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Also sorry for no sex, even if there's a bit of flirt. this one's gonna be all plot for better or worse", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Still way slower than I want to be. Also sorry for no sex, even if there's a bit of flirt. this one's gonna be all plot for better or worse", "writing": "Collared Chapter 23: Stray thoughts\nBy TerraMGP\n\n\tThere was a part of Gretchen who wondered if ‘normal’ people ever got used to things. In the few months since she’d moved out the young woman had gone to more new places than her entire high-school career before that. It was never comfortable. Loading into her Master’s car, truck, thingy. Sitting quietly while listening to his horrible taste in rock music mixed with the occasional treat from someone like Yoko Shimomura or John Darnielle. Then they’d end up at some place she didn’t know with people she wished didn’t exist. Sometimes it wasn’t so bad. Trips to the library were kind of nice and she was even getting somewhat used to the game shop whenever she needed paint for her eternal fight with that stupid 40K thing.\n\n\tOther times it was this.\n\n\tXiulan’s dorm. The whole building felt cheap and sterile, even more so than when she’d been in the dorms at Western. She followed her Master and Xi into the building while keeping her eyes fixed on the ground. The cement under her feet gave way to some woven rubber matt and from there to the ugliest four color zig-zag carpet to ever disgrace the 80s. Except it was new enough that being outdated might not be an excuse.\n\n\tIt was some Bible college. She didn’t now the name. Honestly she didn’t much care. Somehow that fact just made it feel all the more awkward. It was the same way when walking into Christian churches. As if she was some invader. As if she was doing something ‘wrong’. Intruding on a space that didn’t belong to her. Gazing at the ugly carpet helped to drive off the unseen eyes she could feel pressing in on her as they walked. Yet some small part of her kept screaming that people would jump out. That they’d start to yell at her, accuse her of… something. She didn’t know what. It wasn’t anything rational in the least. But that’s what she felt and the feeling only grew the further they went into the seemingly endless hallways jam packed with doors too close to each other.\n\n\tShe was practically latched on to Justin’s stripy black and blue arm warmer by the time he and Xi suddenly turned and made their way into the small one bed dorm room. It was a fitting descriptor in the end, since the one bed was about all that could be kept there. It took up the bulk of the space leaving just enough for a small dresser and bedside desk. Cheap shelving units also existed to hold up some books and Gretchen could instantly spot some plastic totes rammed firmly under the bed with extra clothing spilling out.\n\n\tJustin had said something about what they were doing here. He at least seemed a touch more comfy in this strange space. Gretchen watched as her Otter Master and the currently boy-dressed red panda made their way over to the bed and started to talk. Xiulan, or maybe it was Collin when they were dressed as a boy, was all grins and giggles. The black haired wah going on about something from their past. Something the already overwhelmed mole had no ability or interest to process.\n\n\tInstead she slipped herself into the corner. A ball of chub and grey fur slumping down into the unused corner where the door would normally open. She wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her muzzle between them while half-watching the two chatting before her. Really though she was simply trying to phase her mind out of the conversation and tuck herself away mentally.\n\n\tThe stress was enough to make her vision feel a little swimmy. She watched as Justin pulled one of the tubs out from under the bed and began to sort though it. Her ears twitched while dimly aware of him tugging and pulling cables free, laying them out before fishing out a large and rather busted looking ring-light the likes of which streamers often used.\n\n\t\tThey were talking. They were doing things. She didn’t pay too much attention. Every once in a while She’d be able to focus on much. A few giggles and stray words here. Some playful and oddly familiar touches there. At one point the red panda groped Justin’s ironing board ass while he was bent over untangling some cable. At another Justin mimed a playful slap that caused Xi to fake moan.\n\n\t“I still don’t get why you don’t just go ahead and work for yourself from home.” Xiulan, or maybe Collin, cooed with a cute little pout. “I made four whole figures last month.”\n\n\t“Great, then maybe you can get a car.” Justin scoffed.\n\n\tThe red panda giggled and flicked at Justin with that big bushy tail “Oh come on now, I’d much rather you drive me. Feels good having my own personal chauffeur. Besides we both know it’d pay better than that stupid garage.”\n\n\t“That’s not really the point.” Justin huffed “Besides people pay you because you’re a cute little subbie bitch willing to practically rape yourself for their donos and attention.”\n\n\t“As opposed to my sister who just practically rapes herself for you?” the teasing wah giggled in a mockery of Gretchen’s Mistress. They then leaned in and nibbled on Justin’s ear, murring and growling oh so gently. “Besides, we both know how cute you are when you’re in that ‘forced’ lil subbie mode of yours. Justine and Justin both! You make such a sexy little bitch.”\n\n\tJustin’s blush was blazing at this point. Even in her stress addled state Gretchen was fairly sure she could make out what looked to be a smattering of freckle spots in his fur. Markings all but invisible most of the time, but reminiscent of those his cousin the badger had sported.\n\n\tGretchen was blushing, too. She watched the live action Yaoi manga while trying to keep her focus. Their words seeming to fade while her beloved Master grabbed the bratty wah by the cheek and shoved them back a bit. A moment of playfulness and a soft slap, then the two returned to whatever they were doing.\n\n\tJust like that Gretchen let her eyes fall to the floor and began to rock slowly back and forth. All this stimulation in such an unfamiliar place was not helping her. Wild thoughts simply bounced from one end of her brain to the other. Little tunes half hummed and then faded while she gazed at the patterns in the carpet moving slowly with each little rocking motion. Stupid little thoughts and songs bouncing off of her lips every now and then.\n\n\t“Mommy shark do do do do dodo\n\tMommy shark do do do do dodo\n\tMommy Shark do do do do dodo\n\tMommy shark\n\n\tPresbyterian shark do do do do dodo\n\tPresbyterian shark do do do do dodo\n\tPresbyterian shark do do do do dodo\n\tPresbyterian shark\n\n\t… a… do do do do dodo\n\t… a… do do do do dodo\n\t… a… do do do do dodo\n\t… a…”\n\n\t“What the hell was that?” Collin quirked a brow looking over at the girl in the corner. \n\n\tJustin huffed at his friend and offered his pet a wry smirk “Giving praise to Chapter Master Gura, great leader of the Carcaradon Astra.” \n\n\t“Just some silly Vtuber thing.” The mole maiden huffed and blushed furiously. The simple moment of randomness her mind had shoved on her once again drawing cause for teasing from others. Gretchen looked away quickly and curled herself up into an even tighter ball than before. A small stone radiating stress from a tiny sliver of the already cramped dorm room. “Why are we even here anyways?”\n\n\tJustin took a few moments to hunch himself over a cheap Ikea dresser. His heavy rudder tail thudded this way and that, sweeping much of the tight floor space while he tried to run a cable down towards a precariously placed power strip without knocking the overly-light thing over and spilling out its contents. “I thought I made it clear when we got in the car. We’re here because they”\n\n\t“He, today.” Collin noted\n\n\t“Ok, He, wants someone to adjust his onlyfurs setup.” Justin barely missed a beat while slipping back around the dresser and squeezing his paw in to finish pushing plug into socket\n\n\tCollin, for his part, lounged into his bed and waved his fluffy tail this way and that. Much like Justin he offered Gretchen a smirk. Though his was far more lascivious in nature. “Well that seems like a no brainer though, right? You want something technical fixed, you get an Engineer.”\n\n\t“Mechanical engineer.” Justin corrected “This is more Electrical.”\n\n\t“Oh like there’s a difference.” The red panda on the bed waved his hand dismissively and wiggled himself into as comfortable looking a position as the lumpy mattress would allow.\n\n\tThis prompted the occupied otter boy to look back at his best friend, though his own legs, upside down. His brown-blonde locks pooling up in a heap under him. “There absolutely is a difference. This isn’t a comic book and I’m not Omni-competent. Hell electrical engineering isn’t even what you really want here. If you were smart you’d have Becky drag her ass up here to work her AV magic.”\n\n\tCollin grew quiet at that. His near splayed posture shifted as he pulled one stocking-clad leg up to his chest. “That’s a lot to ask. Especially since she’s working on her demo reel. Plus, well, we’re trying not to see each other in person too much. Not right now, at least.”\n\n\tGretchen opened her mouth, ready to ask if that was why he hadn’t joined in on that little D&D one shot they’d done. The question died on her lips. Even with her own lack of social awareness it was painfully easy to tell that this boy before her was wallowing in deep discomfort. He was better at masking it than her Mistress. Maybe that’s what came with being the older sibling. Once again her eyes caught Collin’s. Yet instead of her usual discomfort at how similar she, they, ‘he’, looked to his little sister, This time the discomfort wasn’t from that familiarity.\n\n\t“Well, if you wanna give all those pervs a good show I think you’ll need to call her up here. Also she can probably set up lighting properly.” Justin rolled himself awkwardly into a sitting position and looked up at his best friend. The heavy rudder now thudding between dresser and wall. “But like, dude. Jokes aside, I get it. What auntie, what ‘she’ did to us… It’s a lot. You’d probably only get one chance with Becky. Plus you know she’d wait. So it’s probably best to let all of those things settle.”\n\n\tThere was some understanding in those words. An unspoken pain Gretchen knew of in some small part. It was one Justin and Collin didn’t seem all too eager to talk about. Instead the two looked at each other. The harsh LED light from the ceiling causing the floating bits of dust between them to shimmer like fairy dust. Two furs, two friends, so often at each others throats and yet somehow bonded in a way that went beyond words.\n\n\tThe whole thing was beautiful. It poked at the back of Gretchen’s mind with nasty little thorns of jealousy.\n\n\tJustin was the one who finally pulled himself up. An awkward half climb as he pawed at the cheap white wall paint and shuffled his weight until he was crouched. “Hey, you know if you ever need to talk about it. Or hell about anything…”\n\n\tCollin quickly shook his head and pulled his arms into the over-long sleeves of his sweater “Oh trust me, if I need help I know who to call. Especially if you change your mind about helping me get donos, ‘Justine’.\n\n\tJustin rolled his eyes and thwacked the bratty red panda on the back of the head. Not hard, but enough to get his point across. “Ok ‘now’ you’re just being a fucking flirt.”\n\n\tCollin nodded, and the two boys just looked into each others eyes again, both simply enjoying the other’s smile for a while.\n\n--------------------\n\n\tIt was a rare person who actually enjoyed the ambiance of a Meijer. That person was not Tabatha Blake.\n\n\tTabs wasn’t born and raised in Michigan. She didn’t have the pride in the supermarket chain so many seemed to claim. To her it was a nicer Walmart. That was it. Still a hell of crushing florescent lights and unfamiliar faces. It was simply a thing that ‘had’ to be done. Push around some janky blue shopping cart for an hour every week or two so she could tell herself she wasn’t just ordering out for ‘every’ meal. even though she basically was.\n\n\t\n\n\tIt had actually gotten worse in the past few months though. After all, now she was sober. That fact felt odd to admit to herself. Well, not entirely sober. She’d still test drinks at work, or take a few beers at home. But it was an actual few. No more trying to chase her demons away with booze. At least that was the plan.\n\n\tUnfortunately that also meant she was far more aware of her own thoughts and feelings while racing though the store. \n\n\tIt was all of the typical infuriation. First they were out of both Coke and RC. Then she had to get lip from the guy behind the Deli counter for her cheap choice of meats, as if she gave a shit about what she herself ate. On top of that was the interminable attempt to try and hound someone down for the changing room. True, almost nobody used that shit anymore when it came to Meijer. Maybe they didn‘t anywhere. But when you‘re a herm you needed to make sure your pants didn’t screw with your junk. Especially with jeans.\n\n\tShe drowned herself in random thoughts and tasks at hand. Grabbing up everything she needed while her brain bounced between questions of trying to run a tabletop game, or how to tweak her army list, or even just taking her bike up north for one last ride before the snow hit. Each time it just bounced her to frustrations about bills, about suppliers, about shit she had to do to her bike… about him.\n\n\tBy the time she’d gotten to the oral hygiene section up front Tabs had already rammed two unattended carts out of her way and was feeling a contented form of pissed off. She couldn’t help but wear a sinister smile looking at some girl haunched down with her rump half in the air, providing a suitable target for her frustration while fishing around among the more expensive toothpastes.\n\n\t“Hey, short stack. Maybe pick something before actual tarter forms?” Yeah, that was what she needed. Hell would be a fucking popsicle before Tabs was domesticated. She was still the queen of any space she stood in. Still a tough, unmoving wall. Sure she was ‘cleaned up’. But nobody was going to pus her around or make her wait longer than she had to. She had things to do. She was a literal boss. She…\n\n\tWell, fuck.\n\n\tShe watched the figure turn around. The beanie shifted, showing some strands of coppery red hair. Flashes of black, white and grey flashed over a rather new looking jean jacket. Then all at once a familiar pair of blue eyes were hammering her and that pudgy-yet-pointed snout curled in a disgusted breath.\n\n\t“Ah. Ms. Parker.”\n\n\tTabs was screaming inside. Becky parker. That girl. ‘His’ girl. Of course. Of fucking course. Why wouldn’t she be here?\n\n\tThe teen looked about ready to pounce then and there. She was a squat, stocky girl who had a considerable amount of power for someone who likely never really worked out. Quite a few people might have actually been intimidated by her build alone. She radiated disbelieving horror and just stared Tabs for what felt like far too long. Slowly, Deliberately, Becky pulled one of the more expensive tubes of toothpaste off of the shelf and let it drop loudly into her little half-cart. Never once did she take her eyes off of Tabs. \n\n\t“What are you doing here?” A simple question with all the warmth of frozen icepicks.\n\n\t“I, uh… Toothpaste.” Tabs didn’t even look to make sure she was getting the right stuff. A box was tossed somewhere in the direction of the cart and thudded down into it amid the stacks of microwavable meals and various sundry items.\n\n\tTabs cursed herself for the stupid response. It wasn’t clear why. There weren’t any other responses she could give. Her former student was understandably close to cold-cocking her where she stood and honestly she’d have every right to. All the disgraced woman could do was stand there and hope to hell the girl would see fit to storm away after simply spitting on her or taking a swing.\n\n\t“So. You dupe someone new?” Becky muttered coldly. \n\n\tThe fear Tabs felt kept her movements slow and deliberate. She followed the girls gaze down to the muddled assortment of goods Tabs had shoved into her own cart. Her mind just kept glazing over the familiar items while at the same time racing in an attempt to grab on to what Becky had been staring at. Then it clicked.\n\n\t“You mean this?” Tabs laughed nervously and held up two items. A pet collar and leash, both with the cheap cardboard tags still attached. “No uh, that’s… I actually… my therapist recommended I try getting a pet. Like an actual pet. Just getting the stuff I need before I go pick him up this Sunday. He’s a real sweetie. Not sure how old, though. ASPCA found him on a chain near an abandoned house I guess. Er, You don’t care about any of this, do you?” Tabs let the items drop into her cart and sighed.\n\n\tThe teen twisted her cart around and began ramming her way past Tabs. It would have been quicker and easier to keep going forwards and leave the other way. Nobody else was in the aisle. That wasn’t the point for her. The loud, clamoring sound of steel wire hammering on steel wire. The chaos. The chance for Tabs to get a good, close look at the hate on Becky’s face. That was the point. All of it. \n\n\tShe stopped and looked up. So close that Tabs could feel her hot breath and smell the cheap teen-marketed fur wash. Becky gripped the cart handle until it creaked audibly and her fur on her knuckles had bristled from the tightness of her skin. “You didn’t even ask, did you? You don’t even really care, do you?”\n\n\t“How he is? It isn’t my place-”\n\n\t“No, it’s not your place.” Becky cut Tabs off. “And not ‘he’. ‘They’. But I guess you didn’t know that, did you?”\n\n\tOf course Tabs didn’t know that. How could she? The rage flashed in her. A growl stirring in her throat as she spun herself around. \n\n\tThen she stopped. She had to stop. What was she going to say? Tabs watched this young girl walking off. It wasn’t right. She wasn’t this girls rival. Becky had won. She should win. If Ms. Parker felt she needed to twist the knife a bit then Tabs would and should take it. Small penance for what she did to the boy Becky loved.\n\n\tOr perhaps not even a boy?\n\n\tJesus, Had Tabs even knew Collin?", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Collared Chapter 23: Stray thoughts
By TerraMGP

\tThere was a part of Gretchen who wondered if ‘normal’ people ever got used to things. In the few months since she’d moved out the young woman had gone to more new places than her entire high-school career before that. It was never comfortable. Loading into her Master’s car, truck, thingy. Sitting quietly while listening to his horrible taste in rock music mixed with the occasional treat from someone like Yoko Shimomura or John Darnielle. Then they’d end up at some place she didn’t know with people she wished didn’t exist. Sometimes it wasn’t so bad. Trips to the library were kind of nice and she was even getting somewhat used to the game shop whenever she needed paint for her eternal fight with that stupid 40K thing.

\tOther times it was this.

\tXiulan’s dorm. The whole building felt cheap and sterile, even more so than when she’d been in the dorms at Western. She followed her Master and Xi into the building while keeping her eyes fixed on the ground. The cement under her feet gave way to some woven rubber matt and from there to the ugliest four color zig-zag carpet to ever disgrace the 80s. Except it was new enough that being outdated might not be an excuse.

\tIt was some Bible college. She didn’t now the name. Honestly she didn’t much care. Somehow that fact just made it feel all the more awkward. It was the same way when walking into Christian churches. As if she was some invader. As if she was doing something ‘wrong’. Intruding on a space that didn’t belong to her. Gazing at the ugly carpet helped to drive off the unseen eyes she could feel pressing in on her as they walked. Yet some small part of her kept screaming that people would jump out. That they’d start to yell at her, accuse her of… something. She didn’t know what. It wasn’t anything rational in the least. But that’s what she felt and the feeling only grew the further they went into the seemingly endless hallways jam packed with doors too close to each other.

\tShe was practically latched on to Justin’s stripy black and blue arm warmer by the time he and Xi suddenly turned and made their way into the small one bed dorm room. It was a fitting descriptor in the end, since the one bed was about all that could be kept there. It took up the bulk of the space leaving just enough for a small dresser and bedside desk. Cheap shelving units also existed to hold up some books and Gretchen could instantly spot some plastic totes rammed firmly under the bed with extra clothing spilling out.

\tJustin had said something about what they were doing here. He at least seemed a touch more comfy in this strange space. Gretchen watched as her Otter Master and the currently boy-dressed red panda made their way over to the bed and started to talk. Xiulan, or maybe it was Collin when they were dressed as a boy, was all grins and giggles. The black haired wah going on about something from their past. Something the already overwhelmed mole had no ability or interest to process.

\tInstead she slipped herself into the corner. A ball of chub and grey fur slumping down into the unused corner where the door would normally open. She wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her muzzle between them while half-watching the two chatting before her. Really though she was simply trying to phase her mind out of the conversation and tuck herself away mentally.

\tThe stress was enough to make her vision feel a little swimmy. She watched as Justin pulled one of the tubs out from under the bed and began to sort though it. Her ears twitched while dimly aware of him tugging and pulling cables free, laying them out before fishing out a large and rather busted looking ring-light the likes of which streamers often used.

\t\tThey were talking. They were doing things. She didn’t pay too much attention. Every once in a while She’d be able to focus on much. A few giggles and stray words here. Some playful and oddly familiar touches there. At one point the red panda groped Justin’s ironing board ass while he was bent over untangling some cable. At another Justin mimed a playful slap that caused Xi to fake moan.

\t“I still don’t get why you don’t just go ahead and work for yourself from home.” Xiulan, or maybe Collin, cooed with a cute little pout. “I made four whole figures last month.”

\t“Great, then maybe you can get a car.” Justin scoffed.

\tThe red panda giggled and flicked at Justin with that big bushy tail “Oh come on now, I’d much rather you drive me. Feels good having my own personal chauffeur. Besides we both know it’d pay better than that stupid garage.”

\t“That’s not really the point.” Justin huffed “Besides people pay you because you’re a cute little subbie bitch willing to practically rape yourself for their donos and attention.”

\t“As opposed to my sister who just practically rapes herself for you?” the teasing wah giggled in a mockery of Gretchen’s Mistress. They then leaned in and nibbled on Justin’s ear, murring and growling oh so gently. “Besides, we both know how cute you are when you’re in that ‘forced’ lil subbie mode of yours. Justine and Justin both! You make such a sexy little bitch.”

\tJustin’s blush was blazing at this point. Even in her stress addled state Gretchen was fairly sure she could make out what looked to be a smattering of freckle spots in his fur. Markings all but invisible most of the time, but reminiscent of those his cousin the badger had sported.

\tGretchen was blushing, too. She watched the live action Yaoi manga while trying to keep her focus. Their words seeming to fade while her beloved Master grabbed the bratty wah by the cheek and shoved them back a bit. A moment of playfulness and a soft slap, then the two returned to whatever they were doing.

\tJust like that Gretchen let her eyes fall to the floor and began to rock slowly back and forth. All this stimulation in such an unfamiliar place was not helping her. Wild thoughts simply bounced from one end of her brain to the other. Little tunes half hummed and then faded while she gazed at the patterns in the carpet moving slowly with each little rocking motion. Stupid little thoughts and songs bouncing off of her lips every now and then.

\t“Mommy shark do do do do dodo
\tMommy shark do do do do dodo
\tMommy Shark do do do do dodo
\tMommy shark

\tPresbyterian shark do do do do dodo
\tPresbyterian shark do do do do dodo
\tPresbyterian shark do do do do dodo
\tPresbyterian shark

\t… a… do do do do dodo
\t… a… do do do do dodo
\t… a… do do do do dodo
\t… a…”

\t“What the hell was that?” Collin quirked a brow looking over at the girl in the corner.

\tJustin huffed at his friend and offered his pet a wry smirk “Giving praise to Chapter Master Gura, great leader of the Carcaradon Astra.”

\t“Just some silly Vtuber thing.” The mole maiden huffed and blushed furiously. The simple moment of randomness her mind had shoved on her once again drawing cause for teasing from others. Gretchen looked away quickly and curled herself up into an even tighter ball than before. A small stone radiating stress from a tiny sliver of the already cramped dorm room. “Why are we even here anyways?”

\tJustin took a few moments to hunch himself over a cheap Ikea dresser. His heavy rudder tail thudded this way and that, sweeping much of the tight floor space while he tried to run a cable down towards a precariously placed power strip without knocking the overly-light thing over and spilling out its contents. “I thought I made it clear when we got in the car. We’re here because they”

\t“He, today.” Collin noted

\t“Ok, He, wants someone to adjust his onlyfurs setup.” Justin barely missed a beat while slipping back around the dresser and squeezing his paw in to finish pushing plug into socket

\tCollin, for his part, lounged into his bed and waved his fluffy tail this way and that. Much like Justin he offered Gretchen a smirk. Though his was far more lascivious in nature. “Well that seems like a no brainer though, right? You want something technical fixed, you get an Engineer.”

\t“Mechanical engineer.” Justin corrected “This is more Electrical.”

\t“Oh like there’s a difference.” The red panda on the bed waved his hand dismissively and wiggled himself into as comfortable looking a position as the lumpy mattress would allow.

\tThis prompted the occupied otter boy to look back at his best friend, though his own legs, upside down. His brown-blonde locks pooling up in a heap under him. “There absolutely is a difference. This isn’t a comic book and I’m not Omni-competent. Hell electrical engineering isn’t even what you really want here. If you were smart you’d have Becky drag her ass up here to work her AV magic.”

\tCollin grew quiet at that. His near splayed posture shifted as he pulled one stocking-clad leg up to his chest. “That’s a lot to ask. Especially since she’s working on her demo reel. Plus, well, we’re trying not to see each other in person too much. Not right now, at least.”

\tGretchen opened her mouth, ready to ask if that was why he hadn’t joined in on that little D&D one shot they’d done. The question died on her lips. Even with her own lack of social awareness it was painfully easy to tell that this boy before her was wallowing in deep discomfort. He was better at masking it than her Mistress. Maybe that’s what came with being the older sibling. Once again her eyes caught Collin’s. Yet instead of her usual discomfort at how similar she, they, ‘he’, looked to his little sister, This time the discomfort wasn’t from that familiarity.

\t“Well, if you wanna give all those pervs a good show I think you’ll need to call her up here. Also she can probably set up lighting properly.” Justin rolled himself awkwardly into a sitting position and looked up at his best friend. The heavy rudder now thudding between dresser and wall. “But like, dude. Jokes aside, I get it. What auntie, what ‘she’ did to us… It’s a lot. You’d probably only get one chance with Becky. Plus you know she’d wait. So it’s probably best to let all of those things settle.”

\tThere was some understanding in those words. An unspoken pain Gretchen knew of in some small part. It was one Justin and Collin didn’t seem all too eager to talk about. Instead the two looked at each other. The harsh LED light from the ceiling causing the floating bits of dust between them to shimmer like fairy dust. Two furs, two friends, so often at each others throats and yet somehow bonded in a way that went beyond words.

\tThe whole thing was beautiful. It poked at the back of Gretchen’s mind with nasty little thorns of jealousy.

\tJustin was the one who finally pulled himself up. An awkward half climb as he pawed at the cheap white wall paint and shuffled his weight until he was crouched. “Hey, you know if you ever need to talk about it. Or hell about anything…”

\tCollin quickly shook his head and pulled his arms into the over-long sleeves of his sweater “Oh trust me, if I need help I know who to call. Especially if you change your mind about helping me get donos, ‘Justine’.

\tJustin rolled his eyes and thwacked the bratty red panda on the back of the head. Not hard, but enough to get his point across. “Ok ‘now’ you’re just being a fucking flirt.”

\tCollin nodded, and the two boys just looked into each others eyes again, both simply enjoying the other’s smile for a while.

--------------------

\tIt was a rare person who actually enjoyed the ambiance of a Meijer. That person was not Tabatha Blake.

\tTabs wasn’t born and raised in Michigan. She didn’t have the pride in the supermarket chain so many seemed to claim. To her it was a nicer Walmart. That was it. Still a hell of crushing florescent lights and unfamiliar faces. It was simply a thing that ‘had’ to be done. Push around some janky blue shopping cart for an hour every week or two so she could tell herself she wasn’t just ordering out for ‘every’ meal. even though she basically was.

\t

\tIt had actually gotten worse in the past few months though. After all, now she was sober. That fact felt odd to admit to herself. Well, not entirely sober. She’d still test drinks at work, or take a few beers at home. But it was an actual few. No more trying to chase her demons away with booze. At least that was the plan.

\tUnfortunately that also meant she was far more aware of her own thoughts and feelings while racing though the store.

\tIt was all of the typical infuriation. First they were out of  both Coke and RC. Then she had to get lip from the guy behind the Deli counter for her cheap choice of meats, as if she gave a shit about what she herself ate. On top of that was the interminable attempt to try and hound someone down for the changing room. True, almost nobody used that shit anymore when it came to Meijer. Maybe they didn‘t anywhere. But when you‘re a herm you needed to make sure your pants didn’t screw with your junk. Especially with jeans.

\tShe drowned herself in random thoughts and tasks at hand. Grabbing up everything she needed while her brain bounced between questions of trying to run a tabletop game, or how to tweak her army list, or even just taking her bike up north for one last ride before the snow hit. Each time it just bounced her to frustrations about bills, about suppliers, about shit she had to do to her bike… about him.

\tBy the time she’d gotten to the oral hygiene section up front Tabs had already rammed two unattended carts out of her way and was feeling a contented form of pissed off. She couldn’t help but wear a sinister smile looking at some girl haunched down with her rump half in the air, providing a suitable target for her frustration while fishing around among the more expensive toothpastes.

\t“Hey, short stack. Maybe pick something before actual tarter forms?” Yeah, that was what she needed. Hell would be a fucking popsicle before Tabs was domesticated. She was still the queen of any space she stood in. Still a tough, unmoving wall. Sure she was ‘cleaned up’. But nobody was going to pus her around or make her wait longer than she had to. She had things to do. She was a literal boss. She…

\tWell, fuck.

\tShe watched the figure turn around. The beanie shifted, showing some strands of coppery red hair. Flashes of black, white and grey flashed over a rather new looking jean jacket. Then all at once a familiar pair of blue eyes were hammering her and that pudgy-yet-pointed snout curled in a disgusted breath.

\t“Ah. Ms. Parker.”

\tTabs was screaming inside. Becky parker. That girl. ‘His’ girl. Of course. Of fucking course. Why wouldn’t she be here?

\tThe teen looked about ready to pounce then and there. She was a squat, stocky girl who had a considerable amount of power for someone who likely never really worked out. Quite a few people might have actually been intimidated by her build alone. She radiated disbelieving horror and just stared Tabs for what felt like far too long. Slowly, Deliberately, Becky pulled one of the more expensive tubes of toothpaste off of the shelf and let it drop loudly into her little half-cart. Never once did she take her eyes off of Tabs.

\t“What are you doing here?” A simple question with all the warmth of frozen icepicks.

\t“I, uh… Toothpaste.” Tabs didn’t even look to make sure she was getting the right stuff. A box was tossed somewhere in the direction of the cart and thudded down into it amid the stacks of microwavable meals and various sundry items.

\tTabs cursed herself for the stupid response. It wasn’t clear why. There weren’t any other responses she could give. Her former student was understandably close to cold-cocking her where she stood and honestly she’d have every right to. All the disgraced woman could do was stand there and hope to hell the girl would see fit to storm away after simply spitting on her or taking a swing.

\t“So. You dupe someone new?” Becky muttered coldly.

\tThe fear Tabs felt kept her movements slow and deliberate. She followed the girls gaze down to the muddled assortment of goods Tabs had shoved into her own cart. Her mind just kept glazing over the familiar items while at the same time racing in an attempt to grab on to what Becky had been staring at. Then it clicked.

\t“You mean this?” Tabs laughed nervously and held up two items. A pet collar and leash, both with the cheap cardboard tags still attached. “No uh, that’s… I actually… my therapist recommended I try getting a pet. Like an actual pet. Just getting the stuff I need before I go pick him up this Sunday. He’s a real sweetie. Not sure how old, though. ASPCA found him on a chain near an abandoned house I guess. Er, You don’t care about any of this, do you?” Tabs let the items drop into her cart and sighed.

\tThe teen twisted her cart around and began ramming her way past Tabs. It would have been quicker and easier to keep going forwards and leave the other way. Nobody else was in the aisle. That wasn’t the point for her. The loud, clamoring sound of steel wire hammering on steel wire. The chaos. The chance for Tabs to get a good, close look at the hate on Becky’s face. That was the point. All of it.

\tShe stopped and looked up. So close that Tabs could feel her hot breath and smell the cheap teen-marketed fur wash. Becky gripped the cart handle until it creaked audibly and her fur on her knuckles had bristled from the tightness of her skin. “You didn’t even ask, did you? You don’t even really care, do you?”

\t“How he is? It isn’t my place-”

\t“No, it’s not your place.” Becky cut Tabs off. “And not ‘he’. ‘They’. But I guess you didn’t know that, did you?”

\tOf course Tabs didn’t know that. How could she? The rage flashed in her. A growl stirring in her throat as she spun herself around.

\tThen she stopped. She had to stop. What was she going to say? Tabs watched this young girl walking off. It wasn’t right. She wasn’t this girls rival. Becky had won. She should win. If Ms. Parker felt she needed to twist the knife a bit then Tabs would and should take it. Small penance for what she did to the boy Becky loved.

\tOr perhaps not even a boy?

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