Two: Bad Decisions

~23 Years Ago~

"She's starting to come around... if you don't take the opportunity given to you, Jason, I can just play with it myself and leave you for the boys here. Sure, they've relieved themselves somewhat, but they're always up for a tight little ass like yours." The growling voice of Professor George August bit into Eisley's mind, her vision was blurred and her ears were blocked; her nose could recognise the disgusting scent of their musk and as clarity came to her, she realised what was blocking her ears was the very putrid gunk to have exuded from the Gang and her ears weren't the only bits of her body covered in mess. Eisley could feel her clothes were all but gone, her body was strapped up tightly and though she was still only a child by all standards, she'd been considered dangerous enough to have a ball-gag and a muzzle over her face. Her body was stiff and sore from the great leather straps that held her arms up over her back, cuffed her wrists together and held her in a bent over pose with her tail cruelly duct-taped to her back to expose both her holes to the world like she was some chicken carcass. She could not feel any pain around the area of her vagina or indeed her anus, it was probably the only part of her that didn't hurt, but she knew there was going to be trouble if she did not come around faster and then she heard the whimpering.

"But father... please... she doesn't deserve this... she's my friend..." Jason had never been very tough, he'd always been whimpering and cowering in the corner so a perfect target to bully. Eisley had done everything for him, taken every beating to keep him safe because she'd been taught that you gave people respect because life had a way of dealing with the disrespectful. Had she been older, she'd have ripped these guys to pieces and been assured of safety thanks to her family... but she was just a kid and so was Jason. Eisley sneered, feeling her whiskers had been taped down at well to try and blot her senses and the throbbing pain at the end of her tail warned it had probably been broken in the struggle she must have had but could not remember. "I gave her the drug like you wanted... you've beaten her up... can you please just let her go?"

"But Jason... this is the only opportunity you will ever have to prove yourself no longer a boy. When I was your age I had any girl I wanted, everyone wanted to feel my knot in them and you should be exactly the same. You've told me time enough how much you care about this girl and her disrespect towards my advances has meant you've been taking the brunt instead. I'll just give you this one chance... prove you're a male and not some hyena in a dog suit and fuck her. Go full tie and claim this little kitten... do that and the boys will respect you and leave you alone... and we'll leave her alone too." George spoke in the calm almost reassuring tone of any father towards their son and it made Eisley sick. This idiot knew very well how dangerous her family was, but the fact she'd been unable to get in contact with them and bring the danger to the fore had excited George all the more. He thought he was getting away with murder... he thought there could never be consequences and yet... yet he had always been scared of going the full way with Eisley and even now he was proving he was scared. He was forcing his son to do it, to rape her like he wanted to, because he knew Jason was not old enough to be punished as severely and Eisley's family might not kill him over it.

Jason seemed to take the hint and when Eisley realised she could unhook a claw through the tape around her fingertips to start picking at her cuffs, she gave a sudden sound of fear and her body shook as she felt the dog's wet nose press to her most private of areas. Her tail automatically twitched and jolted, trying to whip out in warning as she was able to produce and aggressive hiss and her captors appeared anxious for it. But Jason chose to ignore it, taking in deep gulps of air to truly capture the scent of her tight and surprisingly dry pussy. He was quite sure, from what he'd at least overheard from his bullies, that she should have been wet... that she needed to be wet and so he had very steadily dragged his hefty flat tongue against her bright pink line and she had given a whimper. The taste must have done something, for suddenly Jason's tongue had shot straight into her crevice, stabbing deep and stunning every natural barrier within her tight form. Her body had clenched around him to try and halt him, but the sensation had only made him more eager as he pulled his tongue in and out in deep, hard delves. She was already crying when he realised there was a taste of blood with it and yet he was already hard from the lapping and ready to go further.

Eisley had given a screech from her sore and tired jaws, growled and hissed before the throbbing pink form of the hard dog dick had started to slam its way into her. She was too tight for him, trying to force him back but each time he barged through the tightness only held him and made him swell faster. The adult was laughing away as he watched the pink pussy flush a more bruised colour, blood trickling down past her ignored clit as the young dog continued on pushing in. He could tell there was pain but the pleasure of it all overrode his senses and all Jason could do was tell Eisley how much he loved her. She had writhed and tried to get away, scratching out with her toes to try and catch him and stop him, but soon he was taking shorter dips into her body, keeping himself buried within her warm tight passage as the great bulb of his knot began to swell and finally it began to push into her. When Eisley began to give squealing sounds from the pain of something large forcing its way in, George was cackling away in pleasure as he witnessed the great bulb stuff its way in, Jason continue to pump and the form to snag and tear the gash straight upward as Eisley gave a truly horrifying scream that Jason ignored as he locked into place and then wheezed over her body, fawning and praising her as his cum began to slowly spurt out into her unstained passage as she wept, but knew this was her only chance to undo her straps with her claw and escape!

After this... no male would ever dare to touch her again!

~Current Time~

Eisley sat up in bed with a start of horror, feeling all the old pains return and she launched out of her bed and straight to the toilet to check herself. Hands were trembling as she felt down the familiar form of her pussy, tentatively sliding a finger about the old tears and scars at the bottom of her hole left by birth and her own desperately aggressive desires with her husband. She stood there for a time in the bathroom, her nightdress sitting in her jaw as she probed herself and then dropped her clothes with a sigh of relief. It had just been that memory... that awful memory that had made her want to kill everyone male, but Kenny. She washed her paws before stepping out of the bathroom and staring across at her husband who had finally sat up and was staring at her blearily eyed through his mess of black mane. He gave a low yawn and then noticed it was still about three hours before either of them had to get up and go through the daily rituals, but he noticed his jaguar mate was looking uncomfortable. Eisley turned to him with a slight grimace as she felt at her rather hot body, knowing that she was happy the memory had not made her wet when she was so close to her heat.

"Kenny... is there anything about my body you would change?" The question was quite common whenever Eisley had memories of that time. She'd been so messed up, so wounded and soiled and so badly damaged that the very end of her tail to have been broken had been amputated. She had a tendency to see herself after that incident and as abnormal, some wreck covered in faeces perhaps that had no right to be within the society of other animals, let alone to have someone so willing to share the bed with them. As she strolled back to the bed, the big lion hooked a paw about her and pulled her beneath him as he nuzzled her nose with his, noticing the way she looked to the side as if she were little more than an object to him. He gave a groan of frustration, hating this routine whenever nightmares of that time bubbled up and he gave a soft growl.

"You asked me, when it was all over if... whenever I saw you... I could only see the ruined state you were in. Even then I couldn't believe that was you, Ice. There's nothing about you that I want changed or I think is stained or ruined. Especially not when you can cope with all my ugliness without even thinking!" Kenny grumbled as Eisley's paws stroked at the scar upon his face, ignored the milky coloured eye that was almost fully blinded in the incident or indeed that various over scars that littered his body. They'd been through more than their fair share of that kind of chaos, been to get stitched up on a number of occasions and it made Kenny chuckle to think she was so worried about it. With a sudden purr he slithered down her body to make her giggle as he then began to lap at her belly, which was swelling slightly in preparation for the heat. It was Kenny's favourite time of the year, not only because it meant they could be as mad and ridiculous sexually as they wanted, but because there was always the chance, even now when he was forty-odd, that they could have more kids. "Although... I would love it if you put on a little more weight. I know some guys like cheetah-thin, but Jaguars are supposed to be a bit stockier... have a bit more meat on their bones... besides, when you get chubby your boobs get bigger and you make funny noises when I pin you..."

"Typical... the heat's on your mind and I reckon right now you're probably swollen in your little cage and on the edge of spurting. You'll have to wait though Mister..." Eisley began as the big lion growled at her playfully, pulling up her nightdress though she swatted at him to behave. Before she could stop him his chin was rubbing against the top of her crotch, making her shift and suck air through her teeth to feel him so close. Every time he did that she could feel her clit starting to swell and whenever Kenny did those things to her, simple and silly things because of his ridiculous attitude, she always felt the bad memories fade. His great tongue with its slightly rough edges then lapped tenderly over her clitoris, causing her hips to judder as she gave a soft little noise and felt the muscles within relaxing eagerly to feel his attentions. Kenny simply rolled his tongue over her little pink tip, letting it swell and stretch as he flicked it, watching her body shimmer and twitch in preparation for a little orgasm as he then put his lips about it and gave a soft little suck to make her sigh audibly and give a little moan as her body shook and a little squirt of fluid spat onto Kenny's chin. He gave a snort, lapped up what was left before lying down on the bed beside her as she quivered within his big arms.

"Its on your mind too... let's not worry about that shit... let's worry about each day is it comes, okay?"

About three hours later the alarm gave a little buzzing sound and Kenny's great paw slammed into it with a grunt. He was doing a late day at the office, but he liked to make sure he was there in the morning to check on the kids and have breakfast with Eisley. She was attending a conference at ten, so only had four hours to get the house sorted, though he was adamant he'd clean it up. When Eisley slid out of the bed she was straight to the draws and quick to pull her clothes on before finding that her breasts had swollen slight again in preparation and her bra was not fitting well. As she struggled to try and get one of her neat white shirts on, Kenny sat himself up and gave a growl of pleasure before pulling out one of his shirts and throwing it over her.

"The bra extenders will help a bit, right? You can wear one of my old shirts, it'll be a bit loose but I'm sure they'll understand if they ask. Would be worse if you were an elephant... those things'd be impossible to cover and you'd be kept inside!" Kenny growled playfully as he strolled over and swung his arms to her back, pulling the extra hooks on before stretching down to help shift her big breasts into the cups, grinning at the sight of her quite rigid and tender looking nipples. Just touching them made the jaguar shudder against him, but as soon as she hooked the shirt on he gave a snort and then lapped at her forehead tenderly as she swatted him. "Reminds me of when we were younger... every time we met you ended up wearing one of my shirts."

"Kenny... at least with this on it'll help with covering the pheromone smells. Now, you've got a job to do for me honey, I'm heading down to do breakfast, please try not to engage with Nero before I've had a chance to talk to him, you know he won't listen to his 'cop' father." Eisley stated with a soft purr, stretching out her claws to gently itch at her mate's creamy chin before strolling out of the room. Kenny gave a chuckle and quickly hooked his paw about her tail to make her pause, only for him to point downwards. She gave a snort of amusement, blaming him because she had not put on her skirt and then, as she shuffled into the neat black item, her mate stretched his paws down to grasp at her calf muscles playfully as she swatted at him to behave.

Kenny watched her go with a vivid grin on his mauled face before he dropped it into a grimace. He wanted to choke Nero again; ever since that cub was born he'd spent his lifetime claiming that a lion could not be his father and that he was pure jaguar. In truth, of all their children he looked exactly like his mother but with his grandfather's eyes and an impressive height and squareness that was from his father. All their jaguar-lion hybrids had a different look to them, Hector looked like a liger with off brown rosettes on his forehead but a pitch-black mane more luxurious than his father's and the twins looked like lions painted as jaguars with short little manes like mullets! Of course the twins were a little more unique, Leo was sandy coloured with brown rosettes and Tomas was actually black with grey rosettes; the twin girls that followed after looked like their eldest brother and the youngest was currently a vivid golden colour with black bands about her legs and tail and a trio of little rosettes on her belly not to mention a crimson coloured one on her forehead... the sign of her mother's breeding. All the kids look more leonine except Nero and Kenny had long assumed this was the problem with the boy and aside from Hector he had the most memory of being around Eisley's family!

When Kenny finished his job and snorted in amusement at the curiously sexy thought of his wife wearing perfume mixed with his own 'eau de toilette', the lion padded out of the room in time to spot Tomas stepping out of the bathroom and looking slightly ill at ease. Though a melanistic animal was very attractive and interesting to say the least, Tomas had been rather unwelcoming to the female attention he was getting lately and it was obvious he was looking anxious about going to school and being on the basketball team again when all the girls would be hanging around to watch. Automatically Kenny strolled over and slammed his hefty sandy-brown paw onto his son's black mane and gently rubbed his forehead.

"So... Leo told me you didn't want to be captain of the team when it was offered, you'd rather stick to being a defensive player. You worried about what the team will think?" Kenny rumbled softly, but he had a feeling there was something more to the matter as Tomas simply curled his lip and made no sound of proper response to his father. Leo had been telling his dad a lot about the team set up at the sports clubs at high school and how proud he had been to hear Tomas had been offered, but when he'd talked to his brother the twin had declined. It had seemed that Tomas felt one of the other boys was much better at that kind of thing, a caracal called Sully (a nickname apparently) who had been mocked by the others for his foreign accent when he transferred. Kenny understood that Tomas doing such a thing was probably to help the other kid out, but it could be dangerous and could mean he'd get hell from his team, so Kenny thought to rub his son's head again and then pat his shoulders. "Caracals can jump really high apparently and they're smaller so fast... it's an interesting choice."

"Thanks for your input but it wasn't some heroic sacrifice like Leo seems to think... I just can't handle that much pressure. I'm trying to keep my grades up you know? I'm not perfect like Leo..." There was a clear resentment in that tone that made Kenny grimace as he paused to watch his son shuffle off in his uniform down to the breakfast table. Kenny had pondered whether he should have refrained from mentioning Leo but he could understand the situation between his three closely-aged sons was starting to get a little competitive. As a lion he could not understand the natural wish for jaguars and leopards to avoid male relatives but embrace female ones and yet females avoided all but their own kids, all his sons were effectively 'mama's boys'. His girls though shared the leonine traits of family and sisterhood above all things and though he had no worry about them at the best of times, the thoughts returning to his mind over the Jason matter made him anxious. His eldest daughter Isabella spent a lot of time studying with male friends, her twin sister Isadora was completely enamoured by one young man and the seven-year-old was quite happy to play kiss chase around the classroom all day. It felt all a little too much for him to think about as he clearly wanted to keep the whole family safe!

Marching down the stairs he was gasped by the mane half-way down and paused automatically, the bulky lion bent and the tiny little paws of Donatella hooked about his great furry black cheeks as she giggled and scrabbled onto his back for a ride. Automatically he beamed as he carried his little baby down the stairs and then scooped her off his back to sit comfortable at the table with her siblings. Leo was already down and rushing the last bit of homework he had forgotten about last night and the girls were looking oddly anxious as they eyed Nero's feet sitting firmly on the table. Kenny saw it and a deep growl formed in his throat, his teeth clenching into an angry snarl as he glowered down at his disobedient son and Nero only shifted his feet about to hiss at his father in return. The others could read the message clearly and did not want to see another argument before school and thankfully Eisley was quick to clamp her fingers on Nero's ear and make him drop his legs down.

"Good lad... otherwise you'd be balancing my best china on your kneecaps! Everyone dig in, Kenny I've made you a big breakfast so you can sit and eat with all of us today and then go back to sleep. I'll make sure they'll be food left in the microwave for you when you get back late tonight, honey and I'll make sure to get back by three this afternoon for you guys." Eisley stated as she calmly sat herself down beside her husband and the pair nuzzled noses and rubbed cheeks happily. It was enough to make the kids flinch at the sight, but Kenny was still very irritated with Nero and he gave Eisley a little nudge to get her to open dialogue over it. She eyed him up a little curiously for a moment before turning towards Nero as he ate away and giving a soft little sound of anxiety. "I'm sorry I ended up working an extra shift last night darlings, but Nero I'm worried - where had you been?"

"I was just out with the bat and the ocelots... nothing serious, just watching a movie. I've got the ticket receipt in my jacket if you're that bothered." Nero sneered and Eisley breathed a sigh of relief to hear such a thing, although she was anxious all the same to hear him hanging out with trouble. It wasn't that the individuals were all bad, but they basically ran the proving grounds for gang potentials and she could see Nero easily sliding into such a group if he had the chance to takeover. She shook her head though at his words and Kenny produced a little snort of irritation; only for his mother would Nero be so compliant and even than his attitude was still vexing. In the old days Kenny would be within his rights to kick the boy out of the household completely, but thankfully those days were gone or he'd have done it already, even if it was what had happened to him when he'd been weaned!

"Well next time leave me a note... your father and I were a bit panicked..." Eisley began, but to her surprise Nero just curled his lips and let his hackles raise as he glared towards his father and Eisley knew it was only going to get worse. She cut Nero off though before he could say anything to rile Kenny up and the moment she did it Nero's ears flattened to his head. Clearly she'd hit a sore spot for the boy, but it was enough to ease the tension of the whole table. "Well, in truth your father wasn't worried because he thought you were probably out with a nice girl."

The girls wanted to snigger at the idea and so did Tomas, they knew very well that yesterday Nero had tried to entice one of the most dangerous girls in the school to show interest in him and the Amur Leopard had punched him so hard in the gut he'd folded over. Like all Amur and Snow leopards, the girl had been posh and an arrogant brat that was only interested in a big tiger or even a wolf above some hybrid and it had caused Nero to trash a hallway. But it had been a good day aside from that, Nero had actually spent the whole day at high school and been praised by his teachers for a lot of his work in the class. It was always baby-steps with Nero these days, but he was irritated when the subject was turned towards Leo, as always, by Dora.

"I heard you've been given a special mission today Leo... apparently there's some new puma starting and she's been told to report straight to you. Is that going to irritate your cheetah friend or are you going to have those two jackal idiots after the new girl? Maybe she'll be a good fight for your bull friend..." Dora beamed and somehow her phrasing made Eisley's teeth grind together at the thought of the kind of things Mercedes used to say at that age. But any contemplation on her sister was like dredging up shit at the thought she might be having yet another affair and this time with Markie. Eisley turned to look at Leo with curiosity and he gave a short little snort of embarrassment as his brothers both rolled their eyes at him.

"You make it sounds so important and so bad at the same time. Her names Kayleigh and she's new to the area, her big brother moved to work with the bank and he's the only one looking after her now. Her parents got kill in that wreck three months ago, you know the big one on the news. The principal just thought I'd be a good choice to show her around, it's not like I'm aiming to add another follower to the group or even to irritate Amy. Besides, Dora, Amy isn't my girlfriend despite what you keep thinking!" Leo groaned as he bent his head to look at his sister, who stuck out her tongue and then gave a little giggle of pleasure. Leo was quite frustrated with the idea that he would even be interested in the cheetah, she was his best friend yeah... but he wasn't interested in her as anything else.

The conversation continued on for a little while until the time drew near and Eisley got up to put the plates away and grab her bags. Everyone was double-checked to be ready for school. Once the teenagers marched off down the road to join their friends in going to school, Isabella made sure to snatch hold of Nero's tail and look up at him with her big crimson eyes as if she were nervous. Isabella had been having a little trouble with some bullying zebra recently because she had quite the dance program out of embarrassment, the girls that had been irritated with her to begin with for being the only predator in the program had begun to put pressure on her in other ways and when walking to school they were always around to make her anxious. Though her other siblings or marched ahead to join up with their friends, Isabella only had Nero to walk with and so she hooked onto her big brother's tail until he slowed down to march beside her, irritated but not unwilling.

Eisley was next out with Donatella, hoping her into the car before making a brief gesture of good luck to an old horseshoe she kept as a weapon in her handbag. Kenny eyed the car anxiously for a moment as he considered the state it was in and just how much they actually needed to consider what Eisley's father was offering. With Eisley's hours being jolted about and her pay being severed to try and slash hospital spending and grade by department rather than by seniority, Eisley was covering the rent and the car alone whilst Kenny's pay had to cover all their kids, their food and their medical care. It shouldn't be so tight when they were working such good jobs, but no one was having a good time with money.

Kenny stepped into the household and looked at the mess of the kitchen before groaning and starting the boring task of tidying up before he noticed that Eisley had forgotten the perfume bottle. He snorted at himself in amusement as he recalled she'd instead been wearing one of his shirts and none of the kids had noticed. But to his great dismay Kenny found himself flopping onto the chair again and groaning as his head was clouded with the memories of the past and indeed the first time he'd ever met one of Eisley's family. He grimaced with regret as he realised how strange it would be to see Diego as the head of the household and not Rodrigo.

~23 Years Ago~

Kenny probably should not have threatened to string up the EMT guys when they'd tried to tell him to go away, but he had promised the little girl he'd hang around and make sure no one else hurt her. The technicians could understand he was just trying to help her out and be kind, but the whole time they sorted things their eyes had slipped over the young lion with his bulging muscles with a suspicious note and then the police had turned up. The officer to appear was a large polar bear, the kind of animal Kenny knew he'd stand no chance against in a fight so, though he was unwilling to leave her, he stepped away from the scene to scowl at the officer who only had to take one look at the ripped-up remnants of the clothes to know the girl's school and possibly who she was.

"So kid... I've kinda got the feeling I've met you before or at least heard your voice and this is starting to look like something I heard a whisper about a few weeks back. I'm not pointing digits just want to hear your run on things." The officer had probably met Kenny when he'd been in the social care system and a total punk. He'd vandalised and attacked anything he could because it was the only way he could get away from the abuse of the animals he'd been thrown to live with. Whatever idiot house a predator species with Cape Buffalo, especially a lion cub, had no idea the kind of mental and physical torture those guys liked to inflict. Kenny had even come close to killing one of his tormentors when he'd been just eleven years old and for it he'd been locked up before going into foster care with the hyenas who had let him do his own thing and therefore gained his respect. Kenny had beaten up a lot of the officers in the juvenile facility when he'd been there, he didn't care how tough they were supposed to be and yet they'd always just seemed to accept it as his personality. Now he looked at this guy, he could tell he was the prime suspect and he was furious but cautious all the same.

"I called anonymously two weeks ago, it was the third time I'd met Eisley, she'd come to get protection by hanging around me because some teacher at her boarding school has been messing around with her and other girls. The other girls just accept it, thinking its better not to fight, but she always fights so she always got away... barely... until tonight. I called two weeks ago when her ribs got fractured and I brought her here, but these assholes handed her back to the school without any question. So this time I'm sticking around to make sure she's safe... she can't go back there." That was all he had to say about it and thankfully the old polar bear seemed to understand and believe him on the matter. But he looked rather uncomfortable all the same as he picked up his receiver and started to send the message through. Kenny sat down on the chair near the curtain and when his sensitive ears heard the sudden whimper of the little jaguar he stood up and looked ready to kill whoever was hurting her until his ears caught the name the old bear put through the radio. He could not believe that he had just heard her referred to as a very dangerous animal's granddaughter and automatically he looked rathe more content that something could be done. "You're not shitting around with that are you? Tell me you're going to do something to help her now... rather than send her back to be tortured."

"Look son, if I were you I'd make myself scarce. If you were only sixteen they might not look at you as a threat, but an eighteen-year-old lion who had a fifteen-year-old jaguar land in their lap in that state looks suspicious. These guys won't think to ask questions, it would be safer if you went. I'll pass on what you said because I don't like what I'm seeing either... but they won't like you." The bear had stated with a growl before turning to inform the emergency workers that there would be a family member on the way before he pulled a doctor over to go over the fine details. He seemed almost relieved when the doctor stated there was signs of vaginal tearing and trauma consistent with a tying session with a dog. When the police officer got it in writing he gave them a number to call to help him with this case before he disappeared to go and call his office on a phone that was a little more secure than his own receiver.

Kenny watched him but refused to leave, he was not afraid of anyone and especially not when he was furious that these idiots had left Eisley at such a place to begin with. Only when the EMTs were nearly finished and Eisley was consciously asking for him did his mind shift on the matter. He stood up to step over as the nurse reluctantly let him hold on her tiny little paw that was bandaged up at the wrist and her big golden eyes twinkled up at him in thanks. He stroked at her paw nervously and by the time the nurses had taken over and everything was cleaned, he'd hardly noticed the arrival of others as he burst into tears as the piece of tail was marked up for amputation surgery.

"I'm sorry Ice... I know you told me not to get animals involved but I didn't want you getting hurt. It's all my fault, I went and stopped him kicking the shit out of Jason and somehow he must have guessed I'd been the one helping you. I'm so sorry, I've brought this down on you and now you've really been hurt..." Kenny snuffled, his tears streaming down his golden coloured cheeks as she stretched up her little paw to wipe them away from him, a vivid smile upon her face to see him there beside her. As she stroked at his great black Mohawk, she seemed to ease into sleep and he stroked at her arms tenderly to help her out. Only when she was asleep did her hand drop into his and even than he was loath to release her completely.

"She is not one for touching people... hugs she likes but any other physical contact is like dealing with someone with a disease, you know?" Kenny's fur stood on end and his tail puffed at the tip in fright as he heard the rich, charismatic tones of a jaguar known for his very dangerous links to drugs and his own kind of mafia. The young lion turned his head slowly, keeping it bent down to see the great big jaguar sitting on the chairs beside him with two black-suited caiman standing precariously nearby, ready to beat the shit out of anyone who dared to bother their boss. Kenny could see the curious black lines under the jaguar's nose, little markings that made him appear to have a moustache as he turned his glittering golden eyes towards the lion and the great red-brown spot on the middle of his forehead revealed him as Rodrigo Mancha de Sangre. The jaguar just gave a soft little snort and a curious twist of his whiskers as he looked towards Eisley with a sorrowful expression. "My little angel has been wronged by the animals we trusted would protect her. I do not want my little one to be in such a rough business and yet it seems I may have to teach her in order to keep her safe. It is quite unfair you know; I wanted my son involved because it was his duty, but my granddaughter should have been kept safe from it so I put her where I thought she would thrive. For a time she has... but I should have thought there would be this trouble... males don't go through this trouble though."

"You weren't to blame... Ice told me she never thought anything was strange until she hit puberty... then it was just the other boys being weird... only when she rescued that kid from his dad did things take a turn for the worst. She told me it only started after Spring Break and that's only been two and half months. You couldn't have known so soon." Kenny stated, unsure why he was being reassuring but clearly seeing that the attempts had been made by the family to give Eisley something better and he respected them for that. He was startled though when Rodrigo looked to him with a warm, understanding kind of smile before giving a soft little chuckle.

"Apart from that boy Jason, Eisley has never been one to make such strong connections with animals, she thinks they're too much a liability and she was not really fond of that puppy anyway. I haven't met you, I don't know anything about you... lion... except that you have saved her from bleeding to death and she has run to you for protection. That tells me you are an interesting fellow... perhaps I can find a worthy reward for you..." Rodrigo stated and Kenny's ears flicked in frustration at the thought of it. Usually a reward meant they wanted you to shut up and get lost or they'd make you lost and the caiman certainly looked up for a little skinning duty. But Kenny shifted his arm and was startled when Eisley snatched him again tightly before giving a soft snort as he looked at the old jaguar.

"Just three things..." He knew the number would make the jaguar curl his lip, but somehow Rodrigo did not even flinch and Kenny was pleased. He had the feeling that the old cat would have moved the earth to reward the critter to help his granddaughter and in truth Kenny's demands weren't huge. "Firstly I need some help getting my education sorted, I'm willing to study but there aren't many places willing to teach me. Its not my record, that expunged when I turned eighteen anyway, but I just need some help getting a placement at night school or something so I can get the piece of paper they all ask for. Secondly, I want to say being Eisley's friend, so don't say I can't talk to her if she comes to talk to me, I haven't had a proper friend before... so we're kinda the same like that. And thirdly... I wanna know what her name means, I've never heard it before."

_"Hmm... humble requests from a curiously humble cat. They will be dealt with, you will be educated that is sure and if Eisley goes to you I won't stop her, but her father may have other opinions or indeed her mother, so that I cannot guarantee you." Rodrigo chuckled before gently stretching his hand to touch the dead end of the tail with a shudder of sorrow. He then turned to Kenny with a soft snort. "Eisley is a Swiss name meaning 'cheerful', it was the surname of her midwife and her parents were so grateful she survived where her twin brother didn't they chose to honour her saviour." _