Epilogue


The mysterious male figure pulls off his white mask, revealing the white-furred face underneath. The tall corkscrew horns stay where they are; being an eland, he is rather attached to them. "That's a wrap. You can all come out now."

The five other ballerinas emerge from offstage left and approach center stage, clustering around the pale antelope and the peaceful swaying corpse of their late cervine friend.

Irlino, the young chinchilla, skips out ahead of the rest and immediately wraps the ballerina doe's dangling legs in a hug, kissing her ribboned ankles. "You were beautiful, Aissu."

Astor, the rabbit, approaches slower and more cautiously than the others, clutching her arms close to her body. "Is... is she dead?"

"Well, yeah. What did you think was going to happen?" The filly, Oesem, teases in what she intends to be a lighthearted manner. As the oldest of the six, Oesem had taken on the unofficial role of leader.

"She's... gone? Forever?"

"Off to get her wings and halo. Or horns and pitchfork, depending."

Astor whimpers.

Dusk, the male eland, is more sympathetic. "She enjoyed it. It's what she wanted."

"I'm jealous," Sami, the wolf, admits, "Aissu knew I wanted to be hanged."

"And she cheated. They told us to keep our faces neutral for voting, and she smiled," adds Yadira, the pudgy fox.

Dusk keeps his attention focused on the rabbit. "So what did you think of your first snuffing, Astor?"

"I... it felt... weird. Down there."

Dusk nods. "And that was only watching. Imagine how intense it felt for her. Imagine how it'll feel when it's your turn. There's nothing wrong with that. Hundreds, if not thousands, will watch her die, and they'll feel exactly the same way, only more so. If you like it, enjoy it."

Astor blushes slightly and looks away. She doesn't want to like it; it's wrong. But she can't ignore that watching Aissu was... exciting. It does feel kinda good. A lot good. Could it ever really feel good enough to be worth dying for? Her hand absentmindedly reaches for her own slave collar. She still isn't sure she wants to find out.  "What..." she seeks to change the subject, "What's going to happen to her?"

"The outfit she died in will be auctioned off. Her body will be skinned and butchered. The hide will be tanned, her head mounted, and those'll be auctioned off too. Her meat, we'll have it at her funeral dinner tonight."

Astor nods uncertainly. It seems fitting, somehow.

"Can I taste her squirt?" Irlino pipes up.

"Oh no, little one. We want her tights to be nice and saturated. But tell you what, I'm very pent up right now, so why don't we get undressed, and we can all go back to your room and you can suck me. Does that sound good?"

"Yes!" the chinchilla exclaims.

"Lucky," Oesem says quietly.

"I'm sure I'll have enough for you to taste," Dusk says, beginning to herd the pastel passel of ballerinas offstage.

"Astor?" A timid voice quietly gets the rabbit's attention.

Astor turns, surprised. Her reluctance to embrace her life as a snuff slave has made her the outcast of the group, ignored and ostracized. It is rare for any of the others to approach her. "Yadira?"

"I... I thought you danced beautifully," the young vixen says quietly.

"Oh. Um. Thank you."

"When we get back to the room... do you... can we... will you yiff with me?" Yadira asks, tugging at her own collar nervously. 

Astor breaks out in a genuine smile. That sounds much more right; she likes that very much. The rabbit nods.

As they make their way down the corridor backstage, another slavewrangler approaches the group, a white male wolf. "Excuse me, Sami?"

"Yes?" the young wolfess says uncertainly.

"Come with me please."

She looks to Dusk.

"Do what he says."

The white wolf leads her down a side corridor and to a small room, Sami padding after him still in her tights and leotard. He ushers her inside and follows, shutting the door behind them. Sami stands in the center of the floor and looks up at him expectantly, her feet automatically reverting to the first position after weeks of training.

"Sami, I'm going to just say it. We're letting you go."

"What-what do you mean?"

"You received the fewest votes. Clearly, you don't resonate with our viewers."

"The--?" Her mind is abuzz. The viewers don't like her? They don't want to see her die?

"You're going to be sold."

"S-s-sold? To who?"

"I can't say. Whoever the highest bidder is. Don't worry, you have nothing to be afraid of. A lot of buyers like to buy young pups like yourself to raise as their own, or as pets. I promise you will be well taken care of."

"No! You can't! I-I want to stay here! I want to star! I want to be snuffed!"

"Sami, darling, you're still so very young. There's a whole world out there for you to experience. There's more to life than death."