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of the underground, isolated from the rest, seemingly nice and gentle, but with a sinister purpose.\n\nIt is recommended to download the doc and use open office to read, since colors alternate between writers.\n\nA side note, please only suggest tags if you have read the document. Tags that don't reflect events in THIS chapter will be removed.\n\nedit: Holy shit, just realize we've hit 1,000 pages o.o", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Hotel Omega is BACK, and \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFlutterBun\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFlutterBun\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
will be joining \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMizzyam\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMizzyam\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
and myself while we explore another area of the underground, isolated from the rest, seemingly nice and gentle, but with a sinister purpose.

It is recommended to download the doc and use open office to read, since colors alternate between writers.

A side note, please only suggest tags if you have read the document. Tags that don't reflect events in THIS chapter will be removed.

edit: Holy shit, just realize we've hit 1,000 pages o.o", "writing": "HOTEL OMEGA\n\nAn RP/Collaboration by MystBunny, Mizzyam,\n\nand MadAsAMarchHare\n\nPart 10\n\n#####WARNING#####\n\nThis collaboration will contain cubs being murdered and raped in graphic, detailed scenes. If you are the least bit squeamish about such content, you are justified in not reading this material. If you proceed beyond this point, please refrain from complaining about the content that you have just been warned about. Neither I, Mizzyam, nor Thackery are responsible for anyone ignoring this warning.\n\n#####WARNING#####\n\n(Document saved in Open Office. This is recommended for reading as the posts alternate in color.)\n\nThe rhino had done quite a nice job of stretching Jake out for this rough session, but the boy was still squeezing so tightly against him. Each thrust forward was quick and forceful, like a bullet shooting through the boy's anus followed by a thousand small hooks dragging against his flesh as he pulled back. He didn't care how much pain the boy was in, how much he protested or struggled, as long as his ego had been stroked as if the boy wanted it without knowing what he was getting himself into.\n\nThe cute young cub's body was jerking and thrashing as he made two frantic claims to urge the cheetah to stop. One was that he would make Omega angry, but from Casey's personal experience..\n\n``Baah, Meggie is always mad, and you and I will be out of here before he gets back anyway.''\n\nAfter casually dropping his intentions onto Jake to kidnap him and steal him away from Omega, the cheetah paused his thrusts for a moment, driving his hips forward and swaying them back and forth, massaging the base of his cock and the tip deep inside Jake's rectum with a groan.\n\n``If you die though, you'll at least die getting what you asked me for, eh Bobby? HEHEHEEEHEHEHEHEHE!''\n\nCasey swiftly dragged those barbs along Jake's insides and then resumed his harsh thrusting amid that maniacal laughter, wrenching Jake's arms upward to restrict his movements even more, leaning down and putting more of his weight on those wrists as he moved his entire body back and forth, making longer, but no less swift pops with his hips on each thrust.\n\nHe could feel blood begin to trickle down his balls as he followed the rhino's almost impossible stretching with a fast grind against Jake's intestine, opening up those micro fissures the rhino caused from stretching the small cub so much and giving the irritated blood vessels an opening to release Jake's blood onto the trespassing, spiny organ.\n\n---\n\nAs pain consumed him, Jake almost didn't catch what Casey had to say in response to his pleas. But there was clearly no fear. Not even a hint of concern for his own life, though that likely had to do with the follow-up to his dismissive comment. The cheetah was apparently planning to abduct him, provided he wasn't raped to death right here and now.\n\nAnd suddenly... Jake wasn't so sure he wanted to be rescued by his client anymore. Omega at least had reasons for keeping him alive, but Casey not only didn't share the wolf's ambitious goals, but he had no qualms about letting the cub die if he ended up being too rough. That alone was encouragement to resume begging for his life, but finding the strength and focus to speak the words was no easy feat.\n\nBy now the buck's body had become mostly limp, responding with involuntary spasms and thrashing only for the more painful thrusts that delved deeper into his aching innards, where his nerves hadn't yet succumbed to numbness. In fact it was probably because he could no longer feel most of his backside that his scattered awareness gradually returned.\n\nThe young rabbit's sphincter could barely clench thanks to all the abuse it had received, but his inner muscles still reflexively tensed whenever the feline's spined member scraped across the raw, bloodied flesh. It was worse in his mind than in reality, but considering that his rectum felt like it had been sliced to ribbons, he wasn't far off.\n\nJake was beginning to feel a little sickly now, actually. Mostly due to the adrenaline, which had finally run dry as his body teetered on the edge of succumbing to not just shock, but blood-loss as well. In its absence, nausea took over and a sense of doom quickly replaced it. In that moment he finally found his voice, but it came out as a croak. His throat was so sore from screaming and crying, that it hurt just to swallow.\n\n``Please... please don't kill me...'' he whimpered pitifully, not even caring that he was still being forced to use the dead rhino's testicles as a pillow. At this point, all that mattered was saving his own life; and the blood oozing out of his backside with every thrust, instilled a sense of urgency he couldn't ignore. ``I... I don't wanna die...! I can still be useful... please...''\n\nIt was difficult to speak in between the sharp cries of pain that threatened to make him bite his tongue, but he quickly added for good measure, ``I... I want to make... the sexy cheetah happy...!''\n\n---\n\nFinally getting his cock into this cute bunny cub, Casey's spiney member shot back and forth rapidly, making long groans as he mated with the boy like an animal of another, more enthusiastic species than that of a feral feline, continuing to tear the boy's insides with his violent thrusts, and though it was still unlikely he would kill the boy, who had been physically prepared for this kind of rough treatment, at this moment he didn't care one way or another. Only his own pleasure mattered to him.\n\nFeeling his pleasure build, Casey moved Jake's arms up onto the belly of the rhino and pinned them to the corpse as he pressed his weight down onto Jake, pressing the boy between a live and a dead body as the cheetah adjusted his angle and continued pounding into the rabbit's throbbing, bleeding inner walls.\n\nThe cheetah could feel his orgasm approaching as he violated the little slave who was frantically pleading for his life, all of which went ignored by his attacker except for one thing.\n\n``I... I want to make... the sexy cheetah happy!''\n\nWhen Casey heard this, his groans intensified, and with timing that couldn't have been more perfect, the cheetah's ego was being stroked just as pleasantly as his cock, and the cheetah loosed his seed into the terrified cub. With heavy breaths, the cheetah relaxed his body on top of the cub and the corpse below him as his member throbbed happily inside.\n\n``Mmmm Jake, I love you.''\n\nCasey slid his member free, sliding those spines once more against Jake's battered anus, and pulled back to begin kissing lovingly against the back of Jake's neck, moaning softly as he did so.\n\n``I'm gonna take you home with me, you'll have a mute wolfy brother to play with, and then I'll go find that sexy girlfriend of yours and bring her home with me too, and we'll all be one big happy, incestuous family.''\n\nAs the cheetah continued lovingly kissing at Jake's neck, working his way around the side of the boy's face, the feline was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by Omega's voice.\n\n``Hey! What's that smell?''\n\n---\n\nAfter pleading to be spared a fatal conclusion to Casey's sick, twisted games, Jake had desperately hoped for the cheetah to stop. Though he eventually did, it was preceded by even greater pain, as his prior stroking of the feline's ego drove his rapist to climax. The poor cub's body was mostly lifeless, but it stirred again as Casey picked up the pace, driving his length as deep as it could go with every thrust, and raking his barbs against the bunny's tenderized and bloody rectum each time he pulled out.\n\nBy now Jake was too weak to complain beyond agonized squeaks and pitiful moans while his client ravaged him, and as such he was helpless to stop the cheetah from moving his arms over his head and pinning them down atop the dead rhino's belly. For the finale of this nightmarish ordeal, the young buck was mashed between the man raping him, and the deceased guard who had been supposed to protect him; with the rhino's shriveled schlong uncomfortably wedged between his arm and his head, no less.\n\nBeyond the pain still leeching the life and energy out of his muscles, Jake was well past being distraught. Knowing that if he didn't die now, he'd be stolen away to an arguably darker fate than that of which Omega had lined up for him, was so frightening that he almost wished for the wolf's hasty return. Almost.\n\nAs terrible as Casey had been thus far though, he'd only inflicted sexual pain on the poor bunny. Of course he murdered the guard in cold blood, but given the events leading up to it, it made a sick sort of sense. The rhino had both threatened and assaulted the feline, putting limitations on the madman and essentially attacking his ego directly. Which got him killed. So... if ego-stroking was the only thing that would keep Jake alive, it had to be worth the feelings of shame it instilled... Right?\n\nUp until the moment that the feline finally climaxed, Jake had been gradually tensing his arms and legs, and now they trembled in alarm and dismay as he felt something hot flooding his innards. The fluid quickly seeped into the cuts and scratches along his rectum, reawakening all of the numbed nerves there and dragging a ragged cry from the miserable buck.\n\nNow that Casey had finished, he leaned on the cub beneath him, forcing a small squeak from Jake as he whimpered and wept softly. He tried not to listen to the cheetah as he proceeded to whisper into his ear, professing his love. Then suddenly the cat pulled out, extracting one final squeal of pain from the boy before showing the tiniest hint of affection as he licked the back of his neck.\n\nWhile he did so, the cat painted a picture of an alternative life in which Jake would live with him instead. Unfortunately, Casey also brought up his dead friend again, encouraging more tears from the boy. He still had no clue that she was gone. That she never even got to witness the true extent of the horrors taking place in Omega's hotel. Well... she did technically... but only once.\n\nAs Jake allowed old and new grief to consume him, he was almost oblivious to the fact that Casey's nuzzling and licking had drifted away from his neck and was primed to reach his face; meaning another unwelcome kiss was on the horizon. However, before the cheetah could force it on him, there was a knock on the door.\n\nAlmost instantly every muscle in Jake's body tensed, regardless of how much it hurt. His eyes widened in no small amount of horror, and a small frightened gasp escaped him. He heard Omega's voice then, and there was no mistaking it. The wolf had finally come back, though he seemed to only be complaining about the smell, which Jake hadn't really noticed. But now that the stench of death and blood was so thick in the air, it was becoming noticeably more difficult to breathe without feeling nauseous.\n\nKnowing Omega had returned, and that the murderous lupine was his only salvation, there was only one logical course of action. However, the second Jake opened his mouth to scream for help, a paw tightened around his throat, squeezing off the shrill cry before it could even emerge. The bunny's trembling became more pronounced then, as he realized that Casey wasn't about to back down.\n\nWhining in fear, he croaked through the grip on his neck, ``He... he's gonna kill you...!''\n\n---\n\nWhen Omega questioned the scent of a dead rhino, Casey's eyes shifted to the corpse. It was only now the cheetah realized his error. He had always been living moment to moment, to the point the consequences of his actions usually didn't occur to him until they were staring him right in the face.\n\n``Shit.. uh... Heeeey Meggie, don't mind that, it's just the big guy forgot to flush and...''\n\nIf Casey had more time to think about it, he would have realized that the smell wasn't anything close to what he described, which only raised Omega's suspicions even more, though before he could finish his ill-conceived explanation, Jake began to call out, prompting a quick response from the cheetah, grabbing Jake's neck with both paws and squeezing hard.\n\n``Don't you fucking dare..!''\n\nOmega then banged on the door a few more times.\n\n``Answer me, Roland!''\n\nCasey's eyes again shifted to the rhino. Omega was expecting an answer from the dead guard, and Jake's assessment as he voiced it through the tightening grip was entirely accurate.\n\n``New plan, then.''\n\nWith that, Casey stood up, grabbing the knife from behind him and yanking Jake to his feet. After getting no response, the sound of a card being slotted into the door announced that Casey's time in the hotel was at an end, but he was still determined to steal the young cub from Omega. As the door swung open, Casey quickly pressed the knife against Jake's throat.\n\nWhen Omega stormed into the room, seeing the boy being held hostage, and his chances of breeding the boy's genes into a new generation sitting on the edge of a knife, he stopped short, keeping his distance as he scanned the room, spotting the rhino guard laying in a pool of blood, and glaring at the crazy cat, whose insanity the wolf vastly underestimated.\n\n``Cat, release the boy right now, and I'll allow you to leave the underground and never return. Kill him and I'll see to it you'll view B-2 as a luxury spa.''\n\n``Aaaaaaand if I just take him with me?''\n\nOmega's eyes narrowed. ``In that case it would be pretty much the same as the second option, and you'll make some bounty hunters very happy.''\n\nOmega was trying to keep his cool, but losing the boy's genes was unacceptable. The wolf was willing to place a rather large bounty on the feline if he managed to get away, but it was obvious he was just insane enough to kill the boy without a second thought. The wolf was visibly distraught, as much as he tried to hide it, and the cheetah picked up on this.\n\n``Ahhh so he's that valuable to you, is he? Well then, I have no intention of going back to that shit-hole above ground, so you're just going to have to get the FUCK out of my way, bitch!''\n\nCasey emphasized his point by shoving the blade of the knife uncomfortably tight against Jake's throat. Omega's eyes widened briefly, and the wolf was visibly shaken. The large predator bared his teeth and growled, and slowly backed out of the door, keeping the feline in his sights. He couldn't lose Jake. It took him too long to find those genes in a prey species. He glared intensely as the feline began shuffling the boy towards the door.\n\n``That's a good boy. Who's a good boy. YOU are, Meggie. Yes you are!''\n\nOmega was visibly fuming at this point. If it was any other slave, any at all, the cheetah would instantly regret every single word of those arrogant insults.\n\n---\n\nAs he was struggling for air and squirming sluggishly atop the rhino's corpse, Jake felt a fresh wave of panic grip his heart. All of the terrible things he'd witnessed and endured had come to a climax, and for a few brief moments it felt as though the world were on the edge of devolving into complete chaos. Omega was banging on the door, Casey tried and failed to explain himself, and now the wolf had lost his patience.\n\nWhen his guard didn't reply, because he was stiff and cold on the floor, half-naked and laying in a pool of blood, Omega wasted no time in using his administrative access to enter the room. However, before he could get inside, the cheetah stood up to retrieve his knife. He then forced Jake onto his feet to press the bloodied blade against his throat once more, just as the wolf barged in with all the malice the cub had come to expect. Then everything became still.\n\nThe wolf's rage only intensified the instant Omega laid eyes on his little naked slave, trembling as he struggled to stand on rubbery legs, but more importantly, trying his hardest not to move too much due to the knife currently holding him hostage. The bunny's wide, sky-blue eyes landed on the large, normally intimidating and often terrifying predator, like he was his hero instead. Despite the awful things Omega had done to him, and the things he still planned to torment him with, right now, he was the only person in the room who wanted to keep him alive.\n\nCasey however didn't seem to care either way what happened, but during their ensuing verbal exchange, when he realized that he had power over the wolf by threatening Jake's life, the situation only seemed to grow more dire.\n\nAll the rabbit could do was focus on keeping his feet under him, his attention clouded by the considerable discomfort arising from where the knife was digging into his skin, as well as the various aches and pains that still racked his body following Casey's brutal example of mating. He knew that at any moment the cheetah might slit his throat, right then and there, and Omega must've realized it too, because to Jake's surprise he didn't charge in angrily, with that feral rage which had previously ended the life of one of his own employees. Instead, he froze where he stood and glared at the cat.\n\nThe exchange was heated and Omega looked furious as he threatened the cat with a fate worse than death, but in doing so he revealed just how far he'd go to ensure Jake's return. The cub didn't know how to feel about it, but Casey was quick to take advantage. His retort was delivered sharply, both verbally as he slung insults, and physically as he pressed the knife's blade harder against Jake's throat.\n\nThe fearful whimper that escaped the bunny was entirely involuntary, but... oddly, it seemed to have a visible effect on Omega. Suddenly he didn't look so angry. Instead he looked worried. Perhaps even scared. The expression lingered on his face so briefly before it devolved back into rage again though, that Jake wondered if he'd only imagined it. He'd never seen the wolf so unsettled before after all, so it didn't look natural at all.\n\nWhat was more shocking than seeing the wolf in a genuine state of distress though, was watching him actually back away from the cheetah. He was complying with the murderer. Did that... did that mean he really was important to Omega? No... no, of course not. All he wanted Jake for was what was inside him. And once he had that, he would be expendable. However... if Casey did manage to get away with taking him from Omega, death would be a certainty. It was really just a choice between dying sooner or dying later, wasn't it...?\n\nJake couldn't help himself and began to weep softly as he was forced to stumble forwards towards the doorway which Omega had vacated. He thought things couldn't get any worse at this point, but Casey, upon seeing the wolf's restraint as weakness, began to taunt and tease the man for being so compliant.\n\n``P-please... stop this... w-why are you doing this...?'' Jake whimpered fearfully, in one last attempt to make the man see reason. ``Y-y-you can't get away... he--he won't let you...!''\n\n---\n\nCasey was too preoccupied with the angry wolf reluctantly allowing him to move past to give any attention to Jake's protests, but when Jake hit on the possibility of Casey being at the wolf's mercy, he clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on the cub.\n\n``Shut up, you little shit.''\n\nOmega remained silent, but his eyes were locked onto Casey, looking for the slightest opening that would get Jake out of the cheetah's grasp relatively unharmed, then he could deal with the arrogant feline. For now, however, if he made a wrong move, Jake's throat would be slit, and there would be very little time to get him to the clinic in time to save him. Of course there would be hell to pay for the cheetah if that happened, but the man was a lunatic, and his short-sighted assessment of his situation was not lost on the wolf. There was no doubt his threat was genuine, and if he was provoked, he would make an irrational, emotional decision as he did with the guard.\n\nBefore exiting the room, Casey removed one paw from Jake very briefly to grab a small tablet device from the counter, and quickly wrapped that arm around Jake again. Omega's eyes locked onto this arm, quickly trying to assess the opening, but it wasn't enough. Casey then dragged Jake into the hallway, and backed slowly towards the elevators, with Omega moving towards him, trying to stay close enough to act if given a chance, but also keep enough distance to avoid provoking another response from Casey.\n\n``You've got one chance of getting out alive, cat, and that window's closing fast.''\n\n``Eat my shit, Meg, I'm not going back!''\n\nWith that, Casey pounded the paw holding the tablet into the down button on the elevator, very careful not to give Jake an opening to get away as the knife remained pressed to his neck, or give Omega an opening to move in. The two remained at a stalemate until the elevator doors opened. Casey dragged his little hostage into the elevator, and as the doors closed, Omega moved quickly, dashing away towards his private elevator.\n\nKeeping the knife firmly pressed against Jake's throat, the cheetah tried to find a way to use his tablet with one paw, but short of getting Jake to hold it for him, he couldn't find a way to do so without letting up with the knife.\n\n``Shit.. well, almost there, little Bobby. You'll meet your new brother soon.. Just gotta... find a....''\n\nWhen the elevator doors opened, Casey was greeted with four tasers pointed in his direction, to which he tightened his grip and moved Jake to keep the boy mostly between him and the weapons.\n\n``Hey hey hey hey HEY! Back off!''\n\nJust then, a buzz signaled the arrival of Omega's elevator, and the door to the room in which the wolf arrived quickly opened, and as Omega assessed the situation, Casey gave an urgent demand.\n\n``Put em away! Now!''\n\n``Guards, holster them!''\n\n``Naw, on the floor! Drop em!''\n\n``...do it.''\n\nAt Omega's urging, the guards complied, placing the devices on the floor and making room for the cheetah to pass into the basement lobby. The lobby was mostly empty at this time of day, apart from a few males abusing some of the slaves in stocks or chained to the walls as samples, and everyone's eyes were suddenly on the developing situation as the cheetah, guards, and Omega slowly funneled into the large room.\n\nThe cheetah had a clear path to the front door, but he had to do one more thing before he could escape with the cub. He dragged Jake over to the front desk, and placed his tablet down.\n\n``Back the fuck up, boy!''\n\nThe cheetah barked at the clerk, a young male teen ferret who, clothed as he was in the staff uniform, wasn't a slave in this establishment. The ferret did as he was told, backing against the wall as the cheetah began tapping on the tablet. A short fragment of a chat popped up on the screen with the cheetah discussing ``little Bobby'', and what time the cheetah's unknown acquaintance would have a chance at the bunny's ass. He began typing a message.\n\n``Time to go! Meet me--''\n\nAs he started typing the message, his gaze was spending more time on the device than Omega, who began inching closer. When Casey noticed this, he grabbed Jake's waist with his free arm and again pressed the knife tighter to Jake's throat.\n\n``Hey hey hey back up, puppy dog!''\n\nOmega growled as he started to comply, but just then, the desk clerk, having seen that the cheetah was contacting a getaway driver, leaned forward and swatted the tablet onto the floor, quickly pulling back to avoid retaliation. Unfortunately for him, the ferret didn't back away fast enough, and a very fast swipe of the cheetah's arm swiftly stabbed the blade into the ferret's side before withdrawing.\n\nThis was the opening Omega needed, and the wolf made his move. The cheetah was quick to react, and brought the knife back in as quickly as he was able, and unfortunately for Jake, the cheetah's desperately quick paw brought the blade right into Jake's gut, stabbing into his flesh and ripping back out again. He had hoped that this demonstration would cause Omega to back off, and though the wolf didn't anticipate the speed of the cheetah's movements, there was no hesitation in what came next.\n\nAs the cheetah attempted to bring the knife back up to Jake's throat, pointed inward in what was to be another stab, Omega's arm wedged itself between Jake and the cheetah's arm, stopping the blade inches from its target before the wolf's other paw grabbed the cheetah's wrist and violently twisted it to a medley of cracks and screams, causing the knife to drop to the floor.\n\nWith everything happening so quickly, Omega hadn't yet noticed that Jake had been stabbed, and slammed his palm against the cheetah's other arm, breaking his grip on the bunny cub between the fighting adults. The wolf then shoved Jake to the side, out of the way, but in doing so, left himself open for the cheetah to swipe with his sharp claws across the side of Omega's face, and as Omega leaned back to lessen the amount of flesh the cheetah ripped away from him, Casey was able to yank his broken wrist free.\n\nThe guards were scrambling for their tasers, but they wouldn't get to Casey in time, as the cheetah fled towards the entrance with Omega's claws digging into the scruff of his neck, but ultimately slipping free. Once Casey's body crashed through the front doors, and with nothing else in his way and no bunny in tow, he would easily outrun the enraged wolf.\n\nOmega turned to his employees to give orders, and it was only then he noticed Jake, with blood seeping from a wound in his gut.\n\n``Ah, hell!''\n\nOmega's focus shifted entirely to Jake, and getting him quickly to the clinic, which thankfully was on the same floor as the lobby.\n\n---\n\nAfter failing once more to steer Casey from the violent, and likely fatal fate he was driving towards at full speed, Jake lost what little hope he had of surviving this encounter. With even Omega hesitant to end the insanity he was witnessing, the poor cub could do nothing but comply with the cheetah's angry, painful order to be silent as he was forced forward step by step on unstable, quivering legs.\n\nAlong the way, the feline reacquired his tablet, but aside from a sharp rise in tension, no one made a move. Jake certainly was too terrified to take the chance of being cut by the knife, so he focused on putting one foot in front of the other, and keeping his legs from buckling at the knees, but it wasn't easy.\n\nConsidering he'd just been viciously raped not moments earlier, the young rabbit was still weak and racked with various pains from his ordeal. And the further he was made to walk, the more he became aware of the inevitable, unpleasant sensation of fluids dribbling from his used backside; a sickening mix of blood and semen trailing down the backs of his legs.\n\nAs he was coaxed out into the hallway, Jake stared at Omega with wide, terrified and imploring eyes. The wolf continued to keep his distance though, not daring to intervene, lest his prized possession be slaughtered before his eyes. In the moments leading up to the arrival of the elevator that the cheetah had called with an angry button mash, the cub could only look on in teary-eyed concern for his own life.\n\nIf even Omega couldn't put a stop to the cat's insanity, then what hope did he have?\n\nThe ding of the elevator made the cub whine, but he made no attempt to resist being dragged backwards into the small space. Jake kept his eyes on the wolf, though, right up until the door closed, and then suddenly he was alone with the murderer while he fiddled with the tablet one-handed. Though he feared to speak now, the buck still whined every time the knife against his neck moved, until Casey eventually gave up trying to work the device.\n\nThe remainder of the ride down to the basement was like the calm before a hurricane; tense but uneventful. And then the elevator reached its destination, and the doors opened onto chaos. Jake was the first to react to the sight of multiple tasers aimed right at him, letting out a terrified cry as he threw his arms up to shield his body and cringing with his eyes closed. He fully expected to get struck by the electrified barbs, but instead a standoff ensued.\n\nNone of the security personnel were willing to fire their weapons at the cub, whom Casey was quick to hide behind, and once Omega arrived shortly after the cat in his own personal elevator, they were compelled to give up their weapons entirely. Essentially giving Casey full control of the situation.\n\nWhen Jake opened his eyes again, prompted by the sudden forward push into the underground lobby, he couldn't believe his eyes. Omega was still showing incredible restraint, and now his guards were all unarmed. But worse than that, were all the eyes watching him. Everyone. Everyone was looking at him. Naked and bloody, a clear victim of his rape just prior, now being marched along at knife-point before so many people.\n\nIf he hadn't already been crying and afraid that he was going to die, he would've been more mortified by the humiliating walk of shame. As it was though, Casey was primed to get everything he wanted, threatening any who got too close and shooing one of Omega's employees away from the front desk.\n\nIt was there he finally put down the tablet to begin relaying a message to some unknown party, but from Jake's angle, he could only glimpse what was on the screen briefly, before noticing that Omega was slowly getting closer. Unfortunately the cub likely gave him away thanks to an involuntary whine of fear. Before he could get near enough to make a move, Casey stopped what he was doing to make another threat on Jake's life.\n\nAnd then everything devolved into complete chaos, starting with the teenaged ferret who saw an opportunity to intervene. Jake glimpsed the boy's movement out of the corner of his eye, but by then Casey was already swinging his knife. His much keener senses and faster reflexes made it easy to stab the young ferret in the side, drawing blood that painted the knife in a fresh coat of crimson.\n\nJake was still staring in horror at what he'd just seen as Omega seized on the distraction afforded by his employee, but in following the knife that had committed the crime with his eyes, his attention was drawn away by the wolf's looming form as he resolutely followed through on his attack. As he did so though, a sudden flash of pain erupted from the cub's abdomen, like an explosion of fire that made his skin burn, followed by a sickening sensation of something foreign inside him.\n\nThen the knife which had been embedded into his small body was yanked out and shock quickly enveloped him. In an abrupt shift, the world around him became fuzzy, distant and distorted. He felt nauseous and cold as everything seemed to move in slow motion. Jake was vaguely aware of Omega's interception, but fully alert to how vital it had been in stopping the bloodied knife from making another hole in his neck.\n\nHe stared down the blade in a mix of intrigue and horror, before the wrist of the hand which held it was suddenly contorted into an unnatural shape. As the weapon was dropped, Jake's gaze focused on the slow-moving, open palm of Omega as it flew past him with expert precision, slamming into the arm the cheetah was still using to claim possession of the cub. It was as awe-inspiring as it was frightening in its effectiveness, breaking the cat's grip and throwing Jake into a temporary freefall before he was yanked aside by Omega.\n\nRemoved from the fray, the naked cub stumbled awkwardly for several feet before colliding with the nearest wall for support. As he clung there, leaning against it, Jake's paws immediately clutched at the throbbing pain in his belly. He still had no idea what had happened, but looking down at himself he very plainly saw the blood oozing between his fingers.\n\nAt that sight alone he felt his knees threaten to drop him, but when he dared to remove his paws to see the deep, gushing cut in his previously white, pristine fur, all the strength was sapped from his body. No longer could he contain his nausea either, as he vomited involuntarily and awkwardly slid to the ground. Jake pressed both paws over his abdomen again with a strained whimper. Tears flooded his eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to sob, as the effort made the pain all the more unbearable.\n\nIt hardly mattered now, though. He was dying. For real this time. And Omega couldn't be there to keep him alive. The wolf was too busy wrestling with Casey, as far as he knew. But even if he'd noticed that the fight had already ended, that the cheetah had escaped and gotten away with not one, but three attempts at murder--and one very successful--it wouldn't have made a difference.\n\nThe world was quickly growing dark and cold for the downed bunny. Sounds grew quiet and distant and the pain gave way to an odd sense of peace; he had to wonder if this was how Samantha felt after all the agony of being raped to death.\n\nJake lost consciousness just moments after Omega realized what had happened, his paws falling away from his blood-soaked wound as he sank into a deep, dark, dreamless abyss.\n\n---\n\nWhen Jake first arrived in this hidden world, Omega had made his purpose very clear to him from the beginning, through Samantha's brutal murder, and the promise that Jake would experience much the same, only for much longer. Most cubs in this hidden society, be they slaves or part of this lawless society in some other way, would never get the chance to grow up without being sexually used by others, whether by force, manipulation, or to fill up their own credit sticks. It was nearly unavoidable, but among those born in this place, fewer still could even remember a time when they weren't part of the sexual food chain.\n\nThere was, however, one alcove carved out of the long tunnel spanning the length of this entire lawless society that was a special haven from the harsh reality of this secret world. This alcove was locked behind a sturdy gate, and guarded on both sides. With few special exceptions, nobody entered, and nobody left. Along one wall of this alcove was a row of doors, spaced far apart, labeled ``Group 1'' through ``Group 10''.\n\nEach separate segment housed groups of cubs, all born in the underground, all raised from infants, and all kept blissfully unaware of the dangers and depravities of the world beyond the gate. The orphans were educated, fed well, and discouraged from engaging in violence with each other, exploring each other's privates, or even discussing, to a certain degree, their genitalia in general. Though the cubs' caretakers wore clothing, the cubs were not given clothing to wear, but were purposefully kept innocent by their caretakers. They were taught that only adults wore clothing, and that they would too, once they came of age.\n\nDiscipline for the cubs was also relatively mild. Usual punishment for bad behavior included holding a spicy hot sauce on their tongues, a day or two of isolation during fun activities, strenuous physical exercises, and other such deterrents. Rarely, in extreme cases, one particularly difficult cub might be expelled from the orphanage, and only the adults would know what this truly meant for the unfortunate outcast.\n\nJust outside the orphanage was a large playground in a field of grass maintained with the aid of artificial sunlight, something the cubs would also need to be exposed to from time to time. Twice a day, once for a short time after lunch, and for an extended period between classes and bedtime, all the cubs would be released onto the playground, and it was at this time only that the cubs from the 10 different groups would have a chance to mingle with each other. Apart from that, they remained segmented off from the other groups, each one looked after by two or three caretakers.\n\nOne by one, the doors to each group segment opened up, and cubs began to pour out onto the playground, running out to the jungle-gyms, swings, sandboxes, monkey bars, slides, and various junk to climb onto or hop across, and a basket full of various sport balls to play with. Some of the caretakers came out to watch the cubs, as well as the playground's enforcer, who dealt with more serious cases of misbehaving cubs.\n\nThe enforcer was a seemingly kind, but also imposing figure, a middle-age female rat born with gigantism, as an adult standing at 7 foot 7. Over time, her knees began to wear out, and most of the time she used a crutch to help support the worse of the two. However, she wasn't quite ready to retire yet, since she could still endure setting aside her crutch for short periods of time if she needed to. She sat with two raccoon caretakers, passing the time with idle conversation while the cubs went out to play.\n\nOn the other end of the playground was an overweight basset hound in overalls, and it was hard to tell if he was wearing much, if anything, underneath. This hound was in charge of maintaining the grass and plants in the large alcove. The cubs tended to stay away from this man. It wasn't that he was particularly scary, but he often engaged the cubs by talking extensively about his work--an extremely dull topic for most.\n\nFor the cubs in this place, their lives were thus far mostly uneventful compared to the rest of the underground, but unbeknownst to them, a shadow loomed over their lives which would eventually consume them. The orphanage was the property of Omega, and the cubs' innocence, as it would turn out, was simply another commodity.\n\n---\n\nAs an assortment of cubs filtered out onto the playground, some ran as fast as they could, anxious to get to whatever favored piece of equipment they so desired, while others politely filed into the wide-open underground room, decorated to look like an above-ground school-yard. One cub did not fit into either group however, a rabbit cub named Thackery covered in black fur except for his paws, feet, muzzle, and the ends of his lop ears.\n\nInstead, he was gripping tightly to a book and talking to one of the teachers, trying once again to beg to be able to stay in his room and read instead of joining the other cubs on the playground. This was an almost daily occurrence for the cub and the result was always the same no matter what adult he talked to, they would always just tell him he would have plenty of time to read later and some mixture of that he needed exercise, that he needed to interact with other cubs, or that they needed everyone together to be able to keep an eye on them. It still did not diminish the frustrated whine the cub gave out before he handed over the book and stepped outside into the artificial sunlight.\n\n \n\nHe walked slowly towards the playground so that he could adjust his small glasses, his only article of clothing, and try to see if he could find an area of the playground currently not in use by the other cubs. It wasn't that he didn't like the other cubs and with the adults around he didn't have to worry about being bullied much, it was more that they bored him. He craved the attention of the adults as they taught him so many great things and when they were no longer willing to he read through the very limited selection of books that were available to him. Nothing was to be learned by the games done on the playground it seemed beyond that he wasn't great at physical activities and even worse with trying to connect with these cubs who cared little about learning and more about playing.\n\n \n\nIt was then that he found his spot, the one place the cubs avoided as none of them much cared for Bobby, the rather overweight basset hound and groundskeeper. Thackery did not particularly feel that what the man talked about was interesting, but it was at least better than the silly games his fellow cubs played. Plus, it had the bonus of making sure he was not interrupted while trying to figure out this whole enigma of what it would take for him to eventually become an adult.\n\n \n\nWalking briskly up to the canine he looked up at the adult with his heterochromatic eyes, a rather unique feature where one of his eyes was blue and the other a stark red, and began to feign interest in what he was doing. ``Hey, uh, Bobby? What you doing?''\n\n---\n\nMoments after the young buck had separated from the larger group, another cub named Kiki followed and trailed behind at a distance. The skinny, naked little lemur girl had been one of the many who'd tried to engage their fellow classmate in their activities, but where the others had long since given up, the curious simian still persisted.\n\nOver the years she'd even tried to engage him in conversation to learn more about him. Without much luck unfortunately, but what little she'd gleaned in all that time told her he too had an insatiable desire for knowledge that simply wasn't being met by their caretakers. And as a result of that unspoken connection, the flexible, acrobatic lemur had taken to sniffing high and low for new and interesting things in their rather dull little world; simply so she could share them with him.\n\nMostly she'd ask the giant rat lady a lot of questions, pointing to every object she could see and asking what it was called; she'd learn a lot of words on those days, and also a lot about body language. As inquisitive as she was though, the girl quickly learned not to pose queries that made her caretakers uncomfortable.\n\nSo whenever she had exhausted the educators, Kiki took to climbing the trees on the playground, exploring every square inch of the room they lived in day in and day out, for anything that might change or offer up new knowledge.\n\nNormally she came up empty, save for the rare discoveries; like the little flying bug with powder on its wings. Unfortunately she'd played with it so much after finding it, that it had stopped moving by the time she showed it to Thackery. He wasn't very happy about that, and didn't believe her tales of how it flew around in the air.\n\nThis time though, she had some much more exciting information. Something that had her so giddy that she struggled to keep her self-imposed 10 meter distance at all times until the lop-eared bunny slipped out of sight. She knew where he was headed of course; to the boring old groundskeeper. Probably hoping to squeeze something new out of him. Boy was he gonna be surprised!\n\nAs soon as Kiki reached the treeline, she immediately scaled the nearest tree and used the high-ground to travel the rest of the way to Bobby's tool-shack, where he was probably taking a break after a long day of work. He was usually really stinky around this time too, so she wasn't exactly looking forward to meeting up with her `friend' there.\n\nOn her approach, she swung down from one branch to another, surprisingly nimble for a seven-year-old, but upon landing on the final limb just behind Thackery, she clumsily slipped and dropped straight down, only halting her sudden descent with her tail, which quickly wrapped around the branch and tugged uncomfortably at her tailbone.\n\nShe'd arrived just moments after the boy had greeted the basset hound, but she was so eager to get her own words out that she promptly blurted, ``Hey, hey! Thackery! Thackery! You won't belieeeeve what I jus'aw! It was so amazin' and new this time, I swear! You gotta listen!''\n\nLetting go of the branch, the lemur dropped the last few feet to the ground with an unflattering plop, before scrambling back to her feet and dusting off her bare body from head to toe. All the while her long, striped tail whipped around excitedly as she tried to resist bubbling over with enthusiasm. ``So do you wanna hear? Tell you me wanna hear! It's so great, I know you'll love it! You know that door that we never get to go through? The one all the grown ups come out of every day? Well... I got to--''\n\nThe girl was quick to button her lips the instant she realized the groundskeeper was right there and staring at the two of them. Her excitement evaporated quite quickly as she sank down from her toes and onto her heels. ``Uhm... maybe I'll tell you later,'' she said sheepishly, adding a shaky, ``H-hi Bobby!''\n\n---\n\nDespite Thackery's best efforts to go unnoticed as he crossed the playground, one tall fox cub's eyes locked onto him as he relinquished his book to his raccoon teacher, Killian. The fox was always getting himself into trouble with his temper, and loved to take out his anger on the small bunny who didn't like being around other cubs. He was an easy target. Most days the fox would relentlessly tease the boy, then deny his intentions as the adults intervened. The fox slid from the seat on the swing set, ready to stalk the boy, but once Thackery's destination became clear, the fox huffed with disappointment, and jogged over to one of the baskets holding an assortment of balls instead.\n\nThe basset hound sat against the outer wall of the alcove, resting while still clutching a dirty spade in his paw. The adult gave a warm smile as Thackery approached and feigned interest in his work. The hound was happy to have one of the cubs approach HIM for a change, and immediately started to indulge the perceived interest from the little black bunny.\n\nThe basset hound had just opened his muzzle to speak before closing it again and catching the scent of a second cub approaching. It was usually only Thackery who approached. He scanned ground level, looking for the second cub before a rustling in the trees caught their attention. His brow raised as the naked little lemur's initial descent tugged uncomfortably at her tail. He didn't know about Thackery, but the girl's enthusiasm certainly caught his interest.\n\nSuddenly, the lemur dropped unceremoniously onto the ground, causing the old hound to cringe at the impact. Before he could ask if she was okay, however, she was quick to her feet, and eager to blurt out this new discovery. Upon hearing mention of the forbidden staff room that connected all the segments inside the building, the hound's face turned to a scowl. Kiki had immediately recognized her mistake and stopped short as she realized that a member of the staff was standing right behind her.\n\n``Little lady, did you actually go into the staff room? And just what did you--''\n\nThe hound's eyes shifted to Thackery. Depending on what the little girl had seen, it might be time for some damage control. The hound tossed his spade to the ground and began ushering Kiki towards the raccoon caretakers and the enforcer near the building.\n\n``Come on, little lady, let's go have a word with your caretakers. Thackery, you can just wait there and I'll be right back. Let's go, Kiki.''\n\nBobby placed his paw between Kiki's shoulder blades and began walking her as quickly as he could get her to move. Meanwhile, as the basset hound left Thackery, two more cubs were prepared to invade the little bunny's boundaries. One was Daniel, a blue-furred 5-year-old rabbit holding a large bouncy ball in his paws with friendly intent, and Jeffrey, the tall fox with anything but friendly intent. Neither of them noticed the other as they approached.\n\nDaniel arrived first, with the fox following a little farther behind. Daniel had the same question for Thackery that he had every time he was able to catch the older bunny away from old boring Bobby.\n\n``Hey Thackery, wanna play kick-ball?''\n\n---\n\nThe young buck was just getting ready to listen to a rather dull conversation when one of the cubs that he was trying to avoid showed up suddenly. Wincing slightly as he watched lemur fall from the tree, he both imagined how much that probably hurt to fall like that, and how much of a pain she was going to be towards him. She shared his interest in gaining knowledge, that was true enough and why he thought he should like her, but her energy towards that knowledge ruined it all for him. She seemed either unable or unwilling to enjoy the simple pleasure of a book or a lesson from an adult, instead she pestered all the adults which seemed to make them even more unwilling to share information with their charges; or poked and prodded at something interesting until she destroyed it like the bug that she had once shown him. Then there was that unending desire to make him like her it seemed; and expressing how much he didn't want her around just seemed to make her try even harder to impress him.\n\n \n\nFor once though, she actually said something that made his ears perk. She somehow got to see into the inner sanctum of the adults, the staff room, the place that they took all the books and games that cubs were not allowed to see. The room that the kids that got to leave the orphanage were finally allowed into and he was told once that is where the cubs in the orphanage finally got to enter the adult world or something like that. He was ready to listen to her for real this time as he turned to look at her, but she stopped suddenly as she realized she had made a fatal mistake before the buck could hear the details.\n\n \n\nBefore Thackery could hear any good details beyond that she got to see within the inner sanctum, the view of the groundskeeper made the lemur suddenly hold her tongue and become surprisingly quiet for a moment. It was too late for her however, judging from what Bobby had to say as he quickly took control of the situation and began to lead the lemur away to discuss what happened before the buck could get any details. He was forced to watch as the groundskeeper, his safety net away from all the cubs during this arduous time after classes, and the lemur, a cub for once that he desperately wanted to hear talk about something, both left him behind at such a hurried pace that he couldn't even think of what to say before they were both already too far away to hear his timid voice.\n\n \n\n``Hey... I wanted to... hear...'' he started to say before he shut his mouth as he wasn't sure if he was about to lie and tell Bobby that he wanted to hear about plants and stay out of trouble, or Kiki who had somehow figured out one of the great mysteries of this small world they lived in.\n\n \n\nBefore he could even grasp in his small, prepubescent brain which of these things were about to escape his lips they were out of sight. Instead, the silence was replaced by the squeaky voice of a fellow rabbit a few years younger than him and bearing an unusual bright blue fur coat, named Daniel. Thackery knew this boy well enough; this cub felt obligated to pester him on a consistent basis due to their shared species. This seemed to be the only thing that they shared as Daniel was apparently too oblivious to realize that the answer to the question of the black buck participating in a physical activity like kick ball was always going to be a firm no.\n\n \n\nFor once however his answer changed, if ever so slightly, as he spotted Jeffrey coming up on their position. If Daniel hadn't come up at that moment the black buck knew that the fox probably would have been able to sneak up on him while he was still distracted by the sudden departure of Bobby and Kiki. He still didn't have much time however to try to get to a better location where he could be safe from the larger bully.\n\n \n\n``Hey, uh, Daniel... sure! But not here... let's play over there!'' he said quickly as he pointed over towards an area where three adults, the two raccoons and the gigantic rat, were all sitting and talking. He didn't waste a moment to wait for an answer however as he started to walk briskly over to that location, trying to make it seem like he was in a hurry to get to a good playing field and not trying to run from the fox who could most definitely outrun him in a chase. He'd had rather bad luck with that in the past and didn't care to repeat it.\n\n \n\n---\n\nThe instant she realized she wasn't going to get away with her slip up, Kiki's stumpy ears drooped downward and a pout swiftly materialized on her face. She knew when she'd screwed up, but not all hope was lost. The lemur hadn't gotten a chance to even hint at the juicy details of her story, which Thackery was clearly curious to hear now, if his body language was any indication.\n\nFor a moment she thought she might have a chance to explain herself as the groundskeeper grilled her, but even as she opened her mouth for a rebuttal, she was cut off mid-sentence: ``N-no I didn't, honest! I was only gonna--''\n\nAs the shovel struck the ground, Kiki couldn't help but flinch. She'd gotten in trouble enough times to recognize the futility of arguing, but ever the stubborn little simian, when the canine groundskeeper began leading her away, she resisted. Not completely, of course. As she'd been raised and trained, she turned around with shoulders hunched and head lowered while Bobby put a paw on her back to push her forward.\n\nKiki obliged for the first few awkward feet, but quickly started dragging her heels, and eventually just digging them in. The optimum strategy to slow their trek towards the caretakers while she complained loudly about the whole thing.\n\n``Awwww...! It wasn't nothin', Mister Bobby, I swear!'' she pleaded, like she did every time.\n\nOf course in all previous instances, it really had been nothing. Today was something else entirely, and she wasn't about to let the grown-ups take away her chance to make Thackery happy. Especially after seeing his reaction to just her teaser tale. She'd peaked his interest, which was something that had never happened before, and Kiki was determined to share what she'd learned with the cute bunny. Not the ugly old basset hound currently shoving her towards more symbols of her oppression.\n\nWith arms crossed and heels leaving tracks in the dirt as the groundskeeper had to work to push her forward, the naked cub railed on, ``I'm not gonna get sauced again, am I? I hate that stuff! I didn't even do anything bad this time..! It's not fair, Mister Bobby, I just want him to like me, that's all!''\n\nThe girl huffed and groaned to exaggerate her displeasure as much as she could during the trek, as if she might sway the boring old mutt to let her off with a warning, but such a thing would've been unprecedented to her, as the rule of law was unwavering in her little world. It did have its advantages when it came to the more ruthless bullies, but it was nonetheless a persistent thorn in the side of any who tried to learn more than the classes taught.\n\nThe lemur in particular didn't have a stellar track record in regards to discipline, but at least she'd been consistent in the harmlessness of it. Now that she had something really exciting to share though, it was going to be hard to hide. Specifically because Kiki was eager to talk about it. With Thackery of course. But if she spoke up about it now, the grown-ups would certainly make her promise not to tell, under pain of punishment.\n\nThat she wasn't looking forward to. Her abused tongue was already tingling preemptively with the memory of the last time she was forced to hold hot sauce on her tongue for two whole minutes. Just reliving that memory brought fresh pain-induced tears to her eyes, but she blinked them away quickly and looked up at the groundskeeper with an innocent tilt to her head.\n\n``Do you have friends, Bobby? Cuz Thackery doesn't. I watch him every day. He just sits all by himself, or hides. Or comes to see you, even though you're so boring. He hardly ever smiles, either. Kinda like you, I guess. Nobody ever wants to play with him, but I do! I know he's not boring, either. He just pretends so everybody leaves him alone. It's super sad, don'tcha think Bobby? But I wanna see him smile and laugh! An' I think I almost did it today, but then you went and ruined it...!''\n\n---\n\nAs the basset hound moved Kiki closer to her caretakers, it was becoming increasingly difficult to move her resisting heels through the grass and dirt. All the while he had to endure Kiki's unrestrained blabbing. He grunted with displeasure as Kiki so casually called him boring, and insisted that Thackery only approached him to keep the other cubs away. In his mind he dismissed the idea.\n\n``Little lady, you need to.. just...''\n\nAs moving the lemur became increasingly difficult, a part of the old canine wanted to just beat the lemur senseless until she stopped being so stubborn, but there were strict rules against exposing the cubs to any form of violence, save the odd squabble between cubs that had to be stopped immediately and punished as severely as possible, given that the punishment must also be non-violent. At the very least, the old dog would relish the opportunity to bend the little shit over his knee.\n\nFor now, though, the most he could do was pick the little girl up off the ground and hoist her over his shoulder for the rest of the trip towards the other adults. He then deposited her on the ground in front of the two raccoons and the large mouse, before explaining the situation.\n\n``Little miss mouth over here wants Thackery to like her so badly that she apparently trespassed into the hallway, or maybe even the staff room, just to have a story to tell him. Now Kiki, if you don't wanna be sauced again, you'll tell us how far in you went and what you saw, and you damn well better tell us the truth.''\n\nThe adult male raccoon's brow raised as he heard this.\n\n``Oh is that so? Kiki, you do realize that you could end up expelled for going in there, don't you? You're willing to risk getting booted out on your own just to impress Thackery?''\n\nBobby grunted as the raccoon brought up the threat of expulsion.\n\n``Killian, you could have waited a bit before dropping that one. Now how do we know she's going to tell us the truth? We might have to expel her regardless, now.''\n\nKillian's muzzle scrunched, and he scratched his chin as he gauged Kiki's response, thinking hard on how to salvage the situation.\n\n``Hmm, alright, how about this? Kiki, I'll make a deal with you. You tell me the truth--where you went and what you saw. If you're completely honest with me, I think I can help you impress Thackery with something he'll most certainly like. Here, let's go inside for a moment.''\n\nThe basset hound seemed to agree to this solution as he turned to leave Kiki to Killian while the raccoon led the lemur cub into the classroom.\n\n---\n\nDaniel grinned ear to ear as FINALLY his fellow rabbit agreed to play with him. He could barely contain his excitement, hugging the large ball to his chest as Thackery began to lead him away from where they were standing. At first, the reason Thackery was moving them elsewhere seemed obvious. The groundskeeper would return and tell his boring stories about plants and flowers when he got back, even if the cubs were busy playing.\n\nAs Daniel turned to follow Thackery, he caught sight of the fox in the corner of his eye, drawing those green irises of his towards the predator. Seeing this, the 5-year-old's ears folded back, and he kept pace closely behind Thackery, wishing this rabbit would move faster to get away from the bully intent on being mean to them again. Sure enough, the fox made his intentions clear.\n\n``Hey long-ears! Wait up!''\n\nThe fox scowled as he realized the two rabbits were on their way towards the adults, no doubt intending to use the grown-ups as protection from the fox's more blatant bullying. Despite his superior speed, his distance from them was already getting too wide to catch up, though he certainly tried.. although he still had to keep from making it look like a chase. The fox hated this place, and everyone in it, and thus had a short fuse and a vengeful nature, not to mention a desire for dominance over the smaller cubs.\n\nWhen they finally reached the adults, the fox turned on his false friendliness.\n\n``Hey whatcha playin, ear boys? Kick ball? Let me play!''\n\nThe fox intended to use the nature of the game as an excuse to be excessively rough with the two rabbits, bouncing them to the ground with the ball, ``accidentally'' stepping on their ears, all manner of mean-spirited exercises of dominance under the guise of roughhousing.\n\n``Hey Danny, how bout it?''\n\nThe fox wrapped an arm around Daniel and forced the 5-year-old against his side, squeezing tightly around Daniel's torso as the younger cub grunted and pulled at the fox's arm, that is, until the enforcer loudly cleared her throat, causing the fox to instantly release the boy. Fortunately for the younger cubs, the large mouse saw right through the fox's facade, but Jeffrey was not to be deterred, inching closer to Thackery.\n\n``Hey Thacker-nut. You afraid to play with the big boys?''\n\nThe towering mouse with a thick accent interrupted, having dealt with the fox's bullying on many occasions.\n\n``That game is one to one.'' The mouse emphasised her point with two fingers, excluding the fox with the rule of equal teams. ``You play other game with other cubs.''\n\n``Naw, I'll take em both on. They can't beat me.''\n\nJeffrey took this opportunity to quickly wrap an arm around Thackery's head and pulled the black rabbit into a firm headlock, rubbing his paw roughly through the rabbit's head-fluff. By this point, Alexia had seen enough, propping herself up with her crutch and starting to make her way towards the troublesome fox. Though Jeffrey knew the enforcer was about to stop him, he giggled as he held Thackery in the headlock, and intended to continue holding it until the very last moment.\n\n---\n\nThe lop-eared rabbit looked over his shoulder, careful to make sure that Daniel was indeed following but trying to avoid letting the fox know that he had been spotted and that that was why they were both moving. He was pleased to see they were so far able to keep a good distance from the fox; just enough that he would have had to draw attention to himself in order to chase after them at this point, which would definitely alert the caretakers.\n\nBut this did not seem to discourage the fox at all as he suddenly called out for them to wait, using a much more polite term for them than he had used in the past out of earshot of the adults. It still sent a shiver down Thackery's spine as he tried to act like he didn't hear it at all, though his body language clearly gave away that he had, his ears twitching nervously. The only thing keeping him from flat out running at that voice was that he already knew the fox would have little to no chance of hurting him or Daniel before they made it to the adults.\n\nAs he continued towards his destination he slowed down slightly. In his rush to get away from the fox he hadn't realized until now that he'd been following Bobby and Kiki this whole time. Despite how much he wanted to be out of the fox bully's reach he did not want to upset the adults by making it look like he was trying to chase after her. Despite his curiosity regarding what she was going to tell him, and a slight twinge of guilt that he inadvertently got her in trouble by being so close to an adult, he did not want to join her in whatever punishment they were coming up for her. Especially as she already looked rather distraught over whatever the raccoon and basset hound were saying, though he couldn't tell what that was from this distance even with his species' superior hearing.\n\nThis slight distraction of watching Kiki however was just enough time to let the fox finally catch up to them and at a distance a little further from the caretakers than he would have cared for. In addition, it seemed like Jeffrey had enough time to come up with a passing excuse to explain not only why he was following the two lapines but why they would suddenly have new bruises after their `game'. This was not the first time that the fox, or even some of the other cubs, had used one of the physical activities as an excuse to leave him with a few new bruises; before the adults eventually caught on to the targeted, one-sided roughhousing, anyway.\n\nLuckily for the black buck the fox grabbed the younger blue cub first, grabbing him in what might have at first glance looked like an overly enthusiastic gesture of camaraderie. This was going to give him enough time to potentially get further away from the threat while Jeffrey was busy with Daniel he thought. It wasn't like he wanted to see Daniel hurt, but it was better than the alternative where he himself was picked on instead.\n\nThe sharp sound of the adult mouse clearing her throat was enough to simultaneously stop him from moving too far away, as he thought he had been caught with his cowardice, and make the fox let go of Daniel. This caused fates to be reversed rather quickly, almost as if to punish Thackery for thinking about leaving Daniel alone, as Jeffrey turned his attention towards him, inching his much larger form towards the helpless rabbit. He also seemed even more intent on his new target, as he did not stop his encroachment even when the mouse got more vocal in telling him to basically leave the two cubs alone in her thick accent.\n\nAs soon as the fox's arm started to lift, Thackery cowered in fright, thinking that the fox was going to drop all pretenses and instead just outright punch him. Looking away quickly, he tried to protect his face but all it did was make him that much of an easier target as the arm suddenly wrapped around his neck and held him tight in a headlock. He realized suddenly that this was actually much worse. Now he couldn't move away and the fox still had a free paw to do whatever he wished to do to the cub. \n\nThe rough rubbing along his head-fluff was just hard enough to hurt as his fur was tugged, but not enough to really cause any damage. This should have brought some small relief to Thackery, knowing that the fox still seemed to be trying to play it safe and make it appear like he was being playful and a bit too rough by accident, rather than the malicious actions that he truly intended. Instead he was going into full panic mode as he tried to pull away from the bully.\n\n``Stop! Let me go!'' he cried out as he stomped at the ground, trying to find a foothold to get away from the powerful grip. He was in a sheer frenzy and didn't realize what he was doing as his foot suddenly stomped down on something softer than the ground with all the force he could muster. He realized too late that this mysterious soft spot was actually Jeffrey's foot.\n\n---\n\nThe second she was picked up off her feet with a small, surprised gasp, Kiki flailed like the natural climber she was, instinctively kicking out for some sort of solid ground until she was promptly tossed over Bobby's shoulder like the sacks of fertilizer he often carried around the playground. Naturally she didn't appreciate being handled like a smelly bag of dirt, so she resolved to squirm for the rest of the trip.\n\nWith the basset hound's arm draped over the backs of her naked thighs though, her writhing was rendered ineffective. However, as she swayed and bounced against the big canine's broad back, she had the perfect view of the trail behind her. And there she saw Thackery following after them at a distance, with another younger boy tailing behind him.\n\nRight away she noticed the nervousness in both of them, and needed only look behind them to see why. Unfortunately, she was being carted away now and couldn't come to their aid, but she renewed her squirming all the same, whining, ``No fair..! I can walk jus'fine, y'know..''\n\nNot that this was the first time she had to be carried, of course, but it was certainly the first time being carried in such an unflattering manner, with her backside exposed to the caretakers as she was delivered to them. Kiki blushed a little as she was plopped back down on her feet before the two raccoons and the giant mouse. With her head lowered timidly, shoulders hunched, and her long, striped tail wrapped around bare legs turned inward until her toes nearly touched, she was the perfect image of a cub expecting a harsh reprimand.\n\nAfter Bobby had taken her so seriously earlier, she worried Killian and his assistant would as well. She stood awkwardly with gaze cast downward, looking guilty as the basset hound relayed what she'd told him. However when he made the assertion she'd gone somewhere she shouldn't have, her head perked up sharply.\n\n``N-no I didn... I just...!'' she tried to argue, but Bobby talked over her, giving her the chance to tell the truth about what she'd seen.\n\nJust as she opened her mouth to explain though, Killian spoke up. And the second the raccoon brought up the possibility of expulsion, her jaws clicked shut. The young lemur stiffened at the idea of being expelled from the orphanage. As a known trouble-maker, she'd heard the warning many times, but this was the first time anyone brought it up right away.\n\nSuddenly Kiki wasn't so confident she'd get out of trouble with a little hot sauce this time, and the nervousness showed as she pranced from one foot to the other. She knew she had to tell the truth, but how much of it she wanted to say out loud had just shrunk considerably now that she might be faced with a real punishment. Something that all the cubs had an innate fear of. Just the word sounded scary. Expelled. And when they used the other form, expulsion, it almost sounded painful.\n\nThe previously excited, bubbly Kiki, was uncharacteristically quiet and anxious for the tense exchange between the adults as Bobby chastised the raccoon for his comment. Beyond the occasional, worried glance towards the rabbits and their bully nearby, the lemur kept her head and gaze focused toward the ground until Killian finally addressed her, attempting to amend his earlier threat.\n\nKiki chewed her bottom lip as she listened, partially distracted by the antics playing out between the fox and bunnies as the issue had quickly escalated enough to draw Alexia's attention. Jeffrey was taking his roughhousing too far as usual, but neither rabbit was receiving it well; Thackery least of all. Eventually, the giant mouse was roused to action, equipping her crutch to make the trek, and thankfully alleviating some of the girl's concern, but her approach was slow, giving the fox plenty of time to torment the sensitive buck.\n\nShe wanted to do something to help, but unfortunately, the lemur still had her own dilemma to contend with. She was uncertain how to feel about telling the truth, now that talk of expulsion had been put out there. In his attempt to clear that tension however, the caretaker suddenly offered something she couldn't refuse in exchange for her honesty. The little, naked simian's full attention snapped back to the raccoon briefly as she perked up again, her tail unwinding from her legs as the invisible cloak of insecurity previously weighing down on her evaporated. Bubbling over with giggles, she trailed after Killian's own bushy, striped tail.\n\nIn her excitement, the girl couldn't help reaching out to grasp and lightly tug on it, as she asked a multitude of questions: ``What is it, what is it?! Can I see it now? Pleeease? I promise I'll tell everything! Oooh, is it in the classroom? I bet it is! Where is it? How big is it? Is it another flying bug? I hope it's a big one, the tiny ones are hard to catch.. Wait.. but he's already seen one, and he wasn't that excited.. Sooo it better not be a bug! It has to be something really amazing! Even more amazing than what I saw! Is it like that, Mister Killian?''\n\nKiki was eager as ever to acquire new knowledge to share with Thackery, especially considering his current plight, but even as she followed the caretaker into the classroom, she looked back with concern just as Jeffrey hollered in pain. Then the door swung shut, muting the sound and leaving the lemur to worry and wonder what had just happened.\n\n---\n\nThe fox's headlock reflexively tightened as from the corner of his eye he saw the imposing mouse approaching. There was no doubt he was facing punishment for ignoring the adults, even though in his mind they were clearly showing favoritism to the smaller cubs. The fox was determined to make his exercise in dominance stick, so he contained Thackery's struggles as best he could.\n\n``Aw, come on, I'm not hurting you. I'm not even--''\n\nSuddenly a crushing pain shot through his toes as Thackery's foot came down on them hard. It didn't take much thought for the fox to jump to the conclusion that Thackery had stomped his foot on purpose. The headlock was loosened enough that Thackery could escape it, but the fox was absolutely fuming, and his expression got Alexia moving a little faster.\n\nSure enough, the fox turned violent, grabbing hold of Thackery's long ears to prevent him from stepping away, and yanking the rabbit towards him, and then down, to force Thackery onto the ground. Daniel's feet moved indecisively, wanting to come to Thackery's aid, but too afraid to approach the angry fox, whining with fear and indecision as the fox began slamming his fist onto Thackery's muzzle and eye a few times before Alexia reached down and gripped the fox's wrist firmly.\n\nJeffrey was so filled with rage, that he refused to let go of Thackery's ears, lifting the boy's head from the ground. He wasn't having this painful lesson interrupted, however, and in his anger, spun around and kicked the crutch out from under Alexia's arm, much to the shock of Daniel, and the surrounding cubs who had suddenly crowded the scene. The large mouse stumbled slightly and caught herself on her bad knee, grunting loudly with pain. However, she allowed her crutch to hit the ground, and remained standing.\n\nThe fox had lost his grip on Thackery's ears, and as he tried to re-establish that grip, Alexia's paw quickly reached forward and grabbed the scruff of Jeffrey's neck, pulling the fox back away from his target, and despite the pain in her knee, wrestled the fox to the ground and restrained Jeffrey's arms, folding them over his chest as she straddled his waist, trying to hold him still and burrow past Jeffrey's rage to get his attention.\n\n``Jeffrey, stop! Enough!''\n\nMeanwhile, Daniel and Wendy, the teen raccoon female and assistant caretaker, both rushed over to the battered bunny, and Wendy quickly assessed the damage as her eyes darted all over Thackery's face.\n\n``Oh my gosh, Thackery, are you okay?! Your nose isn't broken, is it?''\n\nWendy's paw hovered over Thackery's bloody snout, avoiding touching it in case it was really broken and she might hurt the rabbit more.\n\n---\n\nKillian smiled as his suggestion quite successfully perked Kiki up, and appeared to make her more eager to share the information she had discovered. Of all the adults, Killian was outwardly the most tolerant of Kiki's antics. The hyper little lemur was just too cute. He wasn't even phased as she tugged on his tail on the way inside.\n\nThe raccoon listened as Kiki rapidly jumped from one guess to the next as to what this mysterious thing was that she could show to Thackery. For now, he only gave her a single clue with a chuckle.\n\n``No, it's not a bug. But I'm sure neither of you will be disappointed.''\n\nKillian led Kiki through the classroom, through another door, and into the bunk room.\n\n``Now, which bunk was yours again? Hmm, you have a top bunk, right? What we can do is, we'll hide it under your mattress, and then when it's time for bed, you can sneak it over to Thackery and show it to him. Although you'll want to be careful not to clue any of the other cubs into what you `found' in the staff room.''\n\nAfter teasing Kiki's curiosity a bit more, Killian sat down on the edge of the bottom bunk, and patted the mattress beside him for Kiki to join him.\n\n``Of course, you'll have to tell me the truth about everything you did and saw, or you'll have nothing at all to show to him.''\n\nKillian brought an arm around Kiki and lightly rubbed up and down her soft, fluffy arm as he hugged the girl against his side.\n\n``I'll make sure you don't get expelled, Kiki, one way or another. I have close to a week left before I'm allowed to adopt again. I need you to be a good girl for me until then, okay? Now, tell me everything.''\n\n---\n\nAs soon as he had realized where his foot had inadvertently landed he knew he was in a massive amount of trouble. The fox had a very well known temper that could easily send him into a rage over a simple misdeed and he could imagine this was even worse if he believed he had been attacked by the smaller buck.\n\nHe tried to scream out an apology and back away from the bully now that the headlock had loosened just enough for him to slip out of it. Both of these items were cut suddenly short as his sensitive rabbit ears were gripped tightly by the larger vulpine's paws, the dull claws on the paw digging into the sensitive flesh as he cried out in pain and shock instead of any of the words he had planned initially.\n\nHe barely registered the feeling of him being moved due to the throbbing in his ears until he felt the sharp pain of his young form meeting the ground suddenly. Still crying out in pain he began to blubber out in unrecognizable words through his sheer panic and the tears from the pain he was already being subjected to. His nonsensical words either did not reach the fox's ears or even potentially it had enraged him more as he suddenly felt his head being picked off the ground just for it to be slammed back down again from the force of a large furred fist connecting with his nose and muzzle.\n\nBy this point Thackery could no longer tell what was going on around him as his world had simply turned into the pain that Jeffrey was inflicting on him, his body bouncing with each time that the fist connected with the side of his muzzle, his nose, and his eye. He was forced to close his eyes to try and protect himself from the damage that the hard fist could do to him. This made the pain in his head flare up even hotter though as all he could do was focus on the ringing in his ears, the taste of copper in his mouth, and the blood rushing to his nose and cheeks.\n\nAs soon as the assault had started however it was over for the young buck as the fist suddenly stopped and he could feel the heavier form of the fox being moved off of him. He tried to open his eyes to figure out what had happened but found that his right one would barely open, a newfound swelling sensation and a sharp pain keeping him from opening it too far; though his left eye seemed to work just fine.\n\nHe could make out the forms of the mouse pinning the fox to the ground though he was still obviously fighting through his rage, giving the much larger adult more trouble than the other cubs would have offered. This made him smile slightly as he was sure the fox was going to get a harsher punishment this time; though he suspected it wouldn't last long as the fox always came back, most of the time looking for revenge. The caretakers had never given a real physical punishment to the cubs but they still had plenty of other punishments.\n\nBefore he could think too much about the fox's predicament he was brought back to his own as Wendy suddenly was rushing up to him and asking him about his nose. Coughing slightly he turned over to spit out some blood, and with it a piece of one of his teeth as it became obvious that one of his incisors had cracked off from the vicious pummeling. He couldn't tell if his nose was broken, never having felt that kind of pain before, but he knew it hurt like crazy.\n\n``Uh... I don't know... it hurts... but not as much as my ears..'' he said softly as he laid there, scared to know how bad the damage was beyond his bruised nose leaking blood, his swollen right eye, and chipped tooth.\n\n``... I said I wanted to read...'' he said softly to no one in general.\n\n---\n\nAfter the door had closed, there was a commotion and sounds of shouting beyond it, but it had all become muffled, forcing Kiki to speculate what awful thing must've transpired. She was positively certain that Jeffrey was to blame, and her concern was threatening to ruin her presently good mood until Killian drew her attention with a teasing hint of what new thing he planned to give her. Just like that, the lemur shifted mental gears and took off after the raccoon with a big grin on her face.\n\nShe never had the best attention span, especially regarding things that made her uncomfortable, so pondering what new discovery her caretaker was going to reveal was a far better alternative to worrying about Thackery's well-being. Alexia would certainly take care of it, and if she wasn't enough, Killian's assistant was there too. So the buck was in good hands. And after, if he was upset, Kiki could cheer him up with the prize she was about to obtain.\n\nAs she trailed after the raccoon, the little naked simian's head was on a swivel, looking around the classroom and wondering where her caretaker might be hiding his promised trove of knowledge. Rather than make any stops in the main room though, Killian headed straight for the open doorway leading into the cubs' sleeping area. Kiki caught up to him pretty quickly then, and when asked about which bunk was hers, immediately plowed ahead of him in her excitement.\n\n``This one here! Follow me! Over here!'' she declared, scampering ahead and effortlessly scaling the post of a bunk bed that was up against a far wall. There were many others around it, but the top bunk she gleefully flopped into and bounced upon, was clearly hers. Just judging from the mess of school supplies she'd invariably `smuggled' into the area so she could doodle with crayons before bed.\n\nA bunch of pictures were stuffed under her pillow already, so the girl immediately started rearranging things and cleaning up her mess: ``Sorry it's really messy, Mister Killian. I'll make it better, see? Cuz I'm a good girl!''\n\nThe lemur giggled as she worked, watching the raccoon take a seat on the bed below while he discussed how she could hide the new thing he was giving her. She didn't fully understand the tone in his voice, but the playfulness in it made her giddy. It was almost like she and Killian were in on some special secret that only they were allowed to know. And it was exciting!\n\nKiki was really eager now to get this mystery prize for her truthful retelling of what she'd seen, so the second the raccoon patted the mattress beside him, the girl's hyperactive brain shifted gears again. She swiftly looked for a new place for her collection of drawings, and decided to take her caretaker's advice, by shoving them under the mattress of her bed. Then, with all the acrobatic skill of her monkey heritage, Kiki swung herself over the edge of the bunk and upside-down, then expertly planted herself on the bed below.\n\nWith a giggle she looked up at the grown-up beside her, beaming as she assured the raccoon she'd be honest, in response to his expectation for the whole truth.\n\n``Oh, I will, I promise!'' she answered, ``I jus'wanna make Thackery smile!''\n\nIn the back of her mind though, she was parsing that memory, separating the boring bits from the exciting bits, almost entirely automatically. She still wanted to share what she saw with Thackery, and worried that Killian would make her promise to keep it secret if she brought it up.\n\nAs the raccoon casually wrapped an arm around her, the naked cub happily leaned against the fully clothed adult, nuzzling against his chest with both paws firmly nestled in her lap. The girl quickly became so entranced by the affectionate interaction, that it took her a few moments to really process what Killian said next. But when she finally pieced it together in her young mind, a new energy rose up inside her.\n\nThe girl was as much shocked as she was overjoyed by the singular prospect of being adopted. And who could blame her really, as Kiki and her fellow cubs were raised to see that momentous occasion as a milestone on the road to growing up. So to hear Killian playing with the idea of adopting her, was to potentially win the ultimate lottery in her limited existence. Needless to say, the lemur was suddenly much more enthusiastic.\n\n``Wha..!? R-really?! Y-y-you'll adopt me if I'm good?!'' she practically squealed, before clasping her paws over her muzzle. She looked up at Killian, sheepishly blushing after her loud outburst. But Kiki was clearly tickled pink, and now actually seriously considering just being completely forthright.\n\nAfter all, nothing was worth risking even the chance of being adopted. Nothing, not even Thackery.\n\n``I--I'm sorry,'' she giggled nervously, ``I'm just--it's so exciting..! A-a-anyway! Uhm... I didn't really see much, but! But... I just wanted t'say, that Mister Boring--I-I-I mean Bobby!--was wrong. I didn'go in. I jus'... `peeked' when the door was open a bit. An' I saw a long room on the other side with a bunch more doors. One of `em was open a little, too. `Cause that's where the grown-up who left the other door open went. I heard them talking to somebody, but I didn'know what they were saying.''\n\n``Anyway, I thought the room was really pretty. `Cause it was all white and shiny, an' the floor was sparkly!'' she giggled, clearly enjoying her own recollection.\n\n---\n\nKillian shook his head slightly as Kiki told her part of the short tale.\n\n``That's it? That's what all this fuss is about? Why do you think Thackery would be interested in a hallway?''\n\nAs Killian listened to Kiki's response, the bunk room door opened. The muffled sounds of Jeffrey and Alexia arguing could be heard outside as Wendy stepped in.\n\n``Hey dad, it looks like we're going to have an expulsion vote after all.''\n\nHer eyes shifted to Kiki who had just been threatened with expulsion just moments prior.\n\n``Oh, no, not for you, sweetie. It's Jeffrey. He beat up Thackery pretty bad, and even kicked Alexia's crutch out from under her when she pulled him off.''\n\n``For fuck's sake!''\n\nKillian stood swiftly from the bed. While Wendy ran out towards the staff room, Killian marched through the door, and out onto the playground, leaving the doors open behind him, since he had more or less finished his business with Kiki for now. He arrived on the playground as the fox was angrily pleading his case to Alexia, as adults from the other segments made their way over.\n\n``But he stomped on my toes!''\n\nAlexia responded by kneeling and grabbing Jeffrey's head in a headlock, much like he had Thackery held earlier, causing the fox to stomp around and pull at Alexia's arm, which she promptly released.\n\n``You see? You stomp around when head is held tightly too.''\n\n``No, he did it on purpose, because he wanted me to be in trouble!''\n\n``You are in trouble for hitting cub with fist, and being mean at other cubs three times for two weeks. You are also not good listening to adults, and other punishments change nothing.''\n\nA chant began among a group of smaller cubs. ``Expel! Expel! Expel!'' To which Alexia responded, raising her paw and shouting ``Hush!'' The smaller cubs complied, apart from some giggling as it looked like the fox had really done himself in this time.\n\nMeanwhile, Killian arrived outside, turning to Thackery as the rabbit stood there barely able to open his swollen eye, with smeared blood stains on the front of his muzzle. Killian rubbed his forehead with a frustrated sigh, only reacting with a decided ``Yep...'', as it seemed obvious there wasn't anything to consider beyond what he saw in front of him.\n\n``Here, come sit over here for a moment.''\n\nKillian guided Thackery over to the row of chairs the adults usually sat in during recess. Wendy arrived shortly after with an ice pack.\n\n``Hold this against your eye, okay? Hmm, hey dad, does his nose look broken to you?''\n\n``Mmm.. I don't think so, but we'd better get an x-ray on him to be sure.''\n\n``Yeah. I just heard shouting and when I looked over, Jeffrey had him on the ground. What happened before that, Thackery?''\n\n---\n\nThe black furred cub laid still on the ground while Wendy ran off to get her father, he did not feel like moving much at all in his current state so he did not care much to want to follow her. His vision was fuzzy with only being able to see clearly out of one eye while the other was fighting to stay open with the swelling and his sense of smell was gone as even if his nose wasn't broken it was too clogged with blood to work properly, but his hearing was still spot on it seemed. He could hear Jeffrey trying to come up with one excuse after another trying to push the blame away which made Thackery want to say something, but Alexia was much quicker with her retort. It was probably for the best anyhow he thought as he realized he didn't even know what he could have said. It was already sounding like he was being presented the worst punishment any of the cubs knew of, expulsion.\n\nFor some reason he could not help but to smile at the thought of finally being rid of that bothersome bully so he could be one step closer to peace and quiet. He had never seen a cub in his class being expelled but there were many a story of a cub that was either so consistently bad or had done one great mistake and the school was forced to expel them. What happened next varied upon who the storyteller was and even in Thackery's young age he knew that they were all probably embellished if not outright lies. The thoughts of these stories however made him think of Kiki as he realized that she was still in trouble, and despite how annoying he thought she was he did not want to see her expelled too. He hadn't heard anyone mention it about the young simian though so he knew he really shouldn't worry about that, but he still had not heard her come back yet.\n\nHis brief yet frantic thoughts were interrupted however as Killian was suddenly in front of his blurred vision talking to him. With the simple order filled with care the buck stood up slowly to limp over to where the raccoons were. He knew he was good enough to walk so he didn't really have to worry, especially as the adults seemed to not coddle him in that aspect. He barely had time to get to the chair and sit down, adjusting to the fact that it was obviously designed for the larger form of the adults and not for cubs, before the younger raccoon was shoving an ice pack into his face. He flinched at the object before he took it and gently pressed it against his eye letting it start to cool part of his face. It hurt at first but not nearly as bad as he had initially thought so he held it tight to let it do its work while he listened to the adults talk about his nose.\n\nThen the topic turned to the questioning on what had happened. His shoulders suddenly tightening, he began to fret that they may be believing Jeffrey after all, his foot kicking at the air nervously. His eyes darted from the raccoons to the fox and back again before pouting, ``Please! I didn't do anything!'' he said in a squeaky voice. ``Me and Daniel were trying to get away from him and play a game in safety where Alexia could see. But he didn't take the hint and kept following us, saying mean things in front of her even. She told him to leave us alone and next thing I knew he had his arm around my neck. It hurt so I tried to get away! I just meant to step away I swear! I didn't mean to stomp on his foot!'' he said in a quick frantic pace as he lets the ice pack fall to the side showing off the bruised part of his face. ``Then he hit me... again and again. I think he hit Alexia too, I saw her fall I thought, but was in alot of pain at that time.''\n\nGasping for air he tried to think of more to say to make them understand, but he couldn't think of anything else to say and was giving them plenty of time to finally respond now.\n\n---\n\nIn response to Killian's brief interrogation, the little girl smiled innocently, rolling her eyes away from the raccoon somewhat disingenuously as she happily explained her compartmentalized reasoning: ``Mmm... Becaaaause... I've never seen a long room before,'' she admitted honestly, perking up considerably at the introduction of a new word, ``Ooooh, is that what it's called? A hallway? Wow! I wonder if there's other `way's too. Like a... a... a TALLway! Hehehehe!''\n\n``Oh, an' the floor was really sparkly an' pretty too, by the way! I bet Thackery'll love that. He likes shiny things, right..? Or is that Davis...'' she mused, briefly getting distracted from the topic. ``Anyway, I jus'wanna share something new with him. An' I know he likes that!''\n\nKiki was clearly tickled pink at this point. Having heard a new word and learned that Killian might consider adopting her, she was practically on top of world at the moment. If she seemed nervous at all though, it was because she worried about follow-up questions. Fortunately for the lemur, before Killian could grill her further, his own daughter barged in, requesting her father's presence.\n\nIn doing so however, she brought up a potential expulsion, and the smile that'd been plastered on the little simian's face faltered. Wendy was quick to pick up on her trepidation, but misinterpreted the reason for it. She assumed Kiki was worried for herself, and she had no desire to correct her. \n\nInstead, she let out a nervous laugh, stammering, ``R-r-right..! Haha..ha...'' Then she suddenly sat up straighter and clasped both paws over her muzzle in realization. ``W-wait, Thackery got hurt!?''\n\nThe little cub rose up with concern, but Killian got to his feet first, immediately dropping an F-bomb as he stormed out of the room, following the younger raccoon back to the playground. They left Kiki behind, and she couldn't help letting out a relieved sigh, wiping a paw across her forehead for effect. For a moment there she thought she'd have to spill ALL the beans.\n\nLuckily for her, Killian seemed to believe her bare bones recollection, which meant good news for Thackery. Especially if the caretaker gave her the prize he'd promised, too. Then she'd have TWO amazing things to tell the curious rabbit she adored. And she was syked to share as she bounced off the bed and onto her feet to follow after the two raccoons. Trailing behind them at a fair distance, the girl came to a stop in the classroom doorway that opened onto the playground.\n\nImmediately she scanned the grounds for her favorite bunny, quickly spotting him at the caretaker's table. He was holding an ice-pack and apparently trying to explain himself to the grown-ups, but as she ran out to greet him, what caught her eye was the red stuff on his face. Kiki came bounding down a small, grassy slope, practically running into the table the adults typically sat at, but quickly swerved around it and skidded to a stop beside Thackery.\n\n``Thackery, Thackery! Are you okay?!'' she said all too loudly, ``They said you got hurt an'..! Hehehe, what's that on your face? Were you playing with the red paint, you silly... thing...?''\n\nThe smile quickly left her face when Kiki realized it wasn't paint. It was much too dark for one. In fact... it almost looked like... Suddenly the little lemur was recalling that long room again, or the `hallway' as Killian had put it. There was that sparkly floor she was so fond off, and then there was the... red puddle... Back then she'd thought it was just paint too, but what if...\n\nSuddenly looking lost for a moment, the girl flinched and shook her head, trying to put on another carefree smile. It was still tainted by the revelation she just had, but she attempted to hide it with her concern for the buck beside her. From her current angle, he didn't look... too bad... but his snout had clearly swollen, and as Kiki came around it front of Thackery, she saw the black eye too, wincing in sympathy.\n\n``Ouchie... That looks really bad. Is he gonna be okay, Killian?'' she asked, ``I don'know why Jeffrey's gotta be so mean all the time. Are you... really gonna expel him, though?''\n\n---\n\nKillian sat in the chair next to Thackery while the boy frantically recounted the incident, seeming to think he was in trouble as well. When Thackery's explanation paused, Killian placed a paw against the cub's back, gently rubbing up and down.\n\n``Don't worry, Thackery, you're not the one in trouble, here. So Jeffrey had his arm around your neck, you stepped on his foot, and that's when he started hitting you?''\n\nKillian waited for Thackery to confirm, then resumed rubbing the naked cub's soft, fuzzy back.\n\n``Hey, even if you had stomped his foot on purpose, it sounds to me like he was choking you. If that were all that happened, you'd still not be in trouble for...''\n\nKillian stopped himself. If Thackery was adopted by someone who was into choking, it might be problematic if the cub believed he was in the right to attack his master to get away.\n\n``Well.. actually maybe you would have been in a little trouble, but it doesn't matter. Either way, there's absolutely no call for Jeffrey to strike you. That's unacceptable. One way or another, we..''\n\nKillian was interrupted by the energetic lemur running up to check on Thackery, allowing the cubs to chat while he turned his attention back to Jeffrey, who at this point was in tears as it seemed Alexia was having none of his excuses. This by itself wasn't anything new, but for once the fox was visibly scared, his arms tucked close to his chest, ears back and his tail between his legs.\n\n``D-Don't expel me! Please! I'm sorry! I won't hit anyone again! I promise.''\n\nAlexia snorted at this. ``This is promise you make much times before, and then you break, sometimes in same day.''\n\nKillian's attention was drawn back to Kiki with a couple of questions, one in concern for Thackery, and the other regarding Jeffrey's punishment.\n\n``I think Thackery will be okay, but we're going to do an x-ray just to make sure his nose isn't broken. Thackery, how much can you press on your nose before it hurts too much?''\n\nOnce Thackery answered, he looked back to Jeffrey, who continued to cry and promise not to attack anyone, but Killian was certain the other adults would be just as convinced as Alexia was.\n\n``As for Jeffrey, if it were up to me, yes, he'd be expelled. The kid's just too much trouble, and no other punishment ever seems to work on him. One way or another, we have to put a stop to his violent behavior, but I think we're out of options. From what Wendy told me, he even kicked Alexia's crutch out from under her. I can't imagine the pain that must have put her in to suddenly have all her weight on that bad knee. I doubt we'll ever find an adult willing to adopt such a troublemaker. Still though, expulsion is intended as a last resort, so just one of us can't make that call. We have to vote on it. If most of the other adults say `no', we'll have to try to find some other way of discouraging his outbursts.''\n\n``Enough.'' Alexia was done listening to Jeffrey's excuses and pleas. ``We vote to expel.''\n\nAlexia's paw extended to one of the adults who had gathered around. ``Yes.'' was the first vote, and the second, and the third, as Alexia's paw moved clockwise around the crowd. Killian and Wendy also both voted ``yes''. As the yes votes continued to come in, Jeffrey slouched, his eyes widening in panic as the yes votes very quickly reached a majority.\n\n``No! NO! NOOOO!''\n\nJeffrey tried to run, but couldn't place his foot on the ground as Alexia pulled him back by the scruff. By this time, a very large hippo who was one of the guards at the front gate stepped in to effortlessly control Jeffrey's thrashing before he hurt Alexia again. As Alexia's paw came full circle, there wasn't a single ``no'' vote to be counted. It was unanimous. By this point, almost all of the smaller cubs were cheering the result, as well as many of the bigger cubs, too. Alexia could barely speak over them.\n\n``Jeffrey, we can't help you to become adult. You are expelled.''\n\nJeffrey thrashed wildly, not taking his sentence idly. The unknown, the rumors, they were all too much for the fox to bear as he begged and futilely attempted to escape the hippo's grasp. The guard wordlessly hoisted Jeffrey over his shoulder and began walking the cub towards the gate, not phased by Jeffrey's pounding and clawing on the hippo's back, arm, and chest. The smaller cubs, including Daniel, vindicated by this punishment, slowly followed behind with the chant of ``Expel! Expel! Expel!''\n\n``SHUT UP! SHUT UP!''\n\nEventually, the second guard had to step forward to keep the rest of the cubs clear while the hippo opened the gate, placed Jeffrey on the outer cement floor, and the two guards on the other side dragged him by his arms a few feet from the gate as the hippo closed and locked it behind. After shooing the small cubs back onto the playground, the guards all returned to their posts, while the outer guards halted Jeffrey's every effort to get to the gate, screaming and begging them to let him back in, but it was too late.\n\nJeffrey hyperventilated as he looked left and right, having never been close to the foreboding tunnel before. It was so long he couldn't see an end in either direction, just faint lighting and an endless void. It was the first time in his life that Jeffrey couldn't see every wall in a room, and it was terrifying. He continued to scream and beg, and throw himself into the guards who casually shoved him back away from the gate.\n\n---\n\nThe young buck seemed to calm down considerably once Killian started rubbing his back. The raccoon was one of his favorite teachers, so he trusted him considerably to tell him the truth of things. Nodding slowly to the question, he confirmed Killian's inquiry about when the hitting started and got rewarded with more of that pleasant touch.\n\nListening to the raccoon's reasoning behind the accidental stomping he relaxed and decided to not argue back that he had not done it on purpose, but then the teacher's pause confused him. His ear twitched nervously at the mention of him being in trouble if he had, though he kept silent as he figured the adult was just trying to push that violence was never the answer. The teachers and other adults had taught them the lesson multiple times. After all the only thing worse than striking a fellow cub was to strike an adult in charge.\n\nThe rest of the raccoon's words were cut off however by the energetic cub that suddenly forced herself close to the three of them. Looking over at the small simian girl he almost laughed at the weird question about him getting into paint before he noticed that weird far off look in her eyes. At first it looked like she was just processing the extent of the damage the fox had done, but something seemed off to the buck with how she shook her head. Before he could ask her what she was thinking about however she started talking again with that same hyper tone that he was used to from her.\n\n``I... I think I'm okay, Kiki,'' he said softly as he started to pull the bag away from his eye before wincing and pressing it back again to try to continue easing the pain while hiding some of the damage from her in case that was what was making her so worried.\n\nThackery nodded as Killian repeated the need for an X-ray for the new audience. Reaching up with his paw he pressed on his nose lightly and let out a low whine, pressing a little harder to test it before having to move his paw away.\n\n``It's sore and I can press a bit on it before it hurts too much... it's like that day the soccer ball hit me almost,'' he started, frowning as he recalled that memory, ``Just more so I guess.''\n\nHe wanted to say more but then the topic was quickly turning away from his injuries and towards the very loud fox still trying to plead his innocence. He was a little surprised the very serious topic of expulsion was being talked about so openly. His good eye widened dramatically in shock. Maybe this truly was the last straw for the vulpine bully. He wasn't sure if the state of his nose and eye or how he had disobeyed Alexia before kicking her crutch away from her was the bigger reason, but it didn't seem to really matter as the result sounded like it would be the same.\n\nIt didn't even feel as if Killian had enough time to finish explaining what may happen before Alexia was calling for the vote for that very thing. The vote for the expulsion seemed as if it all happened in a blur to the injured buck who was lost in shock at the whole thing. Every single adult voted to expel Jeffrey, not even one seemed willing to give him another chance, and just like that the bully was being carried away to the gate that separated the kids from the outside world.\n\nIt wasn't until the sharp sound of the gate being relocked that he snapped out of it enough to register all of what happened and that it meant that the vulpine was permanently gone. Thackery watched the cub fight against the guards on the other side of the gate, screaming and crying as he tried to foolishly get back to the orphanage. Thackery almost pitied him but the ache in his nose and eye quelled that emotion considerably.\n\n``What's going to happen to him now?'' he asked out of curiosity, though he was pretty sure he was not going to like the answer as it would be too vague and protective, or he would hear some terrible truth like there were monsters on the other side of that gate.\n\n---\n\nWhen Kiki had gotten the answer to what had suddenly become a very pressing query in her mind, the little naked girl didn't look nearly as happy as one might've expected her to. Instead, as Killian explained the reasoning for his belief that the boy should be voted out, and furthermore, the extent of his crimes against none other than Alexia herself, the young lemur's eyes widened imperceptibly as both paws gradually gravitated toward covering her snout to hide the twisted expression on her lips.\n\nThe raccoon had stated it would be determined by a vote, but that wasn't very reassuring. Most previous votes had ended very poorly, and all but today's took place behind closed doors, or in the classroom during morning lessons. But there was no waiting this time. No interlude for which the grown-ups deliberated and made their decision in secret. Instead, Alexia's voice rang out then, loudly and sharply, declaring a vote would be made right then and there.\n\nIn an instant, Kiki's gaze jumped from Killian to the new center of attention in the middle of the playground. The giant rodent still held the struggling young fox, who'd been pleading for forgiveness, but now she had an arm raised, singling out each caretaker present, demanding their votes. And to the simian's secret horror, each one of them was affirmative. They all wanted the boy gone. But worse still, so did the other cubs.\n\nAfter the unanimous voting call, Kiki gasped softly, tears threatening to well up in her eyes as she watched the frantic fox being handed off to a large hippo that all the cubs recognized as one of the guards always stationed near the gaping, black maw that they all feared. More now than ever though, Kiki quivered with terror for her fellow classmate. There wasn't a boy or girl among them who didn't dread the idea of being expelled into that dark world beyond their bright little haven, but seeing it happen so openly today, and with the other cubs cheering so emphatically for the bully's fate, made her heart ache.\n\nFor all his cruelty and unfairness, always picking on Thackery and whomever else got in his way, nobody deserved such a terrible future in her eyes. Unfortunately, she couldn't hide the concern on her face, or disguise the dread gripping her timid heart. All she could do was watch as Jeffrey screamed and pleaded to stay, struggling in the big, strong hippo's grasp as he was carted away, and unceremoniously tossed beyond the gate.\n\nAlexia had shooed the other cubs back and demanded their silence, but no one looked away from the scene playing out before them. They were all smiling. Every one of them. Everyone except Kiki, who could only see a scary puddle of red as the poor boy was ejected from his home, trapped beyond the gate and shoved further and further away from safety and security. She didn't realize the tears had begun trickling down her cheeks until they contacted the paws she still had clasped over his mouth. At that moment, she flinched and quickly moved to wipe the sadness from her eyes and expression.\n\nLooking nervous briefly, the lemur bit her lip and rubbed one of her arms uncomfortably. It had only take a few minutes for the vote to expel to end in Jeffrey's immediate expulsion, but felt much longer to her. And now, with the object of their scorn's cries drifting and echoing into the distance, the other cubs on the playground began to disperse again, their day resuming as if nothing had happened.\n\nKiki might've done the same as well, if she could've shaken the mental image of what she'd seen in that hallway. It certainly wasn't just a puddle of red paint that had her so worried. There had been a source, after all. And her superb memory was quick to recall more details that she'd kept hidden from Killian. Specifically, a shiny metal table with wheels, similar to the carts the cubs had in their classroom, for wheeling around books and storing their toys in.\n\nIn her mind she looked up at an arm, dangling limply from a white, red-stained sheet, painted in spots of red itself, and dripping periodically. Kiki suddenly had a need to pee in fright, but she held her bladder and tried once more to shake the mental image from her head. How could something that normally would've excited her, suddenly become so frightening? It wasn't like she even cared for Jeffrey, and yet in her heart she still worried for him.\n\nShe was just as curious as Thackery about what would become of the fox, but where she kept it to herself, the buck beside her voiced it out loud. Kiki, in a small flurry of barely contained panic, shushed the boy before immediately blushing and looking away as she drew Killian's gaze. Suddenly feeling his eyes on her, the girl nervously tried to distract from the topic.\n\n``Uh... uhm... H-hey Killian! C-could I come with you and Thackery for the x-ray? I've never seen it before, and I really wanna, pleeeeease? Please, can I, can I? Pleeeeeease!!''\n\nThe little cub bounced up and down, psyching herself up into an excitable froth again, much like her usual self, albeit perhaps a little more exaggerated than normal. The last thing she wanted to think about right at that moment, was the very secret she was aching to reveal to Thackery more than ever now.\n\n---\n\nKiki's nervousness and her eventual tears did not go unnoticed. In fact, the girl seemed not only worried for Jeffrey, but she almost seemed terrified. Killian continued to watch the scene unfold, glad to be rid of the little troublemaker, but his eyes periodically shifted back to Kiki. What was in her head? It could have been the rumors floating around the orphanage about past expulsions. In the end, those rumors did have the unintended benefit of discouraging escape attempts among some troublesome cubs. Perhaps Kiki was simply dwelling on how close she, herself, came to being expelled. Even so, Kiki's reaction did seem a bit uncharacteristic for her.\n\nThackery, understandably, had a question regarding what would happen to those who were taken beyond that gate and left to fend for themselves. To this, Killian had an answer, but before he could tell it, Kiki, the normally curious little monkey, did something completely unexpected, quickly shushing Thackery.\n\n``Kiki?''\n\nSomething was definitely up. If he wasn't sure before, he was certain now. She was hiding something, but what, and from whom? As Kiki blatantly tried to change the subject, Killian looked around at the other adults and cubs nearby, wondering if perhaps Kiki wanted to make sure they were out of earshot.\n\n``Hmm. Sure, Kiki, you can come with us. Thackery, let's go and take care of that now.''\n\nKillian patted Thackery's back gently as he stood, continuing to observe Kiki as they walked across the playground towards the door to the clinic on the other side. Killian hadn't yet made the connection between Kiki's unusual behavior and her recent peek into the hallway, but he was starting to wonder if Kiki's behavior wasn't brought on by a simple rumor. The rumors were numerous and elaborate, ranging from monsters to kidnappers, the latter of which was coincidentally rather accurate, but no less exaggerated than all the rest. None of them had discouraged Kiki's curiosity before.\n\nOnce Killian and the two cubs were far enough out of earshot, Killian stopped them, determined to get to the bottom of this.\n\n``Alright Kiki, just between us, what's got you so spooked?''\n\n--- \n\nKillian was not the only one to notice Kiki's unusual behavior as even young Thackery was picking up on how different she was acting. The sudden shushing she uttered was very unlike her as she matched the young buck's curiosity usually. Though normally the lemur expressed it with much more vigor and energy than the buck. Instead it seemed she was actively trying to not learn what fate had been thrust upon the fox bully now that he was expelled.\n\nHe could not place what that may be however as more pressing matters were raised about getting him the medical care that he needed. Stepping up slowly with Killian's help he followed the adult silently as he focused on walking with only being able to see out of the one eye. He was able to keep pace with the two others, but it was obvious he was having to go slower than he normally could have as he focused on keeping the ice pack in place along with his impaired depth perception.\n\nThey did not make it far however before yet another interruption happened as Killian decided to raise the question of Kiki's behaviour. Fidgeting nervously, and with a little bit of irritation, he turned to face the lemur girl. He was anxious to hear the answer as not only was he curious too, but he wanted this over so he could finally get his nose looked at after hearing so many times it may be broken.\n\n---\n\nWhen it seemed like her attempt to distract from her peculiar behavior was a success, Kiki began to relax a little, but as she moved to follow Killian and the battered Thackery towards the clinic at the far side of the yard, her long, flicking, many-striped tail betrayed the nervous mood she was trying to suppress. She didn't like the butterflies that were fluttering around in her tummy, so the lemur attempted to distract herself with concern for the young rabbit beside her.\n\nThackery wasn't having an easy time keeping up with the raccoon, so Kiki stayed by him closely, circling him with uncharacteristically tense flicks of her tail. She pulled the ice-pack from his eye insistently at one point, to get a better look at his swollen eyelids, but it only made her wince and back off when the boy expressed his discomfort. The girl continued her own cursory evaluation though, looking the naked rabbit up and down for anymore injuries.\n\nAlways though, her gaze inevitably returned to his bruised nose and the blood that still stained his snout. It had darkened considerably by now, but it was no less distressing to her, for all the unpleasant thoughts it conjured in her regrettably overactive imagination.\n\nKiki was content to continue playing up her concern for her friend, but once the trio had drifted out of earshot of the other cubs and their caretakers, Killian suddenly rounded on the two cubs and halted their progress. At that moment, the little simian had to skid to a stop just to keep from ramming into the raccoon. Then she jumped back, startled.\n\nAlmost immediately the caretaker had her in his sights, and proceeded to call her out for her earlier behavior. And, with all the subtlety of a freight train, the girl began to stammer loudly and uncomfortably in the face of such a blunt confrontation.\n\n``I--I ah... uhm... w-w-what you talking about? I didn't--I'm not... I mean, it was just--that is..!'' she stuttered, before stiffening and drooping forward with a heavy, defeated whine. She didn't want to voice her concerns so soon, if at all if she could've gotten away with it. But Killian was insistent, and she'd been taught not to leave a question unanswered. Especially if it came from a grown-up.\n\nSo, looking even more sheepish and nervous than ever, Kiki fiddled with her paws as she held them against her chest, unable to meet Killian's gaze at first as she grudgingly addressed one of the many concerns on her mind.\n\n``I-it's just... seeing Jeffrey get kicked out like that... I--I'm scared `bout what it's like out there an'... I was just wondering--uhm... w-worrying... w-would getting adopted be, uh--uhm...'' Kiki trailed off towards the end, unsure how to finish at first, mostly because she was coming perilously close to revealing the secret she was holding onto for Thackery.\n\n``W--what does it really mean t'get adopted? `Cause... I know it's s'posed to be a great thing, an' I was just wondering if it... might be... s-scary too?'' By the time she finished, Kiki was looking rather abashed, blushing as her tail curled around her naked form sheepishly.\n\n---\n\nKillian silently stared into Kiki's nervous and constantly averting eyes as she stammered and attempted to downplay her obvious fears. Finally, when Kiki did come clean, or at least as clean as she wanted to, Killian nodded understandingly while Kiki voiced her concern for Jeffrey. She also seemed worried about leaving the orphanage herself, even under adoption.\n\n``Oh, Kiki..''\n\nKillian shook his head slightly, and looked to Thackery who seemed to be just as interested in his response to Kiki's concerns. Looking to the gate, he noticed that Jeffrey was already gone. Either he gave up trying to get back in and started walking, or he had been picked up by someone. Given his terror of the seemingly endless and dark tunnel, the latter seemed more likely. Though while he was certainly glad to be rid of the little shit, Kiki's concerns needed to be addressed, or she might spread them to other cubs. He wondered if Thackery was already starting to question the system.\n\nThe raccoon knelt into the grass and waved his arms for both cubs to come closer, and wrapped his arms gently around them in an effort to make them both as comfortable as possible.\n\n``Okay.. before I say anything, I want you two to promise me that this stays completely between us. I'm not really allowed to talk about anything outside of the orphanage. As you probably already know, I can't even talk to you about my personal life outside of the orphanage, or the cubs that I've adopted in the past. I know it seems like a strange rule, but I'm bound by mine, just as you are bound by yours, and I could get into trouble if I say too much. I could even be fired, and have to leave this place, and not be allowed to adopt anyone any more. So.. promise?''\n\nKillian waited, and tried his best to assess their responses, since some of what he said wasn't entirely untrue. It would be a bit of a problem for him if these cubs ended up spreading fear among the others about adoption and it became known that Killian didn't handle the situation as well as he was expected to. If Kiki spread that fear to the other cubs, she might even have to be expelled, and the orphanage staff was not allowed to adopt expelled cubs, in an effort to prevent them from cheating the system to claim first dibs on their favorites.\n\nHe wanted her. Somehow he had to find a way to salvage the situation, at least for the next 6 days, even if it meant isolating her from the other cubs during that time, but such an action would require approval from the other members of the staff, or the head manager, and they might insist that she be expelled anyway. When he was satisfied the cubs' promise was sincere, he nodded and pointed to the gate.\n\n``You see that gate, and the guards on both sides keeping everyone away, both inside and out? If there were no danger beyond that gate, it wouldn't need to be there, and furthermore this orphanage wouldn't have a reason to exist. We're here to keep you safe, first and foremost, as well as find good foster parents for all of you. If we let just anyone adopt you, again, what would be the purpose of this orphanage? Your foster parent or parents should be able to keep you safe just as well as we can, until you're ready to become an adult and be ready for what's beyond that gate. Now.. as for Jeffrey...''\n\nKillian paused for a moment, reconsidering his words as he rubbed his paws up and down the two cubs in his arms.\n\n``Kiki, you have a kind heart, and I love that about you. Your concern for Jeffrey isn't really a bad thing, but one thing you have to understand is that.. well for one thing, it's really REALLY hard to get someone like Jeffrey adopted. We have to be honest with potential foster parents about his behavior, and while that does make them more inclined to pick someone else, if we lied to them, not only would they be disappointed and maybe not want to adopt from here again, but it's very likely they would throw Jeffrey out on his own anyway. Probably even someone willing to adopt him wouldn't be able to hold out long with him. He was just a very difficult case.\n\n``Oh we tried. We tried everything we could think of to correct his behavior, but nothing worked. I mean it seemed we were able to, at the very least discourage him from getting so violent up to now, but after this latest incident, it became obvious there was just nothing else we could do. As for what's going to happen to him now, I can't predict the future for him. If he's to make it out there, he'll have to learn the lessons we tried to teach him here, only he'll have to learn the hard way from now on. First, he'll have to find someone willing to give him food and water, and if he acts out there the way he acted in here.. well.. he's just going to have to go without those things until he learns his lesson.\n\n``It's not as if we WANT anything bad to happen to him. As I said, expulsion is a last resort. The other adults all agree we can't help him any more. The only thing we can do now is set him out on his own, and hope that, just maybe, he'll figure it all out and become the adult we all wanted him to become. Do you understand?''\n\n---\n\nThackery was happy for Killian's distraction as Kiki's prodding at his wounds with her frantic energy was starting to give the young buck a headache. He understood that she was just showing a mix of concern for him and expressing her curiosity, but the fact that she was actively pulling the ice bag away from his eye was irritating as it continually reminded him of the pain as the chill left and returned. Plus, every time she saw the extent of damage to his nose the face that expression she was making was giving the cub paranoid thoughts about how bad it really was. No one had given him an opportunity to see his reflection yet so his brain was coming up with wild thoughts on the damage. With the way that she was reacting he half expected his nose to be gone at this point.\n\n \n\nThe adult raccoon's question was able to give him a necessary distraction from this thought along with pulling Kiki's attention back to the adult. The first words out of her mouth were an obvious lie, which she seemed to realize immediately as she quickly changed her story to something more believable. Thackery could tell this was closer to the truth but the way she was pausing was still very unusual for her. It was almost like she was watching what she was saying to potentially hide something still. He could not place if this was just another paranoid thought however, so he decided to let Killian decide if she was telling the truth or not.\n\n \n\nShe was bringing up a very similar topic to the question that he had earlier about Jeffrey, though where he was primarily concerned with what happened with expulsion she was instead worried about adoption too. He had never put much thought into this as the adults had always portrayed adoption as this wonderful thing, the step between being a child and an adult through someone that would choose and guide them. The teachers and other adults had always been vague about details regarding what exactly would happen, but he had passed this off as just that the future would depend on the adult who adopted them. The way Kiki asked it though seemed much less based out of curiosity but instead worry, perhaps even fear.\n\n \n\nKillian almost looked like he was going to dismiss her question, just like many of the buck's own questions about the outside world had been before. Killian just looked at the gate for a few moments and then called them over closer to him to wrap them in a hug. Thackery obeyed and leaned into the hug, enjoying the comfort from the rather nice adult, though he turned just enough to try to get a peek at the gate too now. It shouldn't have surprised him to not see Jeffrey within sight anymore, but something about that fox bully giving up so easily and wandering off felt rather peculiar to the young buck.\n\n \n\nAs the raccoon began to speak it was almost the exact opposite of what the rabbit had expected to hear as it seemed an adult might actually give the two cubs an answer to one of the big questions they had. He didn't waste a second before nodding his head enthusiastically, making his ears flop around almost comically as he agreed to whatever terms the adult had. He put his finger over his lips and made a zipping motion like he had seen someone do before to mime out that his lips were sealed just for good measure.\n\n \n\nHe did not have to wait long for the answer however and it was greater than he even imagined as the adult kept talking, giving more and more details. He could tell that things were still being left out but this was the most information he had ever received about the world outside the orphanage, so he did not care. He was so excited to receive this information he almost did not even react to the frightful nature of what he was being provided. The way it sounded, outside of this little area that he had known his whole life was a very dangerous world that would require a trusted adult to keep him safe. That the only thing keeping him and the other cubs from a life without shelter, food, and water was the very nature of them being made desirable by a foster family.\n\n \n\nHearing that the kit that had just been tormenting him just a few moments prior was now facing the consequences of making himself undesirable to a foster family, made the buck feel sorry for Jeffrey for a moment. But he had to remind himself that the punishment was solely due to the actions of the kit despite how the adults had tried to steer him towards a better life. The solemn look on his face from that initial thought did not pass however as he continued to look at Killian and then Kiki in turn as he soaked in all the information.\n\n \n\nHe had a million follow up questions already that he wanted to ask but he did not want to push too hard after already being given such a wonderful gift of knowledge. Instead he focused on the one thing that seemed to be the most pressing matter out of that conversation.\n\n \n\n``How do we make sure we get good foster parents then? I mean... to make sure we... that they will want to adopt us?'' he asked softly as he bit his lip thoughtfully.\n\n \n\n---\n\nWhen Killian knelt down to offer an embrace to the cubs, Kiki lingered for only a fraction of a second, compared to Thackery's immediate response, but when she gleefully threw herself into the raccoon's arm to accept his comforting hug, it was borne largely from her limited education. She'd been taught, like the others, that it was rude to refuse affection from her caretaker; though given what Killian had disclosed earlier in private, it was as much a sign of excitement for the prospect that he'd be her future foster parent. Eager as she was of course, there was still that lingering doubt in her mind.\n\nSo she needed that consolatory contact, if for no other reason than to mask the uneasiness in her body language as she buried her face in the man's chest, snuggling up close to him and her lapin friend as she listened to his terms for sharing what both cubs expected would be `forbidden' knowledge. At least, the way Killian demanded secrecy seemed to imply a level of detailed information that they weren't permitted to share.\n\nThat alone might've inspired Kiki to tell others anyway, but her goal had always been to acquire an understanding of the unknown for the boy standing right next to her. So the need to spread such insight was limited, with Thackery here to hear it all himself in person. Thus, when their caretaker called on them for their assurance his words wouldn't be shared, the little lemur, like the bunny next to her, was quick to offer it. Although, she turned to Thackery to see his lip-sealing gesture first, giggling at the sight before speaking for the both of them.\n\n``Uh-huh, we promise, Killian!'' she chirped, placing both paws over her mouth, partly to hide the smile that blossomed there, and also to contain another giggle.\n\nOnce the raccoon was assured, he started to explain by pointing to the gate, prompting both cubs to look back over their shoulders, almost in unison, at the black maw that led into an unknown world of dangers. Which, according to Killian was very real, making the protective barrier to the darkness beyond entirely crucial to their continued safety. She couldn't help but shiver a little in the man's embrace as he described the purpose of their special little sanctuary, especially when the topic shifted back to the boy who'd just been kicked out of it, but it was as much from the mystery of his fate as it was from Killian's arm as it draped across her naked body.\n\nWhen his paw started moving through her bare fur, it tickled the hairs and encouraged more trembles, but it helped to comfort the girl as her attention returned to the raccoon. The lemur met her caretaker's gaze with a noticeable blush in response to his compliment, but it gradually morphed into a small frown as Killian proceeded to explain the reasoning for poor Jeffrey's sudden expulsion. She eventually found herself nodding slowly in grudging understanding, as it was not lost on her just how long the fox had been picking on other cubs.\n\nIt was common knowledge that the predator had been given many chances to redeem himself, and had brazenly defied every single one. So it should've come as no surprise that his forcible removal was inevitable. The public ousting that took place, however, was definitely unexpected by everyone, as it normally took place in private. But extraordinary circumstances demanded extraordinary action. That much she understood without Killian delving any deeper into the details.\n\nHowever, it was the subject of his imminent future outside the orphanage that twisted her up inside. Not only could their caretaker not be certain of his fate, but even his chances in the dark world outside their brightly lit home, could only be guessed at by the raccoon. The life he'd doomed himself to came across as a frightening one. Not only would he potentially be forced to fend for himself--a scenario neither Kiki or Thackery could imagine, considering the pampered lives they lived--but if he failed to learn his lesson, and didn't find someone to take him in, he might well perish out there.\n\nKiki personally couldn't see herself surviving without food and water for a single day, much less several. And not having a comfy, cozy bed to sleep in was a terribly possible reality for Jeffrey that she couldn't even bring herself to consider. Needless to say, it made her infinitely more grateful that it was him who'd been exiled and not her. In fact, the very idea that she could've potentially joined him outside the gate for her earlier transgression made her sick to her stomach. And that discomfort likely showed as she suddenly pressed firmly against the raccoon, and wrapped her arms around him as she quivered. She'd basically just been assured that being expelled was the worst thing ever. Though she had yet to be convinced that being adopted wasn't also scary.\n\nAt least if Killian was the one to take her in, though, he could alleviate all that fear she was currently associating with it. He'd always been kind to her in the past, and even now continued to show that she could trust in him to help her understand the world and come to grips with the dangers it presented beyond the safety of their home. So despite her own questions still churning in her mind, when he asked if they understood, she quickly nodded her head, but kept her face buried in the man's shirt.\n\nUntil Thackery finally spoke up with a fresh question of his own, anyway. When she heard the buck ask how they might ensure they remained appealing enough for future foster parents to adopt them, a brilliant idea flashed through the young simian's head. The girl suddenly tensed and perked up, looking hopeful as she swiftly stood up on her toes and leaned against Killian as she whispered all too loudly into the raccoon's ear.\n\n``Y-you said you might adopt me earlier, right Killian? I-i-if you do, do you think... maybe... that Thackery could come too? Please?'' she pleaded, unfortunately not quietly enough to keep the rabbit himself for hearing, ``I really like him an--and I'd really miss him, too. He's the closest thing to a friend I've ever had, an'well... I think he already deserves to be adopted; e-even more than me!''\n\nShe offered pretty high praise of her fellow cub, but it took several long seconds before it even occurred to her that she may have made a mistake in bringing up their previous conversation in the bunk room. The instant she did though, she squeaked and clasped both paws over her muzzle again, like she'd just blurted out the answer to a question on one of their classroom tests.\n\n``I-I'm sorry! I wasn't... s'posed to talk about that, was I?'' she asked worriedly, ears drooping and her tail reflexively coiling around her legs in preemptive regret.\n\n---\n\nAs the naked cubs snuggled into the adult raccoon, a bulge began to grow in his pants while Kiki shuddered to his touch. Of course, if either cub noticed this, they certainly wouldn't find it alarming. The adults were very careful when responding to questions about genitalia to keep these little virgins innocent--to have their sexual knowledge shaped entirely by their owners. Kiki would learn.. soon enough...\n\nWhile Kiki seemed nervous about the idea of being adopted by anyone but him, Thackery, on the other hand, was eager for that glorified milestone. Just as Thackery posed his question, Kiki leaned in with a loud whisper, if it could even be called a whisper, blurting out Killian's mention of personally adopting her. He cleared his throat loudly, although the lemur didn't seem to catch the hint until it was too late. Killian bobbed his chin from side to side while rolling his eyes.\n\n``Well, what's one more secret? I know I can trust Thackery to keep it because he's not such a loudmouth.''\n\nKillian chuckled as he playfully shook Kiki's muzzle back and forth, before sighing.\n\n``Unfortunately, though, I'm only allowed to adopt one cub per year, but if he's still here next year, then sure, I'll adopt him too. If not, I'll make sure you two can still see each other from time to time.''\n\nThis was, however, only partially true, as Killian had only ever adopted girls in the past. He had no interest in the boys, despite how soft and pleasant the bunny's fur felt to the touch.\n\n``Ah, yes, Thackery, what was your question again? You wanted to know how to get yourself adopted? Well it's quite simple. Don't be like Jeffrey.''\n\nKillian chuckled and scritched behind Thackery's ear.\n\n``Ah that was probably in bad taste, sorry. I shouldn't joke about that. Don't worry, Thackery, you're doing just fine. You're cute, you always respect the adults, and you're quite obedient. The fact is, your profile has been requested by prospective parents many times already, so it's not a matter of if, little bunny, but when. It's just a matter of time.''\n\nWith that, Killian stood and gently ushered the cubs to move towards the clinic.\n\n``We better get that nose checked out though. Good thing the profile photos aren't for several more months.''\n\n---\n\nThe comfort that was coming from the adult's arms was enough for him to ignore the fear and pain he was in from the recent event with the vulpine bully. This need for comfort along with the environment he had lived in his whole life left him blissfully unaware of any untoward actions or words coming from this same adult. He was even finding himself capable of handling how close he was to Kiki, which was a more pressing matter to the young buck as her energy was usually enough to make him try anything he could to avoid her. He had yet to accomplish avoiding her for any extended amount of time yet, but usually by this point of time he would have been finding almost any excuse to get away from her. Instead he was almost happy she was around this time as it was almost sort of nice to have a cub around his age showing affection and care for him like this when he was feeling so down.\n\nThis patience with her was almost ruined the moment she decided to start whispering things into Killian's ear instead of letting the raccoon answer the rather important question the buck had voiced. It was at least as close to whispering as the lemur cub was capable of as everything she said was loud enough for Thackery to easily hear and it seemed both she and Killian had keyed in on that as Thackery's eyes widened in a mix of shock and curiosity. Despite all his research and knowledge it had never occurred to him that the teachers and other workers at the orphanage would be anything more than that. The realization that one of them could actually end up being his family was an interesting thing to think about as his mind raced through quickly which one he would prefer to end up with and if that meant that he would be able to stay at the school with his new parent.\n\nHis mind turned to how amazing it would be to be able to go home with Killian, despite the fact that it would make Kiki his sister in a way, just in time for that thought to be shot down by Killian's response. The buck could not really fault Killian for having to obey similar rules to the ones that he and the other cubs had to follow for their safety in this dark world. Despite that it still stung slightly that the raccoon teacher was in a way picking Kiki over him. His mouth turned into a slight pout just as the sentence finished, timing with the knowledge that not only was the adult raccoon picking her over him but he might still be forced to see how her life was after the fact if visits were planned. He could only imagine how wonderful it would be to be able to share a house with a teacher who could continue to teach him well after he left the orphanage. This along with finally sharing all the information the adults were obviously hiding from them until the day that they would be allowed to leave and see what the outside world really was like.\n\nThe words that came next out of the adult raccoon's mouth, along with the comforting touches from the males paws were enough to lighten his pout. It was almost a smile by the end of the flurry of praise and compliments the cub received about not only his attitude but that he was called cute. The thought of the other potential parents were both exciting and terrifying as they apparently were getting information about him, yet he didn't know anything about them. If it wasn't for the comment he would not have known even that anyone was looking at wanting to adopt him. He really wanted to ask more about these individuals looking at his profile, but he wasn't sure how to ask and even if he did, he knew that there was a good chance Killian might not be able to give him much good information due to these rules in place.\n\nInstead he submitted to the fact that he had gained more information in the last few moments than he had ever thought to gain in a year. That and Killian was finally making it so that they could make it to the clinic without another interruption like an expulsion or an overly energetic lemur cub who could not keep her mouth shut.\n\n``Yes Sir, I want to make it there soon,'' he said with a whine that only a cub of his age could pull off as he gave a rather loud sniffle from his nose clogged with dried blood. With that he hurried along with Killian as his mind started to play with the thoughts of what profile pictures his new family had of him.\n\n---\n\nThe lemur was probably the most disappointed by Killian's answer to the question she'd inadvertently blurted out loud, but Kiki sank into guilty silence after her mistake. Despite finding amusement in the way he'd grabbed her snout, the girl had learned her lesson for the time being, and opted to be quiet as the raccoon gave her the bad news. However, although he said he couldn't adopt them both at the same time, he made the promise to adopt Thackery next time, which was good enough for the girl.\n\n``Won't that be great, Thackery?'' she giggled, wrapping her arms around the rabbit to rub their naked bodies together, ``We'll get to play together every day! Hehehe, I can't wait!''\n\nIt was likely the buck could, though. If his body language had been any indication of how he felt in her presence. So she made sure not to hug him long before letting go to take a big step back and play sheepishly with her long, striped tail. The little lemur couldn't help being fidgety, considering this had been the longest time the two had actually been together, interacting. Normally Thackery would've run off to hide somewhere, or gone to see the groundskeeper. So boring.\n\nBut with both of them going to the clinic now, she could happily talk his ear off. And... if the opportunity presented itself, perhaps she could even tell him the big secret she'd found. Even though she was beginning to worry that maybe it wasn't that exciting. In fact she was starting to get a nervous chill every time she thought about it, which was sufficient enough to keep her quiet during Killian's practiced response to the male bunny's earlier query.\n\nOnce they were on the move again though, Kiki was able to relax, reverting back to her bubbly persona as she proceeded to race ahead of Killian, towards the door clearly marked as being the clinic. When she tried to push on it though, the girl struggled with the heavy steel obstruction until the raccoon arrived to assist. As he did so, the man commented on their future portfolios, prompting a response from the curious lemur as she scurried into the room and immediately began to climb the nearest structure like a little monkey.\n\n``I hate waiting, Mister Killian,'' she complained as she plopped her naked rump on an assortment of medical papers strewn across the desk she'd scaled, ``How come we can't get photos now? Thackery's face is all messy, but not mine. So why not me? Huh? Pleeeease?''\n\n---\n\nKillian smirked as the cute little cub pushed against the big metal door before assisting her in getting inside. Once inside, however, before any exchange could be made with the female fennec sitting behind the desk, the little monkey girl hoisted herself onto the desk, sitting down on the small stack of patient sheets as the nurse sat dumbfounded by the sudden appearance of the hyper girl on her desk.\n\nKillian moved quickly to hoist Kiki off the desk, placing her back on the floor with a paw pressed firmly onto her shoulder, a gentle message to the girl to hold still for a moment.\n\n``For the love of..'' Killian turned to the nurse, who was examining one of the crumpled sheets of paper. ``We need an x-ray on Thackery's nose. Jeffrey hit him hard.''\n\nThe nurse approached the small bunny, the adult just barely standing over him. She gently cupped Thackery's face to examine the damage.\n\n``Hmm, does it still hurt, sweetie? Where does it hurt the most?''\n\nAs the nurse looked Thackery over, Killian turned his attention back to Kiki, placing both paws on her arms.\n\n``Now behave yourself, you adorable little animal. Remember, we're here to see about Thackery's nose. I promise you, next week, when I bring you home with me, we will take lots of pictures. We'll take them together, and they'll be a lot better than those profile shoots.''\n\nAs the nurse began to lead Thackery into the back room, Killian pulled the rolling office chair from behind her desk, and patted the seat.\n\n``Now sit.''\n\nKillian held the chair in place for Kiki to climb into, then rolled the cub along the floor behind the nurse, who guided the little bunny to the wall in front of the machine, directing him to face forward before taking her place on the other side.\n\n``Alright hold right there and... got it.. now turn to the side... hold right there... and... done. Take a seat over there.''\n\nAs the nurse took the transparencies over to the light, Killian gently ran his fingers down Kiki's face, attempting to make sure Kiki didn't get bored and start exploring the x-ray room, or climb on anything again.\n\n``You ever seen what a skull looks like underneath all this skin and fur?''\n\n---\n\nBy the time that the teacher and his two juvenile charges had reached the door to the clinic it felt like it had been months to the lapine cub instead of the short few moments that had transpired as he traveled with his broken snout. Holding his nose gently he tried to make sure it was still in one piece while he followed Killian into the open door, too focused on his goal to even notice the shenanigans of the lemur girl who called herself his friend and at least once `sister'. The shock from the fight was leaving him quickly at this point and the void was instead being filled with this itching feeling originating around all the bruises he had accumulated in the scuffle and quickly turning into an intense burning sensation, especially around his nose. He was smart enough to know that this was the pain starting to kick in and he had maybe a few more moments before it got bad enough that he wouldn't be able to control the tears already brewing in the corners of his eyes.\n\nHe busied himself with continued thoughts on Killian adopting Kiki, what teacher may want to adopt an eager student such as him, and this mystery of this profile being shared to prospective parents. He could remember clearly several times him and his fellow cubs had been lined up to take various pictures, but he could not place any time that any of the teachers had asked him questions that would have aligned with any sort of profile. He knew his studies had shown that he was a very eager student, picking up on topics quickly and always pushing to learn something more and he hoped that this was somehow reflected on whatever paperwork was shared, but he couldn't imagine what else may be on there. Would getting into a fight with the vulpine bully be shown on his profile now and if so would it show positively that he took it well or negatively that he is such a wimp that he basically let Jeffrey have his way with him on the playground as he couldn't fight back.\n\nHe knew he was not getting any answers at this moment, one of the reasons he did not voice them, but they gave him a good moment of the pain not creeping in as his body started to signal more urgently that he had been in a fight. Enough time that Killian was able to wrangle Kiki away from the fennec at the front desk and the buck was being softly gripped yet again by the muzzle to inspect the damage to his blood clogged nose, most of the bright red blood darkening to an almost black as it dried out.\n\n``Yes mam it still hurts,'' he said softly trying to fight back tears even harder now, ``and mostly in my nose''. He wanted to say that's where Jeffrey focused his hits, but he bit his lip and let the nurse take control and move him around the small office to the x-ray machine. In an almost incomprehensible blur he had moved into the room, put into the proper spot and pictures were being taken of his muzzle from multiple angles. The pain creeping in along with the scent of medical equipment and the flashing of the x-ray machine was enough for the buck to sink into this mind set where he just wanted it over with so he could find a good spot to sit down and take a nap. His body had gone from this strong adrenaline push filling him with enough energy to resist the pain to this hard crash where his body instead wanted to put him in a state of unconsciousness in order to resist the pain.\n\nOnce the command was given to take a seat he quickly scampered over to the empty chair and hoisted himself up so he was fully secure in the hard plastic of the office chair. It was nowhere close to the comfort of his mattress and pillow but before he could even make sense of his thoughts his head was laid back and he was staring up at the dim lights in the ceiling as his consciousness started to move away from him.\n\n``I... I'm going to take a nap while we wait...'' he said sleepily, not even sure who he was talking to anymore as he closed his eyes.\n\n---\n\nJust moments after plopping her naked rump on the nurse's paperwork, Killian was moving to collect a sheepish Kiki. Once again she'd realized her error a little too late to correct it, but the raccoon was swift to remove the cub from the desk and place her back on her feet with a firm paw on her shoulder as a sign she'd done wrong.\n\n``Ah.. s-sorry,'' she apologized softly, trying to hide the nervous smile on her face as she focused her gaze on Killian's feet.\n\nEven as she stood there though, determined to obey, Kiki couldn't help fidgeting on the spot while she listened to the adults address Thackery's injury. The fennec nurse was quick to leave her post and examine the bunny's bloody snout, but as she did so, Killian turned to his future adoptee and calmly requested her cooperation with the promise of many pictures to be taken after he brought her home.\n\nWell, that was enough to bring tears of utter delight to the little lemur's eyes, making them shimmer briefly. Squeezing her lids shut for a second to wipe away the liquid joy, she beamed up at the raccoon with renewed conviction and nodded vigorously.\n\n``Okay! I'll be good; I'll be... great! I-I'll be the best daughter ever!'' she squeaked excitedly, resisting the dual urge to hug her new parent and call him `daddy'.\n\nManaging to stay put long enough for Killian to acquire the nurse's rolling chair, Kiki quickly revealed how difficult a task it had been the instant she was asked to take a seat. With lightning fast reflexes, the cub took two steps before jumping the remaining distance with laser precision into the offered chair, forcing the raccoon to counter the momentum of her small body before he could follow behind the nurse and her patient.\n\nWith an awkward giggle, she apologized, ``Oops! Sorry Killian, I just really like rolly chairs!''\n\nShe liked riding in one that moved on its own even more, but she had to hide her excitement as she was rolled into the x-ray room to see Thackery already in the process of getting scans taken. Watching with keen, but silent interest, Kiki did her best to behave as promised while the lady worked, though once she'd dismissed the buck to another seat, the room became overwhelmingly quiet. Thackery was beat in more than one way, already seeming to drift off to sleep in the chair he'd selected, and the nurse was examining the x-rays without a word. And all the while, Kiki struggled to stay still and quiet, even though her tail had been doing anything but. \n\nKillian must've noticed her growing impatience however, as suddenly the lemur felt fingers tracing down the side of her face. It was so gentle and deliberate that she wasn't even startled by the gesture. Instead, she started to lean into the paw's digits when the raccoon then spoke of skulls.\n\nKiki's expression brightened slightly as her imagination began to swell into action, but she wasn't the least bit disturbed by the thought.\n\n``Mmm... mm-mm!'' she responded wordlessly, adding, ``But I bet it looks really neat, right?'' Then she gasped with realization, ``Oooh..! Are we gonna see Thackery's skull?!''\n\nShe'd practically squealed the words before a paw could trap them in her maw, then blushed brightly. ``Sorry, sorry! I'll be quiet,'' she said with a self-shushing gesture as she glanced over at the dozing rabbit nearby.\n\n---\n\nThe nurse's eyes shifted to Thackery as he mentioned going for a nap.\n\n``Oh sorry, sweetie, if you fall asleep now, I'll just have to wake you right back up again.''\n\nKillian nodded to Kiki.\n\n``Oh yes, we're going to get to see Thackery's skull, hopefully without any cracks. Now, start the engine.''\n\nKillian waited for Kiki to turn the make-believe key, then began shaking the chair while making idle engine noises, before revving it up, and pushing Kiki around the room at high speeds, though careful to avoid the equipment in the room. It wasn't long, however, before the nurse chimed in.\n\n``Good news! It's not broken.''\n\nKillian drifted the chair to the side while mimicking the sound of tires screeching, and zoomed Kiki over to the nurse, screeching to a stop and patting the lemur gently.\n\n``Alright, hop out and take a look while I go pick up Thackery.''\n\nFiguring the image of the skull would be a sufficient distraction for the little girl, Killian quickly wheeled the chair over to Thackery, skidding to a stop and patting the seat.\n\n``Hop in!''\n\nMeanwhile the nurse was displaying the picture of the rabbit's skull to the ever excitable lemur.\n\n``Check out those bones! There's the nose, with no breaks, there's the teeth, and these sockets are where the eyes go.''\n\n---\n\nJust as the buck was starting to doze off he got interrupted by the voice of the nurse letting him know that it would be a short nap. This combined with the fact that this would force him to let go of the ice pack forced him to sit up in the chair and try to fight back the urge to slip into comforting slumber. Despite starting to melt the ice pack had been a considerable amount of comfort along with the affections of Killian. Even Kiki had been nice to be around, but he was not sure if he wanted to admit that just yet to himself; and he would never say it out loud.\n\nEven if he wanted to nap at this point it would not have lasted long as Killian and Kiki were making quite a bit of noise with their pretend car scenario being played out in front of his eyes, or more accurately his one good eye at this moment. He didn't have the energy to be upset however as he could clearly pick up that the raccoon teacher was just keeping the hyperactive lemur cub busy instead of asking a thousand more questions or trying to peek more at the buck's injuries. He almost got the feeling that if she wasn't distracted so much she would have taken the comment about seeing his skull literally and just pulled his fur away to peek at it directly. The image of that gave him an involuntary shiver followed by a soft giggle at the silly thought.\n\nLuckily he did not have long to wait, just like the nurse had said previously, as it didn't feel like much time had passed until the fennec returned with good news and photos. Smiling softly he grunted a bit as even after knowing it was not broken it still was the most painful experience of his short life so far. Trying to get himself up and off of the chair seemed like quite a bit of work in his dazed state so he was even more grateful when Killian rolled up the wheeled chair, now absent it's previous driver.\n\nMoving over to the other chair only took him a few more moments, mostly dragged on by that he was still pressing the ice pack to his face the whole time only giving him one arm and no depth perception to correctly gauge. If he knew what being drugged or drunk was he would have claimed that is what it felt like, but of course that is not something a cub of his age would know in this sheltered orphanage. Sitting down in the rolling chair and waiting to be transported he just smiled softly, ``So... what's the damage? Do I get out of outdoor play for a few days at least? And maybe a good book?''\n\n---\n\nThe second Killian decided to engage Kiki's imagination with a new game, she all but forgot about the bunny trying to stay awake. Suddenly it felt like she was back in the classroom again, and in response to the raccoon's explanation, she boldly restated what it sounded like it meant to her.\n\n```Cause cracks are bad!'' the lemur chirped confidently before grabbing for her invisible key to start her new race-car named Mister Wheely!\n\nGiggling delightfully as she held her paws in front of her, holding a non-existent steering wheel, Kiki remained thoroughly engaged in the activity, even up to the point when her `turn' ended and she had to trade off to Thackery. The little simian in fact made a game out of it, declaring:\n\n``Pit-stop!'' as the chair came to a halt for her to get off, then she approached the bunny with a gleam in her eyes.\n\nTapping his leg, she said, ``Tag! Go finish the race for me!'' Then she removed her make-believe helmet--because safety--and pretended to put it on Thackery's head before retreating to the nurse's side.\n\nAs soon as she reached the fennec lady, Kiki had to resist the natural desire to climb her like a tree for a better view. Instead, she politely grabbed the woman's lab-coat and tugged on it to get her attention. Then, with arms raised up, she waited to be picked up and sat down on the counter in front of the big light-board being used to highlight the scanned images.\n\nKiki immediately looked upon the detailed, yet confusing blobs she saw within the Thackery-shaped space, with great awe and intrigue. Her eyes lit up light beacons of curiosity, trying to take in as much information as possible while the nurse pointed to different parts of the image, explaining what they represented.\n\nThere was both a side view and a front view, and in both, the fennec indicated where a break would have been and noted the lack of cracks. Kiki nodded along, eager to learn as much as she could from this impromptu lesson on bone structure, but the commentary wasn't lacking in the least.\n\n``Wooow, I had no idea his front teeth were so long! Look how far up his nose they go!'' she observed, with a finger pointed at her discovery, ``An' lookit that! Is that his ear hole? How come there's no bones in his ears? Issat why they can't stand up on their own?''\n\n---\n\nThe nurse patted Kiki on the head for being polite enough to ask, and hoisted the lemur onto the counter before continuing to point out different areas of the skull. Meanwhile, Killian began slowly wheeling Thackery forward.\n\n``Putt-putt-putt-putt-putt, Come on, Thackery, put your foot on the gas pedal!''\n\nAs soon as the rabbit's footpaw went down, Killian shoved the chair forward, and raced Thackery around the room, giving him a bit more time in the chair than would a straight path to the X-ray, then screeching to a stop just before hitting the nurse, who hopped back slightly and then playfully waggled her finger at the ``speeding'' buck.\n\n``Hey, don't you run me over, or I'll become a ghost and keep you awake every night.'' She chuckled before turning back to Kiki. ``Oh, right, right, you were asking about the ears. No, the ears are just cartilage. No bones in his, yours, Killian's, or mine, see?'' The fennec demonstrated this by bending her large ears with her fingers in several spots. ``Our cartilage is just harder. It wouldn't show up on an x-ray either.''\n\nKillian shook his head at Thackery's question.\n\n``No, I'm sorry, Thackery, you'll have to go outside with everyone else. You need your sunlight.'' He said, referring to the artificial sunlight on the playground. ``Without it, your bones won't stay strong. You getting plenty of sunlight is probably the only thing that kept your nose from getting broken by Jeffrey.'' He sighed, ``I'll tell you what, though. You can bring a book and sit with us for the next couple of days so you won't accidentally bump your nose playing.''\n\nThe nurse nodded before chiming in.\n\n``Although after I give you something for the pain, you should go back to your bunk and rest for a few hours. Do you want the cherry or the grape flavor.. or do you think you could do with a shot of something stronger?''\n\n---\n\nIt took a few moments for the distracted buck to recognize that the same game that Killian had been playing with Kiki had been passed on to him. He had never seen a car of any sort before in their secluded spot, let alone ever been in one, but there had been a few in the books he had read that had talked about them enough to let him imagine being in one. Imaginary helmet securely in place, all imaginary dials set to some absurd number that only true speed freaks would like, and the engine was just begging to be pushed to its maximum. He revved the engine a few times then put the foot to the floor. Or as close to a floor as he could in this imaginary scenario as Killian had him speeding along towards the nurse. Almost two fast it seemed as the brakes in his imaginary race car screeched to a halt right before he ran her down in a must shameful manner.\n\nHe blushed a bit as the nurse teasingly chastised him for his reckless driving, but couldn't help but to giggle also at her silly comments about haunting him and realizing that if anyone should have been in trouble, it should have been Killian. He at least got to hear the nurse answer Kiki's question as he started to store that information somewhere in his brain as he was not sure when he would need to know such information, but it never hurt to learn as much as possible. Plus it looked so weird to take in how his skull looked in the x-ray, all the details in plain sight about what he would look like with no skin.\n\nThe curiosity on his face turned into a frown though as Killian spoke against his desire to get out of physical activities for a few days, or it almost sounded like that at first, but then suddenly he got an amazing piece of news. He did have to be outside, but not only could he read but he would be sitting next to the teachers who may drop other fun pieces of information for him. ``Oh thank you! I promise I'll be good while I recover,'' he said as his face was a bright grin at this point, so excited about all of this, and then best of all that bully Jeffrey would be unable to bother him while he recovered.\n\nThat last thought suddenly reminded him that Jeffrey could not bother him again at all anymore. He was banished now and there was no returning from that. He still had the smile on his face as this was great news, but it seemed to falter just a bit as he also realized he felt bad for the vulpine bully. He definitely deserved his punishment after everything, plus it was kind of nice to get some form of revenge, but he was still sent away from everyone he ever knew to the world beyond the gate. This punishment was exponentially greater than all of the other punishments combined as at the end of the day, the punishment would be over and life would go back to normal. But not for banishment.\n\nHe was not allowed to dwell on this however as the nurse fashioned a question for him. He definitely knew which of the two flavors he'd prefer and he was ready to blurt it out, but then that third option was presented. Something stronger sounded wonderful, but it carried that dread word of `shot' which had his fur rising at just the thought of it. There was no hiding the fact that even the mention of needles was making him almost more scared than when being chased by Jeffrey as his foot twitched. ``Ummm... does the shot... Ummm... I mean cherry mam, thank you,'' he said even unable to spend any more time even thinking about shots or needles.\n\n---\n\nBefore Kiki could get her answer about the ears, Thackery had a near-collision with the nurse and distracted both females with his `reckless' driving. The fennec was quick to playfully scold the boy, but her 7-year-old counterpart just broke into a fit of approving giggles. The cub greatly enjoyed seeing the bunny smile, even though his face was still all messy, and in need of a good cleaning.\n\nAfterward her curiosity was sated with an educational answer that Kiki was certain the rabbit enjoyed as much as she did. The lemur couldn't help but imitate the nurse's gesture by grabbing her own chubby ears to play with them as her gaze drifted back to the X-ray images on the lightboard. Ever the easily distractible cub, Kiki had only half-listened to Thackery's request to avoid the playground--and by extension her as well--but her ears were wide open to catch Killian's answer as she fiddled with them.\n\nBeaming excitedly, the girl practically ignored everything else and waited for the first chance to speak without butting in. Even still, she couldn't control the level of enthusiasm behind her request as she threw both arms up in the air and waved them frantically like she always did during class, before just going right ahead and blurting out what she wanted to say.\n\n``Oo-oo-oo-OOO! Can I keep Thackery company while he recovers? Pleeeeease? I'll take extra good care of him, yes I will!'' she asserted loudly and confidently. ``Hehehe! An' just think! After that, there'll be no more bullies to get in the way of our playtime! Just me an' you Thackery! All day long!''\n\nShe wasn't exactly selling herself all that well, but then, her energy knew no rational limits. Unfortunately Kiki also didn't know just went to shut-up either.\n\n``With that big bad Jeffrey gone now, there's no more party-poopers to bug us. The only other one was that Damien boy, but he got adopted just a few days a--go...'' she rattled on, stumbling when she realized something that she dare not utter out loud.\n\nSo her tongue did have a limit it seemed. Whether that was her self-imposed duty to keep the secret she'd found for Thackery's ears only, or the unsettling fear of what that secret might mean for her and her friend. It was only a suspicion, though. A very unlikely coincidence, or maybe just bad timing... Either way, the more she thought about it, the more certain she was that the markings on the arm she saw were the same as the wolverine bully, Damien.\n\n``Hah.. I guess he got lucky, huh?'' she giggled nervously, ``If he'd kept being a bully, ah--I bet he would'a gotten expelled too, right.. Killian?''\n\n---\n\n``Oh, Kiki..''\n\nKillian chuckled and shook his head as Kiki excitedly offered to ``watch over'' Thackery while he was incapacitated. He nodded as Kiki recalled that Jeffrey would no longer be able to cause trouble. The trouble Jeffrey had caused over the years certainly wasn't limited to the cubs he had tormented on the playground, and keeping that defiant fox under control was no longer going to be an issue.\n\nKillian's smile faded, however, as Kiki mentioned Damien. The wolverine's buyer had left quite the mess to clean up, both literally and figuratively. Adoptions had to be put on hold for a few days because of it. It seemed as though the bleeding would never stop, leaving something extra in the hallway for the janitor.\n\n``A few days ago?'' Killian shook his head. ``Well, actually, he was just adopted yesterday. In fact it was just this morning that he got to meet his new...''\n\nSuddenly, a distressing thought smashed its way through Killian's skull, stopping his sentence short. As the raccoon silently began to connect the dots between those events, and the situation with Kiki, his eyes shifted to her, everything going quiet for a moment.\n\n``...I'll be right back...''\n\nKillian suddenly and briskly walked to the door, and left the room in a hurry. The nurse, not quite picking up on the tension in Killian's sudden departure, then began to depart the room herself.\n\n``Wait here while I go and get your medicine. Oh and.. Please don't climb onto anything, Kiki.''\n\n---\n\nThe black furred buck could barely contain his grimace at the sound of Kiki planning to cling on to him even harder now that he was allowed a few days break from physical activities. He tried to cover it up however by rubbing the spot on his nose to make it look like it was just the pain. At least he'd have the adults around to help wrangle her so she couldn't be too obnoxious he hoped. Plus she did have the point that everything would be that much calmer now that not one, but two bullies were gone.\n\nDamien didn't seem quite as bad as Jeffrey, but Thackery still had a few run-ins with him that were not that pleasant. The difference seemed to be that Damien had larger bouts of time in between his bullying activities and didn't seem to have the level of anger issues that Jeffrey had, so the buck wasn't too surprised that he found someone to adopt him.\n\nThe slip on the time frame didn't seem to register with Thackery but Kiki's suddenly more nervous attitude along with Killian's sudden urge to leave did. He of course had nothing to base his worries on at this moment other than perhaps Kiki's outburst earlier about if adoption would be scary, but he still felt very unsettled by the adult's sudden departure. He did not have long to worry about this however as a more pressing matter came to pass, the fact that the nurse had left the room too and suddenly he was alone there with Kiki. He just hoped that she was going to be a bit calmer with this onset of nervousness and that the nurse would return quickly enough so that Kiki didn't somehow get them both in trouble with her antics.\n\n---\n\nIf Kiki had any lingering doubts about what she'd seen, Killian's sudden reaction and departure was all the proof she needed to realize that not only was she right, but that he knew and she was almost certainly about to get into a lot of trouble. Before the raccoon had even left, the little lemur's paws had risen to hide her face in silent horror right up until the nurse left the room shortly after. In that instant her heart leapt into her throat and she seized the brief opportunity to express her anxiety.\n\n``Oh--oh no... I messed up,'' she squeaked, trying to keep her voice low as she uncovered her face and looked to Thackery with eyes on the verge of tears, ``I--I think I'm gonna get punished for lying...!''\n\nThe girl whined and looked around frantically, as if she might find some miracle solution to her dilemma in the room. Quickly becoming restless, the girl jumped down to the floor and began to pace as her imagination, and mouth, ran wild with speculation.\n\n``Is it gonna be the spice...? Or the dark room? Wait... they wouldn't expel me like Jeffrey, would they...? But Killian said he'd adopt me...'' Kiki mumbled to herself as she wrung her paws together with worry, ``Would he let them?!''\n\nAs if she might clasp her own thumping heart, the over-dramatic lemur scooped up a pawful of flesh and fur from her chest to cling to instead, eyes watering as she pictured her chances of getting adopted vanishing over something as silly as an assumption that it might be as scary as being expelled.\n\n---\n\nLeaving the cubs in the care of the nurse, and unaware that she had immediately left the room, Killian rushed across the playground, through the nearest classroom, and through the staff door into the hall. With the current crisis fresh in his mind, the raccoon made doubly sure that the door was securely locked behind him. He briskly returned to his classroom door, which someone had neglected to close at some point this morning, and that Kiki had peered through, perhaps at exactly the worst possible moment. Killian's eyes darted along the corners of the ceiling until he found the security camera, studying it closely.\n\n``...camera five...''\n\nHe then quickly made his way down the hall to the security room. When he arrived, he was relieved to find that no-one was inside, but he still had to act quickly. He had to make sure no-one knew what he was up to. He brought up the feed for camera 5, and began skimming through the archived footage.\n\n``Fuck, when was it.. 9am? 10?''\n\nKillian frantically searched until he found the window of time in which the wolverine's body had been brought through the hallway. Along the way, right outside the door that led to Killian's classroom, a limp arm fell from the stained sheets, and a pool of blood began to collect on the floor as it rolled down the wolverine's lifeless arm. There was no sound, but it was obvious the wolverine's attendant was not happy. He then opened the door, poking his head through. He had called to Killian for help.\n\nKillian remembered.. It was about the time the cubs started to file through the door and out onto the playground. Killian watched as the footage told its story. Killian entered the hallway, scratched his head, and patted the badger on the shoulder. He turned the lock on the door, then gave it a push before heading down the hall to find the janitor.. but watching the footage, he grimaced as he saw the door bounce lightly off the frame, not closing all the way. Then the badger grabbed the arm, attempting to put it back under the sheet, but a sudden rush of blood onto his paw caused him to drop the arm to the side. The badger looked at his paw and shouted what Killian could only guess was an appropriate obscenity before storming off in the opposite direction from where Killian had gone, leaving the cart with the body where it was.\n\nKillian continued to watch, and... sure enough... the door slowly opened.\n\n``Oh no.. no no no...''\n\nThe camera was facing the back side of the door, but he could clearly see the shadow of a young cub, and a long, thin tail. Killian buried his face in his paws. It was he who carelessly left the door open, and Kiki, who he thought had already gone out onto the playground, got a good, long look before the door suddenly closed.\n\n``Oh, Kiki, no... ``\n\nRaising his eyes from his paws, Killian thought long and hard about his next move. Of course, the first step would be to make sure that the morning's footage would not be permanently saved to the daily archive. He checked to make sure no-one else had entered the room, then checked the monitor to see if anyone was in the hallway nearby, then reached for the power strip, flipping it off, then back on again. He had to hope anyone else would assume it was a temporary power issue.\n\n---\n\nThe bunny cub was not sure what to expect from the lemur girl, but her reactions were a significant shock to him as he had never seen her this worried. From what she was saying this was not a minor mistake, she did not just get too hyper or curious. Instead she apparently had lied to one of the adults, he guessed Killian, which was one of the worst things that any of the cubs could do. Only worse offence being exhibiting violence towards one of the cubs, or even worse one of the adults like Jeffrey had done.\n\nStill he thought she seemed to be overreacting quite a bit with her nervous pacing until he started to put some key pieces of the day together. Namely that she said she had seen something in the staff room, tried to tell him, and then got dragged off before reappearing along with Killian. That surely had to be it he thought to himself as he got lost in his thoughts for only a few brief seconds until he realized she was still pacing and stressing out. And that they were still alone, so it wouldn't hurt to ask.\n\n``Hey Kiki, calm down... I'm sure it's fine. Maybe you just need to come clean with Killian first before he asks you again? Assuming that's who you lied to...'' he said thinking before hopping off of his chair and doing something he would rarely do. He gave Kiki a hug, which was part trying to comfort her and mostly try to keep her in place before she wore a hole in the floor and worried the nurse too, which would only complicate things. ``Plus I'm sure it was only a little lie, right? I have no idea what it is so not sure what to tell you...'' he said softly, almost a whisper as he tried to resist the urge to ask her what she did. He couldn't help it, he was curious and he was already involved so maybe it wouldn't hurt to know. But he didn't speak up to say that as he didn't want to force her for one thing and part of him was curious if it was better he didn't know so he wouldn't get in trouble too.\n\n---\n\nThe nervous cub perked up when Thackery finally spoke, both in surprise and revelation, as if he'd just revealed the secret to sparing herself from joining Jeffrey in his exile. For just a few moments Kiki seemed to bristle with relief and glee. Not only was her friend actually listening to her, but he was trying to comfort her as well, and succeeding.\n\n``It is... and... you're right! That's it! All I gotta do is tell him everything!'' she chirped with delight, the grip on her chest relaxing until her paws fell away. Then she turned around sharply with arms rising just in time to encounter a sudden, unexpected embrace from the male bunny.\n\nKiki immediately went rigid with wide-eyed disbelief as their bodies pressed against each other, blushing bright before practically melting like butter in Thackery's arms. Despite looking completely flustered and absorbed by the attention she was receiving though, the little lemur's mind was still hard at work determining what telling the whole truth would mean, and eventually she snapped out of her daze with a frown.\n\n``Well... all I really did was not tell him everything...'' she thought aloud, ``Does that count as lying? Mmm... But if I tell Killian everything, he'll probably make me keep it a secret, and... and then I won't get to tell you what I saw...!''\n\nJust then there was a glimmer in her eyes as if she had decided, right then and there, to tell Thackery about her discovery, before she could be forced not to, or before she could be punished or expelled, or worse. Kiki went as far as opening her mouth to draw breath, the words on the tip of her tongue, ready to be uttered into his ear like a lover.\n\nAnd she hesitated. It wasn't long, maybe a couple seconds, but just long enough for the lemur's peripherals to catch the movement of an approaching shadow in the open doorway. The girl leaned to one side ever so slightly to confirm that the nurse was fast approaching, before deciding to bite her tongue.\n\nLooking nervous, Kiki pulled out of Thackery's embrace and stepped back, ``Um... I-I'll tell you later. M-maybe,'' she stammered, avoiding eye contact as she rubbed one of her arms.\n\n---\n\nThe fennec returned with a cap full of liquid red medicine. From the doorway, she noticed Kiki's nervousness, and it was obvious by now that there was something Kiki didn't want her to hear. As she approached, she studied Kiki for a moment, suddenly recalling the urgency in which Killian had left the room. Something was up, but fortunately for Kiki, it wasn't the nurse's job to interrogate her.\n\nHer attention turned back to Thackery, and she carefully transferred the medicine to the cub's grip. Once Thackery had the cap in his paws, the nurse then revealed two pieces of chocolate candy she had been concealing in the other paw.\n\n``Can you take it all down in one gulp?''\n\nShe waved the candy back and forth to entice Thackery to keep his mind on the reward for taking his medicine, then handed over the chocolates to both cubs in exchange for the empty cap.\n\n``There you go, that'll help dull the pain. If it's still hurting this bad at bed time, let Killian know, and we'll give you some more medicine to help you sleep, okay?''\n\n---\n\nHe smiled a bit as he helped the lemur girl as despite his feelings towards her, or more accurately how annoying her actions seemed to be, he definitely didn't want to see her have to worry about punishment. It sounded like reasonable advice to him, the adults seemed to have lesser punishments if you came clean early instead of dragging it out. This benefitted him too he thought as she calmed down quite a bit and seemed ready to tell him what this was all about finally.\n\nBut before she got the nerve out to say everything though she leaned over for the quickest of moments then pulled out of his grasp. It didn't take long to figure out why as he picked up on the sounds of the nurse returning just moments before the door opened. It seemed that Kiki had learned her lesson about watching out for the adults before letting out whatever secret she had acquired that she was so eager to share. It was still disappointing though as now he was going to have to wait even longer to hear this secret, if she was even going to be able to as more than likely Killian would make her swear not to tell. And even if she disobeyed he realized he was going to be surrounded by the adults the next couple of days during outdoors time which was the best time to talk it seemed.\n\nAs the cap was put into his small paw he gripped it softly and had to come back to the reality that he was the injured one and that whatever Kiki's secret was it would have to wait. The chocolate helped get him out of his stupor as he grinned widely, which might have looked rather weird with his bloodied nose and muzzle and that he was showing off his chipped incisor that would probably give him a few weeks if not months of problems until it regrew. Without another thought he leaned his head back and gulped down the medicine as quickly as he could, which made him gag for a moment but in a way he was glad that the nurse told him to do it all at once as he doubted he'd want any more. Whatever that flavor was, it was not worthy of being called cherry in his thoughts as it tasted horribly. He still opened his mouth wide to prove that it was all gone before handing the cap back to the nurse.\n\nThe chocolate helped however as he nibbled on it, luckily being able to use his molars to do most of the chewing so there were no issues there as it was a pleasant sweet treat and a way to mellow the cherry mess that had coated his tongue and throat. ``Okay! But ... could I change the flavor to grape then?'' he asked hoping that maybe that would be a better taste.\n\n---\n\nOnce the nurse had returned and made eye contact with her, it was too late to hide the fact she was nervous. Still, Kiki tried to pretend like nothing had happened, stepping further away from Thackery to observe from a distance as he was given his medicine. The fennec didn't seem at all suspicious of her misdeed, but it was Killian the lemur was worried about. What if he'd left to confer with the other handlers and vote to rush through another expulsion?\n\nTwo banishments in the span of a single day, much less a single week, was unheard of amongst the current cub population, but that didn't mean it was impossible. After all, until today, no one had ever seen such an immediate public expulsion. Just imagining what the raccoon was up to gave the girl chills strong enough to instinctively hug herself for warmth.\n\nThough quick to quell her shivers, Kiki's long tail still belied her uneasiness, as it swished about and occasionally curled around her legs. Even when the little girl was offered a chocolatey treat from the nurse--for managing to behave, she assumed--she didn't look too thrilled or eager to pop it into her mouth.\n\nInstead, she stared at it briefly, until Thackery had consumed both his medicine and chocolate. Afterward, she perked up suddenly and asked, ``So... can I stay with Thackery while he gets better? Please? Just for a `lil bit at least? I'll be good, I swear. I can help clean up his face, too...!''\n\nThe spark had returned to her eyes, as though she sought one last chance not to chicken out and tell the buck what she'd seen, however it flickered with apprehension.\n\n---\n\nThe nurse giggled and nodded to Thackery.\n\n``Sure thing, but I'm not sure I'll remember, so let Killian know before he comes to get you another dose.''\n\nHer attention turned to Kiki, the previously hyper and excitable cub who, since Killian had suddenly left, had been rather reserved and distracted. Some of that excitement seemed to return to her voice as she requested more time with Thackery, and offered to help wash his face. She could swear that Thackery's eyes seemed to be pleading with her as this came up.\n\n``I'm sure Thackery can take care of that himself, Kiki. He'll just have to be careful not to hurt himself too much when he does. Still, I suppose I could help get some of that dried blood off his fur.. Kiki, why don't you get me a cloth from that cabinet over there.''\n\nWith Thackery in the office chair, the nurse slowly wheeled him over to the sink, and searched the counter for some soap, cotton swabs, and disinfectant. She then very carefully washed and rinsed the cub's damaged snout, careful not to put too much pressure on the bruises. Using cotton swabs and a mild disinfectant, she treated the cuts on Thackery's lips, and the inside of his nose, which certainly wasn't pleasant.\n\nShe would occasionally have Kiki fetch her some supplies to keep her distracted, not letting her anywhere near Thackery's snout. After a long and thorough cleaning, the nurse kept Thackery and Kiki in the office with idle talk, certain that Killian would want her to keep them there until he got back.\n\nAfter awhile longer than the nurse had expected, Killian finally returned, ready to quickly get some control over the situation Kiki had put him in.\n\n``Nurse, would you please take Thackery back to the bunk room so he can get some rest?''\n\n``Sure. Come along, Thackery.''\n\nAs they started towards the door, Killian snapped his fingers and pointed to the chairs in the corner of the room.\n\n``Kiki.. sit.''\n\n---\n\nThe taste of artificial cherry was still on Thackery's tongue while he nibbled on his chocolate and watched the antics of Kiki bouncing between the nervousness that she was still experiencing and her normal excited mannerisms. The sudden exclamation about her wanting to clean his face had his eyes widen and he had to turn to the nurse and give her the most pleading eyes that he could muster with the one still puffy and half lidded. He did not want that overly excited lemur anywhere near his injuries as he doubted that she would be gentle and would probably make this hurt more than they currently were.\n\nHe was so glad that she had picked up on his wordless actions as she was able to steer Kiki away from direct contact while still offering a way for her to help. It didn't take nearly as long as he thought it would for his fur to come clean from the dried blood on his snout, the bruises already started to not hurt nearly as much though he could tell she was still being careful around those spots. The cuts on his lip stung for a second, but he was able to hold down any sound about that as he had expected it. Once she got to the inside of his nose however he had to fight to not back away from her at that instant, instead gripping on to the chair and letting out a low whine of pain as his feet kicked at the empty air. He had enough thought to watch where his kicks were going so that they went into empty air, but not enough to control the pure instinct to kick out at the pain.\n\nOnce it was over however he was able to calm down and sigh heavily before taking a breath through his nose with only minor annoyance. He could still smell the chemicals in his nose but they didn't seem too bad compared to the coppery congestion that had been there prior to the cleaning.\n\nAfter the ordeal of having his external wounds cleaned he spent the rest of the time talking to Kiki and the nurse about any topics that would come up while they waited on Killian to return and collect both of the cubs. He wanted to press for more information about a variety of topics, but with everything else going on it did not feel like the best time, along with he was mostly focused on whatever Kiki had learned. With the amount of time that it was taking for the raccoon teacher to return it made the buck curious if maybe the nurse would have to leave again giving them another moment alone, but this slim chance was removed with the sound of the door opening again.\n\nHe wanted to say something to Killian but looking up at his face the bunny cub could tell it was not the right time just as Killian was asking for the nurse to take him away. It didn't take much thought to connect that he did not include Kiki in that statement so the talk was going to happen then. Remaining quiet he just got up and off the chair with the help of the nurse and followed closely behind her only giving a moment just as they were going through the door to look behind him at Kiki hoping for the first time since he knew her that he would be able to see her again soon.\n\n---\n\nThough Kiki was more than eager to help the nurse tend to Thackery's wounds, accepting the assistant role with a peppy, ``Yes, Ma'am!'', her restless tail continued to broadcast her mixed feelings every time she crossed the room. First for the towel, then a small jar with water for rinsing, followed by gauze and tape, which the fennec used to shield the bunny's black eye.\n\nNeedless to say, by the time she was finished, her friend looked a lot better off than he had minutes before. Kiki still wished she could've done more however, even despite Thackery's obvious distress when she'd first offered. And now that he was all clean and bandaged up, there was nothing left to do but wait for Killian return. A whole ten minutes that couldn't have been more tense for the young lemur.\n\nFearful to speak until she could clear things up with the raccoon, the girl remained unusually quiet, even during the small talk that followed, offering mostly approving or disapproving noises instead of whole words or sentences. Eventually, to keep from pacing again, Kiki plopped down on the floor and crossed her legs, indian-style, snapping up her unruly tail to fiddle and fuss and toy with until Killian returned.\n\nAnd eventually he did, after what had felt like forever in her mind. The second the raccoon reappeared in the doorway to the room, Kiki sprang to her feet and stumbled, unbalanced into the wall beside her. Blushing and fidgeting, she quickly straightened up and put on her best smile, even though every muscle in her small body was taught with trepidation.\n\nThe first words out of his mouth were not encouraging in the least, with Kiki's ears drooping and her head sinking to match the height of her shoulders as she looked towards Thackery, and then the floor. Killian wanted them gone, which meant he wanted a one-on-one talk, just like earlier, only this time she knew exactly why.\n\nKiki watched silently as Thackery was ushered from the room, the pair sharing one last gaze before being separated. Then Killian snapped his fingers and the lemur jumped like she'd been pinched. In reality it was as much a response to her conditioning as it was to this new, frightful predicament. When he ordered her to sit, the young cub didn't even hesitate. With measured but swift steps, she retreated to her designated seat and climbed up onto it as obediently as anyone else in her position would've.\n\nHowever, once she sat down and faced Killian, she could barely contain herself. Before he'd even had a chance to sit with her, Kiki blurted out loud in a panic:\n\n``I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything! Really! I didn't mean to keep it secret, I swear! I-i-it all happened super fast, and--and I was gonna tell you, I promise... but then Wendy came in, and-and you had to leave and... `` Kiki stammered to a stop briefly before telling the real truth with a sigh, ``And I... thought if I told you you wouldn't let me tell him...''\n\nThe last part came out with a mumble and a pout, but she was quick to continue, adding, ``But if it?s gonna get me in trouble, th-then I won't. I--I don'even really know what I saw...''\n\n---\n\nThe nurse and Thackery exited back onto the playground area. It was no surprise to her that Kiki was in trouble again, but something seemed different this time. Kiki had seemed especially nervous and uncharacteristically quiet for almost the entire time they were attending to Thackery's bruised snout, busted lip, and black eye. She was curious, but something also told her it wouldn't be a bad idea to have more information about this situation.\n\nAs the two entered the classroom, and crossed to the door leading to the bunk room, the nurse decided to inquire further while she walked the cub to his bunk, and helped him get comfortable.\n\n``So what was that all about back there? Do you know why Kiki's in trouble?''\n\nMeanwhile, as Kiki quickly blurted out apologies, excuses, and then settled on one softly spoken truth, Killian slowly approached, and sat down in the chair next to the stammering lemur. It sounded like she wasn't so much trying to come clean as she was simply trying to get out of trouble.\n\n``Kiki, stop. You told me that all you saw was the `sparkly floor', and that's what you were going to tell Thackery.''\n\nKillian sighed loudly, running both paws down his face.\n\n``Damn it, Kiki, I stuck my neck out for you. I prevented you from getting expelled, and then you lied to me. You know that's a major offense, right?''\n\nKillian waited briefly for a response, then raised his paw to cut off any additions Kiki might have to her story.\n\n``Not only did you lie to me, but you had full intent to start spreading rumors. That's major offense number two. I've told you before how rumors can get out of hand. Damien trips on the leg of a chair and breaks his nose against the floor, you tell Thackery what you think happened, Thackery tells someone else what he thinks happened, they tell someone else, and before long we'll have hundreds of students believing that one of us ate his face off or something ridiculous like that. We don't want the whole school to be scared, Kiki, we want you to be safe.''\n\n---\n\nThe trip back to the classrooms through the playground seemed like a much shorter trip compared to the trip to the nurse's office earlier. Thackery wasn't sure if it was the fact that he was already feeling better physically or that they travelled in relative silence instead of having constant interruptions from a certain over excited lemur. He was still a little worried about her, but he was sure she would be fine as long as she remembered to tell the truth this time around. So he tried to push his thoughts away from her for now and focus on getting back to his bed to get a little bit of rest, or at least see if he could get a book to read.\n\nThe nurse decided to bring back up the subject herself though as she expressed her inquiry into Kiki's actions. Thackery couldn't help to look surprised as she asked him if he knew anything about what was up with Kiki. When he looked at the nurse all he could only see the grinning face of Jeffrey staring at him which only increased his expression for a moment before he forced himself to focus instead that this was the nurse. For some reason her vulpine features were enough to remind himself of what the bully had done, but he didn't know why.\n\nShaking his head and blushing a bit he made sure to look into her eyes, trying to ignore the muzzle for this moment, and frowned a bit. ``Oh, she said she lied to Killian... but I don't know what about as it was when she talked to him earlier. That's all,'' he said knowing he was not lying, but he also wasn't providing all of the details either as he didn't get the chance to know enough that it wasn't just rumors.\n\n---\n\nThe lemur winced when Killian called her out for avoiding the truth, but she was still determined to defend herself at the same time she was trying to apologize. It was a blend of reasoning that the raccoon clearly saw as excuses, though Kiki had a quick tongue, and a bad habit of spilling her guts when she was desperate for forgiveness.\n\nIn the brief silence that followed the raccoon's initial accusation, Kiki threw up both arms and shook her paws at the grown-up, shaking her head as well while she stammered in defense, ``B-b-but it was a sparkly floor, I didn'lie about that! It--it was just... more sparkly where the... red stuff was--But I jus'thought it was paint, I swear! I wasn--''\n\nBefore she could finish Killian interrupted her with a curse as he expressed his vexation. Right away Kiki's ears drooped again, and her entire posture continued to deteriorate as the raccoon proceeded to bark angrily at her. By the time he finished, tears had welled up in the little lemur's eyes, only to escape down her cheeks when she twitched into movement to nod her head in the affirmative.\n\nOnce she found her voice she added shakily, ``Y-yes... I know, and--I-I'm really sorry, Killian...!''\n\nLooking up at the grown-up with tears streaming down her round little face, the shock was plain as day when he then accused her of intending to spread rumors as well. Wide-eyed in panic and confusion, Kiki switched back to self-defense even as her paws jumped up to catch the gasp escaping her muzzle.\n\n``N-no, no, no! That's not it at all!'' she pleaded, ``I didn'know the red stuff was bad, Killian! It... wasn't until... Thackery got hurt.''\n\nAs she admitted the truth, Kiki's gaze fell away with guilt. Her wandering vision quickly snapped back into focus again though as she continued her argument, ``But I wasn't trying to spread rumors, Killian, I swear! Cross my heart! I jus'wanted Thackery to like me... I was only gonna tell him an' no one else.''\n\n``E-even it was an accident, I didn'think...'' she started to say, but trailed off, only to resume with, ``A-a-a-and even if it wasn't an accident, I would'a... I-I mean, he was a bully like Jeffrey, so I figured m--maybe he was bad?''\n\nKiki fell silent then, leading into a long, awkward silence as Killian seemed to process her perspective. Or maybe he was just deciding how to punish her. Or maybe he--no! Squeezing her eyes shut to force out her tears, the lemur shook her head and jumped out of the chair she was sitting in, opting to throw herself, quite literally, into Killian's lap. Her little simian arms wrapped around tightly and clung for dear life as the girl buried her tear-stained, sniffling face into his groin.\n\n``I'm sorry, Daddy! I was bad an' I won't do it again! Please forgive me!'' she wept, nigh inconsolably, ``You're not gonna let them expel me... are you?''\n\n---\n\nAs Kiki continued to stammer, letting out bits of information here and there between what sounded like more excuses, Killian waited and listened, trying to separate the facts from the excuses. He had also learned that simply waiting and listening was usually enough to convince Kiki that he could see through her attempts to mislead him.\n\nSuddenly, she threw herself at her soon-to-be adoptive father, shoving her cute face into Killian's rapidly growing erection and begged for forgiveness.\n\n``Kiki...''\n\nKillian sighed and, after a few light pats on the back of Kiki's head, gently guided her back into the chair beside him, kneeling down in front of her and placing his paws against the lemur's shoulders.\n\n``Listen to me, Kiki. If the other adults decide to expel you, there is nothing I can do. I can make a case for you, but if the vote doesn't go my way, then any chance of bringing you into our family is gone forever.''\n\nKillian cupped the sides of Kiki's face, bringing her eyes to meet his.\n\n``That is why... you must not tell anyone. Do you understand? This will be our secret. No-one must know. Not even Thackery. If anyone outside of you and me finds out about this, it could very well mean expulsion for you. The only way I can keep you here is if you say nothing. Promise me, Kiki.''\n\n---\n\nThe nurse's brow raised as Thackery explained what little information he had on the situation.\n\n``Oh she lied to him? She's in big big trouble, then. She'd better tell him the truth if she doesn't want things to get worse. By the way, which bunk is yours?''\n\nThe nurse followed Thackery to his bed, and peeled back the covers for the young bunny to slip into, then she covered up the naked cub before taking a seat on the side of the bed.\n\n``I noticed you seemed a little nervous back there. Are you worried about Kiki or.. is it me?''\n\n---\n\nThe bunny cub nodded along with the nurse's comment about lying, ``It's what I told her too! And ... it's right over here'' he said with a giggle as he pointed over to his bunk. It was relatively clean but it did have a book laying there that he had to move out of the way before the nurse moved the covers back.\n\nSlipping into the bed he smiled softly as he was tucked into the bed, the covers nice and snug around him making him feel much more secure in his little burrow of sorts. Plus it was relatively quiet in the mostly empty room so he didn't have to worry about the noise of the other cubs running around before they got ready for bed. This also meant he was alone with the fennec however as she asked him about his nervous tick earlier.\n\n``Oh it was Kiki,'' he said before he thought about it and realized he shouldn't lie to the nice nurse before he looked down at the sheets with a blush, ``And for a second your muzzle almost looked like Jeffrey's...''\n\n---\n\nCompletely oblivious to the male's arousal, the snot-nosed, teary-eyed cub kept up her bawling until she felt the reassuring pat of his paw on her head. Afterward he guided her back into her seat where Kiki took a moment to clear her sinuses and wipe her snout clean. Killian placed his paws on her small shoulders then, to be honest and clear with her that he had limited powers, but would do what he could.\n\nThe lemur understood that it was all she could ask for, nodding even though she couldn't meet his eyes, but it still scared her to think he couldn't protect her. With her gaze cast down at the fidgeting paws in her naked lap, the little girl didn't realize she was so focused on them until the warm palms of Killian forced her to look up. Eyes still wet with tears, she had to squint through the haze to see his face more clearly.\n\nThe moment she heard the words she'd been afraid of, Kiki reflexively closed her eyes with a disappointed wince. As feared, he wanted her to promise not to tell anyone anything. And he was very specific, so even if she'd had the will to undermine him now, there was no easy way to wiggle out of it. This was very important, both for her own future, and his. So, with a small, defeated sigh, Kiki conceded.\n\n``I had a feeling you'd say that,'' she mumbled in surrender, opening up her bright, clear eyes to meet Killian's again as she switched abruptly to a decisive smile.\n\nWith both paws, Kiki grabbed hold of the raccoon's wrists and used his sturdy limbs to pull herself closer until their noses touched. Then, staring deep into his gaze she declared, ``Okay, Daddy. I won't say a single thing. Not one word. I promise! Cross my heart! And I'll do it all for you, okay? For us!''\n\nLeaning a little closer, the lemur rubbed her nose against Killian's with a giggle, then promptly pulled back to lick it and show off her prettiest, toothy smile.\n\n---\n\nThe aroused raccoon had to fight the urge to press his lips to the little lemur's as she nuzzled his nose, those cute, innocent eyes staring into his. For now, he simply nuzzled back, then stood up.\n\n``By the way, I have a gift for my daughter-to-be.''\n\nKillian stood and reached into his pocket, revealing a little pink collar. He opened the straps to reveal a strange looking ornament installed in the middle.\n\n``This will remind you of your promise, and bind you to me as long as you keep it. Never take it off.''\n\nOnce the collar was secured on Kiki's neck, Killian reached into his ear as if to scratch, adjusting a hidden device inside as Kiki spoke.\n\n``Don't lose it. It wasn't easy to get.''\n\n---\n\n``Jeffrey? You mean the fox who's always causing trouble? Oh, is he the one that did this?''\n\nThe nurse gently ran her finger against Thackery's snout.\n\n``Hmm.. you say my muzzle reminded you of him? Hmm...''\n\nShe scratched her chin and thought for a moment. Something about what Thackery had said sounded very familiar. She sat in silence for a moment, staring at the wall, before turning back to the young bunny,\n\n``So what did Jeffrey do exactly? Was he.. On top of you? Did he bare his teeth? Was he holding you down? Did he bite you?''\n\nThe nurse nodded along to Thackery's recounting of the events that preceded his visit to her office.\n\n``Hmm, I see.. and before he started hitting you, were you frightened when he brought you to the ground and displayed his aggression towards you?''\n\n---\n\nThe bunny cub blinked for a moment as she asked about Jeffrey before he quickly realized that the nurse had not been present during the events that had transpired on the playground nor had the time to hear about it just yet. He swore that she had been told when they had come into her office, but searching through his memory he could only remember Killian mentioning it briefly before Kiki acted like the crazed lemur that she is.\n\nShivering involuntarily at the touch to his muzzle he hid it as well as he could, though he was amazed too with how numb he was already feeling, like he knew her finger was there but it did not hurt at all. The vixen's fingers so close to his fresh injury still brought feelings that he didn't fully understand however as he tensed up for moment, expecting something that never came to pass. She instead got an inquisitive look on her face and started asking questions at what felt like a rapid pace to the cub.\n\n``He was following me and Daniel, claiming he just wanted to play, but he always plays... played rough. When we said no he put me in a head lock where I couldn't move and I could only look down. It scared me so I tried to get away when I accidentally stepped on his foot which got him angry. Then he grabbed my ears, threw me to the ground and he was on top of me... punching me as I could only see his face between hits. I... think he bared his teeth? It was hard to concentrate.''\n\nHe talked as calmly as he could about the matter but his shivering intensified as he was forced to think more about the events on the playground. He was about to go on and talk about the other parts, like how Jeffrey had hurt Alexia also and was then immediately expelled by an unanimous vote, but the nurse continued on with her questions as she seemed much more focused on his injuries and not the fate of Jeffrey.\n\n``Oh... um... I think so. I was scared the moment he grabbed me. Then it got worse when I was on the ground looking up at him...'' he said softly having to look down at his sheets as he twitched nervously.\n\n---\n\nAfter her affection was reciprocated, Kiki seemed to swell up with energy again, as if the prior predicament had drained all the joy out of her. Now that expulsion wasn't an immediate danger, the girl's one-track mind jumped the rails to the next distraction, which Killian introduced as her gift.\n\nEyes lighting up with pure delight, the lemur leapt to her feet as fast as her caretaker, only she was still in the chair, which gave her the bonus height to better meet his gaze as he produced the small trinket. The way Kiki gazed upon the simple strap with it's curious ornament mounted in the center, it was as if Killian had revealed a priceless treasure. Even though she had no clue what it was or did, she stared so intently at it.\n\n``Th-that's... for me?'' she gasped in quiet awe, stiffening and raising her head when Killian moved to put it around her neck.\n\nAs soon as he fastened its little buckle, the lemur's eager, curious fingers attacked the new piece of attire excitedly. Kiki had never gotten anything to wear before, let alone something so pretty; and best of all it was a gift from her new Daddy. Something to be cherished deeply.\n\nRubbing her paws all up and down her throat with a euphoric sigh, Kiki's gaze eventually found its way back to Killian, at which point she promptly stopped what she was doing with an embarrassed blush and an awkward smile.\n\nJumping down from the chair, the girl beamed up at the raccoon but with a determined look in her eyes as she assured him, ``Don't worry, Daddy, I'll be extra careful! An' I'll never let anything bad happen to Daddy's super special gift! Thank-you sooo much!''\n\nTo show the depth of her gratitude, Kiki went so far as to throw herself into the raccoon again for another embrace, effectively nuzzling his crotch once more in the process. With the tingling sensation of the new neck-wear she wore as a reminder of her promise and her Daddy's love though, she didn't notice or seem to mind the bulge in his loins.\n\n---\n\nThe girl's tendency to press her muzzle against Killian's crotch was testing the patience of the horny raccoon. The more she unwittingly teased him, the more the caretaker was determined to keep Kiki out of trouble until he could take her home, where he would be the one to set the rules.\n\n``Hmm, just so you know, when you leave this place, you won't be bound by the same rules. When you and Thackery see each other again after adoption, you could tell him anything you want to tell him. You could tell him all about your new family, everything you see beyond that gate, anything you want to talk about. You'll no longer be sworn to secrecy about anything at all.''\n\nKillian sighed and separated himself from Kiki, placing a paw on her shoulder as he took a deep breath.\n\n``That said, now comes the bad news. I can't let your offenses go unanswered. You know that, right? You won't be expelled, but you will have to face punishment. Come along.''\n\nKillian walked towards the door, waving his paw for Kiki to follow. She would have to come willingly, or her punishment would be increased for every delay.\n\n---\n\nThe nurse shook her head.\n\n``Oh, I suppose that question was too vague. Of course you'd be scared... Here, give me your paw.''\n\nThe nurse softly took Thackery's paw and wrapped her fingers around it, gently pressing her thumb against the vein. Once she could feel Thackery's pulse, she leaned over him, pressing her other paw against his chest, and moving her head closer to Thackery, very briefly looming over him as a predator might, but then quickly sitting back up and removing her paw from his chest... noting that his pulse was much quicker...\n\n``Sorry about that, Thackery. Just getting a sense of your overall health after the incident. I suppose.. I should check one more thing before letting you sleep off the medicine. I'll be right back.''\n\nThe nurse was about to pat Thackery's head, but instead settled for patting his covered footpaw before leaving the room.\n\n---\n\nIt did not take long at all for the bunny cub to offer his paw to the nurse as he was conditioned for as long as he could remember to obey the adults as quickly as possible. He barely even thought about it before he felt his own wrist secured tightly, a thumb pressed hard enough against him to test his pulse. This simple fact of his wrist being restrained was enough to spike his slowly growing fear response as he was conditioned that none of the adults at the orphanage would ever hurt him, but she was still lessening his chances of escape if something like earlier happened again.\n\nThis response only grew as her other paw was pressed down on his chest, further lessening his chances of escape which he would not have thought about until the incident with Jeffrey. He was so focused on trying to not freak out at how she was restraining him that it took him by complete shock when suddenly he looked up and she was directly over him, that predatory muzzle looking down at him in a way that caused him this irrational fear and his pulse to increase by a significant amount.\n\nBut before he could have a full blown freak out at these actions they were over and she was leaning back and he was no longer restrained. It didn't slow his pulse but it left him enough mental capacity to let the conditioning of the orphanage take over that he should obey the adults in the orphanage, which included the nurse, and that they were all looking out for the cubs under their wing. This let him take a few short deep breaths instinctually to try to get his pulse back down and allow him to calm himself.\n\nSo focused on that he barely registered the nurse's words until he blinked and she was gone leaving him alone in the room that he had been so desperate to get back to. But he no longer felt as tired as he had before, his eyes darting across the room to try to judge on if he was truly alone or if there was truly someone there still. He still did not understand these feelings and felt maybe he should ask one of the adults about it, but figured it could wait as he moved his paw along the sheets until he finally found one of the books that he had been hoarding near his bed and flipping it open. At this point he didn't care what book it was or even what page he had opened it up to, but instead that at least in the books there was just information and stories instead of dangerous foxes and annoying lemurs.\n\nWith this he busied himself while waiting for the nurse to return.\n\n---\n\nKiki couldn't help but smile broadly as Killian informed her things would change after adoption, however it was a short-lived joy to know she could eventually tell Thackery everything and more. After his reassurances, the raccoon moved away and placed a paw on her shoulder in a serious fashion she recognized, even before he confirmed it with words.\n\nThis was the part the lemur had been dreading, but also resigned to as well. She'd lied after all, and that meant she broke a rule. Even still, she didn't follow immediately after the caretaker as he ushered her towards her inevitable punishment. Not until he uttered the words ``Come along'' was her body willing to comply.\n\nThough Kiki still looked every bit as nervous, she grudgingly moved towards Killian and the open doorway.\n\n``I--I understand, Daddy,'' she confirmed, gaze cast downward and head bowed slightly as she proceeded to slink along behind him, dragging her tail along the floor until morbid curiosity compelled her to ask, ``So, is... is it gonna be the spice again? I mean, it was just a lil' lie, right? You wouldn't put me in the Box for that, would you?''\n\nThough visibly nervous and wringing her paws as her imagination ran wild, Kiki had to bite her tongue to keep herself from babbling further. It had never done her any favors in the past to offer up suggestions for her own punishment, and now was the worst time to tempt fate by giving Killian an idea of what she was dreading most. Isolation.\n\n---\n\n``That's my girl.'' Killian turned to pat Kiki on the head as she graciously accepted her punishment. ``I have a request, though.''\n\nKillian stopped for a moment, and scritched lightly under Kiki's chin.\n\n``I'd like for you to continue to call me `Killian' for the time being. We wouldn't want to make the other cubs jealous, would we? They might also start to believe that I'm showing you favoritism which...'' Killian breathed in through his teeth. ``Honestly, I kinda am.. but they don't need to know that, do they?''\n\nKillian stood and ushered Kiki to follow again.\n\n``You'll be in the dark room for three days. That's one day for each offense.''\n\n---\n\nPretty soon, the nurse returned with something she doubted Thackery would be pleased to see. A needle.\n\n``I'm terribly sorry about this, Thackery. I'll have to check your blood for infections. If there's an infection, it will probably start to hurt more, unless we treat it quickly.''\n\nThe nurse set her supplies into the night stand and pulled it closer as she took a seat on the bed, first picking up the band for Thackery's arm.\n\n``You don't want Jeffrey's cooties swimming around inside you, do you? Let me have your arm for a moment.''\n\n---\n\nAs the nurse was gone the bunny cub continued to read his book as the mystery contained within those pages was at least solvable compared to what he could not figure out about his own emotions around foxes now or whatever Kiki had tried to tell him twice that day. The cub was used to the idea of the adults not telling him everything however so he decided not to worry about either too much.\n\nHe was just getting to a good part of the book when his ears picked up on the sound of the door opening to the room forcing him to quickly remember his place in the book then scoot it to the side so that he could focus on her. Just seeing her entering the room and knowing it was just the two of them alone in there was enough to make him worried, but then he saw the syringe that she was carrying and he got the urge to jump out of his bed and make a run for it. However his conditioning still held and beyond an involuntary shiver he stayed relatively still as she got closer and expressed her apology.\n\nHe bit his lip, not even trusting himself to speak as he moved his arm closer to her, unsure if he was so willing because of how often he had been told to trust the adults in the orphanage or this fear that she was expressing that somehow Jeffrey had infected him with something. Either way he let the nurse take his arm but he also could not look at her or the needle in that moment as he tilted his muzzle and started to look around the room for anything that he could focus on in that moment as he knew it would not be long until that needle was going into his arm. His logical part of his brain knew that the nurse wouldn't hurt him and that he had shots before in his past with no issues, but the other half was telling him that he needed to get away this very instant so that she couldn?t take his blood.\n\n---\n\nThough the scritch Killian offered was pleasant, his request wasn't. Kiki looked up at him with a small pout, but nodded glumly in understanding.\n\n``Yes, Da--I mean... Okay Killian. I won'let anyone know I'm your favorite,'' she answered, hiding a small smile.\n\nThe idea of being his favorite was made all the sweeter now that he'd literally confirmed it. So when Killian informed her of her coming punishment, the lemur was less upset about it than she might've been otherwise.\n\nAll the same though, she still responded negatively, ``W-what? Three whole days? One day for each... but... I thought it was only th'one lie...!'' Huffing and grabbing hold of her energetic tail for comfort, she eventually sighed softly, ``That's... fair, I guess. I-it's better than getting expelled, that's for sure!''\n\nTruthfully it was debatable. Three days of solitude was a long time for a social creature like Kiki to be cooped up in the dark. She wasn't looking forward to it in the least, as evidenced by her shriveled posture as she continued to follow behind Killian.\n\n---\n\n``Kiki, after all of this, you still don't understand why you're in trouble? Fine, I'll explain it to you again.''\n\nKillian continued to walk with Kiki towards the disciplinary center, a door isolated from all the others, and a place Kiki was very familiar with.\n\n``Offense number one: The staff door is strictly off-limits.\n\nOffense number two: Intent to spread rumors.\n\nOffense number three: Your `one lie'''\n\nKillian opened the door to the disciplinary center and waved Kiki inside before approaching the wolf behind the desk.\n\n``Hi, Bart.''\n\n``Hi, Killian. Hello again, Kiki.''\n\n``Now, Kiki, you know the drill. Tell Bart what rules you've broken.'' He then leaned down to whisper into Kiki's ear. ``Just the rules, nothing more.''\n\nBart retrieved the disciplinary form and began filling out Kiki's info, which he knew by heart at this point.\n\n---\n\nThe nurse gently took Thackery's arm in one paw, and with the other, shaved a small patch of fur, then she tied the band around Thackery's arm. She could feel him trembling. She couldn't tell if he was just afraid of the needle or.. something else... but either way, the obedient little rabbit was cooperating all the same.\n\n``You're a good kid, Thackery. By the way, tell me a little about that book you're reading. Is it a story? Or homework?''\n\nThe nurse attempted to distract Thackery with his current interest while she cleaned the area with a cotton swab, prepared the needle, then pressed it into the cub's vein. She watched the cub's blood flowing into the tube, then removed the band, and the needle, quickly replacing it with gauze.\n\n``All done, sweetie. Do you want to see?''\n\n---\n\nThe bunny cub just wanted this whole business with the needle done with but it didn't seem to him that the nurse was picking up on this as she took her time. Carefully shaving a small patch of fur, double checking that the tie was nice and secure, and then prepping the instruments to get his blood out. At least she was trying to distract him with a discussion about his book, but this also seemed to make this ordeal last longer.\n\n``Oh... story I guess. We read a similar book in class, but I wanted more...'' he said sheepishly, not sure if he was more nervous about his excitement over reading or if it was due to the fact that she seemed to still be lingering there with the needle right at the corner of his eyesight waiting on a response.\n\nHe was tempted to say more out of urgency for her to continue and then he felt the needle entering his arm. The logic part of his brain barely felt the pain as she slid in with a clinical nature to get a good sample, but something was telling him that he should be freaking out but the mixture of his conditioning and this urge to freeze in place kept his arm in place long enough for the nurse to finish.\n\nHis whole body felt cold by the point that the needle was removed and he was instructed to put his paw over the cotton to keep it in place before she put the gauze over it to keep it in place. It was over he thought before she confirmed it with her voice followed by her question. He did not want to see, he knew this, but yet his body turned and looked at the vial with the dark red liquid contained within. This was his blood he thought before his head got dizzy and he had to grip the bed tightly as his body was debating on if he wanted to faint or throw up at the sight of his own blood no longer contained in his body. He probably lost quite a bit more than that vial when Jeffrey had roughed him up, but he was too messed up at the time to really pay attention to that fact, where the nurse was clearly showing what she took for him.\n\nHe somehow was able to resist doing either, though it would be very obvious that he had to resist both, as he looked at the nurse's kind eyes. ``Uh... not any more... but thank you mam'' he said in an almost whisper as he couldn't find his voice in the moment.\n\n---\n\nMuch as Kiki wanted to argue the offenses laid against her, she simply nodded in silence instead. If Killian of all handlers specified that those were the rules she'd broken with her actions, she had to believe it. After all, he was her favorite, and he wanted to adopt rather than expel the girl. He cared that much she knew, and it made the thought of sitting in isolated darkness for the next 72 hours easier to accept.\n\nEven still, the lemur's anxiety grew one they got to the discipline center, with Kiki having to stand before the familiar canine like she was on trial. The big desk Bart sat behind always made her feel so small. His straight face, void of all expression made her uneasy too. Was he happy to see her? Mad? Annoyed? He had to be unhappy at the very least. This was her 18th visit by now, so he clearly didn't need any help filling out the forms.\n\nWith a soft whine in response to Killian's request for her to list her crimes, Kiki tried to look the wolf in the eyes as she answered, as curtly as she could, per the raccoon's request.\n\n``Uhm... well... f-first I looked in the staff room... then I l-lied to Killian...'' she stammered nervously, trying not to look to the raccoon for approval that she wasn't saying too much. Swallowing the rising lump in her throat, she finished, ``S--s-so I could... spread rumors about it...''\n\nHer gaze dropped to the floor then, with a genuine look of guilt. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes and she stubbornly grabbed her tail to wipe them away. It wasn't like she could elicit sympathy from Bart, after all. She'd figured that out after trying the first 10 times to lighten her sentence in the Box.\n\n---\n\nKillian gently rubbed the back of Kiki's head as the lemur finished repeating her offenses to the raccoon's satisfaction.\n\n``She'll be spending three days in the dark room.''\n\nThe two waited as the wolf scribbled the data onto the paper, softly repeating the information to himself as he recorded it. Finally, he set the paper aside and stood from the desk, but paused for a moment, his gaze fixed on Kiki for a short moment.\n\n``Hmm.. Nice collar.''\n\nHe then brought Kiki and Killian through the side door, to the row of solid, soundproof doors leading to a bunch of very small rooms with nothing more than a mattress, toilet, and water fountain inside, though once Kiki was in, she would have to feel around for each object, if she hadn't memorized where they were by now.\n\nBart opened up the first unoccupied chamber, and waved Kiki inside. Killian gave her a quick nudge towards the chamber.\n\n``I'll make sure you get dinner a little earlier today. Just think. Three days in the dark room, then four days out, then the rest of your childhood with me.''\n\nKillian winked at Kiki as the wolf closed the chamber door, locking Kiki inside.\n\n---\n\nThe nurse hadn't realized how the sight of Thackery's own blood would affect the cub, but as soon as Thackery's eyes rolled back, the nurse moved quickly to catch him, and then hid the vial at the first chance.\n\n``Oh wow, I'm sorry about that! Here, get comfortable.''\n\nThe nurse waited for Thackery to lay himself down on the mattress, and then she draped the blanket over the little bunny.\n\n``I've seen cubs faint before while I was taking their blood, but usually afterwards they're... Oh, almost forgot.''\n\nThe fennec reached into her pocket and retrieved a small nutrient bar, this along with the cheap, bland mixture with the consistency of oatmeal made up all of the cubs' meals in this place. The nurse placed the nutrient bar on the stand next to Thackery's bed.\n\n``Take a couple of bites of that before you sleep, and whenever you get hungry. Sleep tight, sweety.''\n\nThe nurse then left the bunk room, and wondered if that vial contained her key to a pay raise as she returned to her office.\n\n---\n\nIt did not take long for Thackery to recover after the sight of his recently acquired blood was taken out of eyesight. Blushing deeply he didn't think too hard on why he acted like that as the nurse started coddling him a bit, going back to her more kind doting manner like how she was in the office instead of triggering this fear reaction again.\n\nHe still did not have enough energy to respond to her words however as he just nodded slowly, showing that he understood before he grabbed the nutrient bar and unwrapped it slowly to take a few small nibbles. The food might have bland to anyone else, but it was all the cub had ever known about beyond some of the books mentioning other types of food he had never seen or tasted. The little bit of food was already making him feel better as it calmed down his stomach and got his blood sugar back to a relatively stable point.\n\n``Thank you nurse,'' is all he could get out before she slipped out of the room leaving him alone to think about the day. Looking around the still empty room he had the quick thought about all the other cubs, curious what they were doing at the moment before he grabbed his book to focus on while he still had some privacy. He got the feeling that there would only be so much time before he would have to deal with all the other cubs asking him questions about his day.\n\n---\n\nThough Kiki kept her eyes focused on the floor while the record of her punishment was finalized, when the wolf inevitably noticed and complimented her on the new collar she couldn't help reflexively perking up her ears as a small smile formed. It was really the first nice thing he'd ever said to her, even though it was delivered with the same, dead-pan expression. Bart almost made Bobby seem interesting by comparison, in fact.\n\nWhere the canine would rattle on for hours about boring things, the wolf opted for silence over speaking entirely. And if there was anything that drove the lemur crazier, it was complete silence. Couple that with complete darkness and total isolation, and the nature of the punishment was crystal clear.\n\nThe sensory deprivation was likely intended to encourage meditation for the purpose of self-reflection. After all, she'd been bad and this was the consequence. Unfortunately, being locked in a room by herself did nothing to stem her hyperactivity whatsoever. It never had. And even now, as she was being walked towards her assigned cell, Kiki was mentally prepared for 72 hours of sleepless insanity.\n\nStill she dreaded the wait deeply. Dreaded the thought of all those hours wasted in darkness by herself, when she could've been out playing with Thackery and the others. Now she would only have her imagination to play with and that made her frown as she started into the dark hole she was expected to enter willingly.\n\nShe wanted to do it for Killian, if nothing else, but it took a light nudge from the raccoon before Kiki accepted her fate with a soft sigh and stepped forward. Once inside, she turned around to stare up at her future daddy, trying to hold back the tears as he tried to reassure her.\n\nI--I can hardly wait,'' she replied with a sniffle, wiping the tears away before they could escape before adding, ``I'll--I'll see you again really soon, Killian! An-and I'll be better this time, promise!''\n\nSatisfied by the wink she received before being cast into utter darkness and solitude, the smiling lemur sighed dreamily and spun around on her heel, making a blind beeline for the small, cub-sized mattress. Not only had she been in detention like this enough times to have memorized the visual layout of all the cells, but Kiki's particularly sensitive sense of touch, gave her a perfect, tactile image of the rooms in the dark as well.\n\nSo even without her sight, she knew how many steps wide and long and even tall the room was, how far away everything was, and where exactly they sat in the darkness. Needless to say, she had no issues getting around. The worst part of this whole experience was the silence. It was always quick to become deafening, but rather than wait for the ringing to eventually subside, Kiki would fill the air with her own noise in whatever form it might be.\n\nRanting, singing, humming, play-acting, even impersonating other people to create whole scenarios in which she gleefully exposed what she saw as everyone's short-coming. Bobby's dullness, Bart's frustrating refusal to converse; she also targeted some of the handlers as well, like Alexia with her weird accent and need for a crutch, and even Killian's propensity for making excuses why he couldn't do things.\n\nAll spoken aloud, and in some cases with exceptional flair the likes of someone destined for Theatre, Kiki would spend the next three days filling the silence with a string of endless babble that would've been difficult for even the most seasoned staff to tolerate. The only breaks would be the brief interruptions when food was delivered, but otherwise, she carried on with faltering, even when she was on the toilet--in fact, that was usually when she sang loudest, to drown out the gross sounds.\n\n---\n\nFrom the next day on, while Kiki remained in isolation, Thackery would mostly be going back to his usual routine. In the morning, the cubs who weren't already stirring and talking in the bunk room would be awoken, then all were led into the cafeteria for breakfast, each species given nutrient bars and bland, mushy meals suited to their diet. After breakfast they would return to the classroom for lessons in speech, obedience, various courses in basic knowledge, or some story time where Killian and Wendy told stories of past and recent adoptions, emphasizing the joy and fun that came for the cubs who had left the orphanage.\n\nAfter lessons, the cubs would be allowed onto the playground briefly for recess. For the first couple of days, while Thackery was still healing, he was allowed to sit with the adults and read from the highly vetted and censored choice of books from the library, none making mention of anything above ground, except that could be explained as a massive light, much like the artificial sunlight that shined on the cubs as they played on the playground. There was no sky, sun, moon, or stars, except for the occasional mention of them that occasionally slipped past the censors, usually just words the cubs were never taught.\n\nAfter recess, the cubs would be brought back into the cafeteria for lunch. Each cub, upon finishing their lunch, would make their way to the shower room, where they would bathe and groom their fur as they had been trained to do. Any cub who didn't look sufficiently well-groomed would be sent back to finish. After the grooming, they would, one by one, head to the back of the cafeteria into a room with a very large one-way mirror on the opposite side. They would mingle and play until all cubs were present, at which time they would line up in front of the mirror, one group after another, the naked cubs unaware of the eyes watching from the other side, as they performed their ``afternoon stretches'', where the well-groomed cubs would be instructed to stretch and pose in many positions for the invisible prying eyes.\n\nOnce all the cubs had presented themselves to the mirror, they would then go back to the bunk room for a short nap, after which they would split into small groups for evening courses. They would rotate between instructors each day to learn various menial tasks such as sweeping, cleaning, doing dishes, laundry, and more, all with the promise of top marks in their files to be viewed by potential parents. The cubs were given lots of praise and encouragement, and a lucky few were given small portions of candy for doing exceptional jobs.\n\nAfter this was evening play time, where all the cubs would be let out onto the playground for the rest of the day. Those who weren't engaging in physical activity would often be instructed to run a few laps around the playground before being allowed to return to whatever they were doing before. Thackery would be the exception for the first couple of days, but on the third, he would be expected to play or run like everyone else. Shortly after the cubs were let out, small snacks would be available for anyone who wanted something between lunch and dinner.\n\nJust before ``nightfall'', the cubs would return to the cafeteria for dinner, then to the classroom for ``cool down'', where they would have access to toys and board games before bed. Unbeknownst to the cubs, this was the time when a much more sinister form of training would take place. There was one more thing the cubs would need to be ready for upon adoption -- the ability to take an adult penis without serious damage.\n\nEvery night, five cubs would be given the privilege of spending the night in the ``playroom'', which was stocked with the best toys, a little candy, and even some video games. Eventually, they would all be served a drink of their choice, which would be laced with a drug that would render the cubs unconscious, leaving them completely unaware of what happened next. One by one, the nurse would wheel the unconscious cubs out of the room.\n\nOnce isolated, the nurse would then very carefully work the rectums and vaginas of the blissfully unaware cubs with toys and devices. She very much enjoyed doing this to male students in particular. When she was done, the cubs would be able to tightly stretch around their first cock, whenever that might be. She would then wheel them back into the playroom to sleep off the drugs while she worked the holes of the next cub.\n\nAt last, the final day of Kiki's isolation arrived. Thackery and the other cubs were let out onto the playground for evening playtime. Light flooded the dark room as Killian opened the door.\n\n``Time's up, Kiki. Thanks for being such a good girl for me.''\n\nHe gently hugged the lemur and ran his paw up and down her back, and kissed the top of her head before leading her out of the disciplinary center and onto the playground. As soon as they came outside, Daniel took notice and rushed over to Kiki and Killian.\n\n``Kiki! What happened?! Dale said you were expelled, and.. and Zane said you died!''\n\n``Really now..'' Killian sighed, ``More rumors... Kiki, go out and play while I have a little chat with Dale and Zane.''\n\nOnce Killian started towards the cubs in question, Daniel stared at Kiki's new collar for a moment, then pointed out into the field and looked to Kiki.\n\n``Thackery's over there! Wanna go play kick-ball?''\n\n---\n\nIt was pleasant for Thackery for things to return to somewhat normal for a few days as he focused on recovering from the events that had transpired. The first day felt like a blur to the bunny cub who was not accustomed to pain killers of any kind, but luckily for him the lessons that day were easy enough that he was able to keep his focus throughout the morning classes and the few bits of information he missed he was able to ask about during recess. By the second day he was relatively back to normal and the third he acted like nothing had happened, though there were still some bruises around his eye that lingered. He focused on his studies with the same fervor he always had, intent on getting adopted into some family that enjoyed how studious he was, and stayed out of trouble.\n\nClasses had ended on the third day and during evening recess he was finally told that he was fit enough to join in with the other kids for evening recess despite his initial reaction being that he wanted to stay with the adults longer. He quickly was talked out of trying to push his luck with that dialogue however with a gentle reminder that he needed to catch up on his exercise so that he was healthy for when he was eventually adopted. So without an argument he made himself onto the playground to find that it was much calmer now without Jeffrey bullying the other cubs and Kiki not around to pester him about whatever piece of curiosity she had discovered. In a way it was calming even when Daniel had run up to him and asked to play a game of kickball acting like he had already forgotten that the last time they had tried the fox bully had interrupted them ending in the buck's muzzle bloody and Jeffrey expelled.\n\nHe seemed even more excited talking about what he heard about Kiki as apparently the younger buck had heard some rather extravagant rumors, but before Thackery could refute these rumors or explain the little bit that he knew Daniel was running off again. That is when he noticed that this interruption was indeed because of Kiki as she was being escorted out to the playground by Killian after being gone for three days. He could only watch the exchange between Daniel, Killian, and Kiki as he was still far enough away that he couldn't hear much of anything being discussed beyond that it seemed that Killian was rushing off to talk to some other cubs and leaving Kiki alone with Daniel.\n\nPart of him was very happy to see her return, especially as he was still interested in whatever secret she wanted to share before her disappearance. But the other part of him was a bit disheartened to realize that the peace and quiet of the last few days would be once again broken up by the energetic lemur and that if she had been gone as long as she had it would mean she would have been in isolation yet again. This would probably mean that she would be unable to share whatever she had learned to keep them both out of trouble which would then leave him with a lingering mystery which he most especially did not care for.\n\n---\n\nAfter a full three days in isolated darkness, Kiki's other senses had heightened considerably, such that she was aware of Killian's arrival at her cell door before he'd even begun to unlatch it. Opening her light-blind eyes, she stared at the upside-down door as it rattled and clanked, a big grin sweeping across her face as the young lemur released her grip on the unseen perch in the ceiling that she'd discovered, and quickly flipped onto her feet.\n\nAs the door opened and light poured in to make her eyes hurt, even while closed, Kiki made a bee-line for Killian standing in the glow of artificial fluorescent daylight. Without a single thought she threw herself into his groin once again, limited by her height as she hugged him before he even had a chance to crouch to her level.\n\n``I missed you so much, Killian!'' she cried, seeming to be all torn up emotionally at first as the raccoon lowered himself to her height to return the embrace, but in the act of stroking her spine and kissing the top of her head, the girl suddenly giggled instead, perking up as she met his gaze to say, ``I had no idea three days was so long! I don'wanna do that again. It was so boooooring.''\n\nThough complaining, Kiki followed after Killian like an obedient pup, ecstatic to be free to return to the playground. She almost expected, or perhaps hoped, to see Thackery right there waiting, ready to play with her. However, as soon as the caretaker led her out into the larger space, the first cub to come running over to her was Daniel; the sweet little bunny who loved to play kickball. It was unusual for him to talk to her, though.\n\nThe reason for doing so was quite obvious considering his greeting, but Kiki was uncertain how to respond at first as the boy explained how rumors had spread about her of all things, and she hadn't even said a word to anyone yet. Looking awkward, and with a nervous chuckle after hearing Killian's reaction, the lemur gave Daniel an opaque answer.\n\n``Ah--hahah, well, none of those stories are true, but I bet I know who's getting punished next now,'' she giggled exaggeratedly, one eye on Killian as he was walking away, ``That's jus'what happens when you spread rumors, I guess.''\n\nGiving Daniel a playful pat on the shoulder she looked him in the eyes and smiled, ``So don't you go spreading silly rumors like them, okay, Danny?''\n\n``Anyway, you wanna play kickball, right? So let's go!'' she chirped, racing ahead of the younger bunny, on a direct collision course with Thackery out of the kickball field.\n\nBeaming with energy and excitement, despite running on fumes from lack of sleep, Kiki charged towards him, hollering, ``Heeeeeey, Thackeryyyyyy!'' before leaping and crashing into him, forcing him flat onto his back in the grass as she stared him down with a downright wild look in her eyes.\n\n``Didja miss me? Huh? Didja?'' she asked, before immediately cutting off his answer by blurting out loud, ``I HAVEN'T SLEPT FOR THREE DAYS!''\n\nThen she giggled and toppled onto her side, rolling to her back as she yawned and seemed to fall asleep on the spot.\n\n---\n\nDaniel nodded quickly at the older cub's advice, realizing he could have just as easily gotten into trouble himself, then nodded more enthusiastically when Kiki offered to play kickball with him. Before he knew it, Kiki had taken off, and the smaller bunny ran after as fast as he could, unable to gain any ground on the energetic lemur until she collided with Thackery. His eyes went wide as he watched the two older cubs tumbling onto the ground after Kiki lept right onto him.\n\nDaniel had never been in the dark room for more than a day before. He was able to fall asleep eventually, but to imagine staying awake in that place for three days made the 5-year-old cringe at the thought. Sleep was the only thing that passed the time in a way that wasn't agonizing. He watched as Kiki rolled off the uncomfortable buck, then when he had a chance, he waved to Thackery.\n\n``I'm gonna go get us a ball.''\n\nDaniel ran enthusiastically towards the ball bin, leaving Kiki and Thackery to ``catch up'' for awhile. Along the way back, he asked a few others if they wanted to play to even out the teams, but none seemed interested, although Daniel only asked who he encountered on his bee-line back to Kiki and Thackery.\n\n``I got one! Let's go play!''\n\nJust then, his ears twitched, and honed in to the sound of loud whispering coming from the nearby tree. He looked towards the tree and gasped loudly at the sight of someone who wasn't supposed to be there. It was Jeffrey, desperately trying to get their attention as he poked his head from the other side of the tree trunk, keeping the tree between him and the adults, and he wasn't going to move from that spot.\n\n``No-no-no-no please don't tell! I'm begging you not to tell! Please just.. Just come over here to the other side of the tree! I...''\n\nJeffrey's head quickly disappeared behind the tree as an adult seemed to be coming towards the tree, but he peeked back out when it seemed they were going in the opposite direction.\n\n``I won't touch any of you, I promise! Please!''\n\n---\n\nHis inability to decide if he was happy to have Kiki back or not was made for him as she gave him no time to react before suddenly flinging herself at him. Suddenly found himself lying in the grass looking up at her as she pinned him to the ground he wanted to let out a loud scream but she had effectively knocked the air out of his lungs. His whole body froze up at the familiar feeling of another cub looming over him with a crazed look in their eyes making him suddenly put his arms in front of his face as he tried to protect his nose.\n\nBut as soon as it had started it was also over as the lemur cub rolled off of the bunny cub and he was left there shaking in fright at the `attack' before his wits finally came back to him. Looking over at Kiki he blinked as he soaked in the information from her sudden outburst that she had not slept the entire time she was in isolation. He could only imagine what being in isolation would be like for her as she seemed to survive off of social interactions and he had a theory that was why it seemed like it was the adults' primary choice for punishing her it seemed. But he couldn't really ask her about that as it seemed she had dozed off right then and there after expending her last little bit of energy.\n\nHe could only nod at Daniel's notice of leave as he kept an eye on Kiki for a few more moments then tentatively got back up, the fear and the urge to protect himself fading almost like a dream it seemed as he returned to normal. He still couldn't keep his eyes off of Kiki, waiting for her to move as he debated on trying to wake her to make sure she was okay or instead enjoy the few moments of silence before she would spring back up.\n\nWith the return of Daniel however brought faint whispers that both bunny cubs picked up on immediately turning towards the tree and the fox hiding there. The same fox that had busted his nose only a few days prior and gotten himself expelled from the school. Thackery had to blink as he looked at Jeffrey as he made some frantic gestures along with begging the cubs to not reveal his location to the adults and promising to not touch them. He wanted to scream for the adults at that very moment, but all he could see was that muzzle and the slight glimpses of teeth as the fox talked and he just froze there staring at the former bully. His leg twitched as he got ready to run, but something was also screaming in his brain that he couldn't until he knew what the fox was going to do next. But that also meant he was just standing there without saying a word staring at Jeffrey, neither moving closer to the bully or trying to escape.\n\n---\n\nWhether Kiki had actually been asleep or not, she suddenly lurched upright amid the wide-eyed tension between the two bunnies and a fox. Unaware of either however, the girl sleepily raised a finger to the sky and declared:\n\n``Mmm...Yes, teacher... I would like another...!''\n\nThen the lemur flopped back down and rolled around in the grass semi-consciously. It was really hard to focus in her sleep-deprived state of delirium, but on some level she grew aware of Jeffrey's familiar presence, if for no other reason than because Thackery and Daniel both shared the same unique looks of terror they possessed when caught in that darn fox's line of sight.\n\nConsidering neither buck had the courage to say or do anything, Kiki's body was determined to intervene, even if half her brain was asleep and the rest was on auto-pilot. Wriggling creepily to her feet like some kind of demonic marionette doll, she raised her fists like she intended to engage in an old-school game of fist-i-cuffs.\n\n``Whooooa-wait, wait... who are... ah! Begone evil fox spirit!'' she demanded, waving her arms like she had magic powers.\n\nThough she finally recognized the sneaky fox hiding behind the tree, the girl wasn't sure if she was hallucinating, since no one had ever come back from being expelled before. Clearly this was something unnatural coming back to haunt her friends.\n\n``Leeeave my friends aloooone, you... you... whatever you aaaare...!'' she rambled, stumbling closer to the boy's hiding spot as she struggled to find the words to admonish this apparition.\n\n---\n\nOn any other day, seeing the terror in the eyes of the two bunnies, particularly the one that got him expelled, might have pleased the fox bully, but today wasn't one of those days. Jeffrey continued to whisper and motion towards a spot behind the tree.\n\n``You don't have to come close, okay? I'll stay right--''\n\nSuddenly the form of the lemur staggered to her feet, and once she raised her fists, and although the fox was confident he could take the girl in a fight, Jeffrey rapidly shook his head, knowing the lemur could easily draw attention to them if she attacked. Then it got worse. She began to yell, to which Jeffrey could only frantically shush the girl, keeping as much of himself behind the tree as possible.\n\nWhen she was finished, however, Jeffrey could only blink in confusion. Was she trying to play a game with him? He hadn't a clue. He slowly peeked his head from both sides of the tree, seeing that Kiki's outburst seemed to draw no red flags from anyone on the playground. It WAS Kiki, after all. Jeffrey worked up the courage to bring his head around the tree again.\n\n``I.. I'm not here to fight any of you. I just want to talk. Please! Th.. Thackery! I'm sorry I hit you! Don't tell!''\n\n---\n\nThe outburst from the lemur was enough to jerk the buck out of his fear induced daze as he was forced to turn his attention towards her shenanigans. It was obvious to Thackery that she was still suffering the effects of not sleeping the entire time she was gone, plus he could only assume that being alone for three days also made her a bit more crazed than normal. Either way she was first threatening to punch Jeffrey it looked like then waving her hands like he was some sort of ghost or spirit that she could just shoo away with a few choice words and a movement of her paws.\n\nBut she was moving closer to Jeffrey and he had to do something so he quickly stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her own, ``Hey Kiki... let's think for a moment...'' he said in a hushed whisper, ``You don't want to get in trouble again..'' he said as it was the only thing he could think could get through to her at the moment.\n\nBut this also brought him closer to the fox bully it seemed as he tilted his head to look down at the fox's lower half, averting his gaze from Jeffrey's face for the moment as he tried avoiding that muzzle that had filled him with such fear. ``What are you doing here? Did they let you back in?'' he asked in a confused voice, still not moving away from the fox but keeping a tight grip on Kiki to try to encourage her to think through her actions for once.\n\n---\n\nWhen the mystical arts had failed her, Kiki assumed what could only be described as the stance of a drunken kung-fu master. Looking to karate-chop her hallucination into oblivion, the sleepy lemur was easily held back by the fully conscious, though no less frightened Thackery. In fact the physical contact seemed to disable her defenses entirely.\n\n``You're right... that's a... a good point,'' she conceded to the rabbit's logic, and not just because her limbs currently felt like rubber, however she eyed the fox and pointedly concluded, ``But I got my eeeeeye on you, buster!''\n\nMaybe it was the fact he'd come to her first for once, or that his fur was just so soft, or perhaps the possibility that he had a really good point about getting in trouble again, but Kiki proceeded to lean into the buck afterward, entirely distracted from the predator by his snuggly warmth. She even went so far as to snuggle up closer and curl her tail around the two of them while he addressed the fox.\n\nShe blinked suddenly when she realized that Thackery could see him too, though, prompting a random query; ``So wait, he's... not a spirit only I can see...?'' Of course, only Kiki would sound disappointed about it.\n\n---\n\nJeffrey breathed a small sigh of relief as Thackery calmed Kiki down, but his relief was short-lived as none of the other cubs were keen to move to the other side of the tree where Jeffrey could talk to them without exposing himself to the other adults. His pleading with them was doing no good. Daniel could only stare silently in disbelief. A bully he had witnessed being taken outside the gate, from which no other cub had ever returned... had returned. Whatever the case, he certainly wasn't going to move to the other side of the tree with Jeffrey unless Thackery and Kiki did first.\n\nJeffrey shook his head at Thackery's question, and continued to speak in a loud whisper as long as the three cubs refused to move.\n\n``Not... Not exactly... and it won't be long before they figure out that I'm here. Before they do, I need to tell you what's really going on here, and what happens when you leave here, and then... and then I... I need your help... Please! come around here so they won't see me! I'll tell you everything!''\n\nAbout that time, Killian appeared from the door of the disciplinary center, having just brought in the two ``rumor-mongers'' that Daniel had pointed out. The bug Kiki was wearing around her neck hadn't revealed everything, but just enough to clue the raccoon that something was amiss. He scanned the area, a fair distance away from the tree Jeffrey was hiding behind. He squinted as he spotted Kiki, Daniel, and Thackery standing around a tree, trying to figure out whether or not he could make out a head barely poking around it.\n\n---\n\nThe buck was fighting three different emotions at this moment as his fear had him wanting to make a mad dash back to the school yard and alert as many adults as he could, his worry had him clinging to Kiki in the hope to keep her from going and doing something stupid, and his curiosity was peaked at everything Jeffrey was saying. The worry about Kiki seemed to waver as she leaned into him in this weird mix of seeking comfort from him and the fact that she looked like she was about to fall asleep on her feet any moment now and needed someone to hold her up before she collapsed again. Looking over at Daniel he saw the small rabbit was stuck in the same moment of fear or disbelief where it looked like the younger cub would not be much help with this final decision.\n\nHe comforted Kiki softly as he thought, trying to make sure that she wouldn't collapse on him in this current state of events, but was also weighing his options with her as he could already tell he would be unable to move far with her attached to him like so. Even if he could detangle from her and get the nerve to leave her behind it was likely that Jeffrey could catch up to him in little to no time. So it looked to him that the only option that was left was the latter, to let his curiosity make the decision for him as he gently guided Kiki closer to the fox.\n\nLeaning close to Kiki he whispered to her low enough for her to hear but hopefully not get Jeffrey's attention, ``I see him too Kiki... but I don't think we can outrun him. So let him say whatever he wants to say... distract him long enough for someone to notice. If you feel better though suddenly, maybe we both should run for it,'' he finishes as he looks behind himself at Daniel and tries to mouth out the word, ``Run'' as discreetly as he could while he slowly moved himself and Kiki closer to the fox keeping his head down so that he couldn't see Jeffrey's face and possibly break out into the pure terror again.\n\nHe couldn't help but to admit to himself that part of this decision was that he really wanted to know these answers.\n\n---\n\nThough Kiki would've preferred to remain in her haze while she snuggled the fluffy bunny, the curious cub couldn't help but listen to what Jeffrey had to say at first. It was a good thing too, because the second the boy started mentioning what sounded like rumors, red flags went up, and so did the lemur's ears as she suddenly became inexplicably alert.\n\nUnfortunately, the ever curious Thackery, even despite his fear, was eager to hear more. He made a sound excuse for his reasoning, and even looked to Daniel to give him a silent warning, but the fact remained that the buck was inching closer to the fox. She could feel his heart racing as he avoided eye-contact with Jeffrey, proof that he wanted the information more than anything else, but Kiki found herself fearing deeply for him. Of what might happen if they got caught.\n\nBefore she realized it, the lemur had pushed away from Thackery to take a big looming step forward, glaring at Jeffrey.\n\n``Oooh, I see how it is,'' she postured, attempting to adopt an authoritative tone like the one Killian was so good at using on her, ``Beating him up wasn't good enough for yah, huh? Now you?re gonna trick him into spreading rumors too, issat it? You--you have some nerve, Jeffrey! Sneakin' back in here just to pick on Thackery again!''\n\nIf it weren't bad enough that Kiki was now speaking directly to a tree from the raccoon's perspective, she also leaned toward it to jab her finger in accusation as she was actively condemning the fox in more ways than one.\n\n---\n\nJeffrey watched intently from behind the tree as it seemed that Thackery and Kiki were talking over what to do. He waited and watched. Thackery then turned to Daniel. Jeffrey was starting to relax until Daniel suddenly took a couple of steps back, and then took off towards the adults sitting near the building.\n\n``No! Daniel!''\n\nHe twitched as he fought the urge to expose himself to stop the younger cub, but then turned his gaze to Thackery, baring his teeth and growling with anger.\n\n``You just ruined EVERYTHING!''\n\nJeffrey was about to make a run for it, but suddenly found an angry lemur in his sights, and a finger against his chest, the girl berating the fox for attempting to get Thackery in trouble by spreading rumors. It was at this point that all reason left Jeffrey, and the rage he was known for came back to the surface as he took two fists full of fur on Kiki's chest, shaking her back and forth.\n\n``Listen to me you STUPID CUNT!''\n\nIt was at this point that Killian arrived from a full sprint, the gate guards far behind him, but catching up. The raccoon suddenly grabbed Jeffrey's arm, which quickly shifted Jeffrey's expression from anger to terror as he spun around and opened his jaws, sinking his sharp cub-teeth into Killian's arm, causing the raccoon to yell in pain, instinctively balling up a fist with his free paw, but willing his fingers open to grab the boy's snout instead of punching him. Blood began to run down Killian's arm and stain Jeffrey's muzzle.\n\nEventually the guards arrived to help pry Jeffrey's jaws open and then restrain the flailing fox. It took awhile, but they finally got him under control. All the adults and all the cubs now witnessed the scene. Killian jerked his arm away, paw grasping the torn flesh and shouting obscenities as the guards dragged Jeffrey, not towards the gate, but towards the building, while the fox turned his attention back to the cubs who exposed him, flashing his blood-soaked teeth as he yelled to them.\n\n``You all deserve what happens to you! DO YOU HEAR ME?! YOU DESERVE IT!! YOU DESERVE ALL OF IT!!''\n\nA hush fell across the playground as Jeffrey disappeared inside the building, and Killian turned to Kiki, clasping his arm and breathing heavily.\n\n``Kiki.. remind me later... to give you as big a reward as I can possibly find... after I see the nurse.''\n\n---\n\nThe bunny cub thought he had all of the knowledge from his exploration throughout the library of the orphanage, but it hadn't prepared him for how people would react. He had expected Daniel to calm down enough to register that word then leave when the coast was clear, or whatever those novels had said. He had expected Kiki to remain close to his side, the two of them going off on some adventure to learn all the secrets before their back-up, in this case Daniel bringing in the adults, came to their rescue. He got a harsh slap of reality however as both plans fell apart almost simultaneously. Daniel ran off well before Thackery planned and Kiki decided to lunge forward to accuse the fox before her.\n\nBefore he knew it the situation in front of him erupted into chaos. Killian came in much more quickly than anticipated, making Thackery think that Daniel was much quicker than he anticipated, or maybe Killian had already seen Jeffrey as he kept appearing behind the tree to try to draw the other cubs in closely. All of this left him frozen in his spot as he watched Jeffrey's maw dig into Killian's arm, the young buck's worst fear made true as the blood started pouring out and Thackery could only imagine Jeffrey eating Killian's arm. But the young fox kit was no match for the adult raccoon and the guards as his maw was pulled open to free the arm and with that the bully was being pulled away.\n\nThose words that he screamed out, how they deserved what came to them, stuck to the young rabbit as he stood frozen in fear. He could hear those words, but barely react beyond his eyes twitching to watch the fox be dragged away towards the building instead of out of the gate. This should have been weird to him but everything that had just happened was equally as weird so he just shook it off as best as he could.\n\nTime was starting to return to normal for Thackery, he started to notice his own breathing pattern as the fight or flight instinct started to quiet down and let him soak in the situation. But then also in that moment he was left alone standing there as Killian tried to make sure that Kiki was okay and all the other adults and cubs seemed more focused on Jeffrey being dragged literally kicking and screaming into some part of the building where the cries went quiet. In this moment all he had was himself debating on if he should have fought despite his fear, but also that tickling in his brain that he should have listened to Jeffrey earlier. Maybe then he could have heard something he could understand on why the fox bully would sneak himself back onto the playground after being expelled.\n\nHe didn't know how long he was left with his thoughts but it was giving him enough time to dig himself into concerns that he should have rushed off to an adult immediately, that is what they were taught afterall. But also there were the questions about what Jeffrey would have said, how did Killian get there so quick, and then noticing a bunch of small unanswered questions with everything that had transpired. There was no answer to these anymore it seemed so he just stood still like he was a statue, no longer struck by the fright of the dangerous maw but instead the anxiety of having to explain himself and that the only one left with answers to his questions seemed to be Kiki.\n\n---\n\nWhat little adrenaline Kiki had mustered to intervene, didn't last long in the face of an irate Jeffrey, especially when he grabbed hold of her to shake her senseless as he hollered. Flopping like a ragdoll, she dropped flat on the grass when the fox inevitably let her go to bite the handler that had arrived. The small lemur smiled briefly, closing her eyes as she listened to the chaos around her in a dizzy haze.\n\nWhatever happened, it was relatively quick by her standards. In fact, after opening her eyes to the sound of Killian crying out in pain, the scuffle that followed only lasted a minute or so. And by the time the nausea eased off enough for Kiki to sit up and survey her surroundings, a bloody-mouthed Jeffrey was already restrained and being carted away.\n\nStill a little woozy, the lemur stood up and wobbled on rubbery legs, trying to focus her vision so she could locate Thackery. Spotting him not far away, she took slow, deliberate steps to stand beside him and peeked at his expression. Kiki wasn't sure what she was hoping for, maybe relief or shellshock from seeing the fox's bloody teeth, instead she saw reflected in his face, whatever had likely clued Killian in to her own doubts. Just the faintest glimmer of genuine fear.\n\nFurrowing her brow with worry, she snorted after the fox being dragged into a room that wasn't through the gated tunnel, ``Darn right we do! An' bullies get what they deserve too! Right, Thackery?''\n\nSticking her tongue out to blow raspberries as the boy disappeared from sight, she perked up again, wide-eyed and bubbly as if she'd slept a whole eight hours already. When Killian finally addressed Kiki then, her ears twitched and she rounded on the raccoon, suddenly teary-eyed at the visage of her daddy all bloody and wounded.\n\n``Killian, you're hurt!'' she squealed, barely registering his promise for a big reward as she rushed dramatically to his aid and latched onto the nearest body part that wasn't immediately rejected by her initial lunge, ``Ooooh, that mean `ol fox! How dare he hurt my favourite caretaker! Are you gonna be okay Killian?''\n\n---\n\nKillian let out a loud ``OOF!'' as the lemur collided with him, wrapping her arms around his waist and again burying her face in his crotch, which was again stirring despite the throbbing pain in his arm.\n\n``Heh, you hyper little monkey. Don't worry about me, Kiki, I just need some ointment and bandages from the nurse, and I'll be good to go. It's not nearly as bad as what he did to Thackery.''\n\nKillian moved his arms awkwardly in an attempt to return his future adopted daughter's affection before giving up.\n\n``Um.. well, I'd hug you back, but I don't think you need to get my blood all over your fur. Hey, you really should have gone to an adult as soon as soon as you saw Jeffrey here, especially as violent as he's become, but I heard you shutting him down after he attempted to spread some wild rumors. That's my girl!'' Killian shook his head. ``That boy.. He can't possibly know what awaits you when you leave here. He was never adopted. Oh, speaking of which...''\n\nKillian turned his attention to Thackery, stopping short as he started to take in Thackery's body language as the bunny was slowly coming down from the fright that Jeffrey had given him. He had never noticed such a strong reaction from Thackery before, but then the boy had never experienced the trauma of a predator attacking him before.\n\n``Thackery? Are you alright, little guy?''\n\n---\n\nThackery was having a hard time concentrating on anything as his vision blurred and his heart was racing still after everything that had transpired. The fear of the vulpine bully was still there but it had lessened more and more the farther the bully was, but in its place was a new fear of the adults around him. He knew he should have gone to get an adult himself, but he was hoping his excuses would be enough to not earn himself any punishment. Even if they wouldn't be the full truth as he had let his curiosity get the best of him.\n\nHe knew he should say something soon, but every time he tried to move all he could see was the crimson liquid running down the raccoon's arm which had the buck's brain on overdrive imagining how much worse it could have been. He had never heard of one of the predator species biting someone like that, let alone trying to eat someone, but it was so vivid in his brain at this moment that he couldn't shake it. Which just kept him frozen in place unable to look at that arm even as the adult got closer and spoke up.\n\nHe wanted to say that he was okay, a little lie to cover up all of these emotions he could not figure out, but he couldn't say anything in the moment as he looked up at the raccoon teacher's face. This was partially because he was trained to look someone in the eyes when they talk to you as a polite thing to do, but it also accomplished being able to avoid looking at that arm as much as possible despite his eyes trying to betray him as they flicked around nervously to keep an eye on his surroundings.\n\n``Oh...'' he said softly before swallowing and trying to get his voice back, ``I'm not hurt... Just... surprised is all...'' he said in a meek voice that felt very far away even to him. It wasn't a lie he thought though terrified would have been a more accurate description of how he felt.\n\n``I'm sorry you got hurt, sir,'' he finally said before looking down at his feet no longer being able to even look at the teacher as a mix of guilt and anxiety gripped him as he wondered how the adult would react to the bully getting so close to him and Kiki.\n\n---\n\nEven as Killian was attempting to reassure the little lemur he would be fine, Kiki was switching gear again, begging to go along with him and help with the nurse again. After assisting her with Thackery previously, the simian had gotten a taste for it. She didn't just like helping, she enjoyed being rewarded for it as well; which was precisely why no amount of ADHD would let her forget her Daddy's promise.\n\n``Can I come with you? I wanna help make it all better! Pleeeeease?'' she pleaded into the raccoon's loins as he attempted to give her a two-armed hug whilst clutching a bloody, oozing wound.\n\nOnce it was clear a non-messy embrace was impossible, Killian opted for praise instead, much to Kiki's delight as she beamed up at him, still clinging to his waist.\n\n``I would'a called out sooner, I swear, but I was soooooo sleepy I wasn't even sure he was real till he grabbed me and shook the heck outta me!'' she explained with a bubbly giggle before making a face, ``Actually, after that I kinda get why Thackery is so wigged out by him. How'd that jerk even get back in...?''\n\nRather than linger on the thought, Kiki blinked as Killian shifted his attention to the fear-stiffened buck, continuing to cling to the raccoon like she was just another accessory to compliment his outfit. She moved as he did, and directed her concern in parallel, to the fearful boy as he was addressed.\n\nWhen Thackery seemed to vastly understate his reaction, Kiki picked up on his dilemma almost instantly, and blatantly brought it to attention.\n\n``It's the blood, right? All that blood on his teeth an' his face? Grrr, all snarly like that. And then he called me a `cunt'? Yeesh! I'd never been so offended by a made-up word in my life! An' yet,'' the girl paused to visibly shudder upon recalling the mental image, ``Still gives me all kinda creepy chills thinkin' about it.''\n\nTugging on Killian's shirt, Kiki looked up at him with a weirdly sadistic smile as she asked, ``But we don't ever have t'worry about seeing him again now, right Killian?''\n\n---\n\nKillian paid close attention to Thackery and his answer. The boy tended to stick to the rules, and not lie to the adults, but if Jeffrey had said anything about the adoption process, the boy's honesty would be in question. The cub was certainly worried about something. Most likely fear of being punished for not going to an adult immediately, but the raccoon couldn't be sure. He would have to monitor Thackery as closely as he had been monitoring Kiki. Keeping them together so he could listen from Kiki's collar wouldn't be difficult. It was harder to keep Kiki AWAY from Thackery.\n\nThen there was Daniel... although the youngest had run to the adults, it would still be worth making sure he wasn't a risk as well. It was an open question to Thackery whether or not he would be punished for not going to the adults, and Killian had yet to address that, but if Jeffrey had managed to cast doubt in the boy's mind, punishing him now could potentially solidify that doubt...\n\nHe nodded to Kiki as she offered an explanation as to why Thackery was acting so timid.\n\n``Could be..'' Killian turned to the side, along with the lemur attached to his waist, to hide the injured arm from Thackery's sight. ``Both of you have been through one hell of an ordeal these past few days, starting with Jeffrey's attack, then barely avoiding another. He won't be coming back though. We'll find out how he got in and make sure it won't ever happen again. He seems to be a lot more dangerous than we thought.''\n\nKillian smiled at Thackery, then looked down at Kiki, raising his brow.\n\n``Woah, you weren't kidding! You look absolutely exhausted... hmm.... Tell you what. Why don't you two go get Daniel and the three of you head inside, to the play room. I know it's not your turn yet, but I can take care of that. Kiki, you can catch a nap in the big cushy bed, and Thackery, I know you wouldn't mind getting off this playground for awhile.'' Killian winked. ``I'm going to see the nurse real quick, and then I'll catch up with you. I've got some news that I think Thackery's going to be very excited to hear.''\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "HOTEL OMEGA

An RP/Collaboration by MystBunny, Mizzyam,

and MadAsAMarchHare

Part 10

#####WARNING#####

This collaboration will contain cubs being murdered and raped in graphic, detailed scenes. If you are the least bit squeamish about such content, you are justified in not reading this material. If you proceed beyond this point, please refrain from complaining about the content that you have just been warned about. Neither I, Mizzyam, nor Thackery are responsible for anyone ignoring this warning.

#####WARNING#####

(Document saved in Open Office. This is recommended for reading as the posts alternate in color.)

The rhino had done quite a nice job of stretching Jake out for this rough session, but the boy was still squeezing so tightly against him. Each thrust forward was quick and forceful, like a bullet shooting through the boy's anus followed by a thousand small hooks dragging against his flesh as he pulled back. He didn't care how much pain the boy was in, how much he protested or struggled, as long as his ego had been stroked as if the boy wanted it without knowing what he was getting himself into.

The cute young cub's body was jerking and thrashing as he made two frantic claims to urge the cheetah to stop. One was that he would make Omega angry, but from Casey's personal experience..

``Baah, Meggie is always mad, and you and I will be out of here before he gets back anyway.''

After casually dropping his intentions onto Jake to kidnap him and steal him away from Omega, the cheetah paused his thrusts for a moment, driving his hips forward and swaying them back and forth, massaging the base of his cock and the tip deep inside Jake's rectum with a groan.

``If you die though, you'll at least die getting what you asked me for, eh Bobby? HEHEHEEEHEHEHEHEHE!''

Casey swiftly dragged those barbs along Jake's insides and then resumed his harsh thrusting amid that maniacal laughter, wrenching Jake's arms upward to restrict his movements even more, leaning down and putting more of his weight on those wrists as he moved his entire body back and forth, making longer, but no less swift pops with his hips on each thrust.

He could feel blood begin to trickle down his balls as he followed the rhino's almost impossible stretching with a fast grind against Jake's intestine, opening up those micro fissures the rhino caused from stretching the small cub so much and giving the irritated blood vessels an opening to release Jake's blood onto the trespassing, spiny organ.

---

As pain consumed him, Jake almost didn't catch what Casey had to say in response to his pleas. But there was clearly no fear. Not even a hint of concern for his own life, though that likely had to do with the follow-up to his dismissive comment. The cheetah was apparently planning to abduct him, provided he wasn't raped to death right here and now.

And suddenly... Jake wasn't so sure he wanted to be rescued by his client anymore. Omega at least had reasons for keeping him alive, but Casey not only didn't share the wolf's ambitious goals, but he had no qualms about letting the cub die if he ended up being too rough. That alone was encouragement to resume begging for his life, but finding the strength and focus to speak the words was no easy feat.

By now the buck's body had become mostly limp, responding with involuntary spasms and thrashing only for the more painful thrusts that delved deeper into his aching innards, where his nerves hadn't yet succumbed to numbness. In fact it was probably because he could no longer feel most of his backside that his scattered awareness gradually returned.

The young rabbit's sphincter could barely clench thanks to all the abuse it had received, but his inner muscles still reflexively tensed whenever the feline's spined member scraped across the raw, bloodied flesh. It was worse in his mind than in reality, but considering that his rectum felt like it had been sliced to ribbons, he wasn't far off.

Jake was beginning to feel a little sickly now, actually. Mostly due to the adrenaline, which had finally run dry as his body teetered on the edge of succumbing to not just shock, but blood-loss as well. In its absence, nausea took over and a sense of doom quickly replaced it. In that moment he finally found his voice, but it came out as a croak. His throat was so sore from screaming and crying, that it hurt just to swallow.

``Please... please don't kill me...'' he whimpered pitifully, not even caring that he was still being forced to use the dead rhino's testicles as a pillow. At this point, all that mattered was saving his own life; and the blood oozing out of his backside with every thrust, instilled a sense of urgency he couldn't ignore. ``I... I don't wanna die...! I can still be useful... please...''

It was difficult to speak in between the sharp cries of pain that threatened to make him bite his tongue, but he quickly added for good measure, ``I... I want to make... the sexy cheetah happy...!''

---

Finally getting his cock into this cute bunny cub, Casey's spiney member shot back and forth rapidly, making long groans as he mated with the boy like an animal of another, more enthusiastic species than that of a feral feline, continuing to tear the boy's insides with his violent thrusts, and though it was still unlikely he would kill the boy, who had been physically prepared for this kind of rough treatment, at this moment he didn't care one way or another. Only his own pleasure mattered to him.

Feeling his pleasure build, Casey moved Jake's arms up onto the belly of the rhino and pinned them to the corpse as he pressed his weight down onto Jake, pressing the boy between a live and a dead body as the cheetah adjusted his angle and continued pounding into the rabbit's throbbing, bleeding inner walls.

The cheetah could feel his orgasm approaching as he violated the little slave who was frantically pleading for his life, all of which went ignored by his attacker except for one thing.

``I... I want to make... the sexy cheetah happy!''

When Casey heard this, his groans intensified, and with timing that couldn't have been more perfect, the cheetah's ego was being stroked just as pleasantly as his cock, and the cheetah loosed his seed into the terrified cub. With heavy breaths, the cheetah relaxed his body on top of the cub and the corpse below him as his member throbbed happily inside.

``Mmmm Jake, I love you.''

Casey slid his member free, sliding those spines once more against Jake's battered anus, and pulled back to begin kissing lovingly against the back of Jake's neck, moaning softly as he did so.

``I'm gonna take you home with me, you'll have a mute wolfy brother to play with, and then I'll go find that sexy girlfriend of yours and bring her home with me too, and we'll all be one big happy, incestuous family.''

As the cheetah continued lovingly kissing at Jake's neck, working his way around the side of the boy's face, the feline was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by Omega's voice.

``Hey! What's that smell?''

---

After pleading to be spared a fatal conclusion to Casey's sick, twisted games, Jake had desperately hoped for the cheetah to stop. Though he eventually did, it was preceded by even greater pain, as his prior stroking of the feline's ego drove his rapist to climax. The poor cub's body was mostly lifeless, but it stirred again as Casey picked up the pace, driving his length as deep as it could go with every thrust, and raking his barbs against the bunny's tenderized and bloody rectum each time he pulled out.

By now Jake was too weak to complain beyond agonized squeaks and pitiful moans while his client ravaged him, and as such he was helpless to stop the cheetah from moving his arms over his head and pinning them down atop the dead rhino's belly. For the finale of this nightmarish ordeal, the young buck was mashed between the man raping him, and the deceased guard who had been supposed to protect him; with the rhino's shriveled schlong uncomfortably wedged between his arm and his head, no less.

Beyond the pain still leeching the life and energy out of his muscles, Jake was well past being distraught. Knowing that if he didn't die now, he'd be stolen away to an arguably darker fate than that of which Omega had lined up for him, was so frightening that he almost wished for the wolf's hasty return. Almost.

As terrible as Casey had been thus far though, he'd only inflicted sexual pain on the poor bunny. Of course he murdered the guard in cold blood, but given the events leading up to it, it made a sick sort of sense. The rhino had both threatened and assaulted the feline, putting limitations on the madman and essentially attacking his ego directly. Which got him killed. So... if ego-stroking was the only thing that would keep Jake alive, it had to be worth the feelings of shame it instilled... Right?

Up until the moment that the feline finally climaxed, Jake had been gradually tensing his arms and legs, and now they trembled in alarm and dismay as he felt something hot flooding his innards. The fluid quickly seeped into the cuts and scratches along his rectum, reawakening all of the numbed nerves there and dragging a ragged cry from the miserable buck.

Now that Casey had finished, he leaned on the cub beneath him, forcing a small squeak from Jake as he whimpered and wept softly. He tried not to listen to the cheetah as he proceeded to whisper into his ear, professing his love. Then suddenly the cat pulled out, extracting one final squeal of pain from the boy before showing the tiniest hint of affection as he licked the back of his neck.

While he did so, the cat painted a picture of an alternative life in which Jake would live with him instead. Unfortunately, Casey also brought up his dead friend again, encouraging more tears from the boy. He still had no clue that she was gone. That she never even got to witness the true extent of the horrors taking place in Omega's hotel. Well... she did technically... but only once.

As Jake allowed old and new grief to consume him, he was almost oblivious to the fact that Casey's nuzzling and licking had drifted away from his neck and was primed to reach his face; meaning another unwelcome kiss was on the horizon. However, before the cheetah could force it on him, there was a knock on the door.

Almost instantly every muscle in Jake's body tensed, regardless of how much it hurt. His eyes widened in no small amount of horror, and a small frightened gasp escaped him. He heard Omega's voice then, and there was no mistaking it. The wolf had finally come back, though he seemed to only be complaining about the smell, which Jake hadn't really noticed. But now that the stench of death and blood was so thick in the air, it was becoming noticeably more difficult to breathe without feeling nauseous.

Knowing Omega had returned, and that the murderous lupine was his only salvation, there was only one logical course of action. However, the second Jake opened his mouth to scream for help, a paw tightened around his throat, squeezing off the shrill cry before it could even emerge. The bunny's trembling became more pronounced then, as he realized that Casey wasn't about to back down.

Whining in fear, he croaked through the grip on his neck, ``He... he's gonna kill you...!''

---

When Omega questioned the scent of a dead rhino, Casey's eyes shifted to the corpse. It was only now the cheetah realized his error. He had always been living moment to moment, to the point the consequences of his actions usually didn't occur to him until they were staring him right in the face.

``Shit.. uh... Heeeey Meggie, don't mind that, it's just the big guy forgot to flush and...''

If Casey had more time to think about it, he would have realized that the smell wasn't anything close to what he described, which only raised Omega's suspicions even more, though before he could finish his ill-conceived explanation, Jake began to call out, prompting a quick response from the cheetah, grabbing Jake's neck with both paws and squeezing hard.

``Don't you fucking dare..!''

Omega then banged on the door a few more times.

``Answer me, Roland!''

Casey's eyes again shifted to the rhino. Omega was expecting an answer from the dead guard, and Jake's assessment as he voiced it through the tightening grip was entirely accurate.

``New plan, then.''

With that, Casey stood up, grabbing the knife  from behind him and yanking Jake to his feet. After getting no response, the sound of a card being slotted into the door announced that Casey's time in the hotel was at an end, but he was still determined to steal the young cub from Omega. As the door swung open, Casey quickly pressed the knife against Jake's throat.

When Omega stormed into the room, seeing the boy being held hostage, and his chances of breeding the boy's genes into a new generation sitting on the edge of a knife, he stopped short, keeping his distance as he scanned the room, spotting the rhino guard laying in a pool of blood, and glaring at the crazy cat, whose insanity the wolf vastly underestimated.

``Cat, release the boy right now, and I'll allow you to leave the underground and never return. Kill him and I'll see to it you'll view B-2 as a luxury spa.''

``Aaaaaaand if I just take him with me?''

Omega's eyes narrowed. ``In that case it would be pretty much the same as the second option, and you'll make some bounty hunters very happy.''

Omega was trying to keep his cool, but losing the boy's genes was unacceptable. The wolf was willing to place a rather large bounty on the feline if he managed to get away, but it was obvious he was just insane enough to kill the boy without a second thought. The wolf was visibly distraught, as much as he tried to hide it, and the cheetah picked up on this.

``Ahhh so he's that valuable to you, is he? Well then, I have no intention of going back to that shit-hole above ground, so you're just going to have to get the FUCK out of my way, bitch!''

Casey emphasized his point by shoving the blade of the knife uncomfortably tight against Jake's throat. Omega's eyes widened briefly, and the wolf was visibly shaken. The large predator bared his teeth and growled, and slowly backed out of the door, keeping the feline in his sights. He couldn't lose Jake. It took him too long to find those genes in a prey species. He glared intensely as the feline began shuffling the boy towards the door.

``That's a good boy. Who's a good boy. YOU are, Meggie. Yes you are!''

Omega was visibly fuming at this point. If it was any other slave, any at all, the cheetah would instantly regret every single word of those arrogant insults.

---

As he was struggling for air and squirming sluggishly atop the rhino's corpse, Jake felt a fresh wave of panic grip his heart. All of the terrible things he'd witnessed and endured had come to a climax, and for a few brief moments it felt as though the world were on the edge of devolving into complete chaos. Omega was banging on the door, Casey tried and failed to explain himself, and now the wolf had lost his patience.

When his guard didn't reply, because he was stiff and cold on the floor, half-naked and laying in a pool of blood, Omega wasted no time in using his administrative access to enter the room. However, before he could get inside, the cheetah stood up to retrieve his knife. He then forced Jake onto his feet to press the bloodied blade against his throat once more, just as the wolf barged in with all the malice the cub had come to expect. Then everything became still.

The wolf's rage only intensified the instant Omega laid eyes on his little naked slave, trembling as he struggled to stand on rubbery legs, but more importantly, trying his hardest not to move too much due to the knife currently holding him hostage. The bunny's wide, sky-blue eyes landed on the large, normally intimidating and often terrifying predator, like he was his hero instead. Despite the awful things Omega had done to him, and the things he still planned to torment him with, right now, he was the only person in the room who wanted to keep him alive.

Casey however didn't seem to care either way what happened, but during their ensuing verbal exchange, when he realized that he had power over the wolf by threatening Jake's life, the situation only seemed to grow more dire.

All the rabbit could do was focus on keeping his feet under him, his attention clouded by the considerable discomfort arising from where the knife was digging into his skin, as well as the various aches and pains that still racked his body following Casey's brutal example of mating. He knew that at any moment the cheetah might slit his throat, right then and there, and Omega must've realized it too, because to Jake's surprise he didn't charge in angrily, with that feral rage which had previously ended the life of one of his own employees. Instead, he froze where he stood and glared at the cat.

The exchange was heated and Omega looked furious as he threatened the cat with a fate worse than death, but in doing so he revealed just how far he'd go to ensure Jake's return. The cub didn't know how to feel about it, but Casey was quick to take advantage. His retort was delivered sharply, both verbally as he slung insults, and physically as he pressed the knife's blade harder against Jake's throat.

The fearful whimper that escaped the bunny was entirely involuntary, but... oddly, it seemed to have a visible effect on Omega. Suddenly he didn't look so angry. Instead he looked worried. Perhaps even scared. The expression lingered on his face so briefly before it devolved back into rage again though, that Jake wondered if he'd only imagined it. He'd never seen the wolf so unsettled before after all, so it didn't look natural at all.

What was more shocking than seeing the wolf in a genuine state of distress though, was watching him actually back away from the cheetah. He was complying with the murderer. Did that... did that mean he really was important to Omega? No... no, of course not. All he wanted Jake for was what was inside him. And once he had that, he would be expendable. However... if Casey did manage to get away with taking him from Omega, death would be a certainty. It was really just a choice between dying sooner or dying later, wasn't it...?

Jake couldn't help himself and began to weep softly as he was forced to stumble forwards towards the doorway which Omega had vacated. He thought things couldn't get any worse at this point, but Casey, upon seeing the wolf's restraint as weakness, began to taunt and tease the man for being so compliant.

``P-please... stop this... w-why are you doing this...?'' Jake whimpered fearfully, in one last attempt to make the man see reason. ``Y-y-you can't get away... he--he won't let you...!''

---

Casey was too preoccupied with the angry wolf reluctantly allowing him to move past to give any attention to Jake's protests, but when Jake hit on the possibility of Casey being at the wolf's mercy, he clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on the cub.

``Shut up, you little shit.''

Omega remained silent, but his eyes were locked onto Casey, looking for the slightest opening that would get Jake out of the cheetah's grasp relatively unharmed, then he could deal with the arrogant feline. For now, however, if he made a wrong move, Jake's throat would be slit, and there would be very little time to get him to the clinic in time to save him. Of course there would be hell to pay for the cheetah if that happened, but the man was a lunatic, and his short-sighted assessment of his situation was not lost on the wolf. There was no doubt his threat was genuine, and if he was provoked, he would make an irrational, emotional decision as he did with the guard.

Before exiting the room, Casey removed one paw from Jake very briefly to grab a small tablet device from the counter, and quickly wrapped that arm around Jake again. Omega's eyes locked onto this arm, quickly trying to assess the opening, but it wasn't enough. Casey then dragged Jake into the hallway, and backed slowly towards the elevators, with Omega moving towards him, trying to stay close enough to act if given a chance, but also keep enough distance to avoid provoking another response from Casey.

``You've got one chance of getting out alive, cat, and that window's closing fast.''

``Eat my shit, Meg, I'm not going back!''

With that, Casey pounded the paw holding the tablet into the down button on the elevator, very careful not to give Jake an opening to get away as the knife remained pressed to his neck, or give Omega an opening to move in. The two remained at a stalemate until the elevator doors opened. Casey dragged his little hostage into the elevator, and as the doors closed, Omega moved quickly, dashing away towards his private elevator.

Keeping the knife firmly pressed against Jake's throat, the cheetah tried to find a way to use his tablet with one paw, but short of getting Jake to hold it for him, he couldn't find a way to do so without letting up with the knife.

``Shit.. well, almost there, little Bobby. You'll meet your new brother soon.. Just gotta... find a....''

When the elevator doors opened, Casey was greeted with four tasers pointed in his direction, to which he tightened his grip and moved Jake to keep the boy mostly between him and the weapons.

``Hey hey hey hey HEY! Back off!''

Just then, a buzz signaled the arrival of Omega's elevator, and the door to the room in which the wolf arrived quickly opened, and as Omega assessed the situation, Casey gave an urgent demand.

``Put em away! Now!''

``Guards, holster them!''

``Naw, on the floor! Drop em!''

``...do it.''

At Omega's urging, the guards complied, placing the devices on the floor and making room for the cheetah to pass into the basement lobby. The lobby was mostly empty at this time of day, apart from a few males abusing some of the slaves in stocks or chained to the walls as samples, and everyone's eyes were suddenly on the developing situation as the cheetah, guards, and Omega slowly funneled into the large room.

The cheetah had a clear path to the front door, but he had to do one more thing before he could escape with the cub. He dragged Jake over to the front desk, and placed his tablet down.

``Back the fuck up, boy!''

The cheetah barked at the clerk, a young male teen ferret who, clothed as he was in the staff uniform, wasn't a slave in this establishment. The ferret did as he was told, backing against the wall as the cheetah began tapping on the tablet. A short fragment of a chat popped up on the screen with the cheetah discussing ``little Bobby'', and what time the cheetah's unknown acquaintance would have a chance at the bunny's ass. He began typing a message.

``Time to go! Meet me--''

As he started typing the message, his gaze was spending more time on the device than Omega, who began inching closer. When Casey noticed this, he grabbed Jake's waist with his free arm and again pressed the knife tighter to Jake's throat.

``Hey hey hey back up, puppy dog!''

Omega growled as he started to comply, but just then, the desk clerk, having seen that the cheetah was contacting a getaway driver, leaned forward and swatted the tablet onto the floor, quickly pulling back to avoid retaliation. Unfortunately for him, the ferret didn't back away fast enough, and a very fast swipe of the cheetah's arm swiftly stabbed the blade into the ferret's side before withdrawing.

This was the opening Omega needed, and the wolf made his move. The cheetah was quick to react, and brought the knife back in as quickly as he was able, and unfortunately for Jake, the cheetah's desperately quick paw brought the blade right into Jake's gut, stabbing into his flesh and ripping back out again. He had hoped that this demonstration would cause Omega to back off, and though the wolf didn't anticipate the speed of the cheetah's movements, there was no hesitation in what came next.

As the cheetah attempted to bring the knife back up to Jake's throat, pointed inward in what was to be another stab, Omega's arm wedged itself between Jake and the cheetah's arm, stopping the blade inches from its target before the wolf's other paw grabbed the cheetah's wrist and violently twisted it to a medley of cracks and screams, causing the knife to drop to the floor.

With everything happening so quickly, Omega hadn't yet noticed that Jake had been stabbed, and slammed his palm against the cheetah's other arm, breaking his grip on the bunny cub between the fighting adults. The wolf then shoved Jake to the side, out of the way, but in doing so, left himself open for the cheetah to swipe with his sharp claws across the side of Omega's face, and as Omega leaned back to lessen the amount of flesh the cheetah ripped away from him, Casey was able to yank his broken wrist free.

The guards were scrambling for their tasers, but they wouldn't get to Casey in time, as the cheetah fled towards the entrance with Omega's claws digging into the scruff of his neck, but ultimately slipping free. Once Casey's body crashed through the front doors, and with nothing else in his way and no bunny in tow, he would easily outrun the enraged wolf.

Omega turned to his employees to give orders, and it was only then he noticed Jake, with blood seeping from a wound in his gut.

``Ah, hell!''

Omega's focus shifted entirely to Jake, and getting him quickly to the clinic, which thankfully was on the same floor as the lobby.

---

After failing once more to steer Casey from the violent, and likely fatal fate he was driving towards at full speed, Jake lost what little hope he had of surviving this encounter. With even Omega hesitant to end the insanity he was witnessing, the poor cub could do nothing but comply with the cheetah's angry, painful order to be silent as he was forced forward step by step on unstable, quivering legs.

Along the way, the feline reacquired his tablet, but aside from a sharp rise in tension, no one made a move. Jake certainly was too terrified to take the chance of being cut by the knife, so he focused on putting one foot in front of the other, and keeping his legs from buckling at the knees, but it wasn't easy.

Considering he'd just been viciously raped not moments earlier, the young rabbit was still weak and racked with various pains from his ordeal. And the further he was made to walk, the more he became aware of the inevitable, unpleasant sensation of fluids dribbling from his used backside; a sickening mix of blood and semen trailing down the backs of his legs.

As he was coaxed out into the hallway, Jake stared at Omega with wide, terrified and imploring eyes. The wolf continued to keep his distance though, not daring to intervene, lest his prized possession be slaughtered before his eyes. In the moments leading up to the arrival of the elevator that the cheetah had called with an angry button mash, the cub could only look on in teary-eyed concern for his own life.

If even Omega couldn't put a stop to the cat's insanity, then what hope did he have?

The ding of the elevator made the cub whine, but he made no attempt to resist being dragged backwards into the small space. Jake kept his eyes on the wolf, though, right up until the door closed, and then suddenly he was alone with the murderer while he fiddled with the tablet one-handed. Though he feared to speak now, the buck still whined every time the knife against his neck moved, until Casey eventually gave up trying to work the device.

The remainder of the ride down to the basement was like the calm before a hurricane; tense but uneventful. And then the elevator reached its destination, and the doors opened onto chaos. Jake was the first to react to the sight of multiple tasers aimed right at him, letting out a terrified cry as he threw his arms up to shield his body and cringing with his eyes closed. He fully expected to get struck by the electrified barbs, but instead a standoff ensued.

None of the security personnel were willing to fire their weapons at the cub, whom Casey was quick to hide behind, and once Omega arrived shortly after the cat in his own personal elevator, they were compelled to give up their weapons entirely. Essentially giving Casey full control of the situation.

When Jake opened his eyes again, prompted by the sudden forward push into the underground lobby, he couldn't believe his eyes. Omega was still showing incredible restraint, and now his guards were all unarmed. But worse than that, were all the eyes watching him. Everyone. Everyone was looking at him. Naked and bloody, a clear victim of his rape just prior, now being marched along at knife-point before so many people.

If he hadn't already been crying and afraid that he was going to die, he would've been more mortified by the humiliating walk of shame. As it was though, Casey was primed to get everything he wanted, threatening any who got too close and shooing one of Omega's employees away from the front desk.

It was there he finally put down the tablet to begin relaying a message to some unknown party, but from Jake's angle, he could only glimpse what was on the screen briefly, before noticing that Omega was slowly getting closer. Unfortunately the cub likely gave him away thanks to an involuntary whine of fear. Before he could get near enough to make a move, Casey stopped what he was doing to make another threat on Jake's life.

And then everything devolved into complete chaos, starting with the teenaged ferret who saw an opportunity to intervene. Jake glimpsed the boy's movement out of the corner of his eye, but by then Casey was already swinging his knife. His much keener senses and faster reflexes made it easy to stab the young ferret in the side, drawing blood that painted the knife in a fresh coat of crimson.

Jake was still staring in horror at what he'd just seen as Omega seized on the distraction afforded by his employee, but in following the knife that had committed the crime with his eyes, his attention was drawn away by the wolf's looming form as he resolutely followed through on his attack. As he did so though, a sudden flash of pain erupted from the cub's abdomen, like an explosion of fire that made his skin burn, followed by a sickening sensation of something foreign inside him.

Then the knife which had been embedded into his small body was yanked out and shock quickly enveloped him. In an abrupt shift, the world around him became fuzzy, distant and distorted. He felt nauseous and cold as everything seemed to move in slow motion. Jake was vaguely aware of Omega's interception, but fully alert to how vital it had been in stopping the bloodied knife from making another hole in his neck.

He stared down the blade in a mix of intrigue and horror, before the wrist of the hand which held it was suddenly contorted into an unnatural shape. As the weapon was dropped, Jake's gaze focused on the slow-moving, open palm of Omega as it flew past him with expert precision, slamming into the arm the cheetah was still using to claim possession of the cub. It was as awe-inspiring as it was frightening in its effectiveness, breaking the cat's grip and throwing Jake into a temporary freefall before he was yanked aside by Omega.

Removed from the fray, the naked cub stumbled awkwardly for several feet before colliding with the nearest wall for support. As he clung there, leaning against it, Jake's paws immediately clutched at the throbbing pain in his belly. He still had no idea what had happened, but looking down at himself he very plainly saw the blood oozing between his fingers.

At that sight alone he felt his knees threaten to drop him, but when he dared to remove his paws to see the deep, gushing cut in his previously white, pristine fur, all the strength was sapped from his body. No longer could he contain his nausea either, as he vomited involuntarily and awkwardly slid to the ground. Jake pressed both paws over his abdomen again with a strained whimper. Tears flooded his eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to sob, as the effort made the pain all the more unbearable.

It hardly mattered now, though. He was dying. For real this time. And Omega couldn't be there to keep him alive. The wolf was too busy wrestling with Casey, as far as he knew. But even if he'd noticed that the fight had already ended, that the cheetah had escaped and gotten away with not one, but three attempts at murder--and one very successful--it wouldn't have made a difference.

The world was quickly growing dark and cold for the downed bunny. Sounds grew quiet and distant and the pain gave way to an odd sense of peace; he had to wonder if this was how Samantha felt after all the agony of being raped to death.

Jake lost consciousness just moments after Omega realized what had happened, his paws falling away from his blood-soaked wound as he sank into a deep, dark, dreamless abyss.

---

When Jake first arrived in this hidden world, Omega had made his purpose very clear to him from the beginning, through Samantha's brutal murder, and the promise that Jake would experience much the same, only for much longer. Most cubs in this hidden society, be they slaves or part of this lawless society in some other way, would never get the chance to grow up without being sexually used by others, whether by force, manipulation, or to fill up their own credit sticks. It was nearly unavoidable, but among those born in this place, fewer still could even remember a time when they weren't part of the sexual food chain.

There was, however, one alcove carved out of the long tunnel spanning the length of this entire lawless society that was a special haven from the harsh reality of this secret world. This alcove was locked behind a sturdy gate, and guarded on both sides. With few special exceptions, nobody entered, and nobody left. Along one wall of this alcove was a row of doors, spaced far apart, labeled ``Group 1'' through ``Group 10''.

Each separate segment housed groups of cubs, all born in the underground, all raised from infants, and all kept blissfully unaware of the dangers and depravities of the world beyond the gate. The orphans were educated, fed well, and discouraged from engaging in violence with each other, exploring each other's privates, or even discussing, to a certain degree, their genitalia in general. Though the cubs' caretakers wore clothing, the cubs were not given clothing to wear, but were purposefully kept innocent by their caretakers. They were taught that only adults wore clothing, and that they would too, once they came of age.

Discipline for the cubs was also relatively mild. Usual punishment for bad behavior included holding a spicy hot sauce on their tongues, a day or two of isolation during fun activities, strenuous physical exercises, and other such deterrents. Rarely, in extreme cases, one particularly difficult cub might be expelled from the orphanage, and only the adults would know what this truly meant for the unfortunate outcast.

Just outside the orphanage was a large playground in a field of grass maintained with the aid of artificial sunlight, something the cubs would also need to be exposed to from time to time. Twice a day, once for a short time after lunch, and for an extended period between classes and bedtime, all the cubs would be released onto the playground, and it was at this time only that the cubs from the 10 different groups would have a chance to mingle with each other. Apart from that, they remained segmented off from the other groups, each one looked after by two or three caretakers.

One by one, the doors to each group segment opened up, and cubs began to pour out onto the playground, running out to the jungle-gyms, swings, sandboxes, monkey bars, slides, and various junk to climb onto or hop across, and a basket full of various sport balls to play with. Some of the caretakers came out to watch the cubs, as well as the playground's enforcer, who dealt with more serious cases of misbehaving cubs.

The enforcer was a seemingly kind, but also imposing figure, a middle-age female rat born with gigantism, as an adult standing at 7 foot 7. Over time, her knees began to wear out, and most of the time she used a crutch to help support the worse of the two. However, she wasn't quite ready to retire yet, since she could still endure setting aside her crutch for short periods of time if she needed to. She sat with two raccoon caretakers, passing the time with idle conversation while the cubs went out to play.

On the other end of the playground was an overweight basset hound in overalls, and it was hard to tell if he was wearing much, if anything, underneath. This hound was in charge of maintaining the grass and plants in the large alcove. The cubs tended to stay away from this man. It wasn't that he was particularly scary, but he often engaged the cubs by talking extensively about his work--an extremely dull topic for most.

For the cubs in this place, their lives were thus far mostly uneventful compared to the rest of the underground, but unbeknownst to them, a shadow loomed over their lives which would eventually consume them. The orphanage was the property of Omega, and the cubs' innocence, as it would turn out, was simply another commodity.

---

As an assortment of cubs filtered out onto the playground, some ran as fast as they could, anxious to get to whatever favored piece of equipment they so desired, while others politely filed into the wide-open underground room, decorated to look like an above-ground school-yard. One cub did not fit into either group however, a rabbit cub named Thackery covered in black fur except for his paws, feet, muzzle, and the ends of his lop ears.

Instead, he was gripping tightly to a book and talking to one of the teachers, trying once again to beg to be able to stay in his room and read instead of joining the other cubs on the playground. This was an almost daily occurrence for the cub and the result was always the same no matter what adult he talked to, they would always just tell him he would have plenty of time to read later and some mixture of that he needed exercise, that he needed to interact with other cubs, or that they needed everyone together to be able to keep an eye on them. It still did not diminish the frustrated whine the cub gave out before he handed over the book and stepped outside into the artificial sunlight.

 

He walked slowly towards the playground so that he could adjust his small glasses, his only article of clothing, and try to see if he could find an area of the playground currently not in use by the other cubs. It wasn't that he didn't like the other cubs and with the adults around he didn't have to worry about being bullied much, it was more that they bored him. He craved the attention of the adults as they taught him so many great things and when they were no longer willing to he read through the very limited selection of books that were available to him. Nothing was to be learned by the games done on the playground it seemed beyond that he wasn't great at physical activities and even worse with trying to connect with these cubs who cared little about learning and more about playing.

 

It was then that he found his spot, the one place the cubs avoided as none of them much cared for Bobby, the rather overweight basset hound and groundskeeper. Thackery did not particularly feel that what the man talked about was interesting, but it was at least better than the silly games his fellow cubs played. Plus, it had the bonus of making sure he was not interrupted while trying to figure out this whole enigma of what it would take for him to eventually become an adult.

 

Walking briskly up to the canine he looked up at the adult with his heterochromatic eyes, a rather unique feature where one of his eyes was blue and the other a stark red, and began to feign interest in what he was doing.  ``Hey, uh, Bobby? What you doing?''

---

Moments after the young buck had separated from the larger group, another cub named Kiki followed and trailed behind at a distance. The skinny, naked little lemur girl had been one of the many who'd tried to engage their fellow classmate in their activities, but where the others had long since given up, the curious simian still persisted.

Over the years she'd even tried to engage him in conversation to learn more about him. Without much luck unfortunately, but what little she'd gleaned in all that time told her he too had an insatiable desire for knowledge that simply wasn't being met by their caretakers. And as a result of that unspoken connection, the flexible, acrobatic lemur had taken to sniffing high and low for new and interesting things in their rather dull little world; simply so she could share them with him.

Mostly she'd ask the giant rat lady a lot of questions, pointing to every object she could see and asking what it was called; she'd learn a lot of words on those days, and also a lot about body language. As inquisitive as she was though, the girl quickly learned not to pose queries that made her caretakers uncomfortable.

So whenever she had exhausted the educators, Kiki took to climbing the trees on the playground, exploring every square inch of the room they lived in day in and day out, for anything that might change or offer up new knowledge.

Normally she came up empty, save for the rare discoveries; like the little flying bug with powder on its wings. Unfortunately she'd played with it so much after finding it, that it had stopped moving by the time she showed it to Thackery. He wasn't very happy about that, and didn't believe her tales of how it flew around in the air.

This time though, she had some much more exciting information. Something that had her so giddy that she struggled to keep her self-imposed 10 meter distance at all times until the lop-eared bunny slipped out of sight. She knew where he was headed of course; to the boring old groundskeeper. Probably hoping to squeeze something new out of him. Boy was he gonna be surprised!

As soon as Kiki reached the treeline, she immediately scaled the nearest tree and used the high-ground to travel the rest of the way to Bobby's tool-shack, where he was probably taking a break after a long day of work. He was usually really stinky around this time too, so she wasn't exactly looking forward to meeting up with her `friend' there.

On her approach, she swung down from one branch to another, surprisingly nimble for a seven-year-old, but upon landing on the final limb just behind Thackery, she clumsily slipped and dropped straight down, only halting her sudden descent with her tail, which quickly wrapped around the branch and tugged uncomfortably at her tailbone.

She'd arrived just moments after the boy had greeted the basset hound, but she was so eager to get her own words out that she promptly blurted, ``Hey, hey! Thackery! Thackery! You won't belieeeeve what I jus'aw! It was so amazin' and new this time, I swear! You gotta listen!''

Letting go of the branch, the lemur dropped the last few feet to the ground with an unflattering plop, before scrambling back to her feet and dusting off her bare body from head to toe. All the while her long, striped tail whipped around excitedly as she tried to resist bubbling over with enthusiasm. ``So do you wanna hear? Tell you me wanna hear! It's so great, I know you'll love it! You know that door that we never get to go through? The one all the grown ups come out of every day? Well... I got to--''

The girl was quick to button her lips the instant she realized the groundskeeper was right there and staring at the two of them. Her excitement evaporated quite quickly as she sank down from her toes and onto her heels. ``Uhm... maybe I'll tell you later,'' she said sheepishly, adding a shaky, ``H-hi Bobby!''

---

Despite Thackery's best efforts to go unnoticed as he crossed the playground, one tall fox cub's eyes locked onto him as he relinquished his book to his raccoon teacher, Killian. The fox was always getting himself into trouble with his temper, and loved to take out his anger on the small bunny who didn't like being around other cubs. He was an easy target. Most days the fox would relentlessly tease the boy, then deny his intentions as the adults intervened. The fox slid from the seat on the swing set, ready to stalk the boy, but once Thackery's destination became clear, the fox huffed with disappointment, and jogged over to one of the baskets holding an assortment of balls instead.

The basset hound sat against the outer wall of the alcove, resting while still clutching a dirty spade in his paw. The adult gave a warm smile as Thackery approached and feigned interest in his work. The hound was happy to have one of the cubs approach HIM for a change, and immediately started to indulge the perceived interest from the little black bunny.

The basset hound had just opened his muzzle to speak before closing it again and catching the scent of a second cub approaching. It was usually only Thackery who approached. He scanned ground level, looking for the second cub before a rustling in the trees caught their attention. His brow raised as the naked little lemur's initial descent tugged uncomfortably at her tail. He didn't know about Thackery, but the girl's enthusiasm certainly caught his interest.

Suddenly, the lemur dropped unceremoniously onto the ground, causing the old hound to cringe at the impact. Before he could ask if she was okay, however, she was quick to her feet, and eager to blurt out this new discovery. Upon hearing mention of the forbidden staff room that connected all the segments inside the building, the hound's face turned to a scowl. Kiki had immediately recognized her mistake and stopped short as she realized that a member of the staff was standing right behind her.

``Little lady, did you actually go into the staff room? And just what did you--''

The hound's eyes shifted to Thackery. Depending on what the little girl had seen, it might be time for some damage control. The hound tossed his spade to the ground and began ushering Kiki towards the raccoon caretakers and the enforcer near the building.

``Come on, little lady, let's go have a word with your caretakers. Thackery, you can just wait there and I'll be right back. Let's go, Kiki.''

Bobby placed his paw between Kiki's shoulder blades and began walking her as quickly as he could get her to move. Meanwhile, as the basset hound left Thackery, two more cubs were prepared to invade the little bunny's boundaries. One was Daniel, a blue-furred 5-year-old rabbit holding a large bouncy ball in his paws with friendly intent, and Jeffrey, the tall fox with anything but friendly intent. Neither of them noticed the other as they approached.

Daniel arrived first, with the fox following a little farther behind. Daniel had the same question for Thackery that he had every time he was able to catch the older bunny away from old boring Bobby.

``Hey Thackery, wanna play kick-ball?''

---

The young buck was just getting ready to listen to a rather dull conversation when one of the cubs that he was trying to avoid showed up suddenly. Wincing slightly as he watched lemur fall from the tree, he both imagined how much that probably hurt to fall like that, and how much of a pain she was going to be towards him. She shared his interest in gaining knowledge, that was true enough and why he thought he should like her, but her energy towards that knowledge ruined it all for him. She seemed either unable or unwilling to enjoy the simple pleasure of a book or a lesson from an adult, instead she pestered all the adults which seemed to make them even more unwilling to share information with their charges; or poked and prodded at something interesting until she destroyed it like the bug that she had once shown him. Then there was that unending desire to make him like her it seemed; and expressing how much he didn't want her around just seemed to make her try even harder to impress him.

 

For once though, she actually said something that made his ears perk. She somehow got to see into the inner sanctum of the adults, the staff room, the place that they took all the books and games that cubs were not allowed to see. The room that the kids that got to leave the orphanage were finally allowed into and he was told once that is where the cubs in the orphanage finally got to enter the adult world or something like that. He was ready to listen to her for real this time as he turned to look at her, but she stopped suddenly as she realized she had made a fatal mistake before the buck could hear the details.

 

Before Thackery could hear any good details beyond that she got to see within the inner sanctum, the view of the groundskeeper made the lemur suddenly hold her tongue and become surprisingly quiet for a moment. It was too late for her however, judging from what Bobby had to say as he quickly took control of the situation and began to lead the lemur away to discuss what happened before the buck could get any details. He was forced to watch as the groundskeeper, his safety net away from all the cubs during this arduous time after classes, and the lemur, a cub for once that he desperately wanted to hear talk about something, both left him behind at such a hurried pace that he couldn't even think of what to say before they were both already too far away to hear his timid voice.

 

``Hey... I wanted to... hear...'' he started to say before he shut his mouth as he wasn't sure if he was about to lie and tell Bobby that he wanted to hear about plants and stay out of trouble, or Kiki who had somehow figured out one of the great mysteries of this small world they lived in.

 

Before he could even grasp in his small, prepubescent brain which of these things were about to escape his lips they were out of sight. Instead, the silence was replaced by the squeaky voice of a fellow rabbit a few years younger than him and bearing an unusual bright blue fur coat, named Daniel. Thackery knew this boy well enough; this cub felt obligated to pester him on a consistent basis due to their shared species. This seemed to be the only thing that they shared as Daniel was apparently too oblivious to realize that the answer to the question of the black buck participating in a physical activity like kick ball was always going to be a firm no.

 

For once however his answer changed, if ever so slightly, as he spotted Jeffrey coming up on their position. If Daniel hadn't come up at that moment the black buck knew that the fox probably would have been able to sneak up on him while he was still distracted by the sudden departure of Bobby and Kiki. He still didn't have much time however to try to get to a better location where he could be safe from the larger bully.

 

``Hey, uh, Daniel... sure! But not here... let's play over there!'' he said quickly as he pointed over towards an area where three adults, the two raccoons and the gigantic rat, were all sitting and talking. He didn't waste a moment to wait for an answer however as he started to walk briskly over to that location, trying to make it seem like he was in a hurry to get to a good playing field and not trying to run from the fox who could most definitely outrun him in a chase. He'd had rather bad luck with that in the past and didn't care to repeat it.

 

---

The instant she realized she wasn't going to get away with her slip up, Kiki's stumpy ears drooped downward and a pout swiftly materialized on her face. She knew when she'd screwed up, but not all hope was lost. The lemur hadn't gotten a chance to even hint at the juicy details of her story, which Thackery was clearly curious to hear now, if his body language was any indication.

For a moment she thought she might have a chance to explain herself as the groundskeeper grilled her, but even as she opened her mouth for a rebuttal, she was cut off mid-sentence: ``N-no I didn't, honest! I was only gonna--''

As the shovel struck the ground, Kiki couldn't help but flinch. She'd gotten in trouble enough times to recognize the futility of arguing, but ever the stubborn little simian, when the canine groundskeeper began leading her away, she resisted. Not completely, of course. As she'd been raised and trained, she turned around with shoulders hunched and head lowered while Bobby put a paw on her back to push her forward.

Kiki obliged for the first few awkward feet, but quickly started dragging her heels, and eventually just digging them in. The optimum strategy to slow their trek towards the caretakers while she complained loudly about the whole thing.

``Awwww...! It wasn't nothin', Mister Bobby, I swear!'' she pleaded, like she did every time.

Of course in all previous instances, it really had been nothing. Today was something else entirely, and she wasn't about to let the grown-ups take away her chance to make Thackery happy. Especially after seeing his reaction to just her teaser tale. She'd peaked his interest, which was something that had never happened before, and Kiki was determined to share what she'd learned with the cute bunny. Not the ugly old basset hound currently shoving her towards more symbols of her oppression.

With arms crossed and heels leaving tracks in the dirt as the groundskeeper had to work to push her forward, the naked cub railed on, ``I'm not gonna get sauced again, am I? I hate that stuff! I didn't even do anything bad this time..! It's not fair, Mister Bobby, I just want him to like me, that's all!''

The girl huffed and groaned to exaggerate her displeasure as much as she could during the trek, as if she might sway the boring old mutt to let her off with a warning, but such a thing would've been unprecedented to her, as the rule of law was unwavering in her little world. It did have its advantages when it came to the more ruthless bullies, but it was nonetheless a persistent thorn in the side of any who tried to learn more than the classes taught.

The lemur in particular didn't have a stellar track record in regards to discipline, but at least she'd been consistent in the harmlessness of it. Now that she had something really exciting to share though, it was going to be hard to hide. Specifically because Kiki was eager to talk about it. With Thackery of course. But if she spoke up about it now, the grown-ups would certainly make her promise not to tell, under pain of punishment.

That she wasn't looking forward to. Her abused tongue was already tingling preemptively with the memory of the last time she was forced to hold hot sauce on her tongue for two whole minutes. Just reliving that memory brought fresh pain-induced tears to her eyes, but she blinked them away quickly and looked up at the groundskeeper with an innocent tilt to her head.

``Do you have friends, Bobby? Cuz Thackery doesn't. I watch him every day. He just sits all by himself, or hides. Or comes to see you, even though you're so boring. He hardly ever smiles, either. Kinda like you, I guess. Nobody ever wants to play with him, but I do! I know he's not boring, either. He just pretends so everybody leaves him alone. It's super sad, don'tcha think Bobby? But I wanna see him smile and laugh! An' I think I almost did it today, but then you went and ruined it...!''

---

As the basset hound moved Kiki closer to her caretakers, it was becoming increasingly difficult to move her resisting heels through the grass and dirt. All the while he had to endure Kiki's unrestrained blabbing. He grunted with displeasure as Kiki so casually called him boring, and insisted that Thackery only approached him to keep the other cubs away. In his mind he dismissed the idea.

``Little lady, you need to.. just...''

As moving the lemur became increasingly difficult, a part of the old canine wanted to just beat the lemur senseless until she stopped being so stubborn, but there were strict rules against exposing the cubs to any form of violence, save the odd squabble between cubs that had to be stopped immediately and punished as severely as possible, given that the punishment must also be non-violent. At the very least, the old dog would relish the opportunity to bend the little shit over his knee.

For now, though, the most he could do was pick the little girl up off the ground and hoist her over his shoulder for the rest of the trip towards the other adults. He then deposited her on the ground in front of the two raccoons and the large mouse, before explaining the situation.

``Little miss mouth over here wants Thackery to like her so badly that she apparently trespassed into the hallway, or maybe even the staff room, just to have a story to tell him. Now Kiki, if you don't wanna be sauced again, you'll tell us how far in you went and what you saw, and you damn well better tell us the truth.''

The adult male raccoon's brow raised as he heard this.

``Oh is that so? Kiki, you do realize that you could end up expelled for going in there, don't you? You're willing to risk getting booted out on your own just to impress Thackery?''

Bobby grunted as the raccoon brought up the threat of expulsion.

``Killian, you could have waited a bit before dropping that one. Now how do we know she's going to tell us the truth? We might have to expel her regardless, now.''

Killian's muzzle scrunched, and he scratched his chin as he gauged Kiki's response, thinking hard on how to salvage the situation.

``Hmm, alright, how about this? Kiki, I'll make a deal with you. You tell me the truth--where you went and what you saw. If you're completely honest with me, I think I can help you impress Thackery with something he'll most certainly like. Here, let's go inside for a moment.''

The basset hound seemed to agree to this solution as he turned to leave Kiki to Killian while the raccoon led the lemur cub into the classroom.

---

Daniel grinned ear to ear as FINALLY his fellow rabbit agreed to play with him. He could barely contain his excitement, hugging the large ball to his chest as Thackery began to lead him away from where they were standing. At first, the reason Thackery was moving them elsewhere seemed obvious. The groundskeeper would return and tell his boring stories about plants and flowers when he got back, even if the cubs were busy playing.

As Daniel turned to follow Thackery, he caught sight of the fox in the corner of his eye, drawing those green irises of his towards the predator. Seeing this, the 5-year-old's ears folded back, and he kept pace closely behind Thackery, wishing this rabbit would move faster to get away from the bully intent on being mean to them again. Sure enough, the fox made his intentions clear.

``Hey long-ears! Wait up!''

The fox scowled as he realized the two rabbits were on their way towards the adults, no doubt intending to use the grown-ups as protection from the fox's more blatant bullying. Despite his superior speed, his distance from them was already getting too wide to catch up, though he certainly tried.. although he still had to keep from making it look like a chase. The fox hated this place, and everyone in it, and thus had a short fuse and a vengeful nature, not to mention a desire for dominance over the smaller cubs.

When they finally reached the adults, the fox turned on his false friendliness.

``Hey whatcha playin, ear boys? Kick ball? Let me play!''

The fox intended to use the nature of the game as an excuse to be excessively rough with the two rabbits, bouncing them to the ground with the ball, ``accidentally'' stepping on their ears, all manner of mean-spirited exercises of dominance under the guise of roughhousing.

``Hey Danny, how bout it?''

The fox wrapped an arm around Daniel and forced the 5-year-old against his side, squeezing tightly around Daniel's torso as the younger cub grunted and pulled at the fox's arm, that is, until the enforcer loudly cleared her throat, causing the fox to instantly release the boy. Fortunately for the younger cubs, the large mouse saw right through the fox's facade, but Jeffrey was not to be deterred, inching closer to Thackery.

``Hey Thacker-nut. You afraid to play with the big boys?''

The towering mouse with a thick accent interrupted, having dealt with the fox's bullying on many occasions.

``That game is one to one.'' The mouse emphasised her point with two fingers, excluding the fox with the rule of equal teams. ``You play other game with other cubs.''

``Naw, I'll take em both on. They can't beat me.''

Jeffrey took this opportunity to quickly wrap an arm around Thackery's head and pulled the black rabbit into a firm headlock, rubbing his paw roughly through the rabbit's head-fluff. By this point, Alexia had seen enough, propping herself up with her crutch and starting to make her way towards the troublesome fox. Though Jeffrey knew the enforcer was about to stop him, he giggled as he held Thackery in the headlock, and intended to continue holding it until the very last moment.

---

The lop-eared rabbit looked over his shoulder, careful to make sure that Daniel was indeed following but trying to avoid letting the fox know that he had been spotted and that that was why they were both moving. He was pleased to see they were so far able to keep a good distance from the fox; just enough that he would have had to draw attention to himself in order to chase after them at this point, which would definitely alert the caretakers.

But this did not seem to discourage the fox at all as he suddenly called out for them to wait, using a much more polite term for them than he had used in the past out of earshot of the adults. It still sent a shiver down Thackery's spine as he tried to act like he didn't hear it at all, though his body language clearly gave away that he had, his ears twitching nervously. The only thing keeping him from flat out running at that voice was that he already knew the fox would have little to no chance of hurting him or Daniel before they made it to the adults.

As he continued towards his destination he slowed down slightly. In his rush to get away from the fox he hadn't realized until now that he'd been following Bobby and Kiki this whole time. Despite how much he wanted to be out of the fox bully's reach he did not want to upset the adults by making it look like he was trying to chase after her. Despite his curiosity regarding what she was going to tell him, and a slight twinge of guilt that he inadvertently got her in trouble by being so close to an adult, he did not want to join her in whatever punishment they were coming up for her. Especially as she already looked rather distraught over whatever the raccoon and basset hound were saying, though he couldn't tell what that was from this distance even with his species' superior hearing.

This slight distraction of watching Kiki however was just enough time to let the fox finally catch up to them and at a distance a little further from the caretakers than he would have cared for. In addition, it seemed like Jeffrey had enough time to come up with a passing excuse to explain not only why he was following the two lapines but why they would suddenly have new bruises after their `game'. This was not the first time that the fox, or even some of the other cubs, had used one of the physical activities as an excuse to leave him with a few new bruises; before the adults eventually caught on to the targeted, one-sided roughhousing, anyway.

Luckily for the black buck the fox grabbed the younger blue cub first, grabbing him in what might have at first glance looked like an overly enthusiastic gesture of camaraderie. This was going to give him enough time to potentially get further away from the threat while Jeffrey was busy with Daniel he thought. It wasn't like he wanted to see Daniel hurt, but it was better than the alternative where he himself was picked on instead.

The sharp sound of the adult mouse clearing her throat was enough to simultaneously stop him from moving too far away, as he thought he had been caught with his cowardice, and make the fox let go of Daniel. This caused fates to be reversed rather quickly, almost as if to punish Thackery for thinking about leaving Daniel alone, as Jeffrey turned his attention towards him, inching his much larger form towards the helpless rabbit. He also seemed even more intent on his new target, as he did not stop his encroachment even when the mouse got more vocal in telling him to basically leave the two cubs alone in her thick accent.

As soon as the fox's arm started to lift, Thackery cowered in fright, thinking that the fox was going to drop all pretenses and instead just outright punch him. Looking away quickly, he tried to protect his face but all it did was make him that much of an easier target as the arm suddenly wrapped around his neck and held him tight in a headlock. He realized suddenly that this was actually much worse. Now he couldn't move away and the fox still had a free paw to do whatever he wished to do to the cub.

The rough rubbing along his head-fluff was just hard enough to hurt as his fur was tugged, but not enough to really cause any damage. This should have brought some small relief to Thackery, knowing that the fox still seemed to be trying to play it safe and make it appear like he was being playful and a bit too rough by accident, rather than the malicious actions that he truly intended. Instead he was going into full panic mode as he tried to pull away from the bully.

``Stop! Let me go!'' he cried out as he stomped at the ground, trying to find a foothold to get away from the powerful grip. He was in a sheer frenzy and didn't realize what he was doing as his foot suddenly stomped down on something softer than the ground with all the force he could muster. He realized too late that this mysterious soft spot was actually Jeffrey's foot.

---

The second she was picked up off her feet with a small, surprised gasp, Kiki flailed like the natural climber she was, instinctively kicking out for some sort of solid ground until she was promptly tossed over Bobby's shoulder like the sacks of fertilizer he often carried around the playground. Naturally she didn't appreciate being handled like a smelly bag of dirt, so she resolved to squirm for the rest of the trip.

With the basset hound's arm draped over the backs of her naked thighs though, her writhing was rendered ineffective. However, as she swayed and bounced against the big canine's broad back, she had the perfect view of the trail behind her. And there she saw Thackery following after them at a distance, with another younger boy tailing behind him.

Right away she noticed the nervousness in both of them, and needed only look behind them to see why. Unfortunately, she was being carted away now and couldn't come to their aid, but she renewed her squirming all the same, whining, ``No fair..! I can walk jus'fine, y'know..''

Not that this was the first time she had to be carried, of course, but it was certainly the first time being carried in such an unflattering manner, with her backside exposed to the caretakers as she was delivered to them. Kiki blushed a little as she was plopped back down on her feet before the two raccoons and the giant mouse. With her head lowered timidly, shoulders hunched, and her long, striped tail wrapped around bare legs turned inward until her toes nearly touched, she was the perfect image of a cub expecting a harsh reprimand.

After Bobby had taken her so seriously earlier, she worried Killian and his assistant would as well. She stood awkwardly with gaze cast downward, looking guilty as the basset hound relayed what she'd told him. However when he made the assertion she'd gone somewhere she shouldn't have, her head perked up sharply.

``N-no I didn... I just...!'' she tried to argue, but Bobby talked over her, giving her the chance to tell the truth about what she'd seen.

Just as she opened her mouth to explain though, Killian spoke up. And the second the raccoon brought up the possibility of expulsion, her jaws clicked shut. The young lemur stiffened at the idea of being expelled from the orphanage. As a known trouble-maker, she'd heard the warning many times, but this was the first time anyone brought it up right away.

Suddenly Kiki wasn't so confident she'd get out of trouble with a little hot sauce this time, and the nervousness showed as she pranced from one foot to the other. She knew she had to tell the truth, but how much of it she wanted to say out loud had just shrunk considerably now that she might be faced with a real punishment. Something that all the cubs had an innate fear of. Just the word sounded scary. Expelled. And when they used the other form, expulsion, it almost sounded painful.

The previously excited, bubbly Kiki, was uncharacteristically quiet and anxious for the tense exchange between the adults as Bobby chastised the raccoon for his comment. Beyond the occasional, worried glance towards the rabbits and their bully nearby, the lemur kept her head and gaze focused toward the ground until Killian finally addressed her, attempting to amend his earlier threat.

Kiki chewed her bottom lip as she listened, partially distracted by the antics playing out between the fox and bunnies as the issue had quickly escalated enough to draw Alexia's attention. Jeffrey was taking his roughhousing too far as usual, but neither rabbit was receiving it well; Thackery least of all. Eventually, the giant mouse was roused to action, equipping her crutch to make the trek, and thankfully alleviating some of the girl's concern, but her approach was slow, giving the fox plenty of time to torment the sensitive buck.

She wanted to do something to help, but unfortunately, the lemur still had her own dilemma to contend with. She was uncertain how to feel about telling the truth, now that talk of expulsion had been put out there. In his attempt to clear that tension however, the caretaker suddenly offered something she couldn't refuse in exchange for her honesty. The little, naked simian's full attention snapped back to the raccoon briefly as she perked up again, her tail unwinding from her legs as the invisible cloak of insecurity previously weighing down on her evaporated. Bubbling over with giggles, she trailed after Killian's own bushy, striped tail.

In her excitement, the girl couldn't help reaching out to grasp and lightly tug on it, as she asked a multitude of questions: ``What is it, what is it?! Can I see it now? Pleeease? I promise I'll tell everything! Oooh, is it in the classroom? I bet it is! Where is it? How big is it? Is it another flying bug? I hope it's a big one, the tiny ones are hard to catch.. Wait.. but he's already seen one, and he wasn't that excited.. Sooo it better not be a bug! It has to be something really amazing! Even more amazing than what I saw! Is it like that, Mister Killian?''

Kiki was eager as ever to acquire new knowledge to share with Thackery, especially considering his current plight, but even as she followed the caretaker into the classroom, she looked back with concern just as Jeffrey hollered in pain. Then the door swung shut, muting the sound and leaving the lemur to worry and wonder what had just happened.

---

The fox's headlock reflexively tightened as from the corner of his eye he saw the imposing mouse approaching. There was no doubt he was facing punishment for ignoring the adults, even though in his mind they were clearly showing favoritism to the smaller cubs. The fox was determined to make his exercise in dominance stick, so he contained Thackery's struggles as best he could.

``Aw, come on, I'm not hurting you. I'm not even--''

Suddenly a crushing pain shot through his toes as Thackery's foot came down on them hard. It didn't take much thought for the fox to jump to the conclusion that Thackery had stomped his foot on purpose. The headlock was loosened enough that Thackery could escape it, but the fox was absolutely fuming, and his expression got Alexia moving a little faster.

Sure enough, the fox turned violent, grabbing hold of Thackery's long ears to prevent him from stepping away, and yanking the rabbit towards him, and then down, to force Thackery onto the ground. Daniel's feet moved indecisively, wanting to come to Thackery's aid, but too afraid to approach the angry fox, whining with fear and indecision as the fox began slamming his fist onto Thackery's muzzle and eye a few times before Alexia reached down and gripped the fox's wrist firmly.

Jeffrey was so filled with rage, that he refused to let go of Thackery's ears, lifting the boy's head from the ground. He wasn't having this painful lesson interrupted, however, and in his anger, spun around and kicked the crutch out from under Alexia's arm, much to the shock of Daniel, and the surrounding cubs who had suddenly crowded the scene. The large mouse stumbled slightly and caught herself on her bad knee, grunting loudly with pain. However, she allowed her crutch to hit the ground, and remained standing.

The fox had lost his grip on Thackery's ears, and as he tried to re-establish that grip, Alexia's paw quickly reached forward and grabbed the scruff of Jeffrey's neck, pulling the fox back away from his target, and despite the pain in her knee, wrestled the fox to the ground and restrained Jeffrey's arms, folding them over his chest as she straddled his waist, trying to hold him still and burrow past Jeffrey's rage to get his attention.

``Jeffrey, stop! Enough!''

Meanwhile, Daniel and Wendy, the teen raccoon female and assistant caretaker, both rushed over to the battered bunny, and Wendy quickly assessed the damage as her eyes darted all over Thackery's face.

``Oh my gosh, Thackery, are you okay?! Your nose isn't broken, is it?''

Wendy's paw hovered over Thackery's bloody snout, avoiding touching it in case it was really broken and she might hurt the rabbit more.

---

Killian smiled as his suggestion quite successfully perked Kiki up, and appeared to make her more eager to share the information she had discovered. Of all the adults, Killian was outwardly the most tolerant of Kiki's antics. The hyper little lemur was just too cute. He wasn't even phased as she tugged on his tail on the way inside.

The raccoon listened as Kiki rapidly jumped from one guess to the next as to what this mysterious thing was that she could show to Thackery. For now, he only gave her a single clue with a chuckle.

``No, it's not a bug. But I'm sure neither of you will be disappointed.''

Killian led Kiki through the classroom, through another door, and into the bunk room.

``Now, which bunk was yours again? Hmm, you have a top bunk, right? What we can do is, we'll hide it under your mattress, and then when it's time for bed, you can sneak it over to Thackery and show it to him. Although you'll want to be careful not to clue any of the other cubs into what you `found' in the staff room.''

After teasing Kiki's curiosity a bit more, Killian sat down on the edge of the bottom bunk, and patted the mattress beside him for Kiki to join him.

``Of course, you'll have to tell me the truth about everything you did and saw, or you'll have nothing at all to show to him.''

Killian brought an arm around Kiki and lightly rubbed up and down her soft, fluffy arm as he hugged the girl against his side.

``I'll make sure you don't get expelled, Kiki, one way or another. I have close to a week left before I'm allowed to adopt again. I need you to be a good girl for me until then, okay? Now, tell me everything.''

---

As soon as he had realized where his foot had inadvertently landed he knew he was in a massive amount of trouble. The fox had a very well known temper that could easily send him into a rage over a simple misdeed and he could imagine this was even worse if he believed he had been attacked by the smaller buck.

He tried to scream out an apology and back away from the bully now that the headlock had loosened just enough for him to slip out of it. Both of these items were cut suddenly short as his sensitive rabbit ears were gripped tightly by the larger vulpine's paws, the dull claws on the paw digging into the sensitive flesh as he cried out in pain and shock instead of any of the words he had planned initially.

He barely registered the feeling of him being moved due to the throbbing in his ears until he felt the sharp pain of his young form meeting the ground suddenly. Still crying out in pain he began to blubber out in unrecognizable words through his sheer panic and the tears from the pain he was already being subjected to. His nonsensical words either did not reach the fox's ears or even potentially it had enraged him more as he suddenly felt his head being picked off the ground just for it to be slammed back down again from the force of a large furred fist connecting with his nose and muzzle.

By this point Thackery could no longer tell what was going on around him as his world had simply turned into the pain that Jeffrey was inflicting on him, his body bouncing with each time that the fist connected with the side of his muzzle, his nose, and his eye. He was forced to close his eyes to try and protect himself from the damage that the hard fist could do to him. This made the pain in his head flare up even hotter though as all he could do was focus on the ringing in his ears, the taste of copper in his mouth, and the blood rushing to his nose and cheeks.

As soon as the assault had started however it was over for the young buck as the fist suddenly stopped and he could feel the heavier form of the fox being moved off of him. He tried to open his eyes to figure out what had happened but found that his right one would barely open, a newfound swelling sensation and a sharp pain keeping him from opening it too far; though his left eye seemed to work just fine.

He could make out the forms of the mouse pinning the fox to the ground though he was still obviously fighting through his rage, giving the much larger adult more trouble than the other cubs would have offered. This made him smile slightly as he was sure the fox was going to get a harsher punishment this time; though he suspected it wouldn't last long as the fox always came back, most of the time looking for revenge. The caretakers had never given a real physical punishment to the cubs but they still had plenty of other punishments.

Before he could think too much about the fox's predicament he was brought back to his own as Wendy suddenly was rushing up to him and asking him about his nose. Coughing slightly he turned over to spit out some blood, and with it a piece of one of his teeth as it became obvious that one of his incisors had cracked off from the vicious pummeling. He couldn't tell if his nose was broken, never having felt that kind of pain before, but he knew it hurt like crazy.

``Uh... I don't know... it hurts... but not as much as my ears..'' he said softly as he laid there, scared to know how bad the damage was beyond his bruised nose leaking blood, his swollen right eye, and chipped tooth.

``... I said I wanted to read...'' he said softly to no one in general.

---

After the door had closed, there was a commotion and sounds of shouting beyond it, but it had all become muffled, forcing Kiki to speculate what awful thing must've transpired. She was positively certain that Jeffrey was to blame, and her concern was threatening to ruin her presently good mood until Killian drew her attention with a teasing hint of what new thing he planned to give her. Just like that, the lemur shifted mental gears and took off after the raccoon with a big grin on her face.

She never had the best attention span, especially regarding things that made her uncomfortable, so pondering what new discovery her caretaker was going to reveal was a far better alternative to worrying about Thackery's well-being. Alexia would certainly take care of it, and if she wasn't enough, Killian's assistant was there too. So the buck was in good hands. And after, if he was upset, Kiki could cheer him up with the prize she was about to obtain.

As she trailed after the raccoon, the little naked simian's head was on a swivel, looking around the classroom and wondering where her caretaker might be hiding his promised trove of knowledge. Rather than make any stops in the main room though, Killian headed straight for the open doorway leading into the cubs' sleeping area. Kiki caught up to him pretty quickly then, and when asked about which bunk was hers, immediately plowed ahead of him in her excitement.

``This one here! Follow me! Over here!'' she declared, scampering ahead and effortlessly scaling the post of a bunk bed that was up against a far wall. There were many others around it, but the top bunk she gleefully flopped into and bounced upon, was clearly hers. Just judging from the mess of school supplies she'd invariably `smuggled' into the area so she could doodle with crayons before bed.

A bunch of pictures were stuffed under her pillow already, so the girl immediately started rearranging things and cleaning up her mess: ``Sorry it's really messy, Mister Killian. I'll make it better, see? Cuz I'm a good girl!''

The lemur giggled as she worked, watching the raccoon take a seat on the bed below while he discussed how she could hide the new thing he was giving her. She didn't fully understand the tone in his voice, but the playfulness in it made her giddy. It was almost like she and Killian were in on some special secret that only they were allowed to know. And it was exciting!

Kiki was really eager now to get this mystery prize for her truthful retelling of what she'd seen, so the second the raccoon patted the mattress beside him, the girl's hyperactive brain shifted gears again. She swiftly looked for a new place for her collection of drawings, and decided to take her caretaker's advice, by shoving them under the mattress of her bed. Then, with all the acrobatic skill of her monkey heritage, Kiki swung herself over the edge of the bunk and upside-down, then expertly planted herself on the bed below.

With a giggle she looked up at the grown-up beside her, beaming as she assured the raccoon she'd be honest, in response to his expectation for the whole truth.

``Oh, I will, I promise!'' she answered, ``I jus'wanna make Thackery smile!''

In the back of her mind though, she was parsing that memory, separating the boring bits from the exciting bits, almost entirely automatically. She still wanted to share what she saw with Thackery, and worried that Killian would make her promise to keep it secret if she brought it up.

As the raccoon casually wrapped an arm around her, the naked cub happily leaned against the fully clothed adult, nuzzling against his chest with both paws firmly nestled in her lap. The girl quickly became so entranced by the affectionate interaction, that it took her a few moments to really process what Killian said next. But when she finally pieced it together in her young mind, a new energy rose up inside her.

The girl was as much shocked as she was overjoyed by the singular prospect of being adopted. And who could blame her really, as Kiki and her fellow cubs were raised to see that momentous occasion as a milestone on the road to growing up. So to hear Killian playing with the idea of adopting her, was to potentially win the ultimate lottery in her limited existence. Needless to say, the lemur was suddenly much more enthusiastic.

``Wha..!? R-really?! Y-y-you'll adopt me if I'm good?!'' she practically squealed, before clasping her paws over her muzzle. She looked up at Killian, sheepishly blushing after her loud outburst. But Kiki was clearly tickled pink, and now actually seriously considering just being completely forthright.

After all, nothing was worth risking even the chance of being adopted. Nothing, not even Thackery.

``I--I'm sorry,'' she giggled nervously, ``I'm just--it's so exciting..! A-a-anyway! Uhm... I didn't really see much, but! But... I just wanted t'say, that Mister Boring--I-I-I mean Bobby!--was wrong. I didn'go in. I jus'... `peeked' when the door was open a bit. An' I saw a long room on the other side with a bunch more doors. One of `em was open a little, too. `Cause that's where the grown-up who left the other door open went. I heard them talking to somebody, but I didn'know what they were saying.''

``Anyway, I thought the room was really pretty. `Cause it was all white and shiny, an' the floor was sparkly!'' she giggled, clearly enjoying her own recollection.

---

Killian shook his head slightly as Kiki told her part of the short tale.

``That's it? That's what all this fuss is about? Why do you think Thackery would be interested in a hallway?''

As Killian listened to Kiki's response, the bunk room door opened. The muffled sounds of Jeffrey and Alexia arguing could be heard outside as Wendy stepped in.

``Hey dad, it looks like we're going to have an expulsion vote after all.''

Her eyes shifted to Kiki who had just been threatened with expulsion just moments prior.

``Oh, no, not for you, sweetie. It's Jeffrey. He beat up Thackery pretty bad, and even kicked Alexia's crutch out from under her when she pulled him off.''

``For fuck's sake!''

Killian stood swiftly from the bed. While Wendy ran out towards the staff room, Killian marched through the door, and out onto the playground, leaving the doors open behind him, since he had more or less finished his business with Kiki for now. He arrived on the playground as the fox was angrily pleading his case to Alexia, as adults from the other segments made their way over.

``But he stomped on my toes!''

Alexia responded by kneeling and grabbing Jeffrey's head in a headlock, much like he had Thackery held earlier, causing the fox to stomp around and pull at Alexia's arm, which she promptly released.

``You see? You stomp around when head is held tightly too.''

``No, he did it on purpose, because he wanted me to be in trouble!''

``You are in trouble for hitting cub with fist, and being mean at other cubs three times for two weeks. You are also not good listening to adults, and other punishments change nothing.''

A chant began among a group of smaller cubs. ``Expel! Expel! Expel!'' To which Alexia responded, raising her paw and shouting ``Hush!'' The smaller cubs complied, apart from some giggling as it looked like the fox had really done himself in this time.

Meanwhile, Killian arrived outside, turning to Thackery as the rabbit stood there barely able to open his swollen eye, with smeared blood stains on the front of his muzzle. Killian rubbed his forehead with a frustrated sigh, only reacting with a decided ``Yep...'', as it seemed obvious there wasn't anything to consider beyond what he saw in front of him.

``Here, come sit over here for a moment.''

Killian guided Thackery over to the row of chairs the adults usually sat in during recess. Wendy arrived shortly after with an ice pack.

``Hold this against your eye, okay? Hmm, hey dad, does his nose look broken to you?''

``Mmm.. I don't think so, but we'd better get an x-ray on him to be sure.''

``Yeah. I just heard shouting and when I looked over, Jeffrey had him on the ground. What happened before that, Thackery?''

---

The black furred cub laid still on the ground while Wendy ran off to get her father, he did not feel like moving much at all in his current state so he did not care much to want to follow her. His vision was fuzzy with only being able to see clearly out of one eye while the other was fighting to stay open with the swelling and his sense of smell was gone as even if his nose wasn't broken it was too clogged with blood to work properly, but his hearing was still spot on it seemed. He could hear Jeffrey trying to come up with one excuse after another trying to push the blame away which made Thackery want to say something, but Alexia was much quicker with her retort. It was probably for the best anyhow he thought as he realized he didn't even know what he could have said. It was already sounding like he was being presented the worst punishment any of the cubs knew of, expulsion.

For some reason he could not help but to smile at the thought of finally being rid of that bothersome bully so he could be one step closer to peace and quiet. He had never seen a cub in his class being expelled but there were many a story of a cub that was either so consistently bad or had done one great mistake and the school was forced to expel them. What happened next varied upon who the storyteller was and even in Thackery's young age he knew that they were all probably embellished if not outright lies. The thoughts of these stories however made him think of Kiki as he realized that she was still in trouble, and despite how annoying he thought she was he did not want to see her expelled too. He hadn't heard anyone mention it about the young simian though so he knew he really shouldn't worry about that, but he still had not heard her come back yet.

His brief yet frantic thoughts were interrupted however as Killian was suddenly in front of his blurred vision talking to him. With the simple order filled with care the buck stood up slowly to limp over to where the raccoons were. He knew he was good enough to walk so he didn't really have to worry, especially as the adults seemed to not coddle him in that aspect. He barely had time to get to the chair and sit down, adjusting to the fact that it was obviously designed for the larger form of the adults and not for cubs, before the younger raccoon was shoving an ice pack into his face. He flinched at the object before he took it and gently pressed it against his eye letting it start to cool part of his face. It hurt at first but not nearly as bad as he had initially thought so he held it tight to let it do its work while he listened to the adults talk about his nose.

Then the topic turned to the questioning on what had happened. His shoulders suddenly tightening, he began to fret that they may be believing Jeffrey after all, his foot kicking at the air nervously. His eyes darted from the raccoons to the fox and back again before pouting, ``Please! I didn't do anything!'' he said in a squeaky voice. ``Me and Daniel were trying to get away from him and play a game in safety where Alexia could see. But he didn't take the hint and kept following us, saying mean things in front of her even. She told him to leave us alone and next thing I knew he had his arm around my neck. It hurt so I tried to get away! I just meant to step away I swear! I didn't mean to stomp on his foot!'' he said in a quick frantic pace as he lets the ice pack fall to the side showing off the bruised part of his face. ``Then he hit me... again and again. I think he hit Alexia too, I saw her fall I thought, but was in alot of pain at that time.''

Gasping for air he tried to think of more to say to make them understand, but he couldn't think of anything else to say and was giving them plenty of time to finally respond now.

---

In response to Killian's brief interrogation, the little girl smiled innocently, rolling her eyes away from the raccoon somewhat disingenuously as she happily explained her compartmentalized reasoning: ``Mmm... Becaaaause... I've never seen a long room before,'' she admitted honestly, perking up considerably at the introduction of a new word, ``Ooooh, is that what it's called? A hallway? Wow! I wonder if there's other `way's too. Like a... a... a TALLway! Hehehehe!''

``Oh, an' the floor was really sparkly an' pretty too, by the way! I bet Thackery'll love that. He likes shiny things, right..? Or is that Davis...'' she mused, briefly getting distracted from the topic. ``Anyway, I jus'wanna share something new with him. An' I know he likes that!''

Kiki was clearly tickled pink at this point. Having heard a new word and learned that Killian might consider adopting her, she was practically on top of world at the moment. If she seemed nervous at all though, it was because she worried about follow-up questions. Fortunately for the lemur, before Killian could grill her further, his own daughter barged in, requesting her father's presence.

In doing so however, she brought up a potential expulsion, and the smile that'd been plastered on the little simian's face faltered. Wendy was quick to pick up on her trepidation, but misinterpreted the reason for it. She assumed Kiki was worried for herself, and she had no desire to correct her.

Instead, she let out a nervous laugh, stammering, ``R-r-right..! Haha..ha...'' Then she suddenly sat up straighter and clasped both paws over her muzzle in realization. ``W-wait, Thackery got hurt!?''

The little cub rose up with concern, but Killian got to his feet first, immediately dropping an F-bomb as he stormed out of the room, following the younger raccoon back to the playground. They left Kiki behind, and she couldn't help letting out a relieved sigh, wiping a paw across her forehead for effect. For a moment there she thought she'd have to spill ALL the beans.

Luckily for her, Killian seemed to believe her bare bones recollection, which meant good news for Thackery. Especially if the caretaker gave her the prize he'd promised, too. Then she'd have TWO amazing things to tell the curious rabbit she adored. And she was syked to share as she bounced off the bed and onto her feet to follow after the two raccoons. Trailing behind them at a fair distance, the girl came to a stop in the classroom doorway that opened onto the playground.

Immediately she scanned the grounds for her favorite bunny, quickly spotting him at the caretaker's table. He was holding an ice-pack and apparently trying to explain himself to the grown-ups, but as she ran out to greet him, what caught her eye was the red stuff on his face. Kiki came bounding down a small, grassy slope, practically running into the table the adults typically sat at, but quickly swerved around it and skidded to a stop beside Thackery.

``Thackery, Thackery! Are you okay?!'' she said all too loudly, ``They said you got hurt an'..! Hehehe, what's that on your face? Were you playing with the red paint, you silly... thing...?''

The smile quickly left her face when Kiki realized it wasn't paint. It was much too dark for one. In fact... it almost looked like... Suddenly the little lemur was recalling that long room again, or the `hallway' as Killian had put it. There was that sparkly floor she was so fond off, and then there was the... red puddle... Back then she'd thought it was just paint too, but what if...

Suddenly looking lost for a moment, the girl flinched and shook her head, trying to put on another carefree smile. It was still tainted by the revelation she just had, but she attempted to hide it with her concern for the buck beside her. From her current angle, he didn't look... too bad... but his snout had clearly swollen, and as Kiki came around it front of Thackery, she saw the black eye too, wincing in sympathy.

``Ouchie... That looks really bad. Is he gonna be okay, Killian?'' she asked, ``I don'know why Jeffrey's gotta be so mean all the time. Are you... really gonna expel him, though?''

---

Killian sat in the chair next to Thackery while the boy frantically recounted the incident, seeming to think he was in trouble as well. When Thackery's explanation paused, Killian placed a paw against the cub's back, gently rubbing up and down.

``Don't worry, Thackery, you're not the one in trouble, here. So Jeffrey had his arm around your neck, you stepped on his foot, and that's when he started hitting you?''

Killian waited for Thackery to confirm, then resumed rubbing the naked cub's soft, fuzzy back.

``Hey, even if you had stomped his foot on purpose, it sounds to me like he was choking you. If that were all that happened, you'd still not be in trouble for...''

Killian stopped himself. If Thackery was adopted by someone who was into choking, it might be problematic if the cub believed he was in the right to attack his master to get away.

``Well.. actually maybe you would have been in a little trouble, but it doesn't matter. Either way, there's absolutely no call for Jeffrey to strike you. That's unacceptable. One way or another, we..''

Killian was interrupted by the energetic lemur running up to check on Thackery, allowing the cubs to chat while he turned his attention back to Jeffrey, who at this point was in tears as it seemed Alexia was having none of his excuses. This by itself wasn't anything new, but for once the fox was visibly scared, his arms tucked close to his chest, ears back and his tail between his legs.

``D-Don't expel me! Please! I'm sorry! I won't hit anyone again! I promise.''

Alexia snorted at this. ``This is promise you make much times before, and then you break, sometimes in same day.''

Killian's attention was drawn back to Kiki with a couple of questions, one in concern for Thackery, and the other regarding Jeffrey's punishment.

``I think Thackery will be okay, but we're going to do an x-ray just to make sure his nose isn't broken. Thackery, how much can you press on your nose before it hurts too much?''

Once Thackery answered, he looked back to Jeffrey, who continued to cry and promise not to attack anyone, but Killian was certain the other adults would be just as convinced as Alexia was.

``As for Jeffrey, if it were up to me, yes, he'd be expelled. The kid's just too much trouble, and no other punishment ever seems to work on him. One way or another, we have to put a stop to his violent behavior, but I think we're out of options. From what Wendy told me, he even kicked Alexia's crutch out from under her. I can't imagine the pain that must have put her in to suddenly have all her weight on that bad knee. I doubt we'll ever find an adult willing to adopt such a troublemaker. Still though, expulsion is intended as a last resort, so just one of us can't make that call. We have to vote on it. If most of the other adults say `no', we'll have to try to find some other way of discouraging his outbursts.''

``Enough.'' Alexia was done listening to Jeffrey's excuses and pleas. ``We vote to expel.''

Alexia's paw extended to one of the adults who had gathered around. ``Yes.'' was the first vote, and the second, and the third, as Alexia's paw moved clockwise around the crowd. Killian and Wendy also both voted ``yes''. As the yes votes continued to come in, Jeffrey slouched, his eyes widening in panic as the yes votes very quickly reached a majority.

``No! NO! NOOOO!''

Jeffrey tried to run, but couldn't place his foot on the ground as Alexia pulled him back by the scruff. By this time, a very large hippo who was one of the guards at the front gate stepped in to effortlessly control Jeffrey's thrashing before he hurt Alexia again. As Alexia's paw came full circle, there wasn't a single ``no'' vote to be counted. It was unanimous. By this point, almost all of the smaller cubs were cheering the result, as well as many of the bigger cubs, too. Alexia could barely speak over them.

``Jeffrey, we can't help you to become adult. You are expelled.''

Jeffrey thrashed wildly, not taking his sentence idly. The unknown, the rumors, they were all too much for the fox to bear as he begged and futilely attempted to escape the hippo's grasp. The guard wordlessly hoisted Jeffrey over his shoulder and began walking the cub towards the gate, not phased by Jeffrey's pounding and clawing on the hippo's back, arm, and chest. The smaller cubs, including Daniel, vindicated by this punishment, slowly followed behind with the chant of ``Expel! Expel! Expel!''

``SHUT UP! SHUT UP!''

Eventually, the second guard had to step forward to keep the rest of the cubs clear while the hippo opened the gate, placed Jeffrey on the outer cement floor, and the two guards on the other side dragged him by his arms a few feet from the gate as the hippo closed and locked it behind. After shooing the small cubs back onto the playground, the guards all returned to their posts, while the outer guards halted Jeffrey's every effort to get to the gate, screaming and begging them to let him back in, but it was too late.

Jeffrey hyperventilated as he looked left and right, having never been close to the foreboding tunnel before. It was so long he couldn't see an end in either direction, just faint lighting and an endless void. It was the first time in his life that Jeffrey couldn't see every wall in a room, and it was terrifying. He continued to scream and beg, and throw himself into the guards who casually shoved him back away from the gate.

---

The young buck seemed to calm down considerably once Killian started rubbing his back. The raccoon was one of his favorite teachers, so he trusted him considerably to tell him the truth of things. Nodding slowly to the question, he confirmed  Killian's inquiry about when the hitting started and got rewarded with more of that pleasant touch.

Listening to the raccoon's reasoning behind the accidental stomping he relaxed and decided to not argue back that he had not done it on purpose, but then the teacher's pause confused him. His ear twitched nervously at the mention of him being in trouble if he had, though he kept silent  as he figured the adult was just trying to push that violence was never the answer. The teachers and other adults had taught them the lesson multiple times. After all the only thing worse than striking a fellow cub was to strike an adult in charge.

The rest of the raccoon's words were cut off however by the energetic cub that suddenly forced herself close to the three of them. Looking over at the small simian girl he almost laughed at the weird question about him getting into paint before he noticed that weird far off look in her eyes. At first it looked like she was just processing the extent of the damage the fox had done, but something seemed off to the buck with how she shook her head. Before he could ask her what she was thinking about however she started talking again with that same hyper tone that he was used to from her.

``I... I think I'm okay, Kiki,'' he said softly as he started to pull the bag away from his eye before wincing and pressing it back again to try to continue easing the pain while hiding some of the damage from her in case that was what was making her so worried.

Thackery nodded as Killian repeated the need for an X-ray for the new audience. Reaching up with his paw he pressed on his nose lightly and let out a low whine, pressing a little harder to test it before having to move his paw away.

``It's sore and I can press a bit on it before it hurts too much... it's like that day the soccer ball hit me almost,'' he started, frowning as he recalled that memory, ``Just more so I guess.''

He wanted to say more but then the topic was quickly turning away from his injuries and towards the very loud fox still trying to plead his innocence. He was a little surprised the very serious topic of expulsion was being talked about so openly. His good eye widened dramatically in shock. Maybe this truly was the last straw for the vulpine bully. He wasn't sure if the state of his nose and eye or how he had disobeyed Alexia before kicking her crutch away from her was the bigger reason, but it didn't seem to really matter as the result sounded like it would be the same.

It didn't even feel as if Killian had enough time to finish explaining what may happen before Alexia was calling for the vote for that very thing. The vote for the expulsion seemed  as if it all happened in a blur to the injured buck who was lost in shock at the whole thing. Every single adult voted to expel Jeffrey, not even one seemed willing to give him another chance, and just like that the bully was being carried away to the gate that separated the kids from the outside world.

It wasn't until the sharp sound of the gate being relocked that he snapped out of it enough to register all of what happened and that it meant that the vulpine was permanently gone. Thackery watched the cub fight against the guards on the other side of the gate, screaming and crying as he tried to foolishly get back to the orphanage. Thackery almost pitied him but the ache in his nose and eye quelled that emotion considerably.

``What's going to happen to him now?'' he asked out of curiosity, though he was pretty sure he was not going to like the answer as it would be too vague and protective, or he would hear some terrible truth like there were monsters on the other side of that gate.

---

When Kiki had gotten the answer to what had suddenly become a very pressing query in her mind, the little naked girl didn't look nearly as happy as one might've expected her to. Instead, as Killian explained the reasoning for his belief that the boy should be voted out, and furthermore, the extent of his crimes against none other than Alexia herself, the young lemur's eyes widened imperceptibly as both paws gradually gravitated toward covering her snout to hide the twisted expression on her lips.

The raccoon had stated it would be determined by a vote, but that wasn't very reassuring. Most previous votes had ended very poorly, and all but today's took place behind closed doors, or in the classroom during morning lessons. But there was no waiting this time. No interlude for which the grown-ups deliberated and made their decision in secret. Instead, Alexia's voice rang out then, loudly and sharply, declaring a vote would be made right then and there.

In an instant, Kiki's gaze jumped from Killian to the new center of attention in the middle of the playground. The giant rodent still held the struggling young fox, who'd been pleading for forgiveness, but now she had an arm raised, singling out each caretaker present, demanding their votes. And to the simian's secret horror, each one of them was affirmative. They all wanted the boy gone. But worse still, so did the other cubs.

After the unanimous voting call, Kiki gasped softly, tears threatening to well up in her eyes as she watched the frantic fox being handed off to a large hippo that all the cubs recognized as one of the guards always stationed near the gaping, black maw that they all feared. More now than ever though, Kiki quivered with terror for her fellow classmate. There wasn't a boy or girl among them who didn't dread the idea of being expelled into that dark world beyond their bright little haven, but seeing it happen so openly today, and with the other cubs cheering so emphatically for the bully's fate, made her heart ache.

For all his cruelty and unfairness, always picking on Thackery and whomever else got in his way, nobody deserved such a terrible future in her eyes. Unfortunately, she couldn't hide the concern on her face, or disguise the dread gripping her timid heart. All she could do was watch as Jeffrey screamed and pleaded to stay, struggling in the big, strong hippo's grasp as he was carted away, and unceremoniously tossed beyond the gate.

Alexia had shooed the other cubs back and demanded their silence, but no one looked away from the scene playing out before them. They were all smiling. Every one of them. Everyone except Kiki, who could only see a scary puddle of red as the poor boy was ejected from his home, trapped beyond the gate and shoved further and further away from safety and security. She didn't realize the tears had begun trickling down her cheeks until they contacted the paws she still had clasped over his mouth. At that moment, she flinched and quickly moved to wipe the sadness from her eyes and expression.

Looking nervous briefly, the lemur bit her lip and rubbed one of her arms uncomfortably. It had only take a few minutes for the vote to expel to end in Jeffrey's immediate expulsion, but felt much longer to her. And now, with the object of their scorn's cries drifting and echoing into the distance, the other cubs on the playground began to disperse again, their day resuming as if nothing had happened.

Kiki might've done the same as well, if she could've shaken the mental image of what she'd seen in that hallway. It certainly wasn't just a puddle of red paint that had her so worried. There had been a source, after all. And her superb memory was quick to recall more details that she'd kept hidden from Killian. Specifically, a shiny metal table with wheels, similar to the carts the cubs had in their classroom, for wheeling around books and storing their toys in.

In her mind she looked up at an arm, dangling limply from a white, red-stained sheet, painted in spots of red itself, and dripping periodically. Kiki suddenly had a need to pee in fright, but she held her bladder and tried once more to shake the mental image from her head. How could something that normally would've excited her, suddenly become so frightening? It wasn't like she even cared for Jeffrey, and yet in her heart she still worried for him.

She was just as curious as Thackery about what would become of the fox, but where she kept it to herself, the buck beside her voiced it out loud. Kiki, in a small flurry of barely contained panic, shushed the boy before immediately blushing and looking away as she drew Killian's gaze. Suddenly feeling his eyes on her, the girl nervously tried to distract from the topic.

``Uh... uhm... H-hey Killian! C-could I come with you and Thackery for the x-ray? I've never seen it before, and I really wanna, pleeeeease? Please, can I, can I? Pleeeeeease!!''

The little cub bounced up and down, psyching herself up into an excitable froth again, much like her usual self, albeit perhaps a little more exaggerated than normal. The last thing she wanted to think about right at that moment, was the very secret she was aching to reveal to Thackery more than ever now.

---

Kiki's nervousness and her eventual tears did not go unnoticed. In fact, the girl seemed not only worried for Jeffrey, but she almost seemed terrified. Killian continued to watch the scene unfold, glad to be rid of the little troublemaker, but his eyes periodically shifted back to Kiki. What was in her head? It could have been the rumors floating around the orphanage about past expulsions. In the end, those rumors did have the unintended benefit of discouraging escape attempts among some troublesome cubs. Perhaps Kiki was simply dwelling on how close she, herself, came to being expelled. Even so, Kiki's reaction did seem a bit uncharacteristic for her.

Thackery, understandably, had a question regarding what would happen to those who were taken beyond that gate and left to fend for themselves. To this, Killian had an answer, but before he could tell it, Kiki, the normally curious little monkey, did something completely unexpected, quickly shushing Thackery.

``Kiki?''

Something was definitely up. If he wasn't sure before, he was certain now. She was hiding something, but what, and from whom? As Kiki blatantly tried to change the subject, Killian looked around at the other adults and cubs nearby, wondering if perhaps Kiki wanted to make sure they were out of earshot.

``Hmm. Sure, Kiki, you can come with us. Thackery, let's go and take care of that now.''

Killian patted Thackery's back gently as he stood, continuing to observe Kiki as they walked across the playground towards the door to the clinic on the other side. Killian hadn't yet made the connection between Kiki's unusual behavior and her recent peek into the hallway, but he was starting to wonder if Kiki's behavior wasn't brought on by a simple rumor. The rumors were numerous and elaborate, ranging from monsters to kidnappers, the latter of which was coincidentally rather accurate, but no less exaggerated than all the rest. None of them had discouraged Kiki's curiosity before.

Once Killian and the two cubs were far enough out of earshot, Killian stopped them, determined to get to the bottom of this.

``Alright Kiki, just between us, what's got you so spooked?''

---

Killian was not the only one to notice Kiki's unusual behavior as even young Thackery was picking up on how different she was acting. The sudden shushing she uttered was very unlike her as she matched the young buck's curiosity usually. Though normally the lemur expressed it with much more vigor and energy than the buck. Instead it seemed she was actively trying to not learn what fate had been thrust upon the fox bully now that he was expelled.

He could not place what that may be however as more pressing matters were raised about getting him the medical care that he needed. Stepping up slowly with Killian's help he followed the adult silently as he focused on walking with only being able to see out of the one eye. He was able to keep pace with the two others, but it was obvious he was having to go slower than he normally could have as he focused on keeping the ice pack in place along with his impaired depth perception.

They did not make it far however before yet another interruption happened as Killian decided to raise the question of Kiki's behaviour. Fidgeting nervously, and with a little bit of irritation, he turned to face the lemur girl. He was anxious to hear the answer as not only was he curious too, but he wanted this over so he could finally get his nose looked at after hearing so many times it may be broken.

---

When it seemed like her attempt to distract from her peculiar behavior was a success, Kiki began to relax a little, but as she moved to follow Killian and the battered Thackery towards the clinic at the far side of the yard, her long, flicking, many-striped tail betrayed the nervous mood she was trying to suppress. She didn't like the butterflies that were fluttering around in her tummy, so the lemur attempted to distract herself with concern for the young rabbit beside her.

Thackery wasn't having an easy time keeping up with the raccoon, so Kiki stayed by him closely, circling him with uncharacteristically tense flicks of her tail. She pulled the ice-pack from his eye insistently at one point, to get a better look at his swollen eyelids, but it only made her wince and back off when the boy expressed his discomfort. The girl continued her own cursory evaluation though, looking the naked rabbit up and down for anymore injuries.

Always though, her gaze inevitably returned to his bruised nose and the blood that still stained his snout. It had darkened considerably by now, but it was no less distressing to her, for all the unpleasant thoughts it conjured in her regrettably overactive imagination.

Kiki was content to continue playing up her concern for her friend, but once the trio had drifted out of earshot of the other cubs and their caretakers, Killian suddenly rounded on the two cubs and halted their progress. At that moment, the little simian had to skid to a stop just to keep from ramming into the raccoon. Then she jumped back, startled.

Almost immediately the caretaker had her in his sights, and proceeded to call her out for her earlier behavior. And, with all the subtlety of a freight train, the girl began to stammer loudly and uncomfortably in the face of such a blunt confrontation.

``I--I ah... uhm... w-w-what you talking about? I didn't--I'm not... I mean, it was just--that is..!'' she stuttered, before stiffening and drooping forward with a heavy, defeated whine. She didn't want to voice her concerns so soon, if at all if she could've gotten away with it. But Killian was insistent, and she'd been taught not to leave a question unanswered. Especially if it came from a grown-up.

So, looking even more sheepish and nervous than ever, Kiki fiddled with her paws as she held them against her chest, unable to meet Killian's gaze at first as she grudgingly addressed one of the many concerns on her mind.

``I-it's just... seeing Jeffrey get kicked out like that... I--I'm scared `bout what it's like out there an'... I was just wondering--uhm... w-worrying... w-would getting adopted be, uh--uhm...'' Kiki trailed off towards the end, unsure how to finish at first, mostly because she was coming perilously close to revealing the secret she was holding onto for Thackery.

``W--what does it really mean t'get adopted? `Cause... I know it's s'posed to be a great thing, an' I was just wondering if it... might be... s-scary too?'' By the time she finished, Kiki was looking rather abashed, blushing as her tail curled around her naked form sheepishly.

---

Killian silently stared into Kiki's nervous and constantly averting eyes as she stammered and attempted to downplay her obvious fears. Finally, when Kiki did come clean, or at least as clean as she wanted to, Killian nodded understandingly while Kiki voiced her concern for Jeffrey. She also seemed worried about leaving the orphanage herself, even under adoption.

``Oh, Kiki..''

Killian shook his head slightly, and looked to Thackery who seemed to be just as interested in his response to Kiki's concerns. Looking to the gate, he noticed that Jeffrey was already gone. Either he gave up trying to get back in and started walking, or he had been picked up by someone. Given his terror of the seemingly endless and dark tunnel, the latter seemed more likely. Though while he was certainly glad to be rid of the little shit, Kiki's concerns needed to be addressed, or she might spread them to other cubs. He wondered if Thackery was already starting to question the system.

The raccoon knelt into the grass and waved his arms for both cubs to come closer, and wrapped his arms gently around them in an effort to make them both as comfortable as possible.

``Okay.. before I say anything, I want you two to promise me that this stays completely between us. I'm not really allowed to talk about anything outside of the orphanage. As you probably already know, I can't even talk to you about my personal life outside of the orphanage, or the cubs that I've adopted in the past. I know it seems like a strange rule, but I'm bound by mine, just as you are bound by yours, and I could get into trouble if I say too much. I could even be fired, and have to leave this place, and not be allowed to adopt anyone any more. So.. promise?''

Killian waited, and tried his best to assess their responses, since some of what he said wasn't entirely untrue. It would be a bit of a problem for him if these cubs ended up spreading fear among the others about adoption and it became known that Killian didn't handle the situation as well as he was expected to. If Kiki spread that fear to the other cubs, she might even have to be expelled, and the orphanage staff was not allowed to adopt expelled cubs, in an effort to prevent them from cheating the system to claim first dibs on their favorites.

He wanted her. Somehow he had to find a way to salvage the situation, at least for the next 6 days, even if it meant isolating her from the other cubs during that time, but such an action would require approval from the other members of the staff, or the head manager, and they might insist that she be expelled anyway. When he was satisfied the cubs' promise was sincere, he nodded and pointed to the gate.

``You see that gate, and the guards on both sides keeping everyone away, both inside and out? If there were no danger beyond that gate, it wouldn't need to be there, and furthermore this orphanage wouldn't have a reason to exist. We're here to keep you safe, first and foremost, as well as find good foster parents for all of you. If we let just anyone adopt you, again, what would be the purpose of this orphanage? Your foster parent or parents should be able to keep you safe just as well as we can, until you're ready to become an adult and be ready for what's beyond that gate. Now.. as for Jeffrey...''

Killian paused for a moment, reconsidering his words as he rubbed his paws up and down the two cubs in his arms.

``Kiki, you have a kind heart, and I love that about you. Your concern for Jeffrey isn't really a bad thing, but one thing you have to understand is that.. well for one thing, it's really REALLY hard to get someone like Jeffrey adopted. We have to be honest with potential foster parents about his behavior, and while that does make them more inclined to pick someone else, if we lied to them, not only would they be disappointed and maybe not want to adopt from here again, but it's very likely they would throw Jeffrey out on his own anyway. Probably even someone willing to adopt him wouldn't be able to hold out long with him. He was just a very difficult case.

``Oh we tried. We tried everything we could think of to correct his behavior, but nothing worked. I mean it seemed we were able to, at the very least discourage him from getting so violent up to now, but after this latest incident, it became obvious there was just nothing else we could do. As for what's going to happen to him now, I can't predict the future for him. If he's to make it out there, he'll have to learn the lessons we tried to teach him here, only he'll have to learn the hard way from now on. First, he'll have to find someone willing to give him food and water, and if he acts out there the way he acted in here.. well.. he's just going to have to go without those things until he learns his lesson.

``It's not as if we WANT anything bad to happen to him. As I said, expulsion is a last resort. The other adults all agree we can't help him any more. The only thing we can do now is set him out on his own, and hope that, just maybe, he'll figure it all out and become the adult we all wanted him to become. Do you understand?''

---

Thackery was happy for Killian's distraction as Kiki's prodding at his wounds with her frantic energy was starting to give the young buck a headache. He understood that she was just showing a mix of concern for him and expressing her curiosity, but the fact that she was actively pulling the ice bag away from his eye was irritating as it continually reminded him of the pain as the chill left and returned. Plus, every time she saw the extent of damage to his nose the face that expression she was making was giving the cub paranoid thoughts about how bad it really was. No one had given him an opportunity to see his reflection yet so his brain was coming up with wild thoughts on the damage. With the way that she was reacting he half expected his nose to be gone at this point.

 

The adult raccoon's question was able to give him a necessary distraction from this thought along with pulling Kiki's attention back to the adult. The first words out of her mouth were an obvious lie, which she seemed to realize immediately as she quickly changed her story to something more believable. Thackery could tell this was closer to the truth but the way she was pausing was still very unusual for her. It was almost like she was watching what she was saying to potentially hide something still. He could not place if this was just another paranoid thought however, so he decided to let Killian decide if she was telling the truth or not.

 

She was bringing up a very similar topic to the question that he had earlier about Jeffrey, though where he was primarily concerned with what happened with expulsion she was instead worried about adoption too. He had never put much thought into this as the adults had always portrayed adoption as this wonderful thing, the step between being a child and an adult through someone that would choose and guide them. The teachers and other adults had always been vague about details regarding what exactly would happen, but he had passed this off as just that the future would depend on the adult who adopted them. The way Kiki asked it though seemed much less based out of curiosity but instead worry, perhaps even fear.

 

Killian almost looked like he was going to dismiss her question, just like many of the buck's own questions about the outside world had been before. Killian just looked at the gate for a few moments and then called them over closer to him to wrap them in a hug. Thackery obeyed and leaned into the hug, enjoying the comfort from the rather nice adult, though he turned just enough to try to get a peek at the gate too now. It shouldn't have surprised him to not see Jeffrey within sight anymore, but something about that fox bully giving up so easily and wandering off felt rather peculiar to the young buck.

 

As the raccoon began to speak it was almost the exact opposite of what the rabbit had expected to hear as it seemed an adult might actually give the two cubs an answer to one of the big questions they had. He didn't waste a second before nodding his head enthusiastically, making his ears flop around almost comically as he agreed to whatever terms the adult had. He put his finger over his lips and made a zipping motion like he had seen someone do before to mime out that his lips were sealed just for good measure.

 

He did not have to wait long for the answer however and it was greater than he even imagined as the adult kept talking, giving more and more details. He could tell that things were still being left out but this was the most information he had ever received about the world outside the orphanage, so he did not care. He was so excited to receive this information he almost did not even react to the frightful nature of what he was being provided. The way it sounded, outside of this little area that he had known his whole life was a very dangerous world that would require a trusted adult to keep him safe. That the only thing keeping him and the other cubs from a life without shelter, food, and water was the very nature of them being made desirable by a foster family.

 

Hearing that the kit that had just been tormenting him just a few moments prior was now facing the consequences of making himself undesirable to a foster family, made the buck feel sorry for Jeffrey for a moment. But he had to remind himself that the punishment was solely due to the actions of the kit despite how the adults had tried to steer him towards a better life. The solemn look on his face from that initial thought did not pass however as he continued to look at Killian and then Kiki in turn as he soaked in all the information.

 

He had a million follow up questions already that he wanted to ask but he did not want to push too hard after already being given such a wonderful gift of knowledge. Instead he focused on the one thing that seemed to be the most pressing matter out of that conversation.

 

``How do we make sure we get good foster parents then? I mean... to make sure we... that they will want to adopt us?'' he asked softly as he bit his lip thoughtfully.

 

---

When Killian knelt down to offer an embrace to the cubs, Kiki lingered for only a fraction of a second, compared to Thackery's immediate response, but when she gleefully threw herself into the raccoon's arm to accept his comforting hug, it was borne largely from her limited education. She'd been taught, like the others, that it was rude to refuse affection from her caretaker; though given what Killian had disclosed earlier in private, it was as much a sign of excitement for the prospect that he'd be her future foster parent. Eager as she was of course, there was still that lingering doubt in her mind.

So she needed that consolatory contact, if for no other reason than to mask the uneasiness in her body language as she buried her face in the man's chest, snuggling up close to him and her lapin friend as she listened to his terms for sharing what both cubs expected would be `forbidden' knowledge. At least, the way Killian demanded secrecy seemed to imply a level of detailed information that they weren't permitted to share.

That alone might've inspired Kiki to tell others anyway, but her goal had always been to acquire an understanding of the unknown for the boy standing right next to her. So the need to spread such insight was limited, with Thackery here to hear it all himself in person. Thus, when their caretaker called on them for their assurance his words wouldn't be shared, the little lemur, like the bunny next to her, was quick to offer it. Although, she turned to Thackery to see his lip-sealing gesture first, giggling at the sight before speaking for the both of them.

``Uh-huh, we promise, Killian!'' she chirped, placing both paws over her mouth, partly to hide the smile that blossomed there, and also to contain another giggle.

Once the raccoon was assured, he started to explain by pointing to the gate, prompting both cubs to look back over their shoulders, almost in unison, at the black maw that led into an unknown world of dangers. Which, according to Killian was very real, making the protective barrier to the darkness beyond entirely crucial to their continued safety. She couldn't help but shiver a little in the man's embrace as he described the purpose of their special little sanctuary, especially when the topic shifted back to the boy who'd just been kicked out of it, but it was as much from the mystery of his fate as it was from Killian's arm as it draped across her naked body.

When his paw started moving through her bare fur, it tickled the hairs and encouraged more trembles, but it helped to comfort the girl as her attention returned to the raccoon. The lemur met her caretaker's gaze with a noticeable blush in response to his compliment, but it gradually morphed into a small frown as Killian proceeded to explain the reasoning for poor Jeffrey's sudden expulsion. She eventually found herself nodding slowly in grudging understanding, as it was not lost on her just how long the fox had been picking on other cubs.

It was common knowledge that the predator had been given many chances to redeem himself, and had brazenly defied every single one. So it should've come as no surprise that his forcible removal was inevitable. The public ousting that took place, however, was definitely unexpected by everyone, as it normally took place in private. But extraordinary circumstances demanded extraordinary action. That much she understood without Killian delving any deeper into the details.

However, it was the subject of his imminent future outside the orphanage that twisted her up inside. Not only could their caretaker not be certain of his fate, but even his chances in the dark world outside their brightly lit home, could only be guessed at by the raccoon. The life he'd doomed himself to came across as a frightening one. Not only would he potentially be forced to fend for himself--a scenario neither Kiki or Thackery could imagine, considering the pampered lives they lived--but if he failed to learn his lesson, and didn't find someone to take him in, he might well perish out there.

Kiki personally couldn't see herself surviving without food and water for a single day, much less several. And not having a comfy, cozy bed to sleep in was a terribly possible reality for Jeffrey that she couldn't even bring herself to consider. Needless to say, it made her infinitely more grateful that it was him who'd been exiled and not her. In fact, the very idea that she could've potentially joined him outside the gate for her earlier transgression made her sick to her stomach. And that discomfort likely showed as she suddenly pressed firmly against the raccoon, and wrapped her arms around him as she quivered. She'd basically just been assured that being expelled was the worst thing ever. Though she had yet to be convinced that being adopted wasn't also scary.

At least if Killian was the one to take her in, though, he could alleviate all that fear she was currently associating with it. He'd always been kind to her in the past, and even now continued to show that she could trust in him to help her understand the world and come to grips with the dangers it presented beyond the safety of their home. So despite her own questions still churning in her mind, when he asked if they understood, she quickly nodded her head, but kept her face buried in the man's shirt.

Until Thackery finally spoke up with a fresh question of his own, anyway. When she heard the buck ask how they might ensure they remained appealing enough for future foster parents to adopt them, a brilliant idea flashed through the young simian's head. The girl suddenly tensed and perked up, looking hopeful as she swiftly stood up on her toes and leaned against Killian as she whispered all too loudly into the raccoon's ear.

``Y-you said you might adopt me earlier, right Killian? I-i-if you do, do you think... maybe... that Thackery could come too? Please?'' she pleaded, unfortunately not quietly enough to keep the rabbit himself for hearing, ``I really like him an--and I'd really miss him, too. He's the closest thing to a friend I've ever had, an'well... I think he already deserves to be adopted; e-even more than me!''

She offered pretty high praise of her fellow cub, but it took several long seconds before it even occurred to her that she may have made a mistake in bringing up their previous conversation in the bunk room. The instant she did though, she squeaked and clasped both paws over her muzzle again, like she'd just blurted out the answer to a question on one of their classroom tests.

``I-I'm sorry! I wasn't... s'posed to talk about that, was I?'' she asked worriedly, ears drooping and her tail reflexively coiling around her legs in preemptive regret.

---

As the naked cubs snuggled into the adult raccoon, a bulge began to grow in his pants while Kiki shuddered to his touch. Of course, if either cub noticed this, they certainly wouldn't find it alarming. The adults were very careful when responding to questions about genitalia to keep these little virgins innocent--to have their sexual knowledge shaped entirely by their owners. Kiki would learn.. soon enough...

While Kiki seemed nervous about the idea of being adopted by anyone but him, Thackery, on the other hand, was eager for that glorified milestone. Just as Thackery posed his question, Kiki leaned in with a loud whisper, if it could even be called a whisper, blurting out Killian's mention of personally adopting her. He cleared his throat loudly, although the lemur didn't seem to catch the hint until it was too late. Killian bobbed his chin from side to side while rolling his eyes.

``Well, what's one more secret? I know I can trust Thackery to keep it because he's not such a loudmouth.''

Killian chuckled as he playfully shook Kiki's muzzle back and forth, before sighing.

``Unfortunately, though, I'm only allowed to adopt one cub per year, but if he's still here next year, then sure, I'll adopt him too. If not, I'll make sure you two can still see each other from time to time.''

This was, however, only partially true, as Killian had only ever adopted girls in the past. He had no interest in the boys, despite how soft and pleasant the bunny's fur felt to the touch.

``Ah, yes, Thackery, what was your question again? You wanted to know how to get yourself adopted? Well it's quite simple. Don't be like Jeffrey.''

Killian chuckled and scritched behind Thackery's ear.

``Ah that was probably in bad taste, sorry. I shouldn't joke about that. Don't worry, Thackery, you're doing just fine. You're cute, you always respect the adults, and you're quite obedient. The fact is, your profile has been requested by prospective parents many times already, so it's not a matter of if, little bunny, but when. It's just a matter of time.''

With that, Killian stood and gently ushered the cubs to move towards the clinic.

``We better get that nose checked out though. Good thing the profile photos aren't for several more months.''

---

The comfort that was coming from the adult's arms was enough for him to ignore the fear and pain he was in from the recent event with the vulpine bully. This need for comfort along with the environment he had lived in his whole life left him blissfully unaware of any untoward actions or words coming from this same adult. He was even finding himself capable of handling how close he was to Kiki, which was a more pressing matter to the young buck as her energy was usually enough to make him try anything he could to avoid her. He had yet to accomplish avoiding her for any extended amount of time yet, but usually by this point of time he would have been finding almost any excuse to get away from her. Instead he was almost happy she was around this time as it was almost sort of nice to have a cub around his age showing affection and care for him like this when he was feeling so down.

This patience with her was almost ruined the moment she decided to start whispering things into Killian's ear instead of letting the raccoon answer the rather important question the buck had voiced. It was at least as close to whispering as the lemur cub was capable of as everything she said was loud enough for Thackery to easily hear and it seemed both she and Killian had keyed in on that as Thackery's eyes widened in a mix of shock and curiosity. Despite all his research and knowledge it had never occurred to him that the teachers and other workers at the orphanage would be anything more than that. The realization that one of them could actually end up being his family was an interesting thing to think about as his mind raced through quickly which one he would prefer to end up with and if that meant that he would be able to stay at the school with his new parent.

His mind turned to how amazing it would be to be able to go home with Killian, despite the fact that it would make Kiki his sister in a way, just in time for that thought to be shot down by Killian's response. The buck could not really fault Killian for having to obey similar rules to the ones that he and the other cubs had to follow for their safety in this dark world. Despite that it still stung slightly that the raccoon teacher was in a way picking Kiki over him. His mouth turned into a slight pout just as the sentence finished, timing with the knowledge that not only was the adult raccoon picking her over him but he might still be forced to see how her life was after the fact if visits were planned. He could only imagine how wonderful it would be to be able to share a house with a teacher who could continue to teach him well after he left the orphanage. This along with finally sharing all the information the adults were obviously hiding from them until the day that they would be allowed to leave and see what the outside world really was like.

The words that came next out of the adult raccoon's mouth, along with the comforting touches from the males paws were enough to lighten his pout. It was almost a smile by the end of the flurry of praise and compliments the cub received about not only his attitude but that he was called cute. The thought of the other potential parents were both exciting and terrifying as they apparently were getting information about him, yet he didn't know anything about them. If it wasn't for the comment he would not have known even that anyone was looking at wanting to adopt him. He really wanted to ask more about these individuals looking at his profile, but he wasn't sure how to ask and even if he did, he knew that there was a good chance Killian might not be able to give him much good information due to these rules in place.

Instead he submitted to the fact that he had gained more information in the last few moments than he had ever thought to gain in a year. That and Killian was finally making it so that they could make it to the clinic without another interruption like an expulsion or an overly energetic lemur cub who could not keep her mouth shut.

``Yes Sir, I want to make it there soon,'' he said with a whine that only a cub of his age could pull off as he gave a rather loud sniffle from his nose clogged with dried blood. With that he hurried along with Killian as his mind started to play with the thoughts of what profile pictures his new family had of him.

---

The lemur was probably the most disappointed by Killian's answer to the question she'd inadvertently blurted out loud, but Kiki sank into guilty silence after her mistake. Despite finding amusement in the way he'd grabbed her snout, the girl had learned her lesson for the time being, and opted to be quiet as the raccoon gave her the bad news. However, although he said he couldn't adopt them both at the same time, he made the promise to adopt Thackery next time, which was good enough for the girl.

``Won't that be great, Thackery?'' she giggled, wrapping her arms around the rabbit to rub their naked bodies together, ``We'll get to play together every day! Hehehe, I can't wait!''

It was likely the buck could, though. If his body language had been any indication of how he felt in her presence. So she made sure not to hug him long before letting go to take a big step back and play sheepishly with her long, striped tail. The little lemur couldn't help being fidgety, considering this had been the longest time the two had actually been together, interacting. Normally Thackery would've run off to hide somewhere, or gone to see the groundskeeper. So boring.

But with both of them going to the clinic now, she could happily talk his ear off. And... if the opportunity presented itself, perhaps she could even tell him the big secret she'd found. Even though she was beginning to worry that maybe it wasn't that exciting. In fact she was starting to get a nervous chill every time she thought about it, which was sufficient enough to keep her quiet during Killian's practiced response to the male bunny's earlier query.

Once they were on the move again though, Kiki was able to relax, reverting back to her bubbly persona as she proceeded to race ahead of Killian, towards the door clearly marked as being the clinic. When she tried to push on it though, the girl struggled with the heavy steel obstruction until the raccoon arrived to assist. As he did so, the man commented on their future portfolios, prompting a response from the curious lemur as she scurried into the room and immediately began to climb the nearest structure like a little monkey.

``I hate waiting, Mister Killian,'' she complained as she plopped her naked rump on an assortment of medical papers strewn across the desk she'd scaled, ``How come we can't get photos now? Thackery's face is all messy, but not mine. So why not me? Huh? Pleeeease?''

---

Killian smirked as the cute little cub pushed against the big metal door before assisting her in getting inside. Once inside, however, before any exchange could be made with the female fennec sitting behind the desk, the little monkey girl hoisted herself onto the desk, sitting down on the small stack of patient sheets as the nurse sat dumbfounded by the sudden appearance of the hyper girl on her desk.

Killian moved quickly to hoist Kiki off the desk, placing her back on the floor with a paw pressed firmly onto her shoulder, a gentle message to the girl to hold still for a moment.

``For the love of..'' Killian turned to the nurse, who was examining one of the crumpled sheets of paper. ``We need an x-ray on Thackery's nose. Jeffrey hit him hard.''

The nurse approached the small bunny, the adult just barely standing over him. She gently cupped Thackery's face to examine the damage.

``Hmm, does it still hurt, sweetie? Where does it hurt the most?''

As the nurse looked Thackery over, Killian turned his attention back to Kiki, placing both paws on her arms.

``Now behave yourself, you adorable little animal. Remember, we're here to see about Thackery's nose. I promise you, next week, when I bring you home with me, we will take lots of pictures. We'll take them together, and they'll be a lot better than those profile shoots.''

As the nurse began to lead Thackery into the back room, Killian pulled the rolling office chair from behind her desk, and patted the seat.

``Now sit.''

Killian held the chair in place for Kiki to climb into, then rolled the cub along the floor behind the nurse, who guided the little bunny to the wall in front of the machine, directing him to face forward before taking her place on the other side.

``Alright hold right there and... got it.. now turn to the side... hold right there... and... done. Take a seat over there.''

As the nurse took the transparencies over to the light, Killian gently ran his fingers down Kiki's face, attempting to make sure Kiki didn't get bored and start exploring the x-ray room, or climb on anything again.

``You ever seen what a skull looks like underneath all this skin and fur?''

---

By the time that the teacher and his two juvenile charges had reached the door to the clinic it felt like it had been months to the lapine cub instead of the short few moments that had transpired as he traveled with his broken snout. Holding his nose gently he tried to make sure it was still in one piece while he followed Killian into the open door, too focused on his goal to even notice the shenanigans of the lemur girl who called herself his friend and at least once `sister'. The shock from the fight was leaving him quickly at this point and the void was instead being filled with this itching feeling originating around all the bruises he had accumulated in the scuffle and quickly turning into an intense burning sensation, especially around his nose. He was smart enough to know that this was the pain starting to kick in and he had maybe a few more moments before it got bad enough that he wouldn't be able to control the tears already brewing in the corners of his eyes.

He busied himself with continued thoughts on Killian adopting Kiki, what teacher may want to adopt an eager student such as him, and this mystery of this profile being shared to prospective parents. He could remember clearly several times him and his fellow cubs had been lined up to take various pictures, but he could not place any time that any of the teachers had asked him questions that would have aligned with any sort of profile. He knew his studies had shown that he was a very eager student, picking up on topics quickly and always pushing to learn something more and he hoped that this was somehow reflected on whatever paperwork was shared, but he couldn't imagine what else may be on there. Would getting into a fight with the vulpine bully be shown on his profile now and if so would it show positively that he took it well or negatively that he is such a wimp that he basically let Jeffrey have his way with him on the playground as he couldn't fight back.

He knew he was not getting any answers at this moment, one of the reasons he did not voice them, but they gave him a good moment of the pain not creeping in as his body started to signal more urgently that he had been in a fight. Enough time that Killian was able to wrangle Kiki away from the fennec at the front desk and the buck was being softly gripped yet again by the muzzle to inspect the damage to his blood clogged nose, most of the bright red blood darkening to an almost black as it dried out.

``Yes mam it still hurts,'' he said softly trying to fight back tears even harder now, ``and mostly in my nose''. He wanted to say that's where Jeffrey focused his hits, but he bit his lip and let the nurse take control and move him around the small office to the x-ray machine. In an almost incomprehensible blur he had moved into the room, put into the proper spot and pictures were being taken of his muzzle from multiple angles. The pain creeping in along with the scent of medical equipment and the flashing of the x-ray machine was enough for the buck to sink into this mind set where he just wanted it over with so he could find a good spot to sit down and take a nap. His body had gone from this strong adrenaline push filling him with enough energy to resist the pain to this hard crash where his body instead wanted to put him in a state of unconsciousness in order to resist the pain.

Once the command was given to take a seat he quickly scampered over to the empty chair and hoisted himself up so he was fully secure in the hard plastic of the office chair. It was nowhere close to the comfort of his mattress and pillow but before he could even make sense of his thoughts his head was laid back and he was staring up at the dim lights in the ceiling as his consciousness started to move away from him.

``I... I'm going to take a nap while we wait...'' he said sleepily, not even sure who he was talking to anymore as he closed his eyes.

---

Just moments after plopping her naked rump on the nurse's paperwork, Killian was moving to collect a sheepish Kiki. Once again she'd realized her error a little too late to correct it, but the raccoon was swift to remove the cub from the desk and place her back on her feet with a firm paw on her shoulder as a sign she'd done wrong.

``Ah.. s-sorry,'' she apologized softly, trying to hide the nervous smile on her face as she focused her gaze on Killian's feet.

Even as she stood there though, determined to obey, Kiki couldn't help fidgeting on the spot while she listened to the adults address Thackery's injury. The fennec nurse was quick to leave her post and examine the bunny's bloody snout, but as she did so, Killian turned to his future adoptee and calmly requested her cooperation with the promise of many pictures to be taken after he brought her home.

Well, that was enough to bring tears of utter delight to the little lemur's eyes, making them shimmer briefly. Squeezing her lids shut for a second to wipe away the liquid joy, she beamed up at the raccoon with renewed conviction and nodded vigorously.

``Okay! I'll be good; I'll be... great! I-I'll be the best daughter ever!'' she squeaked excitedly, resisting the dual urge to hug her new parent and call him `daddy'.

Managing to stay put long enough for Killian to acquire the nurse's rolling chair, Kiki quickly revealed how difficult a task it had been the instant she was asked to take a seat. With lightning fast reflexes, the cub took two steps before jumping the remaining distance with laser precision into the offered chair, forcing the raccoon to counter the momentum of her small body before he could follow behind the nurse and her patient.

With an awkward giggle, she apologized, ``Oops! Sorry Killian, I just really like rolly chairs!''

She liked riding in one that moved on its own even more, but she had to hide her excitement as she was rolled into the x-ray room to see Thackery already in the process of getting scans taken. Watching with keen, but silent interest, Kiki did her best to behave as promised while the lady worked, though once she'd dismissed the buck to another seat, the room became overwhelmingly quiet. Thackery was beat in more than one way, already seeming to drift off to sleep in the chair he'd selected, and the nurse was examining the x-rays without a word. And all the while, Kiki struggled to stay still and quiet, even though her tail had been doing anything but.

Killian must've noticed her growing impatience however, as suddenly the lemur felt fingers tracing down the side of her face. It was so gentle and deliberate that she wasn't even startled by the gesture. Instead, she started to lean into the paw's digits when the raccoon then spoke of skulls.

Kiki's expression brightened slightly as her imagination began to swell into action, but she wasn't the least bit disturbed by the thought.

``Mmm... mm-mm!'' she responded wordlessly, adding, ``But I bet it looks really neat, right?'' Then she gasped with realization, ``Oooh..! Are we gonna see Thackery's skull?!''

She'd practically squealed the words before a paw could trap them in her maw, then blushed brightly. ``Sorry, sorry! I'll be quiet,'' she said with a self-shushing gesture as she glanced over at the dozing rabbit nearby.

---

The nurse's eyes shifted to Thackery as he mentioned going for a nap.

``Oh sorry, sweetie, if you fall asleep now, I'll just have to wake you right back up again.''

Killian nodded to Kiki.

``Oh yes, we're going to get to see Thackery's skull, hopefully without any cracks. Now, start the engine.''

Killian waited for Kiki to turn the make-believe key, then began shaking the chair while making idle engine noises, before revving it up, and pushing Kiki around the room at high speeds, though careful to avoid the equipment in the room. It wasn't long, however, before the nurse chimed in.

``Good news! It's not broken.''

Killian drifted the chair to the side while mimicking the sound of tires screeching, and zoomed Kiki over to the nurse, screeching to a stop and patting the lemur gently.

``Alright, hop out and take a look while I go pick up Thackery.''

Figuring the image of the skull would be a sufficient distraction for the little girl, Killian quickly wheeled the chair over to Thackery, skidding to a stop and patting the seat.

``Hop in!''

Meanwhile the nurse was displaying the picture of the rabbit's skull to the ever excitable lemur.

``Check out those bones! There's the nose, with no breaks, there's the teeth, and these sockets are where the eyes go.''

---

Just as the buck was starting to doze off he got interrupted by the voice of the nurse letting him know that it would be a short nap. This combined with the fact that this would force him to let go of the ice pack forced him to sit up in the chair and try to fight back the urge to slip into comforting slumber. Despite starting to melt the ice pack had been a considerable amount of comfort along with the affections of Killian. Even Kiki had been nice to be around, but he was not sure if he wanted to admit that just yet to himself; and he would never say it out loud.

Even if he wanted to nap at this point it would not have lasted long as Killian and Kiki were making quite a bit of noise with their pretend car scenario being played out in front of his eyes, or more accurately his one good eye at this moment. He didn't have the energy to be upset however as he could clearly pick up that the raccoon teacher was just keeping the hyperactive lemur cub busy instead of asking a thousand more questions or trying to peek more at the buck's injuries. He almost got the feeling that if she wasn't distracted so much she would have taken the comment about seeing his skull literally and just pulled his fur away to peek at it directly. The image of that gave him an involuntary shiver followed by a soft giggle at the silly thought.

Luckily he did not have long to wait, just like the nurse had said previously, as it didn't feel like much time had passed until the fennec returned with good news and photos. Smiling softly he grunted a bit as even after knowing it was not broken it still was the most painful experience of his short life so far. Trying to get himself up and off of the chair seemed like quite a bit of work in his dazed state so he was even more grateful when Killian rolled up the wheeled chair, now absent it's previous driver.

Moving over to the other chair only took him a few more moments, mostly dragged on by that he was still pressing the ice pack to his face the whole time only giving him one arm and no depth perception to correctly gauge. If he knew what being drugged or drunk was he would have claimed that is what it felt like, but of course that is not something a cub of his age would know in this sheltered orphanage. Sitting down in the rolling chair and waiting to be transported he just smiled softly, ``So... what's the damage? Do I get out of outdoor play for a few days at least? And maybe a good book?''

---

The second Killian decided to engage Kiki's imagination with a new game, she all but forgot about the bunny trying to stay awake. Suddenly it felt like she was back in the classroom again, and in response to the raccoon's explanation, she boldly restated what it sounded like it meant to her.

```Cause cracks are bad!'' the lemur chirped confidently before grabbing for her invisible key to start her new race-car named Mister Wheely!

Giggling delightfully as she held her paws in front of her, holding a non-existent steering wheel, Kiki remained thoroughly engaged in the activity, even up to the point when her `turn' ended and she had to trade off to Thackery. The little simian in fact made a game out of it, declaring:

``Pit-stop!'' as the chair came to a halt for her to get off, then she approached the bunny with a gleam in her eyes.

Tapping his leg, she said, ``Tag! Go finish the race for me!'' Then she removed her make-believe helmet--because safety--and pretended to put it on Thackery's head before retreating to the nurse's side.

As soon as she reached the fennec lady, Kiki had to resist the natural desire to climb her like a tree for a better view. Instead, she politely grabbed the woman's lab-coat and tugged on it to get her attention. Then, with arms raised up, she waited to be picked up and sat down on the counter in front of the big light-board being used to highlight the scanned images.

Kiki immediately looked upon the detailed, yet confusing blobs she saw within the Thackery-shaped space, with great awe and intrigue. Her eyes lit up light beacons of curiosity, trying to take in as much information as possible while the nurse pointed to different parts of the image, explaining what they represented.

There was both a side view and a front view, and in both, the fennec indicated where a break would have been and noted the lack of cracks. Kiki nodded along, eager to learn as much as she could from this impromptu lesson on bone structure, but the commentary wasn't lacking in the least.

``Wooow, I had no idea his front teeth were so long! Look how far up his nose they go!'' she observed, with a finger pointed at her discovery, ``An' lookit that! Is that his ear hole? How come there's no bones in his ears? Issat why they can't stand up on their own?''

---

The nurse patted Kiki on the head for being polite enough to ask, and hoisted the lemur onto the counter before continuing to point out different areas of the skull. Meanwhile, Killian began slowly wheeling Thackery forward.

``Putt-putt-putt-putt-putt, Come on, Thackery, put your foot on the gas pedal!''

As soon as the rabbit's footpaw went down, Killian shoved the chair forward, and raced Thackery around the room, giving him a bit more time in the chair than would a straight path to the X-ray, then screeching to a stop just before hitting the nurse, who hopped back slightly and then playfully waggled her finger at the ``speeding'' buck.

``Hey, don't you run me over, or I'll become a ghost and keep you awake every night.'' She chuckled before turning back to Kiki. ``Oh, right, right, you were asking about the ears. No, the ears are just cartilage. No bones in his, yours, Killian's, or mine, see?'' The fennec demonstrated this by bending her large ears with her fingers in several spots. ``Our cartilage is just harder. It wouldn't show up on an x-ray either.''

Killian shook his head at Thackery's question.

``No, I'm sorry, Thackery, you'll have to go outside with everyone else. You need your sunlight.'' He said, referring to the artificial sunlight on the playground. ``Without it, your bones won't stay strong. You getting plenty of sunlight is probably the only thing that kept your nose from getting broken by Jeffrey.'' He sighed, ``I'll tell you what, though. You can bring a book and sit with us for the next couple of days so you won't accidentally bump your nose playing.''

The nurse nodded before chiming in.

``Although after I give you something for the pain, you should go back to your bunk and rest for a few hours. Do you want the cherry or the grape flavor.. or do you think you could do with a shot of something stronger?''

---

It took a few moments for the distracted buck to recognize that the same game that Killian had been playing with Kiki had been passed on to him. He had never seen a car of any sort before in their secluded spot, let alone ever been in one, but there had been a few in the books he had read that had talked about them enough to let him imagine being in one. Imaginary helmet securely in place, all imaginary dials set to some absurd number that only true speed freaks would like, and the engine was just begging to be pushed to its maximum. He revved the engine a few times then put the foot to the floor. Or as close to a floor as he could in this imaginary scenario as Killian had him speeding along towards the nurse. Almost two fast it seemed as the brakes in his imaginary race car screeched to a halt right before he ran her down in a must shameful manner.

He blushed a bit as the nurse teasingly chastised him for his reckless driving, but couldn't help but to giggle also at her silly comments about haunting him and realizing that if anyone should have been in trouble, it should have been Killian. He at least got to hear the nurse answer Kiki's question as he started to store that information somewhere in his brain as he was not sure when he would need to know such information, but it never hurt to learn as much as possible. Plus it looked so weird to take in how his skull looked in the x-ray, all the details in plain sight about what he would look like with no skin.

The curiosity on his face turned into a frown though as Killian spoke against his desire to get out of physical activities for a few days, or it almost sounded like that at first, but then suddenly he got an amazing piece of news. He did have to be outside, but not only could he read but he would be sitting next to the teachers who may drop other fun pieces of information for him. ``Oh thank you! I promise I'll be good while I recover,'' he said as his face was a bright grin at this point, so excited about all of this, and then best of all that bully Jeffrey would be unable to bother him while he recovered.

That last thought suddenly reminded him that Jeffrey could not bother him again at all  anymore. He was banished now and there was no returning from that. He still had the smile on his face as this was great news, but it seemed to falter just a bit as he also realized he felt bad for the vulpine bully. He definitely deserved his punishment after everything, plus it was kind of nice to get some form of revenge, but he was still sent away from everyone he ever knew to the world beyond the gate. This punishment was exponentially greater than all of the other punishments combined as at the end of the day, the punishment would be over and life would go back to normal. But not for banishment.

He was not allowed to dwell on this however as the nurse fashioned a question for him. He definitely knew which of the two flavors he'd prefer and he was ready to blurt it out, but then that third option was presented. Something stronger sounded wonderful, but it carried that dread word of `shot' which had his fur rising at just the thought of it. There was no hiding the fact that even the mention of needles was making him almost more scared than when being chased by Jeffrey as his foot twitched. ``Ummm... does the shot... Ummm... I mean cherry mam, thank you,'' he said even unable to spend any more time even thinking about shots or needles.

---

Before Kiki could get her answer about the ears, Thackery had a near-collision with the nurse and distracted both females with his `reckless' driving. The fennec was quick to playfully scold the boy, but her 7-year-old counterpart just broke into a fit of approving giggles. The cub greatly enjoyed seeing the bunny smile, even though his face was still all messy, and in need of a good cleaning.

Afterward her curiosity was sated with an educational answer that Kiki was certain the rabbit enjoyed as much as she did. The lemur couldn't help but imitate the nurse's gesture by grabbing her own chubby ears to play with them as her gaze drifted back to the X-ray images on the lightboard. Ever the easily distractible cub, Kiki had only half-listened to Thackery's request to avoid the playground--and by extension her as well--but her ears were wide open to catch Killian's answer as she fiddled with them.

Beaming excitedly, the girl practically ignored everything else and waited for the first chance to speak without butting in. Even still, she couldn't control the level of enthusiasm behind her request as she threw both arms up in the air and waved them frantically like she always did during class, before just going right ahead and blurting out what she wanted to say.

``Oo-oo-oo-OOO! Can I keep Thackery company while he recovers? Pleeeeease? I'll take extra good care of him, yes I will!'' she asserted loudly and confidently. ``Hehehe! An' just think! After that, there'll be no more bullies to get in the way of our playtime! Just me an' you Thackery! All day long!''

She wasn't exactly selling herself all that well, but then, her energy knew no rational limits. Unfortunately Kiki also didn't know just went to shut-up either.

``With that big bad Jeffrey gone now, there's no more party-poopers to bug us. The only other one was that Damien boy, but he got adopted just a few days a--go...'' she rattled on, stumbling when she realized something that she dare not utter out loud.

So her tongue did have a limit it seemed. Whether that was her self-imposed duty to keep the secret she'd found for Thackery's ears only, or the unsettling fear of what that secret might mean for her and her friend. It was only a suspicion, though. A very unlikely coincidence, or maybe just bad timing... Either way, the more she thought about it, the more certain she was that the markings on the arm she saw were the same as the wolverine bully, Damien.

``Hah.. I guess he got lucky, huh?'' she giggled nervously, ``If he'd kept being a bully, ah--I bet he would'a gotten expelled too, right.. Killian?''

---

``Oh, Kiki..''

Killian chuckled and shook his head as Kiki excitedly offered to ``watch over'' Thackery while he was incapacitated. He nodded as Kiki recalled that Jeffrey would no longer be able to cause trouble. The trouble Jeffrey had caused over the years certainly wasn't limited to the cubs he had tormented on the playground, and keeping that defiant fox under control was no longer going to be an issue.

Killian's smile faded, however, as Kiki mentioned Damien. The wolverine's buyer had left quite the mess to clean up, both literally and figuratively. Adoptions had to be put on hold for a few days because of it. It seemed as though the bleeding would never stop, leaving something extra in the hallway for the janitor.

``A few days ago?'' Killian shook his head. ``Well, actually, he was just adopted yesterday. In fact it was just this morning that he got to meet his new...''

Suddenly, a distressing thought smashed its way through Killian's skull, stopping his sentence short. As the raccoon silently began to connect the dots between those events, and the situation with Kiki, his eyes shifted to her, everything going quiet for a moment.

``...I'll be right back...''

Killian suddenly and briskly walked to the door, and left the room in a hurry. The nurse, not quite picking up on the tension in Killian's sudden departure, then began to depart the room herself.

``Wait here while I go and get your medicine. Oh and.. Please don't climb onto anything, Kiki.''

---

The black furred buck could barely contain his grimace at the sound of Kiki planning to cling on to him even harder now that he was allowed a few days break from physical activities. He tried to cover it up however by rubbing the spot on his nose to make it look like it was just the pain. At least he'd have the adults around to help wrangle her so she couldn't be too obnoxious he hoped. Plus she did have the point that everything would be that much calmer now that not one, but two bullies were gone.

Damien didn't seem quite as bad as Jeffrey, but Thackery still had a few run-ins with him that were not that pleasant. The difference seemed to be that Damien had larger bouts of time in between his bullying activities and didn't seem to have the level of anger issues that Jeffrey had, so the buck wasn't too surprised that he found someone to adopt him.

The slip on the time frame didn't seem to register with Thackery but Kiki's suddenly more nervous attitude along with Killian's sudden urge to leave did. He of course had nothing to base his worries on at this moment other than perhaps Kiki's outburst earlier about if adoption would be scary, but he still felt very unsettled by the adult's sudden departure. He did not have long to worry about this however as a more pressing matter came to pass, the fact that the nurse had left the room too and suddenly he was alone there with Kiki. He just hoped that she was going to be a bit calmer with this onset of nervousness and that the nurse would return quickly enough so that Kiki didn't somehow get them both in trouble with her antics.

---

If Kiki had any lingering doubts about what she'd seen, Killian's sudden reaction and departure was all the proof she needed to realize that not only was she right, but that he knew and she was almost certainly about to get into a lot of trouble. Before the raccoon had even left, the little lemur's paws had risen to hide her face in silent horror right up until the nurse left the room shortly after. In that instant her heart leapt into her throat and she seized the brief opportunity to express her anxiety.

``Oh--oh no... I messed up,'' she squeaked, trying to keep her voice low as she uncovered her face and looked to Thackery with eyes on the verge of tears, ``I--I think I'm gonna get punished for lying...!''

The girl whined and looked around frantically, as if she might find some miracle solution to her dilemma in the room. Quickly becoming restless, the girl jumped down to the floor and began to pace as her imagination, and mouth, ran wild with speculation.

``Is it gonna be the spice...? Or the dark room? Wait... they wouldn't expel me like Jeffrey, would they...? But Killian said he'd adopt me...'' Kiki mumbled to herself as she wrung her paws together with worry, ``Would he let them?!''

As if she might clasp her own thumping heart, the over-dramatic lemur scooped up a pawful of flesh and fur from her chest to cling to instead, eyes watering as she pictured her chances of getting adopted vanishing over something as silly as an assumption that it might be as scary as being expelled.

---

Leaving the cubs in the care of the nurse, and unaware that she had immediately left the room, Killian rushed across the playground, through the nearest classroom, and through the staff door into the hall. With the current crisis fresh in his mind, the raccoon made doubly sure that the door was securely locked behind him. He briskly returned to his classroom door, which someone had neglected to close at some point this morning, and that Kiki had peered through, perhaps at exactly the worst possible moment. Killian's eyes darted along the corners of the ceiling until he found the security camera, studying it closely.

``...camera five...''

He then quickly made his way down the hall to the security room. When he arrived, he was relieved to find that no-one was inside, but he still had to act quickly. He had to make sure no-one knew what he was up to. He brought up the feed for camera 5, and began skimming through the archived footage.

``Fuck, when was it.. 9am? 10?''

Killian frantically searched until he found the window of time in which the wolverine's body had been brought through the hallway. Along the way, right outside the door that led to Killian's classroom, a limp arm fell from the stained sheets, and a pool of blood began to collect on the floor as it rolled down the wolverine's lifeless arm. There was no sound, but it was obvious the wolverine's attendant was not happy. He then opened the door, poking his head through. He had called to Killian for help.

Killian remembered.. It was about the time the cubs started to file through the door and out onto the playground. Killian watched as the footage told its story. Killian entered the hallway, scratched his head, and patted the badger on the shoulder. He turned the lock on the door, then gave it a push before heading down the hall to find the janitor.. but watching the footage, he grimaced as he saw the door bounce lightly off the frame, not closing all the way. Then the badger grabbed the arm, attempting to put it back under the sheet, but a sudden rush of blood onto his paw caused him to drop the arm to the side. The badger looked at his paw and shouted what Killian could only guess was an appropriate obscenity before storming off in the opposite direction from where Killian had gone, leaving the cart with the body where it was.

Killian continued to watch, and... sure enough... the door slowly opened.

``Oh no.. no no no...''

The camera was facing the back side of the door, but he could clearly see the shadow of a young cub, and a long, thin tail. Killian buried his face in his paws. It was he who carelessly left the door open, and Kiki, who he thought had already gone out onto the playground, got a good, long look before the door suddenly closed.

``Oh, Kiki, no... ``

Raising his eyes from his paws, Killian thought long and hard about his next move. Of course, the first step would be to make sure that the morning's footage would not be permanently saved to the daily archive. He checked to make sure no-one else had entered the room, then checked the monitor to see if anyone was in the hallway nearby, then reached for the power strip, flipping it off, then back on again. He had to hope anyone else would assume it was a temporary power issue.

---

The bunny cub was not sure what to expect from the lemur girl, but her reactions were a significant shock to him as he had never seen her this worried. From what she was saying this was not a minor mistake, she did not just get too hyper or curious. Instead she apparently had lied to one of the adults, he guessed Killian, which was one of the worst things that any of the cubs could do. Only worse offence being exhibiting violence towards one of the cubs, or even worse one of the adults like Jeffrey had done.

Still he thought she seemed to be overreacting quite a bit with her nervous pacing until he started to put some key pieces of the day together. Namely that she said she had seen something in the staff room, tried to tell him, and then got dragged off before reappearing along with Killian. That surely had to be it he thought to himself as he got lost in his thoughts for only a few brief seconds until he realized she was still pacing and stressing out. And that they were still alone, so it wouldn't hurt to ask.

``Hey Kiki, calm down... I'm sure it's fine. Maybe you just need to come clean with Killian first before he asks you again? Assuming that's who you lied to...'' he said thinking before hopping off of his chair and doing something he would rarely do. He gave Kiki a hug, which was part trying to comfort her and mostly try to keep her in place before she wore a hole in the floor and worried the nurse too, which would only complicate things. ``Plus I'm sure it was only a little lie, right? I have no idea what it is so not sure what to tell you...'' he said softly, almost a whisper as he tried to resist the urge to ask her what she did. He couldn't help it, he was curious and he was already involved so maybe it wouldn't hurt to know. But he didn't speak up to say that as he didn't want to force her for one thing and part of him was curious if it was better he didn't know so he wouldn't get in trouble too.

---

The nervous cub perked up when Thackery finally spoke, both in surprise and revelation, as if he'd just revealed the secret to sparing herself from joining Jeffrey in his exile. For just a few moments Kiki seemed to bristle with relief and glee. Not only was her friend actually listening to her, but he was trying to comfort her as well, and succeeding.

``It is... and... you're right! That's it! All I gotta do is tell him everything!'' she chirped with delight, the grip on her chest relaxing until her paws fell away. Then she turned around sharply with arms rising just in time to encounter a sudden, unexpected embrace from the male bunny.

Kiki immediately went rigid with wide-eyed disbelief as their bodies pressed against each other, blushing bright before practically melting like butter in Thackery's arms. Despite looking completely flustered and absorbed by the attention she was receiving though, the little lemur's mind was still hard at work determining what telling the whole truth would mean, and eventually she snapped out of her daze with a frown.

``Well... all I really did was not tell him everything...'' she thought aloud, ``Does that count as lying? Mmm... But if I tell Killian everything, he'll probably make me keep it a secret, and... and then I won't get to tell you what I saw...!''

Just then there was a glimmer in her eyes as if she had decided, right then and there, to tell Thackery about her discovery, before she could be forced not to, or before she could be punished or expelled, or worse. Kiki went as far as opening her mouth to draw breath, the words on the tip of her tongue, ready to be uttered into his ear like a lover.

And she hesitated. It wasn't long, maybe a couple seconds, but just long enough for the lemur's peripherals to catch the movement of an approaching shadow in the open doorway. The girl leaned to one side ever so slightly to confirm that the nurse was fast approaching, before deciding to bite her tongue.

Looking nervous, Kiki pulled out of Thackery's embrace and stepped back, ``Um... I-I'll tell you later. M-maybe,'' she stammered, avoiding eye contact as she rubbed one of her arms.

---

The fennec returned with a cap full of liquid red medicine. From the doorway, she noticed Kiki's nervousness, and it was obvious by now that there was something Kiki didn't want her to hear. As she approached, she studied Kiki for a moment, suddenly recalling the urgency in which Killian had left the room. Something was up, but fortunately for Kiki, it wasn't the nurse's job to interrogate her.

Her attention turned back to Thackery, and she carefully transferred the medicine to the cub's grip. Once Thackery had the cap in his paws, the nurse then revealed two pieces of chocolate candy she had been concealing in the other paw.

``Can you take it all down in one gulp?''

She waved the candy back and forth to entice Thackery to keep his mind on the reward for taking his medicine, then handed over the chocolates to both cubs in exchange for the empty cap.

``There you go, that'll help dull the pain. If it's still hurting this bad at bed time, let Killian know, and we'll give you some more medicine to help you sleep, okay?''

---

He smiled a bit as he helped the lemur girl as despite his feelings towards her, or more accurately how annoying her actions seemed to be, he definitely didn't want to see her have to worry about punishment. It sounded like reasonable advice to him, the adults seemed to have lesser punishments if you came clean early instead of dragging it out. This benefitted him too he thought as she calmed down quite a bit and seemed ready to tell him what this was all about finally.

But before she got the nerve out to say everything though she leaned over for the quickest of moments then pulled out of his grasp. It didn't take long to figure out why as he picked up on the sounds of the nurse returning just moments before the door opened. It seemed that Kiki had learned her lesson about watching out for the adults before letting out whatever secret she had acquired that she was so eager to share. It was still disappointing though as now he was going to have to wait even longer to hear this secret, if she was even going to be able to as more than likely Killian would make her swear not to tell. And even if she disobeyed he realized he was going to be surrounded by the adults the next couple of days during outdoors time which was the best time to talk it seemed.

As the cap was put into his small paw he gripped it softly and had to come back to the reality that he was the injured one and that whatever Kiki's secret was it would have to wait. The chocolate helped get him out of his stupor as he grinned widely, which might have looked rather weird with his bloodied nose and muzzle and that he was showing off his chipped incisor that would probably give him a few weeks if not months of problems until it regrew. Without another thought he leaned his head back and gulped down the medicine as quickly as he could, which made him gag for a moment but in a way he was glad that the nurse told him to do it all at once as he doubted he'd want any more. Whatever that flavor was, it was not worthy of being called cherry in his thoughts as it tasted horribly. He still opened his mouth wide to prove that it was all gone before handing the cap back to the nurse.

The chocolate helped however as he nibbled on it, luckily being able to use his molars to do most of the chewing so there were no issues there as it was a pleasant sweet treat and a way to mellow the cherry mess that had coated his tongue and throat. ``Okay! But ... could I change the flavor to grape then?'' he asked hoping that maybe that would be a better taste.

---

Once the nurse had returned and made eye contact with her, it was too late to hide the fact she was nervous. Still, Kiki tried to pretend like nothing had happened, stepping further away from Thackery to observe from a distance as he was given his medicine. The fennec didn't seem at all suspicious of her misdeed, but it was Killian the lemur was worried about. What if he'd left to confer with the other handlers and vote to rush through another expulsion?

Two banishments in the span of a single day, much less a single week, was unheard of amongst the current cub population, but that didn't mean it was impossible. After all, until today, no one had ever seen such an immediate public expulsion. Just imagining what the raccoon was up to gave the girl chills strong enough to instinctively hug herself for warmth.

Though quick to quell her shivers, Kiki's long tail still belied her uneasiness, as it swished about and occasionally curled around her legs. Even when the little girl was offered a chocolatey treat from the nurse--for managing to behave, she assumed--she didn't look too thrilled or eager to pop it into her mouth.

Instead, she stared at it briefly, until Thackery had consumed both his medicine and chocolate. Afterward, she perked up suddenly and asked, ``So... can I stay with Thackery while he gets better? Please? Just for a `lil bit at least? I'll be good, I swear. I can help clean up his face, too...!''

The spark had returned to her eyes, as though she sought one last chance not to chicken out and tell the buck what she'd seen, however it flickered with apprehension.

---

The nurse giggled and nodded to Thackery.

``Sure thing, but I'm not sure I'll remember, so let Killian know before he comes to get you another dose.''

Her attention turned to Kiki, the previously hyper and excitable cub who, since Killian had suddenly left, had been rather reserved and distracted. Some of that excitement seemed to return to her voice as she requested more time with Thackery, and offered to help wash his face. She could swear that Thackery's eyes seemed to be pleading with her as this came up.

``I'm sure Thackery can take care of that himself, Kiki. He'll just have to be careful not to hurt himself too much when he does. Still, I suppose I could help get some of that dried blood off his fur.. Kiki, why don't you get me a cloth from that cabinet over there.''

With Thackery in the office chair, the nurse slowly wheeled him over to the sink, and searched the counter for some soap, cotton swabs, and disinfectant. She then very carefully washed and rinsed the cub's damaged snout, careful not to put too much pressure on the bruises. Using cotton swabs and a mild disinfectant, she treated the cuts on Thackery's lips, and the inside of his nose, which certainly wasn't pleasant.

She would occasionally have Kiki fetch her some supplies to keep her distracted, not letting her anywhere near Thackery's snout. After a long and thorough cleaning, the nurse kept Thackery and Kiki in the office with idle talk, certain that Killian would want her to keep them there until he got back.

After awhile longer than the nurse had expected, Killian finally returned, ready to quickly get some control over the situation Kiki had put him in.

``Nurse, would you please take Thackery back to the bunk room so he can get some rest?''

``Sure. Come along, Thackery.''

As they started towards the door, Killian snapped his fingers and pointed to the chairs in the corner of the room.

``Kiki.. sit.''

---

The taste of artificial cherry was still on Thackery's tongue while he nibbled on his chocolate and watched the antics of Kiki bouncing between the nervousness that she was still experiencing and her normal excited mannerisms. The sudden exclamation about her wanting to clean his face had his eyes widen and he had to turn to the nurse and give her the most pleading eyes that he could muster with the one still puffy and half lidded. He did not want that overly excited lemur anywhere near his injuries as he doubted that she would be gentle and would probably make this hurt more than they currently were.

He was so glad that she had picked up on his wordless actions as she was able to steer Kiki away from direct contact while still offering a way for her to help. It didn't take nearly as long as he thought it would for his fur to come clean from the dried blood on his snout, the bruises already started to not hurt nearly as much though he could tell she was still being careful around those spots. The cuts on his lip stung for a second, but he was able to hold down any sound about that as he had expected it. Once she got to the inside of his nose however he had to fight to not back away from her at that instant, instead gripping on to the chair and letting out a low whine of pain as his feet kicked at the empty air. He had enough thought to watch where his kicks were going so that they went into empty air, but not enough to control the pure instinct to kick out at the pain.

Once it was over however he was able to calm down and sigh heavily before taking a breath through his nose with only minor annoyance. He could still smell the chemicals in his nose but they didn't seem too bad compared to the coppery congestion that had been there prior to the cleaning.

After the ordeal of having his external wounds cleaned he spent the rest of the time talking to Kiki and the nurse about any topics that would come up while they waited on Killian to return and collect both of the cubs. He wanted to press for more information about a variety of topics, but with everything else going on it did not feel like the best time, along with he was mostly focused on whatever Kiki had learned. With the amount of time that it was taking for the raccoon teacher to return it made the buck curious if maybe the nurse would have to leave again giving them another moment alone, but this slim chance was removed with the sound of the door opening again.

He wanted to say something to Killian but looking up at his face the bunny cub could tell it was not the right time just as Killian was asking for the nurse to take him away. It didn't take much thought to connect that he did not include Kiki in that statement so the talk was going to happen then. Remaining quiet he just got up and off the chair with the help of the nurse and followed closely behind her only giving a moment just as they were going through the door to look behind him at Kiki hoping for the first time since he knew her that he would be able to see her again soon.

---

Though Kiki was more than eager to help the nurse tend to Thackery's wounds, accepting the assistant role with a peppy, ``Yes, Ma'am!'', her restless tail continued to broadcast her mixed feelings every time she crossed the room. First for the towel, then a small jar with water for rinsing, followed by gauze and tape, which the fennec used to shield the bunny's black eye.

Needless to say, by the time she was finished, her friend looked a lot better off than he had minutes before. Kiki still wished she could've done more however, even despite Thackery's obvious distress when she'd first offered. And now that he was all clean and bandaged up, there was nothing left to do but wait for Killian return. A whole ten minutes that couldn't have been more tense for the young lemur.

Fearful to speak until she could clear things up with the raccoon, the girl remained unusually quiet, even during the small talk that followed, offering mostly approving or disapproving noises instead of whole words or sentences. Eventually, to keep from pacing again, Kiki plopped down on the floor and crossed her legs, indian-style, snapping up her unruly tail to fiddle and fuss and toy with until Killian returned.

And eventually he did, after what had felt like forever in her mind. The second the raccoon reappeared in the doorway to the room, Kiki sprang to her feet and stumbled, unbalanced into the wall beside her. Blushing and fidgeting, she quickly straightened up and put on her best smile, even though every muscle in her small body was taught with trepidation.

The first words out of his mouth were not encouraging in the least, with Kiki's ears drooping and her head sinking to match the height of her shoulders as she looked towards Thackery, and then the floor. Killian wanted them gone, which meant he wanted a one-on-one talk, just like earlier, only this time she knew exactly why.

Kiki watched silently as Thackery was ushered from the room, the pair sharing one last gaze before being separated. Then Killian snapped his fingers and the lemur jumped like she'd been pinched. In reality it was as much a response to her conditioning as it was to this new, frightful predicament. When he ordered her to sit, the young cub didn't even hesitate. With measured but swift steps, she retreated to her designated seat and climbed up onto it as obediently as anyone else in her position would've.

However, once she sat down and faced Killian, she could barely contain herself. Before he'd even had a chance to sit with her, Kiki blurted out loud in a panic:

``I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything! Really! I didn't mean to keep it secret, I swear! I-i-it all happened super fast, and--and I was gonna tell you, I promise... but then Wendy came in, and-and you had to leave and... `` Kiki stammered to a stop briefly before telling the real truth with a sigh, ``And I... thought if I told you you wouldn't let me tell him...''

The last part came out with a mumble and a pout, but she was quick to continue, adding, ``But if it?s gonna get me in trouble, th-then I won't. I--I don'even really know what I saw...''

---

The nurse and Thackery exited back onto the playground area. It was no surprise to her that Kiki was in trouble again, but something seemed different this time. Kiki had seemed especially nervous and uncharacteristically quiet for almost the entire time they were attending to Thackery's bruised snout, busted lip, and black eye. She was curious, but something also told her it wouldn't be a bad idea to have more information about this situation.

As the two entered the classroom, and crossed to the door leading to the bunk room, the nurse decided to inquire further while she walked the cub to his bunk, and helped him get comfortable.

``So what was that all about back there? Do you know why Kiki's in trouble?''

Meanwhile, as Kiki quickly blurted out apologies, excuses, and then settled on one softly spoken truth, Killian slowly approached, and sat down in the chair next to the stammering lemur. It sounded like she wasn't so much trying to come clean as she was simply trying to get out of trouble.

``Kiki, stop. You told me that all you saw was the `sparkly floor', and that's what you were going to tell Thackery.''

Killian sighed loudly, running both paws down his face.

``Damn it, Kiki, I stuck my neck out for you. I prevented you from getting expelled, and then you lied to me. You know that's a major offense, right?''

Killian waited briefly for a response, then raised his paw to cut off any additions Kiki might have to her story.

``Not only did you lie to me, but you had full intent to start spreading rumors. That's major offense number two. I've told you before how rumors can get out of hand. Damien trips on the leg of a chair and breaks his nose against the floor, you tell Thackery what you think happened, Thackery tells someone else what he thinks happened, they tell someone else, and before long we'll have hundreds of students believing that one of us ate his face off or something ridiculous like that. We don't want the whole school to be scared, Kiki, we want you to be safe.''

---

The trip back to the classrooms through the playground seemed like a much shorter trip compared to the trip to the nurse's office earlier. Thackery wasn't sure if it was the fact that he was already feeling better physically or that they travelled in relative silence instead of having constant interruptions from a certain over excited lemur. He was still a little worried about her, but he was sure she would be fine as long as she remembered to tell the truth this time around. So he tried to push his thoughts away from her for now and focus on getting back to his bed to get a little bit of rest, or at least see if he could get a book to read.

The nurse decided to bring back up the subject herself though as she expressed her inquiry into Kiki's actions. Thackery couldn't help to look surprised as she asked him if he knew anything about what was up with Kiki. When he looked at the nurse all he could only see the grinning face of Jeffrey staring at him which only increased his expression for a moment before he forced himself to focus instead that this was the nurse. For some reason her vulpine features were enough to remind himself of what the bully had done, but he didn't know why.

Shaking his head and blushing a bit he made sure to look into her eyes, trying to ignore the muzzle for this moment, and frowned a bit. ``Oh, she said she lied to Killian... but I don't know what about as it was when she talked to him earlier. That's all,'' he said knowing he was not lying, but he also wasn't providing all of the details either as he didn't get the chance to know enough that it wasn't just rumors.

---

The lemur winced when Killian called her out for avoiding the truth, but she was still determined to defend herself at the same time she was trying to apologize. It was a blend of reasoning that the raccoon clearly saw as excuses, though Kiki had a quick tongue, and a bad habit of spilling her guts when she was desperate for forgiveness.

In the brief silence that followed the raccoon's initial accusation, Kiki threw up both arms and shook her paws at the grown-up, shaking her head as well while she stammered in defense, ``B-b-but it was a sparkly floor, I didn'lie about that! It--it was just... more sparkly where the... red stuff was--But I jus'thought it was paint, I swear! I wasn--''

Before she could finish Killian interrupted her with a curse as he expressed his vexation. Right away Kiki's ears drooped again, and her entire posture continued to deteriorate as the raccoon proceeded to bark angrily at her. By the time he finished, tears had welled up in the little lemur's eyes, only to escape down her cheeks when she twitched into movement to nod her head in the affirmative.

Once she found her voice she added shakily, ``Y-yes... I know, and--I-I'm really sorry, Killian...!''

Looking up at the grown-up with tears streaming down her round little face, the shock was plain as day when he then accused her of intending to spread rumors as well. Wide-eyed in panic and confusion, Kiki switched back to self-defense even as her paws jumped up to catch the gasp escaping her muzzle.

``N-no, no, no! That's not it at all!'' she pleaded, ``I didn'know the red stuff was bad, Killian! It... wasn't until... Thackery got hurt.''

As she admitted the truth, Kiki's gaze fell away with guilt. Her wandering vision quickly snapped back into focus again though as she continued her argument, ``But I wasn't trying to spread rumors, Killian, I swear! Cross my heart! I jus'wanted Thackery to like me... I was only gonna tell him an' no one else.''

``E-even it was an accident, I didn'think...'' she started to say, but trailed off, only to resume with, ``A-a-a-and even if it wasn't an accident, I would'a... I-I mean, he was a bully like Jeffrey, so I figured m--maybe he was bad?''

Kiki fell silent then, leading into a long, awkward silence as Killian seemed to process her perspective. Or maybe he was just deciding how to punish her. Or maybe he--no! Squeezing her eyes shut to force out her tears, the lemur shook her head and jumped out of the chair she was sitting in, opting to throw herself, quite literally, into Killian's lap. Her little simian arms wrapped around tightly and clung for dear life as the girl buried her tear-stained, sniffling face into his groin.

``I'm sorry, Daddy! I was bad an' I won't do it again! Please forgive me!'' she wept, nigh inconsolably, ``You're not gonna let them expel me... are you?''

---

As Kiki continued to stammer, letting out bits of information here and there between what sounded like more excuses, Killian waited and listened, trying to separate the facts from the excuses.  He had also learned that simply waiting and listening was usually enough to convince Kiki that he could see through her attempts to mislead him.

Suddenly, she threw herself at her soon-to-be adoptive father, shoving her cute face into Killian's rapidly growing erection and begged for forgiveness.

``Kiki...''

Killian sighed and, after a few light pats on the back of Kiki's head, gently guided her back into the chair beside him, kneeling down in front of her and placing his paws against the lemur's shoulders.

``Listen to me, Kiki. If the other adults decide to expel you, there is nothing I can do. I can make a case for you, but if the vote doesn't go my way, then any chance of bringing you into our family is gone forever.''

Killian cupped the sides of Kiki's face, bringing her eyes to meet his.

``That is why... you must not tell anyone. Do you understand? This will be our secret. No-one must know. Not even Thackery. If anyone outside of you and me finds out about this, it could very well mean expulsion for you. The only way I can keep you here is if you say nothing. Promise me, Kiki.''

---

The nurse's brow raised as Thackery explained what little information he had on the situation.

``Oh she lied to him? She's in big big trouble, then. She'd better tell him the truth if she doesn't want things to get worse. By the way, which bunk is yours?''

The nurse followed Thackery to his bed, and peeled back the covers for the young bunny to slip into, then she covered up the naked cub before taking a seat on the side of the bed.

``I noticed you seemed a little nervous back there. Are you worried about Kiki or.. is it me?''

---

The bunny cub nodded along with the nurse's comment about lying, ``It's what I told her too! And ... it's right over here'' he said with a giggle as he pointed over to his bunk. It was relatively clean but it did have a book laying there that he had to move out of the way before the nurse moved the covers back.

Slipping into the bed he smiled softly as he was tucked into the bed, the covers nice and snug around him making him feel much more secure in his little burrow of sorts. Plus it was relatively quiet in the mostly empty room so he didn't have to worry about the noise of the other cubs running around before they got ready for bed. This also meant he was alone with the fennec however as she asked him about his nervous tick earlier.

``Oh it was Kiki,'' he said before he thought about it and realized he shouldn't lie to the nice nurse before he looked down at the sheets with a blush, ``And for a second your muzzle almost looked like Jeffrey's...''

---

Completely oblivious to the male's arousal, the snot-nosed, teary-eyed cub kept up her bawling until she felt the reassuring pat of his paw on her head. Afterward he guided her back into her seat where Kiki took a moment to clear her sinuses and wipe her snout clean. Killian placed his paws on her small shoulders then, to be honest and clear with her that he had limited powers, but would do what he could.

The lemur understood that it was all she could ask for, nodding even though she couldn't meet his eyes, but it still scared her to think he couldn't protect her. With her gaze cast down at the fidgeting paws in her naked lap, the little girl didn't realize she was so focused on them until the warm palms of Killian forced her to look up. Eyes still wet with tears, she had to squint through the haze to see his face more clearly.

The moment she heard the words she'd been afraid of, Kiki reflexively closed her eyes with a disappointed wince. As feared, he wanted her to promise not to tell anyone anything. And he was very specific, so even if she'd had the will to undermine him now, there was no easy way to wiggle out of it. This was very important, both for her own future, and his. So, with a small, defeated sigh, Kiki conceded.

``I had a feeling you'd say that,'' she mumbled in surrender, opening up her bright, clear eyes to meet Killian's again as she switched abruptly to a decisive smile.

With both paws, Kiki grabbed hold of the raccoon's wrists and used his sturdy limbs to pull herself closer until their noses touched. Then, staring deep into his gaze she declared, ``Okay, Daddy. I won't say a single thing. Not one word. I promise! Cross my heart! And I'll do it all for you, okay? For us!''

Leaning a little closer, the lemur rubbed her nose against Killian's with a giggle, then promptly pulled back to lick it and show off her prettiest, toothy smile.

---

The aroused raccoon had to fight the urge to press his lips to the little lemur's as she nuzzled his nose, those cute, innocent eyes staring into his. For now, he simply nuzzled back, then stood up.

``By the way, I have a gift for my daughter-to-be.''

Killian stood and reached into his pocket, revealing a little pink collar. He opened the straps to reveal a strange looking ornament installed in the middle.

``This will remind you of your promise, and bind you to me as long as you keep it. Never take it off.''

Once the collar was secured on Kiki's neck, Killian reached into his ear as if to scratch, adjusting a hidden device inside as Kiki spoke.

``Don't lose it. It wasn't easy to get.''

---

``Jeffrey? You mean the fox who's always causing trouble? Oh, is he the one that did this?''

The nurse gently ran her finger against Thackery's snout.

``Hmm.. you say my muzzle reminded you of him? Hmm...''

She scratched her chin and thought for a moment. Something about what Thackery had said sounded very familiar. She sat in silence for a moment, staring at the wall, before turning back to the young bunny,

``So what did Jeffrey do exactly? Was he.. On top of you? Did he bare his teeth? Was he holding you down? Did he bite you?''

The nurse nodded along to Thackery's recounting of the events that preceded his visit to her office.

``Hmm, I see.. and before he started hitting you, were you frightened when he brought you to the ground and displayed his aggression towards you?''

---

The bunny cub blinked for a moment as she asked about Jeffrey before he quickly realized that the nurse had not been present during the events that had transpired on the playground nor had the time to hear about it just yet. He swore that she had been told when they had come into her office, but searching through his memory he could only remember Killian mentioning it briefly before Kiki acted like the crazed lemur that she is.

Shivering involuntarily at the touch to his muzzle he hid it as well as he could, though he was amazed too with how numb he was already feeling, like he knew her finger was there but it did not hurt at all. The vixen's fingers so close to his fresh injury still brought feelings that he didn't fully understand however as he tensed up for moment, expecting something that never came to pass. She instead got an inquisitive look on her face and started asking questions at what felt like a rapid pace to the cub.

``He was following me and Daniel, claiming he just wanted to play, but he always plays... played rough. When we said no he put me in a head lock where I couldn't move and I could only look down. It scared me so I tried to get away when I accidentally stepped on his foot which got him angry. Then he grabbed my ears, threw me to the ground and he was on top of me... punching me as I could only see his face between hits. I... think he bared his teeth? It was hard to concentrate.''

He talked as calmly as he could about the matter but his shivering intensified as he was forced to think more about the events on the playground. He was about to go on and talk about the other parts, like how Jeffrey had hurt Alexia also and was then immediately expelled by an unanimous vote, but the nurse continued on with her questions as she seemed much more focused on his injuries and not the fate of Jeffrey.

``Oh... um... I think so. I was scared the moment he grabbed me. Then it got worse when I was on the ground looking up at him...'' he said softly having to look down at his sheets as he twitched nervously.

---

After her affection was reciprocated, Kiki seemed to swell up with energy again, as if the prior predicament had drained all the joy out of her. Now that expulsion wasn't an immediate danger, the girl's one-track mind jumped the rails to the next distraction, which Killian introduced as her gift.

Eyes lighting up with pure delight, the lemur leapt to her feet as fast as her caretaker, only she was still in the chair, which gave her the bonus height to better meet his gaze as he produced the small trinket. The way Kiki gazed upon the simple strap with it's curious ornament mounted in the center, it was as if Killian had revealed a priceless treasure. Even though she had no clue what it was or did, she stared so intently at it.

``Th-that's... for me?'' she gasped in quiet awe, stiffening and raising her head when Killian moved to put it around her neck.

As soon as he fastened its little buckle, the lemur's eager, curious fingers attacked the new piece of attire excitedly. Kiki had never gotten anything to wear before, let alone something so pretty; and best of all it was a gift from her new Daddy. Something to be cherished deeply.

Rubbing her paws all up and down her throat with a euphoric sigh, Kiki's gaze eventually found its way back to Killian, at which point she promptly stopped what she was doing with an embarrassed blush and an awkward smile.

Jumping down from the chair, the girl beamed up at the raccoon but with a determined look in her eyes as she assured him, ``Don't worry, Daddy, I'll be extra careful! An' I'll never let anything bad happen to Daddy's super special gift! Thank-you sooo much!''

To show the depth of her gratitude, Kiki went so far as to throw herself into the raccoon again for another embrace, effectively nuzzling his crotch once more in the process. With the tingling sensation of the new neck-wear she wore as a reminder of her promise and her Daddy's love though, she didn't notice or seem to mind the bulge in his loins.

---

The girl's tendency to press her muzzle against Killian's crotch was testing the patience of the horny raccoon. The more she unwittingly teased him, the more the caretaker was determined to keep Kiki out of trouble until he could take her home, where he would be the one to set the rules.

``Hmm, just so you know, when you leave this place, you won't be bound by the same rules. When you and Thackery see each other again after adoption, you could tell him anything you want to tell him. You could tell him all about your new family, everything you see beyond that gate, anything you want to talk about. You'll no longer be sworn to secrecy about anything at all.''

Killian sighed and separated himself from Kiki, placing a paw on her shoulder as he took a deep breath.

``That said, now comes the bad news. I can't let your offenses go unanswered. You know that, right? You won't be expelled, but you will have to face punishment. Come along.''

Killian walked towards the door, waving his paw for Kiki to follow. She would have to come willingly, or her punishment would be increased for every delay.

---

The nurse shook her head.

``Oh, I suppose that question was too vague. Of course you'd be scared... Here, give me your paw.''

The nurse softly took Thackery's paw and wrapped her fingers around it, gently pressing her thumb against the vein. Once she could feel Thackery's pulse, she leaned over him, pressing her other paw against his chest, and moving her head closer to Thackery, very briefly looming over him as a predator might, but then quickly sitting back up and removing her paw from his chest... noting that his pulse was much quicker...

``Sorry about that, Thackery. Just getting a sense of your overall health after the incident. I suppose.. I should check one more thing before letting you sleep off the medicine. I'll be right back.''

The nurse was about to pat Thackery's head, but instead settled for patting his covered footpaw before leaving the room.

---

It did not take long at all for the bunny cub to offer his paw to the nurse as he was conditioned for as long as he could remember to obey the adults as quickly as possible. He barely even thought about it before he felt his own wrist secured tightly, a thumb pressed hard enough against him to test his pulse. This simple fact of his wrist being restrained was enough to spike his slowly growing fear response as he was conditioned that none of the adults at the orphanage would ever hurt him, but she was still lessening his chances of escape if something like earlier happened again.

This response only grew as her other paw was pressed down on his chest, further lessening his chances of escape which he would not have thought about until the incident with Jeffrey. He was so focused on trying to not freak out at how she was restraining him that it took him by complete shock when suddenly he looked up and she was directly over him, that predatory muzzle looking down at him in a way that caused him this irrational fear and his pulse to increase by a significant amount.

But before he could have a full blown freak out at these actions they were over and she was leaning back and he was no longer restrained. It didn't slow his pulse but it left him enough mental capacity to let the conditioning of the orphanage take over that he should obey the adults in the orphanage, which included the nurse, and that they were all looking out for the cubs under their wing. This let him take a few short deep breaths instinctually to try to get his pulse back down and allow him to calm himself.

So focused on that he barely registered the nurse's words until he blinked and she was gone leaving him alone in the room that he had been so desperate to get back to. But he no longer felt as tired as he had before, his eyes darting across the room to try to judge on if he was truly alone or if there was truly someone there still. He still did not understand these feelings and felt maybe he should ask one of the adults about it, but figured it could wait as he moved his paw along the sheets until he finally found one of the books that he had been hoarding near his bed and flipping it open. At this point he didn't care what book it was or even what page he had opened it up to, but instead that at least in the books there was just information and stories instead of dangerous foxes and annoying lemurs.

With this he busied himself while waiting for the nurse to return.

---

Kiki couldn't help but smile broadly as Killian informed her things would change after adoption, however it was a short-lived joy to know she could eventually tell Thackery everything and more. After his reassurances, the raccoon moved away and placed a paw on her shoulder in a serious fashion she recognized, even before he confirmed it with words.

This was the part the lemur had been dreading, but also resigned to as well. She'd lied after all, and that meant she broke a rule. Even still, she didn't follow immediately after the caretaker as he ushered her towards her inevitable punishment. Not until he uttered the words ``Come along'' was her body willing to comply.

Though Kiki still looked every bit as nervous, she grudgingly moved towards Killian and the open doorway.

``I--I understand, Daddy,'' she confirmed, gaze cast downward and head bowed slightly as she proceeded to slink along behind him, dragging her tail along the floor until morbid curiosity compelled her to ask, ``So, is... is it gonna be the spice again? I mean, it was just a lil' lie, right? You wouldn't put me in the Box for that, would you?''

Though visibly nervous and wringing her paws as her imagination ran wild, Kiki had to bite her tongue to keep herself from babbling further. It had never done her any favors in the past to offer up suggestions for her own punishment, and now was the worst time to tempt fate by giving Killian an idea of what she was dreading most. Isolation.

---

``That's my girl.'' Killian turned to pat Kiki on the head as she graciously accepted her punishment. ``I have a request, though.''

Killian stopped for a moment, and scritched lightly under Kiki's chin.

``I'd like for you to continue to call me `Killian' for the time being. We wouldn't want to make the other cubs jealous, would we? They might also start to believe that I'm showing you favoritism which...'' Killian breathed in through his teeth. ``Honestly, I kinda am.. but they don't need to know that, do they?''

Killian stood and ushered Kiki to follow again.

``You'll be in the dark room for three days. That's one day for each offense.''

---

Pretty soon, the nurse returned with something she doubted Thackery would be pleased to see. A needle.

``I'm terribly sorry about this, Thackery. I'll have to check your blood for infections. If there's an infection, it will probably start to hurt more, unless we treat it quickly.''

The nurse set her supplies into the night stand and pulled it closer as she took a seat on the bed, first picking up the band for Thackery's arm.

``You don't want Jeffrey's cooties swimming around inside you, do you? Let me have your arm for a moment.''

---

As the nurse was gone the bunny cub continued to read his book as the mystery contained within those pages was at least solvable compared to what he could not figure out about his own emotions around foxes now or whatever Kiki had tried to tell him twice that day. The cub was used to the idea of the adults not telling him everything however so he decided not to worry about either too much.

He was just getting to a good part of the book when his ears picked up on the sound of the door opening to the room forcing him to quickly remember his place in the book then scoot it to the side so that he could focus on her. Just seeing her entering the room and knowing it was just the two of them alone in there was enough to make him worried, but then he saw the syringe that she was carrying and he got the urge to jump out of his bed and make a run for it. However his conditioning still held and beyond an involuntary shiver he stayed relatively still as she got closer and expressed her apology.

He bit his lip, not even trusting himself to speak as he moved his arm closer to her, unsure if he was so willing because of how often he had been told to trust the adults in the orphanage or this fear that she was expressing that somehow Jeffrey had infected him with something. Either way he let the nurse take his arm but he also could not look at her or the needle in that moment as he tilted his muzzle and started to look around the room for anything that he could focus on in that moment as he knew it would not be long until that needle was going into his arm. His logical part of his brain knew that the nurse wouldn't hurt him and that he had shots before in his past with no issues, but the other half was telling him that he needed to get away this very instant so that she couldn?t take his blood.

---

Though the scritch Killian offered was pleasant, his request wasn't. Kiki looked up at him with a small pout, but nodded glumly in understanding.

``Yes, Da--I mean... Okay Killian. I won'let anyone know I'm your favorite,'' she answered, hiding a small smile.

The idea of being his favorite was made all the sweeter now that he'd literally confirmed it. So when Killian informed her of her coming punishment, the lemur was less upset about it than she might've been otherwise.

All the same though, she still responded negatively, ``W-what? Three whole days? One day for each... but... I thought it was only th'one lie...!'' Huffing and grabbing hold of her energetic tail for comfort, she eventually sighed softly, ``That's... fair, I guess. I-it's better than getting expelled, that's for sure!''

Truthfully it was debatable. Three days of solitude was a long time for a social creature like Kiki to be cooped up in the dark. She wasn't looking forward to it in the least, as evidenced by her shriveled posture as she continued to follow behind Killian.

---

``Kiki, after all of this, you still don't understand why you're in trouble? Fine, I'll explain it to you again.''

Killian continued to walk with Kiki towards the disciplinary center, a door isolated from all the others, and a place Kiki was very familiar with.

``Offense number one: The staff door is strictly off-limits.

Offense number two: Intent to spread rumors.

Offense number three: Your `one lie'''

Killian opened the door to the disciplinary center and waved Kiki inside before approaching the wolf behind the desk.

``Hi, Bart.''

``Hi, Killian. Hello again, Kiki.''

``Now, Kiki, you know the drill. Tell Bart what rules you've broken.'' He then leaned down to whisper into Kiki's ear. ``Just the rules, nothing more.''

Bart retrieved the disciplinary form and began filling out Kiki's info, which he knew by heart at this point.

---

The nurse gently took Thackery's arm in one paw, and with the other, shaved a small patch of fur, then she tied the band around Thackery's arm. She could feel him trembling. She couldn't tell if he was just afraid of the needle or.. something else... but either way, the obedient little rabbit was cooperating all the same.

``You're a good kid, Thackery. By the way, tell me a little about that book you're reading. Is it a story? Or homework?''

The nurse attempted to distract Thackery with his current interest while she cleaned the area with a cotton swab, prepared the needle, then pressed it into the cub's vein. She watched the cub's blood flowing into the tube, then removed the band, and the needle, quickly replacing it with gauze.

``All done, sweetie. Do you want to see?''

---

The bunny cub just wanted this whole business with the needle done with but it didn't seem to him that the nurse was picking up on this as she took her time. Carefully shaving a small patch of fur, double checking that the tie was nice and secure, and then prepping the instruments to get his blood out. At least she was trying to distract him with a discussion about his book, but this also seemed to make this ordeal last longer.

``Oh... story I guess. We read a similar book in class, but I wanted more...'' he said sheepishly, not sure if he was more nervous about his excitement over reading or if it was due to the fact that she seemed to still be lingering there with the needle right at the corner of his eyesight waiting on a response.

He was tempted to say more out of urgency for her to continue and then he felt the needle entering his arm. The logic part of his brain barely felt the pain as she slid in with a clinical nature to get a good sample, but something was telling him that he should be freaking out but the mixture of his conditioning and this urge to freeze in place kept his arm in place long enough for the nurse to finish.

His whole body felt cold by the point that the needle was removed and he was instructed to put his paw over the cotton to keep it in place before she put the gauze over it to keep it in place. It was over he thought before she confirmed it with her voice followed by her question. He did not want to see, he knew this, but yet his body turned and looked at the vial with the dark red liquid contained within. This was his blood he thought before his head got dizzy and he had to grip the bed tightly as his body was debating on if he wanted to faint or throw up at the sight of his own blood no longer contained in his body. He probably lost quite a bit more than that vial when Jeffrey had roughed him up, but he was too messed up at the time to really pay attention to that fact, where the nurse was clearly showing what she took for him.

He somehow was able to resist doing either, though it would be very obvious that he had to resist both, as he looked at the nurse's kind eyes. ``Uh... not any more... but thank you mam'' he said in an almost whisper as he couldn't find his voice in the moment.

---

Much as Kiki wanted to argue the offenses laid against her, she simply nodded in silence instead. If Killian of all handlers specified that those were the rules she'd broken with her actions, she had to believe it. After all, he was her favorite, and he wanted to adopt rather than expel the girl. He cared that much she knew, and it made the thought of sitting in isolated darkness for the next 72 hours easier to accept.

Even still, the lemur's anxiety grew one they got to the discipline center, with Kiki having to stand before the familiar canine like she was on trial. The big desk Bart sat behind always made her feel so small. His straight face, void of all expression made her uneasy too. Was he happy to see her? Mad? Annoyed? He had to be unhappy at the very least. This was her 18th visit by now, so he clearly didn't need any help filling out the forms.

With a soft whine in response to Killian's request for her to list her crimes, Kiki tried to look the wolf in the eyes as she answered, as curtly as she could, per the raccoon's request.

``Uhm... well... f-first I looked in the staff room... then I l-lied to Killian...'' she stammered nervously, trying not to look to the raccoon for approval that she wasn't saying too much. Swallowing the rising lump in her throat, she finished, ``S--s-so I could... spread rumors about it...''

Her gaze dropped to the floor then, with a genuine look of guilt. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes and she stubbornly grabbed her tail to wipe them away. It wasn't like she could elicit sympathy from Bart, after all. She'd figured that out after trying the first 10 times to lighten her sentence in the Box.

---

Killian gently rubbed the back of Kiki's head as the lemur finished repeating her offenses to the raccoon's satisfaction.

``She'll be spending three days in the dark room.''

The two waited as the wolf scribbled the data onto the paper, softly repeating the information to himself as he recorded it. Finally, he set the paper aside and stood from the desk, but paused for a moment, his gaze fixed on Kiki for a short moment.

``Hmm.. Nice collar.''

He then brought Kiki and Killian through the side door, to the row of solid, soundproof doors leading to a bunch of very small rooms with nothing more than a mattress, toilet, and water fountain inside, though once Kiki was in, she would have to feel around for each object, if she hadn't memorized where they were by now.

Bart opened up the first unoccupied chamber, and waved Kiki inside. Killian gave her a quick nudge towards the chamber.

``I'll make sure you get dinner a little earlier today. Just think. Three days in the dark room, then four days out, then the rest of your childhood with me.''

Killian winked at Kiki as the wolf closed the chamber door, locking Kiki inside.

---

The nurse hadn't realized how the sight of Thackery's own blood would affect the cub, but as soon as Thackery's eyes rolled back, the nurse moved quickly to catch him, and then hid the vial at the first chance.

``Oh wow, I'm sorry about that! Here, get comfortable.''

The nurse waited for Thackery to lay himself down on the mattress, and then she draped the blanket over the little bunny.

``I've seen cubs faint before while I was taking their blood, but usually afterwards they're... Oh, almost forgot.''

The fennec reached into her pocket and retrieved a small nutrient bar, this along with the cheap, bland mixture with the consistency of oatmeal made up all of the cubs' meals in this place. The nurse placed the nutrient bar on the stand next to Thackery's bed.

``Take a couple of bites of that before you sleep, and whenever you get hungry. Sleep tight, sweety.''

The nurse then left the bunk room, and wondered if that vial contained her key to a pay raise as she returned to her office.

---

It did not take long for Thackery to recover after the sight of his recently acquired blood was taken out of eyesight. Blushing deeply he didn't think too hard on why he acted like that as the nurse started coddling him a bit, going back to her more kind doting manner like how she was in the office instead of triggering this fear reaction again.

He still did not have enough energy to respond to her words however as he just nodded slowly, showing that he understood before he grabbed the nutrient bar and unwrapped it slowly to take a few small nibbles. The food might have bland to anyone else, but it was all the cub had ever known about beyond some of the books mentioning other types of food he had never seen or tasted. The little bit of food was already making him feel better as it calmed down his stomach and got his blood sugar back to a relatively stable point.

``Thank you nurse,'' is all he could get out before she slipped out of the room leaving him alone to think about the day.  Looking around the still empty room he had the quick thought about all the other cubs, curious what they were doing at the moment before he grabbed his book to focus on while he still had some privacy. He got the feeling that there would only be so much time before he would have to deal with all the other cubs asking him questions about his day.

---

Though Kiki kept her eyes focused on the floor while the record of her punishment was finalized, when the wolf inevitably noticed and complimented her on the new collar she couldn't help reflexively perking up her ears as a small smile formed. It was really the first nice thing he'd ever said to her, even though it was delivered with the same, dead-pan expression. Bart almost made Bobby seem interesting by comparison, in fact.

Where the canine would rattle on for hours about boring things, the wolf opted for silence over speaking entirely. And if there was anything that drove the lemur crazier, it was complete silence. Couple that with complete darkness and total isolation, and the nature of the punishment was crystal clear.

The sensory deprivation was likely intended to encourage meditation for the purpose of self-reflection. After all, she'd been bad and this was the consequence. Unfortunately, being locked in a room by herself did nothing to stem her hyperactivity whatsoever. It never had. And even now, as she was being walked towards her assigned cell, Kiki was mentally prepared for 72 hours of sleepless insanity.

Still she dreaded the wait deeply. Dreaded the thought of all those hours wasted in darkness by herself, when she could've been out playing with Thackery and the others. Now she would only have her imagination to play with and that made her frown as she started into the dark hole she was expected to enter willingly.

She wanted to do it for Killian, if nothing else, but it took a light nudge from the raccoon before Kiki accepted her fate with a soft sigh and stepped forward. Once inside, she turned around to stare up at her future daddy, trying to hold back the tears as he tried to reassure her.

I--I can hardly wait,'' she replied with a sniffle, wiping the tears away before they could escape before adding, ``I'll--I'll see you again really soon, Killian! An-and I'll be better this time, promise!''

Satisfied by the wink she received before being cast into utter darkness and solitude, the smiling lemur sighed dreamily and spun around on her heel, making a blind beeline for the small, cub-sized mattress. Not only had she been in detention like this enough times to have memorized the visual layout of all the cells, but Kiki's particularly sensitive sense of touch, gave her a perfect, tactile image of the rooms in the dark as well.

So even without her sight, she knew how many steps wide and long and even tall the room was, how far away everything was, and where exactly they sat in the darkness. Needless to say, she had no issues getting around. The worst part of this whole experience was the silence. It was always quick to become deafening, but rather than wait for the ringing to eventually subside, Kiki would fill the air with her own noise in whatever form it might be.

Ranting, singing, humming, play-acting, even impersonating other people to create whole scenarios in which she gleefully exposed what she saw as everyone's short-coming. Bobby's dullness, Bart's frustrating refusal to converse; she also targeted some of the handlers as well, like Alexia with her weird accent and need for a crutch, and even Killian's propensity for making excuses why he couldn't do things.

All spoken aloud, and in some cases with exceptional flair the likes of someone destined for Theatre, Kiki would spend the next three days filling the silence with a string of endless babble that would've been difficult for even the most seasoned staff to tolerate. The only breaks would be the brief interruptions when food was delivered, but otherwise, she carried on with faltering, even when she was on the toilet--in fact, that was usually when she sang loudest, to drown out the gross sounds.

---

From the next day on, while Kiki remained in isolation, Thackery would mostly be going back to his usual routine. In the morning, the cubs who weren't already stirring and talking in the bunk room would be awoken, then all were led into the cafeteria for breakfast, each species given nutrient bars and bland, mushy meals suited to their diet. After breakfast they would return to the classroom for lessons in speech, obedience, various courses in basic knowledge, or some story time where Killian and Wendy told stories of past and recent adoptions, emphasizing the joy and fun that came for the cubs who had left the orphanage.

After lessons, the cubs would be allowed onto the playground briefly for recess. For the first couple of days, while Thackery was still healing, he was allowed to sit with the adults and read from the highly vetted and censored choice of books from the library, none making mention of anything above ground, except that could be explained as a massive light, much like the artificial sunlight that shined on the cubs as they played on the playground. There was no sky, sun, moon, or stars, except for the occasional mention of them that occasionally slipped past the censors, usually just words the cubs were never taught.

After recess, the cubs would be brought back into the cafeteria for lunch. Each cub, upon finishing their lunch, would make their way to the shower room, where they would bathe and groom their fur as they had been trained to do. Any cub who didn't look sufficiently well-groomed would be sent back to finish. After the grooming, they would, one by one, head to the back of the cafeteria into a room with a very large one-way mirror on the opposite side. They would mingle and play until all cubs were present, at which time they would line up in front of the mirror, one group after another, the naked cubs unaware of the eyes watching from the other side, as they performed their ``afternoon stretches'', where the well-groomed cubs would be instructed to stretch and pose in many positions for the invisible prying eyes.

Once all the cubs had presented themselves to the mirror, they would then go back to the bunk room for a short nap, after which they would split into small groups for evening courses. They would rotate between instructors each day to learn various menial tasks such as sweeping, cleaning, doing dishes, laundry, and more, all with the promise of top marks in their files to be viewed by potential parents. The cubs were given lots of praise and encouragement, and a lucky few were given small portions of candy for doing exceptional jobs.

After this was evening play time, where all the cubs would be let out onto the playground for the rest of the day. Those who weren't engaging in physical activity would often be instructed to run a few laps around the playground before being allowed to return to whatever they were doing before. Thackery would be the exception for the first couple of days, but on the third, he would be expected to play or run like everyone else. Shortly after the cubs were let out, small snacks would be available for anyone who wanted something between lunch and dinner.

Just before ``nightfall'', the cubs would return to the cafeteria for dinner, then to the classroom for ``cool down'', where they would have access to toys and board games before bed. Unbeknownst to the cubs, this was the time when a much more sinister form of training would take place. There was one more thing the cubs would need to be ready for upon adoption -- the ability to take an adult penis without serious damage.

Every night, five cubs would be given the privilege of spending the night in the ``playroom'', which was stocked with the best toys, a little candy, and even some video games. Eventually, they would all be served a drink of their choice, which would be laced with a drug that would render the cubs unconscious, leaving them completely unaware of what happened next. One by one, the nurse would wheel the unconscious cubs out of the room.

Once isolated, the nurse would then very carefully work the rectums and vaginas of the blissfully unaware cubs with toys and devices. She very much enjoyed doing this to male students in particular. When she was done, the cubs would be able to tightly stretch around their first cock, whenever that might be. She would then wheel them back into the playroom to sleep off the drugs while she worked the holes of the next cub.

At last, the final day of Kiki's isolation arrived. Thackery and the other cubs were let out onto the playground for evening playtime. Light flooded the dark room as Killian opened the door.

``Time's up, Kiki. Thanks for being such a good girl for me.''

He gently hugged the lemur and ran his paw up and down her back, and kissed the top of her head before leading her out of the disciplinary center and onto the playground. As soon as they came outside, Daniel took notice and rushed over to Kiki and Killian.

``Kiki! What happened?! Dale said you were expelled, and.. and Zane said you died!''

``Really now..'' Killian sighed, ``More rumors... Kiki, go out and play while I have a little chat with Dale and Zane.''

Once Killian started towards the cubs in question, Daniel stared at Kiki's new collar for a moment, then pointed out into the field and looked to Kiki.

``Thackery's over there! Wanna go play kick-ball?''

---

It was pleasant for Thackery for things to return to somewhat normal for a few days as he focused on recovering from the events that had transpired. The first day felt like a blur to the bunny cub who was not accustomed to pain killers of any kind, but luckily for him the lessons that day were easy enough that he was able to keep his focus throughout the morning classes and the few bits of information he missed he was able to ask about during recess. By the second day he was relatively back to normal and the third he acted like nothing had happened, though there were still some bruises around his eye that lingered. He focused on his studies with the same fervor he always had, intent on getting adopted into some family that enjoyed how studious he was, and stayed out of trouble.

Classes had ended on the third day and during evening recess he was finally told that he was fit enough to join in with the other kids for evening recess despite his initial reaction being that he wanted to stay with the adults longer. He quickly was talked out of trying to push his luck with that dialogue however with a gentle reminder that he needed to catch up on his exercise so that he was healthy for when he was eventually adopted. So without an argument he made himself onto the playground to find that it was much calmer now without Jeffrey bullying the other cubs and Kiki not around to pester him about whatever piece of curiosity she had discovered. In a way it was calming even when Daniel had run up to him and asked to play a game of kickball acting like he had already forgotten that the last time they had tried the fox bully had interrupted them ending in the buck's muzzle bloody and Jeffrey expelled.

He seemed even more excited talking about what he heard about Kiki as apparently the younger buck had heard some rather extravagant rumors, but before Thackery could refute these rumors or explain the little bit that he knew Daniel was running off again. That is when he noticed that this interruption was indeed because of Kiki as she was being escorted out to the playground by Killian after being gone for three days. He could only watch the exchange between Daniel, Killian, and Kiki as he was still far enough away that he couldn't hear much of anything being discussed beyond that it seemed that Killian was rushing off to talk to some other cubs and leaving Kiki alone with Daniel.

Part of him was very happy to see her return, especially as he was still interested in whatever secret she wanted to share before her disappearance. But the other part of him was a bit disheartened to realize that the peace and quiet of the last few days would be once again broken up by the energetic lemur and that if she had been gone as long as she had it would mean she would have been in isolation yet again. This would probably mean that she would be unable to share whatever she had learned to keep them both out of trouble which  would then leave him with a lingering mystery which he most especially did not care for.

---

After a full three days in isolated darkness, Kiki's other senses had heightened considerably, such that she was aware of Killian's arrival at her cell door before he'd even begun to unlatch it. Opening her light-blind eyes, she stared at the upside-down door as it rattled and clanked, a big grin sweeping across her face as the young lemur released her grip on the unseen perch in the ceiling that she'd discovered, and quickly flipped onto her feet.

As the door opened and light poured in to make her eyes hurt, even while closed, Kiki made a bee-line for Killian standing in the glow of artificial fluorescent daylight. Without a single thought she threw herself into his groin once again, limited by her height as she hugged him before he even had a chance to crouch to her level.

``I missed you so much, Killian!'' she cried, seeming to be all torn up emotionally at first as the raccoon lowered himself to her height to return the embrace, but in the act of stroking her spine and kissing the top of her head, the girl suddenly giggled instead, perking up as she met his gaze to say, ``I had no idea three days was so long! I don'wanna do that again. It was so boooooring.''

Though complaining, Kiki followed after Killian like an obedient pup, ecstatic to be free to return to the playground. She almost expected, or perhaps hoped, to see Thackery right there waiting, ready to play with her. However, as soon as the caretaker led her out into the larger space, the first cub to come running over to her was Daniel; the sweet little bunny who loved to play kickball. It was unusual for him to talk to her, though.

The reason for doing so was quite obvious considering his greeting, but Kiki was uncertain how to respond at first as the boy explained how rumors had spread about her of all things, and she hadn't even said a word to anyone yet. Looking awkward, and with a nervous chuckle after hearing Killian's reaction, the lemur gave Daniel an opaque answer.

``Ah--hahah, well, none of those stories are true, but I bet I know who's getting punished next now,'' she giggled exaggeratedly, one eye on Killian as he was walking away, ``That's jus'what happens when you spread rumors, I guess.''

Giving Daniel a playful pat on the shoulder she looked him in the eyes and smiled, ``So don't you go spreading silly rumors like them, okay, Danny?''

``Anyway, you wanna play kickball, right? So let's go!'' she chirped, racing ahead of the younger bunny, on a direct collision course with Thackery out of the kickball field.

Beaming with energy and excitement, despite running on fumes from lack of sleep, Kiki charged towards him, hollering, ``Heeeeeey, Thackeryyyyyy!'' before leaping and crashing into him, forcing him flat onto his back in the grass as she stared him down with a downright wild look in her eyes.

``Didja miss me? Huh? Didja?'' she asked, before immediately cutting off his answer by blurting out loud, ``I HAVEN'T SLEPT FOR THREE DAYS!''

Then she giggled and toppled onto her side, rolling to her back as she yawned and seemed to fall asleep on the spot.

---

Daniel nodded quickly at the older cub's advice, realizing he could have just as easily gotten into trouble himself, then nodded more enthusiastically when Kiki offered to play kickball with him. Before he knew it, Kiki had taken off, and the smaller bunny ran after as fast as he could, unable to gain any ground on the energetic lemur until she collided with Thackery. His eyes went wide as he watched the two older cubs tumbling onto the ground after Kiki lept right onto him.

Daniel had never been in the dark room for more than a day before. He was able to fall asleep eventually, but to imagine staying awake in that place for three days made the 5-year-old cringe at the thought. Sleep was the only thing that passed the time in a way that wasn't agonizing. He watched as Kiki rolled off the uncomfortable buck, then when he had a chance, he waved to Thackery.

``I'm gonna go get us a ball.''

Daniel ran enthusiastically towards the ball bin, leaving Kiki and Thackery to ``catch up'' for awhile. Along the way back, he asked a few others if they wanted to play to even out the teams, but none seemed interested, although Daniel only asked who he encountered on his bee-line back to Kiki and Thackery.

``I got one! Let's go play!''

Just then, his ears twitched, and honed in to the sound of loud whispering coming from the nearby tree. He looked towards the tree and gasped loudly at the sight of someone who wasn't supposed to be there. It was Jeffrey, desperately trying to get their attention as he poked his head from the other side of the tree trunk, keeping the tree between him and the adults, and he wasn't going to move from that spot.

``No-no-no-no please don't tell! I'm begging you not to tell! Please just.. Just come over here to the other side of the tree! I...''

Jeffrey's head quickly disappeared behind the tree as an adult seemed to be coming towards the tree, but he peeked back out when it seemed they were going in the opposite direction.

``I won't touch any of you, I promise! Please!''

---

His inability to decide if he was happy to have Kiki back or not was made for him as she gave him no time to react before suddenly flinging herself at him. Suddenly found himself lying in the grass looking up at her as she pinned him to the ground he wanted to let out a loud scream but she had effectively knocked the air out of his lungs. His whole body froze up at the familiar feeling of another cub looming over him with a crazed look in their eyes making him suddenly put his arms in front of his face as he tried to protect his nose.

But as soon as it had started it was also over as the lemur cub rolled off of the bunny cub and he was left there shaking in fright at the `attack' before his wits finally came back to him. Looking over at Kiki he blinked as he soaked in the information from her sudden outburst that she had not slept the entire time she was in isolation. He could only imagine what being in isolation would be like for her as she seemed to survive off of social interactions and he had a theory that was why it seemed like it was the adults' primary choice for punishing her it seemed. But he couldn't really ask her about that as it seemed she had dozed off right then and there after expending her last little bit of energy.

He could only nod at Daniel's notice of leave as he kept an eye on Kiki for a few more moments then tentatively got back up, the fear and the urge to protect himself fading almost like a dream it seemed as he returned to normal. He still couldn't keep his eyes off of Kiki, waiting for her to move as he debated on trying to wake her to make sure she was okay or instead enjoy the few moments of silence before she would spring back up.

With the return of Daniel however brought faint whispers that both bunny cubs picked up on immediately turning towards the tree and the fox hiding there. The same fox that had busted his nose only a few days prior and gotten himself expelled from the school. Thackery had to blink as he looked at Jeffrey as he made some frantic gestures along with begging the cubs to not reveal his location to the adults and promising to not touch them. He wanted to scream for the adults at that very moment, but all he could see was that muzzle and the slight glimpses of teeth as the fox talked and he just froze there staring at the former bully. His leg twitched as he got ready to run, but something was also screaming in his brain that he couldn't until he knew what the fox was going to do next. But that also meant he was just standing there without saying a word staring at Jeffrey, neither moving closer to the bully or trying to escape.

---

Whether Kiki had actually been asleep or not, she suddenly lurched upright amid the wide-eyed tension between the two bunnies and a fox. Unaware of either however, the girl sleepily raised a finger to the sky and declared:

``Mmm...Yes, teacher... I would like another...!''

Then the lemur flopped back down and rolled around in the grass semi-consciously. It was really hard to focus in her sleep-deprived state of delirium, but on some level she grew aware of Jeffrey's familiar presence, if for no other reason than because Thackery and Daniel both shared the same unique looks of terror they possessed when caught in that darn fox's line of sight.

Considering neither buck had the courage to say or do anything, Kiki's body was determined to intervene, even if half her brain was asleep and the rest was on auto-pilot. Wriggling creepily to her feet like some kind of demonic marionette doll, she raised her fists like she intended to engage in an old-school game of fist-i-cuffs.

``Whooooa-wait, wait... who are... ah! Begone evil fox spirit!'' she demanded, waving her arms like she had magic powers.

Though she finally recognized the sneaky fox hiding behind the tree, the girl wasn't sure if she was hallucinating, since no one had ever come back from being expelled before. Clearly this was something unnatural coming back to haunt her friends.

``Leeeave my friends aloooone, you... you... whatever you aaaare...!'' she rambled, stumbling closer to the boy's hiding spot as she struggled to find the words to admonish this apparition.

---

On any other day, seeing the terror in the eyes of the two bunnies, particularly the one that got him expelled, might have pleased the fox bully, but today wasn't one of those days. Jeffrey continued to whisper and motion towards a spot behind the tree.

``You don't have to come close, okay? I'll stay right--''

Suddenly the form of the lemur staggered to her feet, and once she raised her fists, and although the fox was confident he could take the girl in a fight, Jeffrey rapidly shook his head, knowing the lemur could easily draw attention to them if she attacked. Then it got worse. She began to yell, to which Jeffrey could only frantically shush the girl, keeping as much of himself behind the tree as possible.

When she was finished, however, Jeffrey could only blink in confusion. Was she trying to play a game with him? He hadn't a clue. He slowly peeked his head from both sides of the tree, seeing that Kiki's outburst seemed to draw no red flags from anyone on the playground. It WAS Kiki, after all. Jeffrey worked up the courage to bring his head around the tree again.

``I.. I'm not here to fight any of you. I just want to talk. Please! Th.. Thackery! I'm sorry I hit you! Don't tell!''

---

The outburst from the lemur was enough to jerk the buck out of his fear induced daze as he was forced to turn his attention towards her shenanigans. It was obvious to Thackery that she was still suffering the effects of not sleeping the entire time she was gone, plus he could only assume that being alone for three days also made her a bit more crazed than normal. Either way she was first threatening to punch Jeffrey it looked like then waving her hands like he was some sort of ghost or spirit that she could just shoo away with a few choice words and a movement of her paws.

But she was moving closer to Jeffrey and he had to do something so he quickly stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her own, ``Hey Kiki... let's think for a moment...'' he said in a hushed whisper, ``You don't want to get in trouble again..'' he said as it was the only thing he could think could get through to her at the moment.

But this also brought him closer to the fox bully it seemed as he tilted his head to look down at the fox's lower half, averting his gaze from Jeffrey's face for the moment as he tried avoiding that muzzle that had filled him with such fear. ``What are you doing here? Did they let you back in?'' he asked in a confused voice, still not moving away from the fox but keeping a tight grip on Kiki to try to encourage her to think through her actions for once.

---

When the mystical arts had failed her, Kiki assumed what could only be described as the stance of a drunken kung-fu master. Looking to karate-chop her hallucination into oblivion, the sleepy lemur was easily held back by the fully conscious, though no less frightened Thackery. In fact the physical contact seemed to disable her defenses entirely.

``You're right... that's a... a good point,'' she conceded to the rabbit's logic, and not just because her limbs currently felt like rubber, however she eyed the fox and pointedly concluded, ``But I got my eeeeeye on you, buster!''

Maybe it was the fact he'd come to her first for once, or that his fur was just so soft, or perhaps the possibility that he had a really good point about getting in trouble again, but Kiki proceeded to lean into the buck afterward, entirely distracted from the predator by his snuggly warmth. She even went so far as to snuggle up closer and curl her tail around the two of them while he addressed the fox.

She blinked suddenly when she realized that Thackery could see him too, though, prompting a random query; ``So wait, he's... not a spirit only I can see...?'' Of course, only Kiki would sound disappointed about it.

---

Jeffrey breathed a small sigh of relief as Thackery calmed Kiki down, but his relief was short-lived as none of the other cubs were keen to move to the other side of the tree where Jeffrey could talk to them without exposing himself to the other adults. His pleading with them was doing no good. Daniel could only stare silently in disbelief. A bully he had witnessed being taken outside the gate, from which no other cub had ever returned... had returned. Whatever the case, he certainly wasn't going to move to the other side of the tree with Jeffrey unless Thackery and Kiki did first.

Jeffrey shook his head at Thackery's question, and continued to speak in a loud whisper as long as the three cubs refused to move.

``Not... Not exactly... and it won't be long before they figure out that I'm here. Before they do, I need to tell you what's really going on here, and what happens when you leave here, and then... and then I... I need your help... Please! come around here so they won't see me! I'll tell you everything!''

About that time, Killian appeared from the door of the disciplinary center, having just brought in the two ``rumor-mongers'' that Daniel had pointed out. The bug Kiki was wearing around her neck hadn't revealed everything, but just enough to clue the raccoon that something was amiss. He scanned the area, a fair distance away from the tree Jeffrey was hiding behind. He squinted as he spotted Kiki, Daniel, and Thackery standing around a tree, trying to figure out whether or not he could make out a head barely poking around it.

---

The buck was fighting three different emotions at this moment as his fear had him wanting to make a mad dash back to the school yard and alert as many adults as he could, his worry had him clinging to Kiki in the hope to keep her from going and doing something stupid, and his curiosity was peaked at everything Jeffrey was saying. The worry about Kiki seemed to waver as she leaned into him in this weird mix of seeking comfort from him and the fact that she looked like she was about to fall asleep on her feet any moment now and needed someone to hold her up before she collapsed again. Looking over at Daniel he saw the small rabbit was stuck in the same moment of fear or disbelief where it looked like the younger cub would not be much help with this final decision.

He comforted Kiki softly as he thought, trying to make sure that she wouldn't collapse on him in this current state of events, but was also weighing his options with her as he could already tell he would be unable to move far with her attached to him like so. Even if he could detangle from her and get the nerve to leave her behind it was likely that Jeffrey could catch up to him in little to no time. So it looked to him that the only option that was left was the latter, to let his curiosity make the decision for him as he gently guided Kiki closer to the fox.

Leaning close to Kiki he whispered to her low enough for her to hear but hopefully not get Jeffrey's attention, ``I see him too Kiki... but I don't think we can outrun him. So let him say whatever he wants to say... distract him long enough for someone to notice. If you feel better though suddenly, maybe we both should run for it,'' he finishes as he looks behind himself at Daniel and tries to mouth out the word, ``Run'' as discreetly as he could while he slowly moved himself and Kiki closer to the fox keeping his head down so that he couldn't see Jeffrey's face and possibly break out into the pure terror again.

He couldn't help but to admit to himself that part of this decision was that he really wanted to know these answers.

---

Though Kiki would've preferred to remain in her haze while she snuggled the fluffy bunny, the curious cub couldn't help but listen to what Jeffrey had to say at first. It was a good thing too, because the second the boy started mentioning what sounded like rumors, red flags went up, and so did the lemur's ears as she suddenly became inexplicably alert.

Unfortunately, the ever curious Thackery, even despite his fear, was eager to hear more. He made a sound excuse for his reasoning, and even looked to Daniel to give him a silent warning, but the fact remained that the buck was inching closer to the fox. She could feel his heart racing as he avoided eye-contact with Jeffrey, proof that he wanted the information more than anything else, but Kiki found herself fearing deeply for him. Of what might happen if they got caught.

Before she realized it, the lemur had pushed away from Thackery to take a big looming step forward, glaring at Jeffrey.

``Oooh, I see how it is,'' she postured, attempting to adopt an authoritative tone like the one Killian was so good at using on her, ``Beating him up wasn't good enough for yah, huh? Now you?re gonna trick him into spreading rumors too, issat it? You--you have some nerve, Jeffrey! Sneakin' back in here just to pick on Thackery again!''

If it weren't bad enough that Kiki was now speaking directly to a tree from the raccoon's perspective, she also leaned toward it to jab her finger in accusation as she was actively condemning the fox in more ways than one.

---

Jeffrey watched intently from behind the tree as it seemed that Thackery and Kiki were talking over what to do. He waited and watched. Thackery then turned to Daniel. Jeffrey was starting to relax until Daniel suddenly took a couple of steps back, and then took off towards the adults sitting near the building.

``No! Daniel!''

He twitched as he fought the urge to expose himself to stop the younger cub, but then turned his gaze to Thackery, baring his teeth and growling with anger.

``You just ruined EVERYTHING!''

Jeffrey was about to make a run for it, but suddenly found an angry lemur in his sights, and a finger against his chest, the girl berating the fox for attempting to get Thackery in trouble by spreading rumors. It was at this point that all reason left Jeffrey, and the rage he was known for came back to the surface as he took two fists full of fur on Kiki's chest, shaking her back and forth.

``Listen to me you STUPID CUNT!''

It was at this point that Killian arrived from a full sprint, the gate guards far behind him, but catching up. The raccoon suddenly grabbed Jeffrey's arm, which quickly shifted Jeffrey's expression from anger to terror as he spun around and opened his jaws, sinking his sharp cub-teeth into Killian's arm, causing the raccoon to yell in pain, instinctively balling up a fist with his free paw, but willing his fingers open to grab the boy's snout instead of punching him. Blood began to run down Killian's arm and stain Jeffrey's muzzle.

Eventually the guards arrived to help pry Jeffrey's jaws open and then restrain the flailing fox. It took awhile, but they finally got him under control. All the adults and all the cubs now witnessed the scene. Killian jerked his arm away, paw grasping the torn flesh and shouting obscenities as the guards dragged Jeffrey, not towards the gate, but towards the building, while the fox turned his attention back to the cubs who exposed him, flashing his blood-soaked teeth as he yelled to them.

``You all deserve what happens to you! DO YOU HEAR ME?! YOU DESERVE IT!! YOU DESERVE ALL OF IT!!''

A hush fell across the playground as Jeffrey disappeared inside the building, and Killian turned to Kiki, clasping his arm and breathing heavily.

``Kiki.. remind me later...  to give you as big a reward as I can possibly find... after I see the nurse.''

---

The bunny cub thought he had all of the knowledge from his exploration throughout the library of the orphanage, but it hadn't prepared him for how people would react. He had expected Daniel to calm down enough to register that word then leave when the coast was clear, or whatever those novels had said. He had expected Kiki to remain close to his side, the two of them going off on some adventure to learn all the secrets before their back-up, in this case Daniel bringing in the adults, came to their rescue. He got a harsh slap of reality however as both plans fell apart almost simultaneously. Daniel ran off well before Thackery planned and Kiki decided to lunge forward to accuse the fox before her.

Before he knew it the situation in front of him erupted into chaos. Killian came in much more quickly than anticipated, making Thackery think that Daniel was much quicker than he anticipated, or maybe Killian had already seen Jeffrey as he kept appearing behind the tree to try to draw the other cubs in closely. All of this left him frozen in his spot as he watched Jeffrey's maw dig into Killian's arm, the young buck's worst fear made true as the blood started pouring out and Thackery could only imagine Jeffrey eating Killian's arm. But the young fox kit was no match for the adult raccoon and the guards as his maw was pulled open to free the arm and with that the bully was being pulled away.

Those words that he screamed out, how they deserved what came to them, stuck to the young rabbit as he stood frozen in fear. He could hear those words, but barely react beyond his eyes twitching to watch the fox be dragged away towards the building instead of out of the gate. This should have been weird to him but everything that had just happened was equally as weird so he just shook it off as best as he could.

Time was starting to return to normal for Thackery, he started to notice his own breathing pattern as the fight or flight instinct started to quiet down and let him soak in the situation. But then also in that moment he was left alone standing there as Killian tried to make sure that Kiki was okay and all the other adults and cubs seemed more focused on Jeffrey being dragged literally kicking and screaming into some part of the building where the cries went quiet. In this moment all he had was himself debating on if he should have fought despite his fear, but also that tickling in his brain that he should have listened to Jeffrey earlier. Maybe then he could have heard something he could understand on why the fox bully would sneak himself back onto the playground after being expelled.

He didn't know how long he was left with his thoughts but it was giving him enough time to dig himself into concerns that he should have rushed off to an adult immediately, that is what they were taught afterall. But also there were the questions about what Jeffrey would have said, how did Killian get there so quick, and then noticing a bunch of small unanswered questions with everything that had transpired. There was no answer to these anymore it seemed so he just stood still like he was a statue, no longer struck by the fright of the dangerous maw but instead the anxiety of having to explain himself and that the only one left with answers to his questions seemed to be Kiki.

---

What little adrenaline Kiki had mustered to intervene, didn't last long in the face of an irate Jeffrey, especially when he grabbed hold of her to shake her senseless as he hollered. Flopping like a ragdoll, she dropped flat on the grass when the fox inevitably let her go to bite the handler that had arrived. The small lemur smiled briefly, closing her eyes as she listened to the chaos around her in a dizzy haze.

Whatever happened, it was relatively quick by her standards. In fact, after opening her eyes to the sound of Killian crying out in pain, the scuffle that followed only lasted a minute or so. And by the time the nausea eased off enough for Kiki to sit up and survey her surroundings, a bloody-mouthed Jeffrey was already restrained and being carted away.

Still a little woozy, the lemur stood up and wobbled on rubbery legs, trying to focus her vision so she could locate Thackery. Spotting him not far away, she took slow, deliberate steps to stand beside him and peeked at his expression. Kiki wasn't sure what she was hoping for, maybe relief or shellshock from seeing the fox's bloody teeth, instead she saw reflected in his face, whatever had likely clued Killian in to her own doubts. Just the faintest glimmer of genuine fear.

Furrowing her brow with worry, she snorted after the fox being dragged into a room that wasn't through the gated tunnel, ``Darn right we do! An' bullies get what they deserve too! Right, Thackery?''

Sticking her tongue out to blow raspberries as the boy disappeared from sight, she perked up again, wide-eyed and bubbly as if she'd slept a whole eight hours already. When Killian finally addressed Kiki then, her ears twitched and she rounded on the raccoon, suddenly teary-eyed at the visage of her daddy all bloody and wounded.

``Killian, you're hurt!'' she squealed, barely registering his promise for a big reward as she rushed dramatically to his aid and latched onto the nearest body part that wasn't immediately rejected by her initial lunge, ``Ooooh, that mean `ol fox! How dare he hurt my favourite caretaker! Are you gonna be okay Killian?''

---

Killian let out a loud ``OOF!'' as the lemur collided with him, wrapping her arms around his waist and again burying her face in his crotch, which was again stirring despite the throbbing pain in his arm.

``Heh, you hyper little monkey. Don't worry about me, Kiki, I just need some ointment and bandages from the nurse, and I'll be good to go. It's not nearly as bad as what he did to Thackery.''

Killian moved his arms awkwardly in an attempt to return his future adopted daughter's affection before giving up.

``Um.. well, I'd hug you back, but I don't think you need to get my blood all over your fur. Hey, you really should have gone to an adult as soon as soon as you saw Jeffrey here, especially as violent as he's become, but I heard you shutting him down after he attempted to spread some wild rumors. That's my girl!'' Killian shook his head. ``That boy.. He can't possibly know what awaits you when you leave here. He was never adopted. Oh, speaking of which...''

Killian turned his attention to Thackery, stopping short as he started to take in Thackery's body language as the bunny was slowly coming down from the fright that Jeffrey had given him. He had never noticed such a strong reaction from Thackery before, but then the boy had never experienced the trauma of a predator attacking him before.

``Thackery? Are you alright, little guy?''

---

Thackery was having a hard time concentrating on anything as his vision blurred and his heart was racing still after everything that had transpired. The fear of the vulpine bully was still there but it had lessened more and more the farther the bully was, but in its place was a new fear of the adults around him. He knew he should have gone to get an adult himself, but he was hoping his excuses would be enough to not earn himself any punishment. Even if they wouldn't be the full truth as he had let his curiosity get the best of him.

He knew he should say something soon, but every time he tried to move all he could see was the crimson liquid running down the raccoon's arm which had the buck's brain on overdrive imagining how much worse it could have been. He had never heard of one of the predator species biting someone like that, let alone trying to eat someone, but it was so vivid in his brain at this moment that he couldn't shake it. Which just kept him frozen in place unable to look at that arm even as the adult got closer and spoke up.

He wanted to say that he was okay, a little lie to cover up all of these emotions he could not figure out, but he couldn't say anything in the moment as he looked up at the raccoon teacher's face. This was partially because he was trained to look someone in the eyes when they talk to you as a polite thing to do, but it also accomplished being able to avoid looking at that arm as much as possible despite his eyes trying to betray him as they flicked around nervously to keep an eye on his surroundings.

``Oh...'' he said softly before swallowing and trying to get his voice back, ``I'm not hurt... Just... surprised is all...'' he said in a meek voice that felt very far away even to him. It wasn't a lie he thought though terrified would have been a more accurate description of how he felt.

``I'm sorry you got hurt, sir,'' he finally said before looking down at his feet no longer being able to even look at the teacher as a mix of guilt and anxiety gripped him as he wondered how the adult would react to the bully getting so close to him and Kiki.

---

Even as Killian was attempting to reassure the little lemur he would be fine, Kiki was switching gear again, begging to go along with him and help with the nurse again. After assisting her with Thackery previously, the simian had gotten a taste for it. She didn't just like helping, she enjoyed being rewarded for it as well; which was precisely why no amount of ADHD would let her forget her Daddy's promise.

``Can I come with you? I wanna help make it all better! Pleeeeease?'' she pleaded into the raccoon's loins as he attempted to give her a two-armed hug whilst clutching a bloody, oozing wound.

Once it was clear a non-messy embrace was impossible, Killian opted for praise instead, much to Kiki's delight as she beamed up at him, still clinging to his waist.

``I would'a called out sooner, I swear, but I was soooooo sleepy I wasn't even sure he was real till he grabbed me and shook the heck outta me!'' she explained with a bubbly giggle before making a face, ``Actually, after that I kinda get why Thackery is so wigged out by him. How'd that jerk even get back in...?''

Rather than linger on the thought, Kiki blinked as Killian shifted his attention to the fear-stiffened buck, continuing to cling to the raccoon like she was just another accessory to compliment his outfit. She moved as he did, and directed her concern in parallel, to the fearful boy as he was addressed.

When Thackery seemed to vastly understate his reaction, Kiki picked up on his dilemma almost instantly, and blatantly brought it to attention.

``It's the blood, right? All that blood on his teeth an' his face? Grrr, all snarly like that. And then he called me a `cunt'? Yeesh! I'd never been so offended by a made-up word in my life! An' yet,'' the girl paused to visibly shudder upon recalling the mental image, ``Still gives me all kinda creepy chills thinkin' about it.''

Tugging on Killian's shirt, Kiki looked up at him with a weirdly sadistic smile as she asked, ``But we don't ever have t'worry about seeing him again now, right Killian?''

---

Killian paid close attention to Thackery and his answer. The boy tended to stick to the rules, and not lie to the adults, but if Jeffrey had said anything about the adoption process, the boy's honesty would be in question. The cub was certainly worried about something. Most likely fear of being punished for not going to an adult immediately, but the raccoon couldn't be sure. He would have to monitor Thackery as closely as he had been monitoring Kiki. Keeping them together so he could listen from Kiki's collar wouldn't be difficult. It was harder to keep Kiki AWAY from Thackery.

Then there was Daniel... although the youngest had run to the adults, it would still be worth making sure he wasn't a risk as well. It was an open question to Thackery whether or not he would be punished for not going to the adults, and Killian had yet to address that, but if Jeffrey had managed to cast doubt in the boy's mind, punishing him now could potentially solidify that doubt...

He nodded to Kiki as she offered an explanation as to why Thackery was acting so timid.

``Could be..'' Killian turned to the side, along with the lemur attached to his waist, to hide the injured arm from Thackery's sight. ``Both of you have been through one hell of an ordeal these past few days, starting with Jeffrey's attack, then barely avoiding another. He won't be coming back though. We'll find out how he got in and make sure it won't ever happen again. He seems to be a lot more dangerous than we thought.''

Killian smiled at Thackery, then looked down at Kiki, raising his brow.

``Woah, you weren't kidding! You look absolutely exhausted... hmm.... Tell you what. Why don't you two go get Daniel and the three of you head inside, to the play room. I know it's not your turn yet, but I can take care of that. Kiki, you can catch a nap in the big cushy bed, and Thackery, I know you wouldn't mind getting off this playground for awhile.'' Killian winked. ``I'm going to see the nurse real quick, and then I'll catch up with you. I've got some news that I think Thackery's going to be very excited to hear.''

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