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**Recovery Hurts and Takes Time

By: VeronicaFoxx

For: Dreixes**

"Hooooo, girl, I thought you's gon' take all damn night!" Charlene crowed, giving the burly hyena a swat on the back that Shodan absorbed with barely a jolt, kind of like seeing a sledgehammer bounce off of a concrete wall. "Got 'im all ready for ya. Uh..." The alligator brought her voice down to what she probably thought was a whisper, but her naturally boisterous voice made it more of a low rumble. "Y'all sure yer li'l girl needs ta watch this?"

April, trailing behind, nodded at Shodan's glance. "Yeah, she's good. She wanted to watch. She'll stay out of the way, and definitely out of camera view. If this comes back against us, she doesn't need to be implicated. You have it setup just for Cyber, Choco, and Domino, right? We really don't need this going live all over the net, and no recordings."

"Yup! Cyber got us on a VPN, so it's just us chickens."

The hyena glanced back once more as Charlene wrapped an arm around her waist, then followed the gator into the darkened warehouse. The red squirrel continued to hang back, rubbing at her arms and hugging herself. Foo Foo gave her a questioning glance as well, and she nodded then gestured with her chin for the bunny to follow the two larger femme's inside, leaving her alone. She shivered, though not because of the dark or the creepy emptiness of the area or because she was alone. She was about to face something she would rather never think about again, even though she knew that she'd have to eventually.

She'd had a pretty charmed life, she knew. A pair of moms who were an adorably cute couple that never fought (or at least not in front of the kids), not rich but not actually poor, a pair of sisters that she loved dearly and supported her lifestyle choices, and she hadn't even had any bad relationships, either. Her most recent ex was a little thick-headed, but he didn't threaten her or anything; he just didn't seem to get that their relationship was over and done with, kept asking when she was coming back. He was annoying, but she didn't hate or fear him. She hadn't really hated or feared anyone since grade school and the inevitable bullies of childhood. Considering the fact that she was barely over five feet tall, could barely do half a dozen pull-ups, and was a prey creature, it was honestly surprisingly good luck. She'd even finally found someone who really, truly got her and made her feel complete, both emotionally and sexually: her big, burly, buff, growly, snuggle 'yeen. That had been entirely luck, considering it stemmed from a fight due to her rping on a pvp-focused server. And... well, maybe it was just time that she had some bad luck... Maybe that was why it had happened...

She took a deep breath and let it out, took a step towards the doorway, but she couldn't go inside just yet. She couldn't bring herself to face it just yet. She turned away from that gaping portal to reliving her nightmare, and hugged herself more tightly. She heard the scuff of feet behind her, a soft whine, and frantically waved her hand behind her to fend off any comfort that might be offered. She had to deal with this herself, if she could, this part of it at least. It would help, or so she told herself. It would help seeing him punished, help her get over what had happened, help her move on. She was still going to need therapy. She was definitely going to need therapy. But this would at least... At least the responsible person was going to get punished, which was almost guaranteed not to happen any other way. And she wouldn't have to be afraid of him any more. He was never going to be allowed to so much as look at her again, nor would he want to. Not after what Shodan and Charlene were going to do to him.

Would it be enough? Probably not. Would it actually give her any relief? She hoped so, but she wasn't sure. Did she want to see it? Not really. But did she need to see it? Well, the real question there was if she would be able to forgive herself for not watching. If she backed out now, she was going to spend the rest of her life still afraid of him, she knew that much. Yes. She needed to see it.

April heaved in another breath and let it out, then turned back to the doorway and strode inside. Shodan, Charlene, and Foo Foo waited just past the door, with the bunny tucked beneath the alligator's arm, snuggling against her lover after a week and a half apart. The hyena held out a hand, ears tucked and her normally waggily tail hanging limp, and the squirrel took it, giving her a hard squeeze, which brought a tentative smile to her lips. It made April's heart swell. True enough, she never would have been in the box in the first place if not for Shodan, but if something like that had happened when she was with Daryl, he would have tried to do all the right things, like calling the company and the cops and taking her to the doctor and whatnot, but he wouldn't have gone this far. He wouldn't have gotten a trio of hackers to hunt down the guy who'd traumatized her, and he wouldn't have slept on the couch for two weeks because someone larger than her touching her stomach made her freak out, and he certainly wouldn't be preparing to break the law in order to get some revenge and closure for her. But Shodan did and was and was about to. And that was why she had to watch this, because it was going to happen if she was there or not, and she owed it to Shodan to make it meaningful for herself as well as for the hyena.

"Pumped 'im full o' quick-actin' laxative, so he's all cleaned out, but boy howdy is 'e gonna be dehydrated," Charlene advised as they headed through the dimness towards a partially blocked corner where light shone down. "Also got that big ole bottle o' gater cum ya asked for. Been savin' up fer a week 'n a half, kept 'em in tha fridge ta keep 'em alive, so I'm sure they're still nice 'n wiggly fer tha bastard. Heh, he done pissed 'imself twice already, but I betcha he shits a brick when 'e sees you."

"Oh, I hope so," the hyena agreed. "I really, really hope so."

April gave her hand a squeeze again as the hyena clenched her other into a fist so hard that the sound of knuckles cracking was plainly audible. And then they were there. The half-emptied shelves had been pulled away to form a large clear space, and a few spotlight lamps had been set up to shine on the only occupant of the space. He was a horse, or maybe a donkey, chunky to the point of unhealthily so, and April had to slap a hand over her face at the pure stink of him. It was an unadulterated assault on her nostrils, reeking of shit and fear and stress.

"Uh... sorry 'bout the smell," Charlene apologized. "Hosed 'im down, but 'e made a hell of a mess."

"Jesus fuck, Charly, I keep scent neutralizer in the fucking car for a reason!" the rabbit complained, scampering back towards the entrance. She returned a minute later with an aerosol can and sprayed it quite liberally before giving a test sniff. "Much better. I swear, you have no sense of smell... Ugh, fuck, I can still taste it, but at least I can breathe now..."

The gator gave the bunny a light bap on the head, which set the rabbit to giggling. April just shook her head and turned her attention back to Hal. He'd been bound to a metal folding chair with his arms behind his back and his legs tied spread open, with a sensory deprivation hood over his head and what looked... no, that was definitely one of Charlene's custom cock gags in his mouth. Aaaaaand, yup, that was also a puddle of piss beneath him. The gator hadn't been kidding about that. He was trembling and whimpering, turning his head this way and that, obviously hearing something through the hood, but hopefully not able to make out what it was exactly. A single camera was set pointing towards him, ready to stream for their hackers. Not that the trio really needed to watch, but Shodan wanted them to know that their work had been worthwhile. And that she and Charlene would be down to do the same for anyone that they cared about, which included the guild.

"You still good?" the hyena asked, and she nodded again.

"Let's get it over with."

She released Shodan's hand and gave the burly 'yeen a quick pat on the butt to get her moving. Charlene handed over a small item, and the pair went forward, leaving the smaller females standing hidden in the shadows. The hyena grabbed Hal's muzzle and ripped off the hood none too gently. He let out a squeal and rocked the chair as he struggled, blinking in the sudden light, and probably terrified out of his mind. Shodan just held him until he quieted down and had adjusted to the brightness, tears streaming from his eyes.

"Didn't think you'd ever get caught, did you?" the hyena growled, and it sent a shiver down April's spine.

It was... so much darker that the playful, teasing growl she gave when being dominant. This was an angry growl, with so much rage behind it that it nearly emanated in a palpable aura. The squirrel nearly called a stop to it. Nearly. But Shodan had promised not to kill him, and that was all she asked. He hadn't done enough to deserve death, but he definitely deserved what he was going to get.

"Didn't think anyone was ever going to actually call you on your bullshit," Shodan continued, clenching her fingers around the donkey's muzzle hard enough to make his teeth crack. "Did you? You fucked with the wrong girl. Hal. See, I thought you should know. You said that you knew everything you needed to find her, to make her pay if she told anyone about what happened. Well, we know everything about you, Hal. We know your name. We know your birthday. We know your grandma's birthday. We know what grades you got in kindergarten. We don't know how many other people you've done something like this to, or worse, but we are going to make sure that you never get to do it to anyone ever again."

She released him, and he worked his jaws like he was trying to speak, but the cock gag prevented him from getting any words out, only a faint whistling from the air hole. Then Shodan held up the item that Charlene had passed to her.

"Know what this is? It's a neuter kit. Ordered to your address, using your account, and with allllll the pertinent information and legal paperwork filled out. By you. Or that's what everyone will think. If we turned you over to the cops, they'd do the exact same to you, but that wouldn't be quite enough. Not for me. You see, you fucked with my girlfriend, and I'm a petty bitch. So..." She reached down and attached the device to Hal's junk. "So, enjoy the trip. You'll be visiting at least twelve different countries."

With that, the hyena and gator forced the sensory deprivation hood back onto his face, then activated the kit. Charlene held the chair while it whirred and clicked, and Shodan retrieved the XXXpressions Deluxxx Sub Shipping Container. The whole guild had chipped in to purchase it just for this, and they'd be helping to keep him in transit for the foreseeable future. She saw his cock and balls flop to the floor, neatly stitched up to keep them from making a bloody mess all over the place, and walked over to remove the neuter kit herself, seeing his now-smooth groin and the little urine tube sticking out where his genitals had once been. Then she picked up the severed appendage and dropped it into the crystallization chamber that had come with the kit. A lot of people, apparently, liked to keep their junk around as a preserved memento after they'd had it lopped off, so they'd gotten the chamber so that he could have it with him as he travelled the world, eternally trapped in a box and unable to hurt anyone ever again.

She had expected to feel better, but she just felt numb. She stared at the chamber for the five minutes that it took to build the rectangular prism around the dismembered member, then extracted the clear glass-like block when it was done. Hal had meanwhile been shoved into the box, a dildo shoved up his ass and the cock gag attached to the wall so that it could feed him the nutrient fluid. His urine tube was hooked up to the collection tube. Both nutrients and urine could be changed out without ever opening the box in the Deluxxx model, and it was even padded on the inside, which she felt might be a little too good for him. But they need to keep constant track of him, make sure that he stayed locked in the box, make sure that he stayed in transit until they felt he had learned his lesson. And the Deluxxx model had real-time tracking via gps, an internal webcam, and guaranteed replacement for any damage incurred during transit. It wasn't until she was able to shove his crystal-encased cock into the box with him, wedging it between his thighs and his fat stomach, that the emotions finally came back and crashed down over her.

She let out a scream that had both gator and 'yeen covering their ears and began punching at the bound and helpless donkey. She knew she was probably hurting her own hands more than she was hurting him, but she had so much anger and hate and terror and hurt and so many other things all tangled up inside that she couldn't think of anything else to do. They let her wail on him for a good minute or two before Shodan pulled her away, and she just clung to the buff hyena, climbing up the woman to snuggle in strong, burly arms, and cried. She cried hard. As hard as when she'd first come out of the box. And that helped. Now, it helped. She felt them moving and just let herself be carried, and when her emotions had calmed down a bit, she found herself being held in Shodan's lap in the backseat of their car. She was thankful of the tissues that the hyena handed her and did her best to clean herself up, then rested her head against Shodan's big, soft bewbies, just enjoying being nestled in against her snuggle 'yeen.

"You want Foo Foo to come back with us?" came the hesitant inquiry.

She shook her head. "No. I... I'm... I'm not okay, but... I feel a good bit better now, more like I can be okay, eventually. Felicia's been with us long enough, and I'm sure she's missing Charly, though... Well, maybe some time you can have both of them over? Not yet. Not yet, but... Well, in a little while. I'm sure the bun bun would like some girly, girthy 'yeen peen as much as I do. And... and maybe... not tonight, but... but maybe tomorrow... I could get some?"

She half expected Shodan to jump at the chance to get some action, but instead she just got a gentle hug and a hand stroking her hair. "Whenever you're ready, snuggle bundle. I can weather the showers, so long as I know I'll get my flower back when you're ready."

And that set the waterworks flowing all over again. She heard Charlene murmur that she was heading out and offer the bunny's continued company, heard Shodan wish her well and decline the offer, and then they were alone again, letting her cry in peace. She actually managed to cry herself to sleep, and she only woke up when she realized that she felt a little cold. She blinked herself awake, finding herself back at home, set in the center of their bed with a pillow hugged tight against her chest and stomach and the covers tucked up beneath her chin. Alone. And that just wouldn't do. Not any more. She crawled out of the bed and made her way to the living room, where the hyena lay draped across the couch, snoring uproariously and drooling all over the cushions. The squirrel insinuated herself beneath the 'yeen's arm, carefully and purposefully laying it across her stomach, and fell back asleep with a sense of peace and safety that she had taken entirely for granted before now. She never would again.

April sat staring at the skin-tight sim-suit and helmet laid out on the bed. She had already tried to put it on once before, barely a week after she'd gotten home, and just trying to slide the clingy, restrictive garment on had set off a panic attack that had her sitting in the shower until she was nearly frozen from the water going cold. Now she sat pondering if she was ready to try again. Shodan was sitting in her new computer chair, waiting silently and patiently. She knew by now that her snuggle 'yeen was going to stand by her no matter if she could don the suit or not. So long as she remained honest and open with her feelings and needs, the hyena would support her through this for as long as it took. And that made her want to get over it as quickly as possible. Shodan didn't need to shoulder the entire financial burden, especially when they had gotten used to having both incomes from streaming, though there was a tournament coming up that should net the Femdom Five (or Femme Dom Five, as she liked to think of them) a good purse if they could at least get into the top three. They hadn't yet had to start digging into savings yet, which was good, but if the Five weren't successful in the tournament...

It was the helmet. It was the helmet especially. The skin-suit itself wasn't all that bad by itself. It did inhibit her movement slightly, but that was almost entirely negligible. It wasn't the suit. It was the helmet, putting her into complete darkness, making her feel confined and enclosed, like she was back in the box, and-

The squirrel grabbed at her head, letting out a low moaning whine, her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn't breathe! No, no no no, she could. She could breathe. She sucked down a hefty lungful just to prove that she could, holding it until her lungs started to burn before blowing it out in a long whimper. She would be able to breathe in the helmet, too. And she wouldn't be blind, at least not once the game loaded. She'd be... somewhere... She couldn't remember where she'd last logged out, but it was probably one of the major cities, or out on the plains where she had been questing. She thought that was where she'd been questing... She could barely think through the panic that kept trying to well up and strangle her, trying to drive her back into being nothing but a sobbing mess, curled up to clutch at herself and protect her stomach from anything and anyone touching it.

But she was better than that. She was stronger than that. Emotionally at least. Or she hoped so. She'd taken a big step last night, laying with Shodan, letting that thick, heavy arm drape across her midsection. She had only jolted awake twice, the hyena shifting in her sleep and making the draped limb shift against her fur, but she had been able to get back to sleep almost immediately after once she realized where she was and who she was with. She had ended up rolling over to bury her face against her snuggle 'yeen's side, which eliminated the problem, and it had made Shodan so happy to wake up with her there... She was going to get over this.

April took a deep breath and launched herself up to her feet, standing on the bed. She had already known it, but she still glanced down, seeing her paws resting on the mattress and barely denting it. She was tiny. She was damn near two feet shorter than Shodan and infinitely lighter, with barely any muscle at all. Sure, she could climb as fast as most squirrels, was just as nimble and acrobatic as the average, but it wasn't like she'd ever trained herself to do it. She wasn't an actual acrobat or anything. Maybe if she'd been a contortionist, she might have been able to slip free of her restraints and escape the box. Or if she'd been stronger, she could have broken the straps. Or... something...

Control. That was what she needed. She needed to feel in control of things, even though her most arousing kink had always been letting someone else take control, being manhandled and tossed around and bundled up and bound helpless, but Hal had ruined that for her. Ruined her favorite thing! She stamped a foot against the mattress, and it didn't even have enough force to make her bounce.

"I want to learn to fight," April suddenly announced, looking at the hyena with a desperate determination. "I want to... to get some muscles and learn how to fight. I need to... I n-n-need... I need to be able to... to protect myself. Okay?"

Shodan waited until she had finished talking, at first appearing surprised by her sudden declaration then slowly nodding. "Okay, hun. If that's what you need, then that's what we'll do. Uh... probably not a good idea to try it at my gym." The beastly buff badass bitch scratched at the back of her head. "We kinda... go overboard. But! Yeah, we can use my old gym. Carter's still running the place, and I'm sure he'd let me act as trainer for you. Plus, they have Taekwondo classes twice a week. Or they used to. I'll have to see if they still do that. Obviously, you're not fit for just... brawling, like I do, or Charlene, but you could probably do martial arts. And, hey, maybe Charlene can get Foo Foo in on a class as well. Then you two can be... sparring partners or whatever. I'm not sure what they call it when you do martial arts."

April nodded furiously, feeling a manic excitement welling up inside of her at the prospect of a plan, the certainty that Shodan would help her see it through and learn to protect herself. It might not help her get over her claustrophobia, but it would make her feel less helpless, less weak, less useless and pathetic. She stomped across the mattress and snatched up the skin-suit, peeling it open and forcing her legs into the clinging latex, stomping her way down until her toes were stretching the end, then yanking it up and shoving her arms through the sleeves. She zipped it up with a swift pull and stood panting, staring down at the helmet. Then she snatched it up and jumped down onto the carpet, scurrying towards the gaming room with her girlfriend following behind at a more sedate pace. She threw herself into the gaming chair, but didn't hook up all her usual connections. She was definitely not ready for full contact gaming just yet, but... well, she'd see what she could do if she could get far enough.

Shodan came to stand beside her as she frantically stuffed her hands into the interface gloves, her helmet sitting on her lap, then she had to take the gloves back off to hook up the main neural connector at the base of her neck. She forced her hands back into the gloves, then glanced at the hyena. The much larger female had her ears tucked and a worried expression on her face, but she wasn't stopping April and hadn't said anything. The squirrel picked up the helmet and tried to don it, but it fell from her trembling fingers before she could get it half way up. She felt tears stinging her eyes, but she bit her lip and carefully took hold of the thing again. She pressed her hands together tightly against its sides to keep it between them, whether her fingers wanted to work or not, then slowly slid it over her head and latched it closed, locking it to her suit collar. In the darkness, she started to hyperventilate almost immediately, but she forced her breathing to slow, closing her eyes to mask the enforced darkness with something more natural. She could still hear her heart pounding in her ears, and feel the huff of her own exhalations puffing back against her face, but it gave her enough momentary control to cycle the activation sequence.

The startup prompt flashed in the upper right of the central helmet screen, a slow blink that brightened and dimmed past her clenched eyelids. It had once brought her excitement and anticipation as she waited for the game to load, waited to be back in the world that... let her be big and strong and powerful and mighty... right. Okay, so she'd obviously had that issue for a while, but it was also why she had always dated preds. They were bigger than her, stronger than her, and they made her feel safe, even when they were bending her into a pretzel and rearranging her guts. They only did that because she wanted them to, because she asked them to, because she allowed them to. That had consistently been the case, at least. She knew that Shodan would never do anything that she didn't want, but she also hadn't been able to leave the apartment since she'd gotten back. She'd tried and seen their neighbor, a huge male tiger, and had immediately skipped back indoors. Because she'd felt weak, felt helpless, felt like he could take her and do anything he wanted to her, and she wouldn't be able to do a damn thing to stop him.

She heard the soft tone that signaled loading in her ears, and her eyes flicked open. The menu screen filled her vision and senses. The scent of old leather filled her nose, torch smoke, sexual musk. She had set her menu to be a sex dungeon, dim and enclosed and filled with bondage gear. Her hands clasped at the sides of her helmet, but she forced them down. She closed her eyes again and breathed in the scents that had once so excited and soothed her, heard the crackle of the torches and the creak of the virtual sex swing. The sex swing, yeah. She should try that with Shodan. She didn't have to be tied up to use that, though she usually was. They could have plenty of fun that way. Yeah. That would be good.

She engaged the neural interface by muscle memory, and felt her sense of balance shift, felt the stone floor beneath her paws, felt the warm, slightly damp air on her fur. The skin-tight sim-suit fed her mostly pressure and texture, with the neural interface backing that up with more complex sensations and combinations. When fully engaged, it also rerouted most of her motor controls, moving her avatar instead of her physical body. The fully articulated chair would move her body, positioning it as the game dictated, and her additional attachments would provide further stimulation, translating in-game actions into real-life consequences, like with the SimuReal(TM) dildos. It was possible to enter the VR realm with nothing but a helmet and a pair of interface gloves, but it took much more to get the full experience.

April felt herself trembling as she quickly reset the menu to one of the defaults, a field of flowers with a wide, cloud-scattered blue sky. She still knew that she was encased within the suit, that the helmet surrounded her and that what she saw and heard and smelled was all fake, but it helped her to relax ever so slightly. Especially with the slight breeze ruffling her fur, it gave her more of a feeling that she was in the open. It let her pull up the program menu and begin loading the game. Then the blackness returned. It made her tense up, her nails digging into the ends of the gloves as she gripped the chair arms, her teeth grinding hard from her clenched jaws. Then the title screen appeared, setting her to float in an empty grey nothingness. Which was better than pure blackness. Her avatar floated in front of her, Sir Swampertpailduck, Gnoll Fighter, Lv 231, Bannerman of the Kobold Kinfolk guild. But she hesitated to select him.

It wasn't her only character, just her highest and best geared. She swiped her hand from right to left to scroll through her options. There was also Carrotnommer, her Rabbitkin Bard, barely out of the starting area; Thumbnailfingerplug, Ranger of the High Reaches, close to her fighter in level but only infrequently used as more tanks were needed than dps; a few placeholder characters that she hadn't actually played; and, lastly, was the new character creation slot. She hesitated again then selected to do it, and a blank-bodied avatar appeared before her. The first thing to choose, of course, was race. Considering that her guild was almost exclusively kobolds, and she was in it as a gnoll only because she had given herself to Shodan, she decided to make a proper character for the guild. Then came gender, and she hesitated a third time. She tended to play male characters, very large male characters, so that she could enable her bots for sex stuff and invert her inputs to use the SimuReal(TM) dildos, effectively fucking herself. But... Well, she had unlocked herms for her ranger, because she wanted to self-impregnate so as to not dilute her stats when her character died, allowing for what essentially came to a very slightly randomized clone for the next generation. But she didn't feel like being a herm...

Her finger was shaking badly as she tried to select the option, and she had to clench her fist hard for a minute or so before she could press the button for female. So, she was going to be a tiny... female... kobold, the smallest player race in the game and the physically weakest. Class selection came after exiting the race tutorial, so she would have to wait for that, but first she had to generate her look. She went with an orangey red for the scale color with white for the underbelly, softened the scale hardness to something more like thick skin, shortened the muzzle a bit, and began picking her racial features. Prehensile Toes gave her a climbing and balance bonus to the point that she could go over-vertical and even cling to ceilings once she leveled it a bit; Easily Overlooked increased her stealth with a massive bonus, but it meant that she had to very actively engage any npc that she wanted to interact with and would be effectively invisible to most pcs, as well, unless they were using active perception; and Limber gave her bonuses to escape bindings and grapples along with a slight boost to acrobatics. The Scullion background trait made her a kitchen worker, used to eating just about anything she could get into her mouth, with a bit of heat resistance and slightly increased stamina. She could have gone with the pleasure companion trait, increasing her acrobatics and escape skills even further, but she didn't want to start the game out getting fucked.

She had never played a kobold, but she knew the basics: they were a slave race, subject to the evil dwarves and half-giants that dwelt in the northern mountain range of the main continent. There were several enclaves of kobolds in the player areas, but she would have to reach one of them first, and to do that she would need to complete the tutorial zone. She took a deep breath and completed the character customization. Her viewpoint floated behind the little avatar as it turned and began striding into the vague distance of the grey mist, her third-person view slowly approaching it from behind until she melded into it, her vision going black momentarily before sights and sounds and scents and touch began to return. What she hadn't counted on, and what she had forgotten to turn off, was finding herself coming into an adult situation immediately. Her hands were being held behind her back, someone gripping her head as they thrust into her muzzle, and someone else was pounding into her from behind. A pair of dwarves were using her as other kobold slaves dutifully ignored her and continued performing their tasks around the kitchen. The two cocks that were pummeling her weren't actually felt with the SimuReal(TM) dildos disabled, but she felt the phantom sensations of them, though the grip against her wrist was very real thanks to the sim-suit.

She tried to slip free, but her escape check failed. She tried again, feeling the panic beginning to rise within her, and it failed again. She couldn't get free, couldn't escape, couldn't stop them from doing-

She slammed the emergency exit command and was scrabbling at her helmet before the screens inside had finished going dark, ripping it off of her head and tearing away the interface gloves. She rubbed at her cheeks and face as the sobs started choking her again, feeling the freedom and gulping down air. Shodan was still standing right beside her and took her hand, gently petting at her hair.

"It's okay, hun," the hyena reassured her. "It takes time, and you have however much you need. There's no rush, little flower."

She clung to her snuggle 'yeen's arm, nuzzling against it, grounding herself in the present and banishing the past, or trying to. She would get over this, no matter how much it hurt.

The End