemed to be searching each other for an idea on what had just happened. Then slowly, the focus of the confused and baffled stares turned to Dawn, and the expressions switched from those of concern to those of discomfort. Dawn frowned at the sudden attention, balling up a little tighter as a result. Despite not knowing the slightest bit of context as to what just happened, the situation had still managed to spread the awkwardness to the back of the cab. The ewe twiddled her hooves nervously as the mammals continued to trade unsure glances.

It was only as they rounded the corner of the driveway, hitting a bump as Audrey turned on to the dirt road back off of the farm that something finally broke the uneasy silence. As the truck coasted the bump, Ada jumped in her seat, letting out a loud barking cackle before slapping her paws over her muzzle. The hyena blushed slightly as her eyes darted between the other mammals.

"What do ya want!" She sputtered. "I get noivus during awkward silences!" Ada rubbed the back of her head as she looked down at her lap.

Qali chuckled. " It's fine Chuckles."

"Very funny squoit!" Ada crossed her paws, rolling her eyes at Qali. "Remember I could eat ya's in a single bite. So watch yerself." She laughed.

Despite the demeanor of the cab softening, Dawn was still in her own little bubble. The ewe was pondering exactly what had happened back at the ranch that had upset Vernon in such a short amount of time. Was he okay now, was Trent helping any? She wished she could be sure, that she were there right now.

"Dawn?" Dawn snapped out of her funk to find that Vanna had place a paw on her shoulder. The tigress was eyeing the ewe down in concern. Dawn struggled to fake a smile, but she couldn't manage to keep it up.

"Hey." Vanna cooed. "He'll be okay. Trust me." The tigress gave a reassuring smirk.

"Oh yeah. Trent and Vernon are tight." Qali interjected. "If he can't get Vernon out of his mood, no mammal can!" The arctic fox had now wormed her way between the two mammals, giving the pair a confident grin. Vanna looked down at Qali dully, letting out a sigh.

"Geeze snowball, you gotta stick yourself into everyting don'tcha?" Ada laughed. "Let Vanna handle it, you don't even know her yet!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Qali backed out from between the pair. "I'm being too forward again. My bad. I just wanted to help."

Dawn was now genuinely smiling.

"T-thank you, I do appreciate it." The ewe replied, earning a smile from the diminutive fox. Eagerly, almost pleadingly Qali turned the smile on Vanna. The tigress let out another sigh, but despite it she was smirking. Vanna released her grip on Dawn's shoulder, shifting herself into the seat next to the lamb as the car continued to rumble down the road. Now Dawn could see a straight shot at the road behind them, and the food truck that was now trailing them. In the driver's seat the ewe could just make out an irritated looking Yuri. He was swatting his free paw at Ulric, who seemed to be gesticulating to the wolf wildly about something.

"That poor dope." Dawn could see Ada was watching the fray in the car behind them as well. "You couldn't pay me to sit wit Ulric for more den five minutes."

"He was forced to, remember?" Qali laughed. "Not like he didn't deserve it."

Ada simply nodded. "Oh my dumb little ray o' gloom." The hyena chuckled darkly.

"So..." Vanna interjected, giving Dawn a little nudge with her elbow. "You girls wanna keep rambling on, or are you going to officially introduce yourselves to the new Hunter?"

The fox and hyena glanced at each other curiously before turning their attention back to Dawn. Ada scratched the back of her head awkwardly, wincing as she seemed to strain in an effort to pick her words carefully. While Qali leaned on her paws looking directly at Dawn. The fox seemed to have the same fixation in her stare that Dawn had caught earlier, and the ewe was about to finally ask exactly why she was doing that when Qali broke the silence for her.

"Okay, first off I have to say..." The fox trailed off as she moved in closer, causing Dawn to draw back slightly. The ewe wasn't sure exactly what the strange fox was up to and was growing uncomfortable as the mammal invaded her space. Now practically a foot away from Dawn's face, the fox's muzzle curled into a grin.

"I LOVE YOUR HAIR!" Qali yipped as she rolled back slightly, clasping her knees as she titled. Once she was sitting again, the fox adjusted her own draping coif, sweeping it away from her eye. "It's amazing!"

Dawn winced, slightly surprised and greatly confused by the fox's excitable outburst.

"T-thank you?" Dawn croaked in an uncertain tone.

"I just keep looking at it and wishing I could get mine like that!" Qali gaped as she stared at the ewe again. The look was the same as before, and it quickly became clear to Dawn that her poof had been what was drawing the fox's ogle all along.

"Is that like a wool thing or-?" The fox abruptly stopped, reaching a paw out toward Dawn's head. "Can I touch-"

Vanna's paw quickly caught the fox's before it made contact with Dawn's wool. Looking up, Dawn caught the tigress glowering down at Qali, shaking her head in disapproval.

"Seriously?" Vanna muttered.

"What!?" Qali replied, seemingly unfazed.

"You don't just touch a sheep's wool ya dunce!" Ada chimed in, leaning over so she could see the other mammals.

"Why not!?" Qali replied in a huff, paw still locked in Vanna's grip.

"I don't know, what if some stranger wanted to touch ya tail? Would youse let 'em?" Ada crossed her arms.

A look of realization came over the fox's face, her eyes opening wide. "OOOHHH!" With the sudden moment of clarity, the fox quickly pulled back out of Vanna's grip as well as Dawn's personal space. Her ears drooped as she clasped her paws over her muzzle.

"S-sorry again." Qali muttered. "I-I just really think it's cool and all."

"If you haven't picked up on it by now, Qali is kind of excitable." Vanna muttered.

"I kind of get a bit too excited and sometimes I do things without thinking, you know?" Qali mumbled.

Dawn smiled, warm thoughts of another mammal she knew that sometimes acted without thinking crossing her mind. "I-It's okay." The ewe assured.

"A-anyway. I'm Qali Pelagere. Trenny's mate, obviously." The diminutive fox reached her paw back out, this time stopping well short of Dawn's own space. The fox flashed a nervous faltering smile. "And I promise I won't touch your wool without asking from now on."

Dawn chuckled as she extended her hoof, giving the fox's paw a brisk shake.

"And I'm Ada Dabu." The hyena put a paw to her chest proudly.

"That dumb mutt Yuri is my mate." The hyeness lazily gestured a thumb toward the truck that was trailing them. "And he's a lucky to have me, because one of us has to know how ta talk to mammals for his sake."

Ada extended a large paw out Dawn's way, and the ewe tentatively took it into her hoof. The shake was surprisingly softer than she expected from a mammal that seemed to exude pure harsh edge. As Dawn released her grip, The hyeness leaned back against the side of the truck bed, allowing both her arms to rest across the siding.

One thing Dawn had noted as the two mammals introduced themselves was that unlike Vanna, the two had introduced themselves without the family last name. It was an oddity she felt the need to press upon.

"So, you didn't take Trent or Yuri's last names or-?"

"We're both still in da datin' stage." Ada said with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah." Qali bounced in her seat. "Trent and me have only been together for like a year, so were still seeing how things go."

"O-Oh..." Dawn replied.

Ada leaned her head back, looking up at the sky.

"I've been wit dat joik for about three years, but we still ain't togedda in dat way." She scoffed. "I tink he's afraid to take da plunge."

"He seems like the type to be scared of commitment." Qali added.

"Did I axe you?" Ada sneered.

"I literally just said what you said." Qali retorted, flashing the mammal a dull stare.

"If I say it dat's okay." Ada replied. "You can't say dat, he's 'MY 'mate" The hyena smirked, emphasizing the word 'mate' with corresponding air quotes.

"I'll remember that the next time you make a joke about Trent." Qali grinned smugly, giving the hyena a playful nudge. "Which should be about what, like five minutes from now?"

"Anyways..." Ada simply ignored Qali, talking over the end of her question. "What about you? You takin' Vern's name? Are ya dat serious?"

Dawn nervously fiddled her hooves, looking down at her lap as she tried to bury her building blush.

"W-well w-we talked about doing a caprid ceremony..." Dawn jerked up slightly as she recalled further. "O-Oh and an official partnership license at town hall."

"Dat serious huh?!" Ada let out a cackle as she slapped her knee. "So den, I take it yas two been talking about dat goofy 'tithing' ceremony."

Vanna sneered slightly, staring down Ada in what Dawn could only describe as indignance.

"It's not goofy." Vanna huffed.

"Whateves'" Ada waived Vanna off. "So how bout it?" The hyeness turned her attention back to Dawn. "Ya a little tith-curious?"

Dawn frowned slightly, looking down at her lap. Her and Vernon had discussed caprid marriage, that much was true. But the only discussions they had about 'tithing' had been limited to Dawn's historical probes. Granted the discussion about a wedding had only been as recent as yesterday, but 'tithing' hadn't really come up as an option. Dawn could easily assume exactly why they hadn't really talked about it. Thanks to her research she knew that sort of thing required the support of the leader of the 'pack'. Having Audrey's approval certainly helped, but it wouldn't be quite enough without Dorian. And the way things had been going so far with the older wolf, it made the possibility of such a ceremony seem far, far off.

"W-well, I t-think t-that's a bit out of reach for now." Dawn sighed. "Possibly forever really."

Ada flashed the ewe a confused frown as the whole tone of the conversation seemed to dip back into awkward silence. Looking around, the ewe could see the other females sharing similar sympathetic expressions. Not wanting to let the ride settle back into a painful silence for the rest of the journey, the ewe was quick to try to steer the conversation back into positive territory.

Dawn took a deep breath, swelling her chest with air as she smiled.

"B-but I'll be more than happy with an old fashioned sheep wedding!" Dawn chirped. "That with the partnership license will give me more than enough to be able to proudly proclaim to my friends and family that I'm Mrs. Hunter-Bellwether!" The ewe let out a pleasant sigh as she finished her bold statement.

She wasn't lying, in fact she would be happy to simply spend the rest of her days with the wolf regardless of public proof of their union. But Dawn couldn't help but wonder if the aspect of getting approval for wolf ceremony was important to Vernon. The wolf hadn't really expressed how he felt about the whole thing, merely how they were performed.

"Hunta-Bellwether huh?" Ada chuckled.

"W-well we haven't sorted that out yet." Dawn stuttered slighty, twiddling her hooves again. "Vernon wants me to keep my last name in, but I don't really want to."

"Aw that's so romantic." Qali sighed. "To want to keep your name in there, now that's adorable!"

Dawn blushed slightly.

"I wouldn't worries about old greyfur." Ada said. The hyena had resumed leaning against the wall of the bed, her arms outstretched and hanging over the edges on either side. "Pop Hunta is pretty lax when it comes ta his boys choice in mates, so he'd probably okay a 'tithing' ting, even if youse are 'prey'."

Dawn looked at Ada in confusion. The fact that she had described Dorian as being 'lax' was mystifying. Was she describing the same mammal Dawn had met at dinner the previous night, because it certainly didn't sound like it. The ewe was about to open her mouth when she noticed Qali sharing the same baffled look that she had.

"Wait, what?' Qali chirped, scratching her head. "This is old Mam' Hunter were talking about, right?"

Ada simply nodded.

"Lax?" Dawn added.

"What?" Ada replied, now donning her own look of confusion.

"I wouldn't exactly describe Mr. Hunter as 'lax' Chuckles." Qali shook her head briskly. "More like, um...like..." The diminutive fox scratched her chin, clearly struggling to find the right word.

"Severe." Dawn interjected.

Qali gave a affirmative nod. "What she said."

Ada let out a barking laugh. "You two are yankin' me." The spotted hound slapped her knee. "Sure Old Mam' Hunter can be a little stern, but he's a big softy."

Dawn's let out a slight gasp, but was quick to stifle it. 'Softy' was another word she hadn't expected to be associated with the dour, angry wolf. It certainly didn't describe her experiences with him at all. But at the very least Dawn could see she still wasn't alone in this. Qali was now eyeing Ada suspiciously, her eyelids drooping in what one could only describe as annoyance mixed with disbelief. Ada in turn began to look uneasy, and it didn't take long for a nervous cackle to escape her maw. The hyena clasped her jaw shut.

"Is this another one of your dumb pranks?" Qali asked.

"Well, I mean he said if I eva wanted to do the 'tithing' thing wit Yuri I had his blessing." Ada shrugged. "I mean, maybe dat's because he's worried if I won't do it no one will." Ada flashed an awkward smile.

"I don't under-"

"No, it's sort of true." Vanna cut in.

Dawn looked up at the tigress in surprise. Vanna let out a long sigh before gesturing over to Qali.

"Qali, when did you first meet Dorian?" Vanna asked.

The fox scratched her muzzle as she seemed to ponder the question.

"Maybe like, two months ago?" Qali muttered. "Yeah, it was right after his graduation. Trent and me waited a while before taking the whole 'meet the parents' step. Well his anyway."

Vanna turned her attention over to Ada, gesturing at the large canid.

"And when was the last time you were out to visit Ada?' Vanna asked.

"Pfft..." Ada shrugged. "Your 'tithing' thing two years ago." The hyeness let out a sigh.

The tigress placed her paws on her knees, letting out another sigh as she glanced down at Dawn.

"Dorian has always been kind of stern, and stubborn. But...well..." The tigress sighed. "The last few months he's been a little harsher than normal."

Vanna turned away from Dawn slightly, staring off into a passing field of stalks of grain. The slight breeze was causing waves to shimmer across the surface of the canes.

"According to Mom he was even more easy going years ago." Vanna continued. "I mean she's told you as much." Vanna briefly glanced back at the ewe, and Dawn nodded affirmatively.

"But more recently he's been kind of reclusive..." Vanna said. "and colder." She added with a mutter.

Ada scratched the back of her head, wincing as she seemed to process the new information.

"So what's eatin' Pop?" The hyeness asked.

Vanna shrugged. "I don't really know." She replied. "He won't acknowledge it, not even Mrs. Hunter can get it out of him."

Dawn felt a strange mixture of emotions. She was confused, concerned, and yet some how found this information slightly relieving. After Dorian had blown up at the dinner table the previous evening, the ewe knew the wolf certainly held who Dawn was against her. But Dorian hadn't known about Vernon and her relationship until a little less than two weeks ago. Certainly it wouldn't have been possible for her to have caused Dorian's change in behavior before he had even known she was coming. That possibility managed to give the ewe a sliver of hope that it might be easier to turn the wolf's opinion of her around than she first thought. He might have even called her out at the table simply because something else was plaguing him, and he simply had directed his anger at the ewe. Of course, Dawn knew the chances of that were slim, but it was still something to work with.

"Eh, he'll get over it eventually." Ada waived the tigress off before stabbing a thumb toward the van behind them. Returning her attention to the drivers, Dawn could now see that Yuri was grinding Ulric's face into the dashboard with a free paw. The ewe couldn't help but cringe.

"If he's anyting like his dumb son, even at his angriest it'll blow over like a savannah squall." The hyeness chuckled.

"A-and if not?' Dawn mumbled.

Ada grinned widely, giving Dawn a good look at her incisors.

"Den we'll have to help him get ova it." She laughed. "We'll get dat old fart to be beggin ya to 'tithe' to his pup in no time."

Dawn let out a slight gasp, surprised at the hounds sudden kind declaration.

"Y-you mean that?' Dawn stammered.

Ada gave a brisk nod. "Vanna says your a Hunta, den your a Hunta."

"Yup, yup!" Qali added.

"You's may not 'officially' be a part of dare pack, but yours a part of ours. Us Hunta goils gotta stick tegetha'." Ada flashed another wide grin.

"She's right Dawn." Vanna added, smiling down at the ewe. Dawn could feel tears beginning to well up as a smile crawled across her muzzle. "We look after our own. And we'll do what we can to help."

Dawn lifted her glasses up, aggressively wiping her eyes in an attempt to hide the now steadily flowing tears. But it was little use, as Ada picked up on it right away.

"Hey now, stop wit da water woiks, or I'm gonna start calling you drips!" Ada let out a laugh.

Dawn sniffled hard, laughs cutting through her sobs as she tried to compose herself.

"S-sorry." Dawn choked. "I just, I-..." Dawn shook her head softly.

"Thank you, thank you all so much." The ewe stammered, giving a final snort as she sucked back the last of her tears.

"Dat doze remind me doh, now dat you are a Hunta goil, you do need a nickname." Ada grinned.

"Oh no..." Dawn glanced back up at Vanna. By now her head was in her paw, and she was shaking it back and forth slightly.

"I-I do?" Dawn asked curiously.

"Of course! We all have one!" Qali chirped happily.

"No we don't." Vanna replied.

Ada let out another barking cackle. "Oh please, you know youse love it when I callz ya 'Kit Kat'.

The tigress sneered in annoyance as she crossed her arms.

"I never agreed to that!" Vanna retorted.

"O'course you didn't, ya don't get ta pick your own!" Ada chuckled.

"I'm 'Snowball'." Qali interjected. "And she's 'Chuckles'." Qali added, stabbing a claw in Ada's direction.

The hyena sneered slightly. "Yeah, see. I don't like dat one, but it's what stuck."

"S-so what are you gonna c-call me?" Dawn twiddled her hooves nervously, silently praying whatever they came up with wasn't a complete embarrassment.

"Hmm..." Ada scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Howa bout...'Woolly'?"

Dawn couldn't hide her cringing at the awful name, which only drew a mischievous smile from Ada.

"No, no, no." Qali cut in. "That sounds way too much like a name for a ram."

"'Woolz'?" Ada replied, raising an eyebrow at the tiny fox.

"How about 'Mutton'?" Qali asked.

"No." Now Vanna had stepped in. "Vernon calls her something like that, it's probably best you stay away from pet name territory."

The fact that Vanna was getting into it now cause Dawn to gulp. As the mammals continued to argue Dawn found herself quickly becoming more and more unsure of exactly what she was getting herself into. But at the very least the ewe managed to take some solace in the fact not only had she been embraced by all the females in the Hunter family, but that her chances of earning Dorian's acceptance might be better than she thought. Despite how poorly the morning had started out, and the dismal outcome of the previous days dinner, the lamb was actually starting to recover a bit of the hope she had lost. And with the help of her new 'sisters', she was certain her chances of changing Mr. hunter's opinion of her were even better.

"You can't call her 'Dags'!" Vanna hissed. "That's sheep for 'dung'."

Dawn was drawn out of her thoughts by the argument that seemed to be escalating.

"I still say 'Woolz' is good." Ada barked.

"What about 'Gims'?" Qali chirped.

The mammals continued to bicker wildly, throwing around a variety of sheep slang and summarily shooting them down. Dawn let out a sigh, shaking her head in disbelief. Maybe they would be able to help, if they could stop arguing over nickname first.