{"sf1_id":794041,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Mad or Mundane","author":"assilsasta","words":7183,"posted_at":"2014-12-10T10:09:00.000Z","tags":["Armadillo","Avian","Badger","Bat","Bear","Bio-gen","Black Bear","Blackouts","Canine","Clean","Dark","Deals","Death","Female","Gothic","Hunduran white bat","Introductions","Jonestown","Lupus","Male","Maned Wolf","Missing memories","No Yiff","Pink fairy Armadillo","Purple finch","Wolf","back story","bird","blood","bullies","fight","finch","goth","macabre","murder","no sex","white bat"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/794041-mad-or-mundane","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/794041","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=794041\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nFeathers, Fur, and Shadows\n02. Mad or Mundane\nby Assilsasta\n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\n  \n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\nChristmas 2011\n \nMalcum sat in the dark, nearly crowded hospital room as the\nsound of the steady beep and alternating hiss and wheeze of the machines\nworking to keep his daughter alive. His red and purple feathers clashed with\nher muddy brown as he held onto her hand. Her small ten year old body was\nobstructed by the breathing tubes and I.V. lines, making her look more like one\nof his test subjects than his own flesh and blood. His eyes remained locked on\nthe EEG as the line stayed flat for the third day. In only a few moments his\nlife had collapsed as a drunk driver ran into the car that his wife used to\ntake their daughter to her dance recital. He blamed himself for the accident.\nHe had said he needed to work that night and was unable to go himself, when he\nknew that one day away from the lab would not have made any difference. He\nshould have been in the car. He should have been driving. He should be the one\nin the bed, not his little girl.\nHe remained motionless as the door opened behind him, and\nthe false hope faded as the EEG spike with the rough movement. \"Get out,\" was\nall he said without a care of who it was. He had heard all the diagnosis and\nthe prognosis of her condition. He knew all too well the state she was in. His\nresearch as of late had centered around the biological aspects of near death.\nHe knew the odds of her returning were astronomical, unrealistic for him to\neven hope. \n\"Dr. Nicholson,\" the voice behind him spoke.\n\"I said get out. I have nothing to say and you have nothing\nnew to tell me I will not let her go, not yet.\"\n\"You have my intentions confused, Dr. Nicholson,\" the\nunfamiliar voice returned. \"I am not here to talk you into letting go of you\ndaughter. I am in fact here to offer you something: A once in a lifetime\nresearch opportunity.\"\nThe anger and contempt burned in his grey eyes as he stood\nand spun on his feet. Several loose, molting feathers fluttered into the room\nand to the floor as he looked the weasle in the face. \"My wife was taken from\nme before her time, my daughter lies in her death bed, to broken to survive.\nAnd you have the nerve to come in here, into the room where death awaits even\nme, to offer me a job. I don't care about your opportunity. I will not leave my\ndaughter's side. I will not abandon her again.\"\nThe well dressed weasel took another step into the room as\nhe spoke calmly, \"My name is Victor Johansen, and what I have to offer is more\nthan just a job. What would you say if I was offering you your life back; If I\ntold you we can save your daughter?\"\nThe purple finch took a step forward as the rage built\nwithin him. His beak glinted in the moonlight as the girl in the bed screeched\na sound unnatural to the songbird. \"She died, her brain is dead. Nothing can\nbring her back. This is my research, this is what I know. She is damaged and\nbroken beyond repair. There is nothing you can offer. No, you can give nothing\nto her to bring her back to me. Leave my sight before I show you what else my\nresearch has brought to me.\"\n\"I can understand your pain, Dr. Nicholson. And I will leave\nyou to it,\" the weasel said as he held out his paw with a business card, \"But\nwhen you are ready to listen, give me a call. We can save your daughter, and,\nthrough her, millions.\"\n\"LEAVE!\" the Finch screeched, eliciting several spikes in\nboth her EKG and EEG systems. \nAs the weasel turned to leave, he set the card on a tray by\nthe door and said, \"Bio-Gen's business is to help people like Daliliah, and you\ncan help us by letting us help her. Think about it, Dr. Nicholson, and call me.\nAnd have a Merry Christmas.\"\nAs Malcum stood, his feathers ruffled in anger both at the\nweasel that had just left the room and himself. The door slowly closed,\nblocking out the light of the hallway, and left him once again in the eerie\nglow of the monitoring equipment screens and LED lights of the machines that\nfeed the last sign of life in the young finch. He walked over to the tray where\nthe weasle left the card, ready to throw it away with all the others, when his\neyes adjusted to the almost non-existent light that he had lived in for the\npast three days.\n \n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\nFall 2012\n \nMalcum picked up the phone and dialed swiftly. After only\ntwo rings, a feminine voice answered the line. \"I need to talk to Mr. Johansen,\nnow,\" Malcolm said to the receptionist.\n(Dr. Nicholson, to what do I owe the pleasure of a call from\nour remote researcher?)\n\"It's failing. She's dying.\"\n(What happened? Is the device damaged?)\n\"There was a fight. They say she put the others in the\nhospital. She was never like this before. And now she is dying. It's as if\nwhatever happened is undoing all the healing that had been done.\"\n(Where is she now?)\n\"She is in my home. I didn't take her to the hospital. You\nhave given me everything I need to take care of her, but what do I do?\nEverything is failing... She is dying. You promised.\"\n(Don't worry Dr. Nicholson, we will have two assistants and\na surgeon with the needed supplies to you in a few hours. We were expecting a\nfailure, but the information you have given us has been a great help and we\nhave improved the project greatly.)\n\"You'll fix this or I'll...\"\n(You'll what? You are as much to blame as we are. We can fix\nour little Frankenstein's Monster.)\n\"She's not a monster, or some laboratory rat to be tested\non. She's my daughter.\"\n(You forget your place, Dr. Nicolson. We will keep our part\nof the deal and you keep working on the other projects we send you. Everything\nyou are doing is benefiting your daughter and helping us improve the technology\nbehind this life saving system. Now be a good birdy and do as you are told, or\nwe will have to let this project go, and you don't want to see that, now do\nyou?)\nMalcum sat the receiver back on the cradle and sighed as the\nsound of the grotesque screech echoed through the house. \"I'm sorry Daliliah,\nI'm doing everything I can.\"\n \n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\nJanuary 2014\n \nDaliliah sat on the small exam table in the nurse's office.\nThe room was a quaint space, the cinderblock walls decorated with pictures of\ncartoon animals and diagrams of the proper way to wash paws and cover your face\nwhen sneezing. She waited for the nurse to return after he had cleaned the\nwound again and left to get more bandages. She glanced across the small room at\nthe maned wolf that still followed her even after her warning. He sat quietly\nreading a home and garden magazine. \n\"Why are you still here?\" the finch asked as they sat in the\nroom alone together.\n\"This is where I am supposed to be, isn't it?\" Jasper said\nquestioningly. \"I said I would take you to the nurse's office, and here we\nare.\"\n\"I told you to go away.\"\n\"You also said you didn't care where I went,\" the maned wolf\nsaid as he looked back down at the magazine. \"So I went where the instructor\nthinks I am, and where I said I would be.\"\n\"Why don't you just avoid me like everyone else? It will\nmake your life a lot... easier.\"\n\"I don't care,\" he replied. \"I don't have any friends. You\nseem to not have any either...\"\nJasper trailed off as the white bat walked into the small\nroom. He wore a light pink nurse's uniform and his white well groomed fur\nglistened in the cold light of the nurse office, the uniform that he had on,\nlike all of his clothes had been modified to allow for his wings.  Everything about the bat was well taken care\nof, from the tips of his greenish yellow ears, to his nose, even to his well\nmanicured claws. \"Well now, Ms. Nicholson, let's have another look at that\nburn.\" He sat on a stool by the exam table, spinning round almost playfully, as\nthe seat lowered to get him on a better level to look at her injury. \"It looks\nworse than I thought. I guess cleaning it again will do the job. I'll wrap it\nin some gauze and an elastic bandage. You should be sure to change out the\ngauze after you get home... and let your dad have a look. He is a doctor, isn't\nhe?\"\n\"Not that kind of doctor,\" she said as she watched him pull\nthe bundle of gauze from the side pocket of the pink jacket and begin to wrap\nher hand with it. \"He is a genetic biologist.\"\n\"He also holds a medical degree if I'm not mistaken,\" he\nsaid as if trying to fill the idle time with conversation. \"I've read many of\nhis published papers.\"\n\"I'll tell him he has a fan, Mr. Wilkinson,\" Daliliah said\nas she watched his meticulous care of her wound.\n\"Jimmy,\" he said with a bubbly smile. \"You can just call me\nJimmy. I also want you to remember that even though it doesn't hurt, this is a\npretty bad burn, and I still want your dad to look at it. If it weren't for the\nspecial instructions, I would have said this needs to go to the hospital for\nproper treatment. With your CIPA you really need to be careful.\"\n\"CIPA?\" Jasper asked confused. \n\"Congenital\nInsensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis,\" Daliliah answered. \"It's a\ngenetic disorder that basically causes you to feel no pain. I don't have that.\nI just don't feel pain. They said that my neural pathways for my brain are too\ndamaged to register pain. I still feel pressure, sometimes even hot and cold,\nbut never actual pain - Not the way you feel pain, anyway.\"\n\"Wait, so it really doesn't hurt?\" Jasper looked at her\nwide-eyed.\n\"No,\" the finch answered flatly. \"Not since the accident.\"\n\"I'm going to call your father\nand have him come pick you up,\" Jimmy said, his bubbly demeanor shining through\neven with the finch's melancholy reaction to him. \"I'll make sure you are\nexcused from your classes for the next two days.\"\n\"NO!\" the young girl cried,\nshowing the first emotion from her that Jasper had seen. The look in her eyes\nconfused him; It was a strange mix of fear and anger. She glanced at Jasper a\nmoment before she spoke again. \"No, I want to finish the day out. It's my first\nday and I don't want to miss it, or the next two.\"\nJimmy looked her in the eyes as\nhe said, \"This isn't up for discussion. You need to be at home, young lady.\nThis is not place for a wound like that. Even with how clean we keep it around\nthe school, it could still get infected. And I don't want that to happen.\"\n\"Then I'll fly home,\" she said,\nback to the flat, emotionless tone she had used up to the point of her\noutburst. \n\"You don't need to be flying\nwith that wing, young lady, and you shouldn't go alone,\" the nurse voiced with\nan almost stern tone. \"Someone should be there when you get home to take a\ncloser look at that and see if you need to go to the hospital.\"\n\"I'll walk her home, Mr.\nWilkinson,\" Jasper offered without much thought. He looked over at the finch\ngirl and added, \"I can even stay until your dad gets home if you want.\"\nDaliliah narrowed her eyes as\nshe looked at the maned wolf. The tall, lanky boy seemed set on escorting her\neverywhere. \"Fine,\" she said flatly as she dropped of the table. \nWith a smile on his muzzle, the\nnurse rolled across the room on the stool over to the small desk. \"That will be\ngreat. Here, let me get you some excuse notes for classes.\" As he scribbled\nnotes onto the fill-in form excuse pad, he added, \"You two make a cute couple.\"\nThe finch's talons clicked\nloudly against the floor as she turned and said, \"We're not a couple. If\nanything, he's a stalker.\"\n\"Oh, so he's available?\" Jimmy\nasked as he winked at Jasper. As he turned and handed the two students the\nslips of paper, he looked at the maned wolf and said, \"Come back any time you\nwant something. Now don't do anything I wouldn't.\"\nAs the door to the nurse's\noffice closed behind the pair, Daliliah flatly said, \"He was flirting with\nyou.\"\n\"Wait, what?\"\n\"You are clueless,\" the small\nfinch muttered as she started to walk down the hall. \n \n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\n \n\"I see, thank you, Mr. Wilkinson,\" Malcum said as he held\nthe curtain back from the window. \"I will be home when she gets there, and\nthank you for the call.\" The day had not been progressing for his daughter as\nhe had hoped. The guidance counselor had called earlier to inform him that she\nhad passed out and admitted to having another blackout that she did not\nremember. He was relieved that the nurse had sent her home after her injury in\nscience class. He hung up the phone as he returned to the desk in his home\noffice. He looked down at the report on his desk.\n \nSubject\nDelta has shown vast improvement after implementation of the latest version of\nthe system. Cognitive functions and problems-solving capabilities are off the\nscales. Data storage and retrieval is now measured in gigabits per second.\nSubject is performing well beyond milestones set in previous versions.\n \nHe took the glasses off his beak and rubbed his eyes as he\ntried to think through his monthly report. Every week, he took the time to look\nover the current stats, add to the report, and remove what emotion he could. He\ncontinued to pen his notes as he waited for the return of his daughter.\n \nSubject\nblacks out and short term memory gaps continue. Subject also appears to suffer\nfrom night terrors within the past two weeks. Night observations and recordings\nhave been increased to compensate for changes in subject's behaviors.\n \nRe-introduction\nof subject into social situations may have had negative impact on subject's\nemotional stability. \n \nHe stood up from the papers and walked away as his\nfrustration built. He walked over to the book case against the wall and pulled\na small manilla folder from between two large books. He flipped it open and\nstarted jotting new notes on the pages as he walked down the hall to the\nworkspace the company provided him to do his research. As long as he continued\nto send in reports on Daliliah's progress, they continued to give him\neverything he asked for, and he did whatever they needed to for 'Project Orion'\nto continue. He stopped at the door and looked in at the many feral subjects he\nhad procured through the dealings with what he knew was a fringe organization\nthat used the medical technology company as a front to get to him. His own\nresearch had progressed well beyond what it would have without the\norganization's assistance, and if he continued, he was certain that it would\nprovide the missing link that would end his dependence on them for his child's\nlife.\n \n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\n \nJasper sat alone at the table, his cousin once again working\nlate. She had at least managed to keep the cabinets full so he could cook for\nhimself. The first thing she had to teach him was how to use a microwave:\nsomething that you didn't find in the tribal communities of Africa. It didn't\ntake him long to understand how the simple digital cooking machine worked, but\nhe still prefered to just fix a salad with fresh, cooked bacon and chicken.\nGetting her to buy the ingredients for real, home-cooked food seemed to be the\nonly issue. \nHe sat at the table in the dimly lit dine-in kitchen of the\napartment, the only source of light from the hood vent microwave over the\nstove. Before him sat a U.S. History book and a simple mac \u0026 cheese with\nhot dogs dish he managed to scrap out of the non-microwave meals his cousin had\nin the cabinets. \nHe looked down at the works, barely paying any attention to\nthem, as his mind wandered to the finch girl he had tried to help. He had been\ngiven an excuse from the office to escort her home, but as soon as they left\nthe main building, she had taken flight, leaving him there feeling like a fool.\n\nEven though the nurse had told her not to fly, she did it\nwithout a second thought, not even telling him goodbye or anything. The lack of\nwhat he thought was basic etiquette was not unique to her. It seemed that every\none of his age didn't seem to care about proper respect or manners. But even\nwith the general lack of upbringing, he couldn't think of a better way to\ndescribe it; Daliliah seemed different. \nThe finch's actions and attitude were more deliberate, as if\nshe was intentionally pushing everyone away. But what puzzled him the most was\nthe difference in the way she was when he first saw her and when she came to\nclass. It was almost like two completely different people. At first, he would\nhave thought her reaction appeared to be more out of fear and confusion, which\nhe could understand a bit better after dealing with other furs his age. He\nreally didn't think about how imposing he might be to someone so much smaller\nand more fragile than him. But later in the day, when he saw her in class, she\nwas different. He wasn't sure, not having dealt with American teens before, but\nshe seemed more like she wanted to be left alone.\n Then when he thought\nabout the stories and rumors that his lab partner had told him, everything just\nseemed to fall apart. He knew the boy's stories could not be true, sure, like\neverything else: folklore and legends. Some of the things may have had bits of truth\nin them, but the stories as a whole just didn't fit together. What he could\npiece together was that the girl was in a car accident a few years back and got\nhurt pretty badly, to the point where she could no longer feel pain, and that\nshe may have other issues, like brain damage or something, that could explain\nthe differences in the way she had acted. Perhaps she had taken some medication\nduring the day, or was under the influence of one in the morning. Either\nsituation could explain the differences in her personality. Or she could have\njust been frightened like he had thought when it was just her and him in the\ncourtyard. No matter what, she was an enigma and she stuck on his mind, even if\nhe didn't want her to be.\n \n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\n \nMalcum jerked awake at the sound of the loud thud on the\ndeck outside the room. His eyes adjusted quickly to the low light of the\nevening. He had dozed off some time while looking over the return reports for\nthe many prosthetic projects he worked on for Biogen: the projects that he had\nto do to keep the funding for his real project rolling in. \nThe sleep was suddenly fully driven from him as the sound of\nhelpless flapping wings and a flopping body emanated from the nearby door. He\nburst from his seat with an urgency reserved for life and death situations. He\nslammed against the door, nearly putting his own wing through the glass as he\nrushed for the sound. He flung the door open, slamming it hard against the door\nstop, saving the wall from the doorknob, but not the glass panes from\nshattering. The sight that greeted him was almost the worst he had seen,\npailing only to that of the sight of his wife on the operating table as he\nstruggled to save her and their daughter. \nBefore him was his flesh and blood, in more ways than one.\nThe small brown finch lay on the wooden deck that surrounded the house perched\nin the trees, covered in blood. He couldn't tell if it was her's or something\nelse, but the sight was one he needed to get out of public view quickly. He\ngrabbed the girl in his wings and lifted her to his chest as he rushed back\ninto the lab, leaving the door open without fear of any non-avian getting in\nwithout an invitation. \nHe placed Daliliah on the steel examination table and\nquickly started to look her over. At first glance, he could see that one eye\nwas dilated and the other was not, sending him into an almost panic.\n\"Daliliah,\" he called out, \"Dee-dee, can you hear me?\" In\nresponse, he heard an almost feral squawk. \"Tap the table if you understand\nwhat I am saying.\" Again he got a squawk, but he breathed a mild sigh of relief\nas he heard the tapping on the table. \"Is this your blood?\" he asked, receiving\na single tap, which they had agreed at one point meant no, but then her wings\nand talons began to tap and click uncontrollably as she went into convulsions.\nWith one hand, he swiftly wedged a nearby metal tool in her beak, while the\nother grabbed a small hose and flicked on the water. He rolled her on her side\nand restrained her only enough to wash the blood out of her feathers one limb\nat a time, stripping her school uniform off as he looked for the source of the\nblood. To his simultaneous relief and dismay, he found her only injury was the\nchemical burn he had been informed of by the school. \nMore relieved that she was not physically injured, he then\nworried about where the blood originated, he lifted his daughter's wet, not\nlimp body from the table and carried her over to the strange chair apparatus\nand sat her in it. Her nude, feathered body looked so small in the device\ndesigned for a full grown fur, it almost pained him to have to place her in it.\nHis fingers ran over the bare patch on her chest, covered with scars from the\naccident and surgeries that she went through after they came in and Saved her. He could feel the rhythmic\nbeating of what was now her heart in her chest. \n \n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\n \nGirl, 14, found brutally murdered\nThe body of a murdered teenager has been discovered by\nmembers of her own family, shortly after she went missing.\nThe body of 14-year-old Beryl Stokes was discovered in a\nwooded area behind a school in Jonestown.\nDetective Superintendent Cordell Page. who is leading the\ninvestigation, told a media briefing that the \"violent\" death was\ndiscovered by family members, who had alerted police to her disappearance.\n\"It's one of the most violent crimes I have experienced\nin my 28 years as a police officer,\" Mr Page told reporters.\nHe said Beryl had left home at around 5:30pm on Monday and\nhad been due back at 10pm.\nWhen she failed to return, it is understood her mother\nphoned round friends before contacting the police.\n\"She is one of a fairly extended family, and when they\nwere looking for her, they found this body of a young teenage girl, \" he\nadded.\nThe body was found in a wooded area near a path behind the\nJonestown High School between 11pm and midnight.\nMr. Page said the girl's body was found on a path, known as\nthe Jonestown Dyk, which joined the high school to the near by swamp. He said a\npositive identification had yet to be made, and a post-mortem examination would\nbe carried out later.\nBeryl had left her home at around 5pm yesterday, heading for\nher boyfriend's home around a mile-and-a-half away, Mr. Page said.\n\"She never arrived there, and at 10pm, her family\nbecame aware of this and later reported her missing to the police.\" He\nsaid members of the family came across the body shortly before midnight.\n \n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\nJasper read the news article as he ate his bowl of cold\ncereal. It was shocking that such a thing could happen in such a small town. It\nwas even more frightening when he saw that the girl was just a year younger\nthan he was. Things like that happened all the time in Africa, but it was often\nmaulings by feral animals or the common abduction and rape. Most of the time,\nthe girls were kept alive if it was the latter, and often married off to who\never had them for the customary exchange of livestock or goods. The thought of\na girl's life being worth not much more than a few pigs or goats was appalling\nenough to the maned wolf, but the brutal murder of one made it even more\nfrightening when he thought about how he was supposed to be in a civilized\ncountry. \nHis mind drifted back to the finch he had met yesterday and\njust how easily it could have been her. He took the time to kneel by the door\nand pray for the safety of those he had come in contact with. He even prayed\nfor those he didn't know by name. The practice was comforting, laying the fates\nof those around him in the paws of God. \n \n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\n \nDaliliah adjusted the bandage around her wing. The flesh\nbeneath had healed, but the feathers had not yet returned. The acid had left no\nother sign of it's presence, but what worried her more than the other students'\nquestioning the lack of scars was the shadowy memories of a girl's screams and\nthe faint taste of iron still on her tongue. \nShe pulled her hood over her head again as she walked up to\nthe school. She dreaded being there as much as she wanted to be. She had gotten\nto the school early again, in hopes of avoiding everyone, as she headed to her\nhomeroom class: one of the few she had with cubs her own age. The finch stayed\nhidden beneath her black cloak as she navigated the nearly vacant halls. The\nonly others present were teachers and the students that stayed in the dorms on\ncampus. She held her books close to her chest and watched the floor as her\ntalons clicked against the marble tiles. Daliliah didn't flinch or change her\npace when she heard the pawsteps following her. The small group of cubs behind\nher was mumbling to each other as they approached. This school was no different\nfrom the public school, only better equipped to deal with her health issues. \nDaliliah turned into the empty, dark room and headed toward\nher seat in the back of the class without turning on the lights. She took her\nseat, setting her bundle of books on the desk, as she heard the group\ncongregate at the door.\n\"You know, I haven't seen much of that bitch bat around\nhere,\" a short, stocky badger said as she walked through the door, flicking the\nlight on. \"Well... It looks like someone is trying to get a jump on Halloween\nnext year,\" she said, looking over at the finch that was sitting in the back of\nthe room.\n\"Robin, move your fat ass.\" Another voice spoke up as the\nbadger was pushed into the room, a large black bear walking in behind her.\n\"Stuff it bitch, you like my ass.\" Robin said, turning to\nlook at the bear and then to the finch. \"It looks like we have something fun\nfor this class,\" she said, walking to the back of the class and taking one of\nthe seats beside the bird, the bear taking the seat on the other side.\n\"Love the way that you fuckers wait for me,\" Amanda said as\nthe short, stubby looking pink armadillo walked into the room.\n\"Blow me,\" Brandy said, waving for her and the other girl to\ncome and join them.\n\"No, that's your job,\" she said, walking down the row of\nchairs and stopping at the one in front of the finch. \"Looks like you didn't\nstart anything without me.\"\nAs the group gathered around her, she continued to look at\nthe stack of old, worn books held together with the leather strap. Her hood\ncovered everything but the tip of her beak. She hoped that keeping silent would\nwork as well as the guidance counselor said it would. She could hear the blood\nstarting to rush through her ears as they continued their assault.\n\"So tell me; Are the rumors true?\" Amanda asked as she\nturned around in her chair. \"Are you made of a bunch of parts that your father\nput together?\"\n\"Are you a monster? That's why your father's feathers are\nred? Soaked in the blood of all the innocents that he killed to make you?\" Brandy\nasked.\n\"Would you look at that? It looks like she might be falling\napart,\" Robin said with a snicker. \"So where did your dad get this arm from?\"\nThe finch pulled her wings back under her cloak as the\nbadger pointed to the bandage. She didn't want to explain anything. All she\ncould remember fully was leaving the school the day before and waking that\nmorning in her bed. She looked out from under her hood, the world half blurred\nand out of focus. She could feel the onset of the strange dizziness that preceded\nher blackout, but this time she had no where to go.\n\"Would you look at that? I think she might be mutating on\nus,\" Robin said, laughing as she watched the finch pulling her wings closer to\nher body.\n\"Heh, it looks like it's time for your dad to find you a new\neye, the one there looks little tight,\" Amanda said, smiling and leaning in,\ngetting right into her face.\n\"You know, I might know something that will fix it. It might\nbe like an old TV; Just hit it,\" Brandy said, snickering as she cracked her knuckles.\n\"Want me to fix it for you, birdy?\"\nThe chair scraped across the floor as she stood up clutching\nthe desk. She felt the gargled screech erupt from her beak as the lower half\ntrembled. She could feel the laminated wood of the desk creak in her grasp.\nDaliliah paused as the group gasped and jumped back out of what might have been\nsurprise or genuine fear of her.\n\"Leave her alone.\" A voice came from the front of the room.\nThey all turned to see the older, red and brown maned wolf standing in the\ndoor. He started walking into the room, his spindly legs and arms less\nintimidating than than others his age, but his tall physique let him tower over\nthe younger cubs.\n\"Well it looks like we might have a white knight in the\nroom,\" Brandy said, turning to face the maned wolf.\n\"Fuck..... I got a face full of the bird's breath.... I smelt\ndeath...\" Amanda said, standing up. \"So, you must be the zombie's boyfriend..... or\nnext meal.\" \n\"Maybe he's another monster that the bird's dad made; you\nknow, made her a friend 'cause she would never have any. He even had mismatched\neyes like her,\" Robin said, smiling, not bothering to get out of her chair.\n\"No,\" he said as he walked closer. \"I just wanted to make\nsure she was okay after the accident in chem lab yesterday.\" He looked around\nthe group as he added, \"What are you? A band of nobodies with nothing better to\ndo than pick on smaller cubs?\"\nDaliliah watched the scene as it unfolded in front of her,\nstill out of focus and muted by the sound of blood rushing through her body.\nThe thought about how much of a fool the wolf boy really was, coming to check\non her even after her warning to stay away. \"Go away,\" she screeched, some\nbubbly fluid sound emanating from her throat as she talked. \"All of.. you...\" She\nfelt the world fading around her as her limbs started to shake. \"Go.... away.\" A\nmoment later, everything was gone in darkness and the sound of the rushing\nfluid in her veins, except the sensation of falling.\n\n\"I wouldn't stand in front of the dead bird..... She sounds\nlike a spitter about to puke,\" Brandy said, moving a little more to the side,\nthe badger doing the same.\n\"Don't worry about her..... We have something alive to have\nfun with,\" Amanda said, smiling and glaring down at the maned wolf. \"Robin, you\ncan handle the bird, right? Just grab her by the wrists.\"\n\"Fuck you both.... If she pukes on me, then I'm flinging it on\nyou,\" Robin said shaking her head as she walked up to the finch, reaching out\nand grabbing at one of her wrists. All the while, the pink armadillo and bear\nstarted walking up to the boy.\nJasper started to rush forward as he saw the bullies move,\nthe one taking hold of the finch as she started to look wobbly and off balance.\nEverything seemed to stop as a monstrous sound erupted from the finch the\ninstant the badger touched her. He halted as the entire group turned to watch\nin shock as the finch grabbed hold of her assailant's arm, ripping it free from\nhers, then placed her taloned foot in the badger's chest and clutched the folds\nof the fabric uniform, she started to flap her wings and lift off the floor,\nlifting the girl inches off the ground with her.\n\"Fuckfuckfuckfuck.\" The badger started screaming out as she\nfelt the claws digging into her shirt followed by being lifted up. \"Get the\nbitch or something!\" she said, swinging her arms up at the bird, aiming for\nwhatever she could hit.\n\"How the hell are we supposed to do that?\" The armadillo\nbarked out before turning to the maned wolf. \"Get your monster on a chain or\nsomething, now goddamn it.\"\n\"Don't worry; I got this,\" Brandy said, rushing up to the\nteacher's desk, grabbing the globe that was sitting on the corner before\nrushing back and throwing it with all of her might at the bird.\nAs the orb flew through the air and collided with the\nfinch's chest, she dropped the badger onto the desks and fell to the floor\nherself. Jasper pushed past the group, not regarding their earlier taunts and\nthreats, as he tossed one of the desks out of his way. \"Get a teacher; I think\nthey're hurt,\" he barked out when he reached the twitching finch.\n\"No shit.\" Amanda glared at him. \"That bitch hurt one of my\nfriends..... I'm gonna make her dead again,\" she said as she started walking up\nto the wolf and bird. \"And you can get out of my way or get hurt too.\" It was\nabout this time that Brandy had turned tail and rushed out of the room and\nstarted making her way to the nurse's office.\n\"Oh no, that bitch is mine,\" Robin said, sitting up and\nglaring over at the bird, trying to get up from the pile of desks that she had\nbeen unceremoniously dropped onto. \"I'm going to start by kicking some sense\ninto her.\" \nJasper lifted the finch from the floor as he turned and\nsaid, \"If you're not going to help, get out of my way.\" The bird's body\nquivered in his arms as the inhumane gargling sound continued to come from her.\n\"I need to get her to the nurse's office.\"\n\"Oh no..... not yet,\" Amanda said as she stood in front of\nhim. \"She's not near hurt enough to see the nurse,\" she said as she thrust her\narms out, her palms hitting the wolf in the shoulder. \"And I don't think that\nyou are, either.\"\n Staggering back a few\nsteps, he steadied himself with the girl in his arms. He looked at the pair\nthat blocked his exit as he said, \"I don't want to fight, and I'm sure you\ndon't want to get in more trouble than you will already get.\" The maned wolf\nstood his ground as he watched the two younger students.\n\"Well that would make it easier on us,\" Amanda said, pushing\nhim again, this time a lot harder than the first. \"Just sit back and let us\nhave the bitch..... and you can go cry to the principal or her maker.... who the\nfuck ever,\" she said, stepping forward, now pressing herself against him.\n\"Your call there, white knight,\" Robin said, glaring at him,\nstepping up beside him in an attempt to cut off another escape route.\nJasper looked down at the pudgy badger with as much resolve\nas he could manage. Having learned how to gain his own place in the tribal\nAfrican villages, he knew that most furs back down when truly confronted, and\nhe hope the same would hold true here. He looked her in the eyes as he said,\n\"I'm taking her to the nurse and you can either get out of my way, or be\nmoved.\" He figured even with Daliliah in his arms, he could knock her off\nbalance enough to get past the pair, even if it came back to haunt him later.\n\"Oh..... Someone thinks they're a badass,\" Amanda said,\nsnickering. \"Hey Robin, we got a badass here..... that's getting fucked up,\" she\nsaid. No sooner than the words left her muzzle, she brought up a fist, swinging\nright at the wolf's face.\n\"I thought that you were going to kick him in the nuts like\nthe last fight that you got into,\" Brandy said with a snicker.\nThe maned wolf rolled with the hit. It was hard, but not\nquite what he had felt from some of the largest boys in the southern tribes. He\nsteadied himself as he planted a shoulder into the armadillo while still\nshielding the quivering finch in his arms. He pushed forward, knocking the\ngirls off balance and continued for the door. \"I don't have time for this. She\ncould be really hurt.\"\n\"The bitch could have killed me,\" Robin barked out as she\nrushed alongside the fleeing wolf. She knew that she wouldn't be able to catch\nhim in the long run, but a bright idea hit her. She grabbed the closest desk\nand, with all the strength that she could muster, she pushed it right in front\nof the retreating boy, trying to time it just right.\n\"Hell, if you get away this time, you know that you have all\nyear long and then some left to deal with us,\" Amanda said as she got to her\nfeet, watching the events unfold. \nJasper took note of the movement out of the corner of his\neye, quickly tucking his paw under the leg of the desk and tossing it without\nmuch additional movement of his upper body. Without turning or diverting his\ncourse, he said, \"I'll worry about that later; You're not worth my time right\nnow.\"\n\"Well fuck you too, princess,\" the badger said as she\nwatched him rushing to the door.\n\"The nurse is coming,\" Brandy said as she came around the\ncorner, just in time to see the wolf with the finch in his arm. \"Oh, fuck\nthis,\" she said as she kicked her leg out, aiming to trip up the runner.\nJasper sidestepped the bear as she unwittingly warned him of\nher move. He spun his body around her, keeping himself between the girl and the\nfinch, as he maintained his momentum for his target. He kept his eye on the\ndoor as he moved, trusting his ears to keep track of the others in the room.\nThe group was obviously not as athletic as they thought they were, giving him a\nslight advantage in his attempt to get the finch out of the room.\n\"Whoa there.\" A male's voice called out as he stepped to the\nside of the wolf. \"Running around like that is only going to get her and you\nhurt more.\" The white bat said, reaching out to put a hand on the wolf's\nshoulder.\n\"I... She fell and started having a seizure,\" Jasper said as\nshe turned to look at the nurse with the finch in his arms. The smaller bird\nhas stopped quivering him his arms as he held her out toward the bat. \"I think\nshe might have hit her head on the floor.\"\n\"That's not the story that I was told, but it's not my job\nto worry about that,\" he said as he shot a glance at the others in the room.\n\"Come on, let's get her to my station and get her looked at,\" he said, leaving\nhis hand on his shoulder and starting to walk down the hallway with him.\nJasper ignored the group in the room as he followed the\nnurse back to his office. As he put her on the paper covered exam table, he\nsaid, \"I was checking on her after yesterday and those other kids were just\ngathered around her. They were saying things but then she, um...\" Jasper paused\nas he thought about how much of the truth he could leave out with out it really\nbeing a lie. \"She passed out and fell.\" Not wanting to have to explain more,\nunsure of what the bear might have told the nurse, he said, \"I need to get to\nclass,\" then turned to leave the room.\n\"Like I said, it's not my place to find out what happened in\nthere, just to make sure that she is ok,\" Chad said, smiling. \"Now get on to\nclass and I will handle everything here,\" the bat said, patting him on the\nback.\n \n°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°\n \nSubject experienced a\nblackout. Witnesses say the subject became violent and attacked near by furs.\nOne witness claims a group of individuals had become hostile to the subject\nbefore the incident. \n \nSubject's current\nstatus is as follows:\nBrain activity is\nminimal.\nRespiratory and\ncardiovascular systems are normal.\nSubject continues to\nbe unresponsive to pain.\n \nSubject will be\nremoved from the general population until all physical statistics are back to\nnormal.\n \n \n \n \n \n"}