Dawn bellwether huffed as she was led down the drab grey concrete hallways, each side lined with heavy darker grey vertical iron bars, holding back the variety of mammals that all wanted a piece of her. Whether to kill for what she had done, or supporters wanting to bask in her presence. She scoffed at the roars and jeers coming from most of the inmates. Dawn couldn't believe it...just last month she was sitting high in the mayor's chair, her and Doug's plans coming together nicely. Well nicely to him she thought, her plan was just to scare the populace into restricting predators...Doug's was far more sinister, but that mattered very little, everyone saw here as the mastermind so she went along with it. Her paced slowed a bit as thoughts from the museum came in, the bunny she put her faith in, betrayed her kind by siding with that pelt. All those plans and ideas came crashing down by a single lone blueberry. To be far however, she didn't want to pull the trigger, she gave her ample time to flee, and there was no way to pin it on her now that Dawn thought hard on in. All those two had was the gun and the serum, that only led to Doug and his two idiot pals doing the crimes, no one would've honestly believed she was involved unless Doug had actually told her the truth and had proof of her being in cahoots with him. She mentally laughed at the idea, he always seemed to tell her what she needed and wanted to hear, even though now she knew the truth behind his lies. And now look where she was, marched down a cold hallway to be mentally poked and prodded to find out what makes her tick.
The wolf guard scoffed as he pushed her along the hallway to speed her up, chuckling lightly as she nearly tripped over her own hooves, who's clopping sound was drowned out by the chorus of hate fueled cussing coming from around her. She glared up at the predator, who merely smugly shrugged at her. The ewe grunted in anger as she marched on to her destination, hooves clopping loudly through the halls. Her thoughts filled with all that happened since her arrest, from being booked, stripped of her belongings, given the orange suit and her pompedore wool, which she spend so much time getting poofed just right, sheered nearly all the way, making her seem like a ghost in her own reflection. After that she was forced to meet with a variety of therapist, all trying to pick her brain, try to figure out just why she did it, why she was so hateful. It didn't take long for her to send each of them running from the room after she spewed some of the most speciest hate-speech she could think of at the time, practically yelling and spitting them in their stupid looking faces.
Today was to be no different, they set her up with another specialist. She sighed as they continued,going through various doors until they reached the dreaded office. The guard opened the door and nearly shoved the ewe in with a huff, "All ours doc." He turned and slammed the door shut. Dawn turned and was surprised to find an all white arctic vixen sitting in the chair, looking down at some notes in a book. Dawn marched forward, her brain already formulating all sorts of insults for this new 'doctor'. The vixen perked her ears up and noticed the ewe approaching, she stood and waved to a chair before smoothing out her professional looking blouse.
"Ah Miss Bellwether. I'm Doctor Meadow Skyson, please sit, and we can begin." The vixen offered a small smile to her.
Dawn stood before the chair and sneered at the the fox, her voice icy and sharp, "Look the last thing I need today is some pelt trying to tell me how I feel, especially one who probably slept with her teachers to even get her "doctorate" if that is even what it can be called." Dawn's face fell when the vixen simple chuckled dryly, sitting back down in her chair and crossed her legs, looking like the perfection of professionalism. Dawn gulped at the soft glare, jumping up to sit in a chair across from her.
The vixen coughed lightly and leaned forward to look right in Dawn's eyes, her blues piercing the ewe's soul, "Let me be frank, as you can tell yes I am a predator, so I have heard every kind of slur you can tell me or think of, plus I'm a fox so I have my whole life of stress and issues with that plus the speciest statements flung at me and I happen to be a vixen, so yea I've heard EVERY sexist insult as well, so there is nothing you can say to get me to crack or react like you want me too." She paused leaning back to sip at a cup of tea, "And for your information, I worked my tail off at diners and such to save up for college since me being what I am excluded me from getting financial aid, fought and fought getting into college since the dean thought I was there to start trouble and even dealt with the worst kind of bullying during classes and the same rumors until I proved them all wrong by making highest marks and walked across that stage, giving the dean a smug look as I accepted that diploma."
Dawn went to say something when she was cut off by Meadow, "Now how about this, I will treat you as Dawn Bellwether, a ewe who made a mistake, and you will treat me as a Meadow Skyson, a friend trying to help you...and maybe we can figure out the why of it."
Dawn huffed out, "Fine, So you want to know why I hate preds?" She was stunned to see the fox offer her a cup of tea. She gladly took it, tea being not aloud in prison, and sipped it lovingly, letting the heat and sharp taste fill her mouth, one she missed, "Jasmine?", she asked in appreciation.
"Yep my favorite, and no...not yet Dawn, we can get to that. Lets talk about Dawn the sheep first...then we can get to Dawn the...well I believe the paper calls you a terrorist." Dawn scoffed at that as Meadow continued, "Lets start with your family, how about your father. From what I've gathered prior to us meeting, he was a politician for years, so...what was he like?
Dawn's face lit up for a moment as she started, her chest puffed with slight pride at her fathers ambitions and goals, "Donovan Bellwether was...was a great politician. Basically ran the meadowland district, single-hooved, and kept that area in the black budget wise for decades even with the failing economy, running rampant. Everyone said he stole a foxes tongue since he could talk anyone into anything, even the then mayor."
"Big role model for you?" She wrote things down in her book as Dawn went on, noticing the odd smile of reminisce on the ewe's muzzle.
"No..I,..I always wanted to be a teacher. I always was impressed by the way they could make any child feel at ease and included. It's what I strived to be early on but I was..." She trailed off, memories of her dad hitting her hard, her muzzle twisted into a grimaced scowl, "I was the mistake of the family."
Meadow offered a soft understanding smile, "Dawn that's not true...I'm sure it wasn't that bad. Every kid at some point feels that way about their parents." Dawn's harsh voice cut her off. The vixen jumping back into the chair as the pain-filled yelling started.
"No, hes said it to my face, in public, with friends...I was the runt of the family...and it wasn't his genes that got fucked up it must've been my mothers. Nothing I did was ever good enough, NOTHING."
Dawn's voice gained a edge, her movements more and more animated as she ranted, "I got all my school work down, it wasn't fast enough. Got my chores done, the dishes weren't clean enough, the clothes not soft or dry enough. Said it was my fault EVERYTIME something went wrong in the house, I was bad luck, runts aren't good for anything..." On and on she went, spouting insults to herself, getting more and more worked up and animated as she flung about, pacing the room, tears streaming down her face, "He was the biggest asshole, even going as far as saying I should take a leap of a bridge and save the family from anymore shame from being a runt I...I" Dawn fell to her knees and sobbed loudly and hysterically., "He... was... so..." Was all Meadow could make out from the ewe's sobs. Meadow dropped her book and pens and rushed over, griping her shoulders, "DAWN!"
Dawn jumped and was taken aback by what happened. She blinked her tears to see the vixen on her knees before her, giving her a mournful look. If Dawn didn't know any better, she might have thought the predator felt sorry for her, but deep down she knew that wasn't true, no predator could ever feel the way she did, and this predator was only here for some accolades or something like that for cracking the mystery of Dawn. The ewe scoffed as she sighed and wiped her eyes, "Sorry for being so pathetic." Dawn didn't expect the therapist to do much more than give her a blank stare and a hollow empty apology. However, she was surprised when the fox looked to the ground and avoided her gaze.
"No no I'm sorry ...I, I had no idea that your early life was so rough Dawn. I need to apologize here Dawn." She looked up and Dawn saw that her sorrowful expression did actually appear genuine to the ewe. Meadow offered her a soft smile, "Why don't...Why don't we end it here for today, and tomorrow we can pick this up after a little break."
Dawn was confused for a moment, "You mean next week right? These sessions are weekly."
"Ill talk to the warden, for I think that there's WAY to much going on here for a few sessions a month. I'm less concerned about why you did what you did, now I'm wanting to help you overcome whatever familial trauma you've dealt with." She stood and helped Dawn back on her feet. They parted ways, Dawn being escorted back to her cell, the ewe feeling no better than before, but at least now, she had that chance to tell about her life, even if all this was nothing more than a ploy for her to be mocked by predators.
And here we are...the first of many side tails for my story Traditions and Chances
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