A/N: Moon is a month.
Chapter 1: I can avoid owning a pet
My name is Elunatee Shredder. I am hundred and eight moons old. I live in the country of Savagero in the city called Nocturna. The predators keep prey as pets here. There's two classes of prey: Citizens (which barely have any rights and can be eaten at any time) and Pets (Which can only be harmed by their owner without serious consequences). Starting from the age of five, during an annual event called the Hunt all the prey citizens in the country were free for predators to kidnap and take home as pets. If they did not currently have one or broke their previous. It was expected that any pet predators claimed would be around their own age. It was possible to get a pet outside of the Hunt but it was rarely done and really frowned upon. If prey didn't have an owner. Anyone can claim them as a pet. It was expected that each predator would end up with a pet starting from the age of five if the predator managed to catch one. If they failed, to catch prey. They would try again next year. I don't have a pet still. I refuse to catch one. I hate to see them suffer. It was expected that as soon as someone caught prey. They would begin training prey to be obedient. I live with my parents Shana Shredder and Fangslayer Shredder. Shana has taken a bunny and Fangslayer has taken an ewe as a pet. Pets do not have names unless if their owners choose to give them one. Shana calls her bunny Fluffy and Fangslayer call his ewe Cotton.
Today, was the start of a new school year. Mother commands Fluffy to wake up me up it's time for me to go to school. Fluffy was a bit slow in waking me up. It took five minutes for me to stir. Mother is not impressed. She takes a whip strikes Fluffy five times. Mother says "You just failed your fourth hunt! You're worthless! You can't do anything right. Any tiger worth his stripes would have gotten a pet by now!" I tell her I will try harder next year. Father is even harsher than Mother. Father says "You can't keep failing hunts. You need a pet for the rite of passage at hundred and twenty moons. If you fail your next hunt. You will no longer be one of us." I don't even know what the rite of passage is.
Walking to school takes about fifteen minutes. I see stores trying to sell wares of various types ranging from food (for pets), general items and toys. Toys tend to promote the theme that it's okay to mistreat prey. Animals walk about with their pets in tow going to and from places. Some of them drive to work. It's extremely rare to see a predator without a pet nearby.
The first day of a new school year. I am the only predator without a pet in my class. I go to Savage Elementary. Here, we are required to wear shirts that display either abuse towards prey or some belief of predator supremacy. My parents made me wear a shirt depicting a tiger holding the leash of a bunny wearing only a taming collar. Pets within the class wear whatever their owners want. Some of the pets are fully clothed, some are entirely naked, others are wearing taming collars or other forms of taming equipment. Students are required to bring their pets to class, pets are required to both learn and to do whatever their owners want them to. Spontaneous training sessions have occurred where the students discipline their pet in front of everyone. If a pet dies, it's not a concern; they can simply get a new one during the next Hunt. There were two pet deaths last year within class. One of them was outright killed by their owner for disobedience. Another was shocked to death due to excessive use of taming collars.
My class mates tend to include foxes, otters, other tigers, lions, badgers and wolves. Pets tend to include: Bunnies, sheep, deer and gazelles. There are other species of predators and pets that I haven't mentioned, they are rather rare. There's an unspoken rule that pets should not be permanently maimed or damaged. The school teaches subjects including: Math, Social Studies, Language, and Pet Training. Foxes tend to be teachers in this school. They are seen as the smartest species. Lions tend to teach pet training because they were kings in a bygone era. Class seating arrangements tend to be fifteen predators with their pets. Pets are given a desk next to their owner and are given school supplies just the same. Today in math class. I had to get up myself to get the papers for the exercise we were doing because I still don't have a pet. I hear whispers "look at the only predator without a pet, how useless" I pay them no mind. Who needs friends anyway? One of the wolves sitting beside me decided that his bunny took too long to get the assignment and activated the bunny's taming collar. He pressed the controls for five seconds; enough for the bunny to cry. The teacher doesn't care when that happens. If the pet makes too much noise during these sessions. They'll get punished even more. Speaking of punishments whenever a predator fails a test or gets an unsatisfactory grade; their pets are punished to varying degrees using various tools. This can push certain predators to study even harder because some of them actually care for their pets.
In Social Studies, we learn the history of the world and how various other countries live. Last year I learned about Zootopia and how it came to be. Zootopia came to be because prey overwhelmed the predators. At first, it was thought that life would be better without predators. Thus, predators were outright killed. One day, a certain sheep had the genius idea of what if predators weren't killed but instead tamed. Predators were beaten into submission then forced to subsist on bugs never able to eat live prey. After generations, predators now have "rights" and this led to modern Zootopia as we know it. An unnatural state of existence that hasn't yet fallen apart. It seems one of the goals of this country is to make Zootopia natural again.
The history of Savagero is that predators decided that chasing prey around was too tiring. Its simply better to herd them all into one place. This lead to some predators feeling sympathetic towards prey and some began to take prey as pets because certain predators took prey as pets, used prey to do tasks instead of doing them, themselves, this became a widespread idea. After many generations of living together. Predators and prey can now communicate with each other. We've decided that it's fine to have to have two classes of prey: Citizens, which other predators can turn into Pets or eat them. Pets fulfill various roles in society.
The social studies class is mostly freeform. We are given a computer and can do whatever we want on it. With the only caveat that we must submit a report by the end of class of what we have learned. I open the browser and searched for foxes today. I stumbled upon a recent story the article talks about events from six months ago, a rabbit helped a fox catch a sheep criminal. The rabbit police officer was nearly fired but because the fox was her owner; she's allowed to stay on the force. There's a video showing that the fox disowned her when she royally screwed up a press briefing. I noted that I could not hear what was said within the briefing, only the voice overs, the sound did not match the actions of the animals in that video. The article goes on to explain that the rabbit crawled back to her owner in tears and they began to work together again. Finally, succeeding in catching the sheep criminal. The fox then decided he needed the same occupation as his pet to keep a tighter leash on her. The photo used to represent the article is strange. A fox and a bunny side by side. The bunny is not wearing a collar. They are seen smiling.
This article was rather strange. I have yet to see anything depicting the happiness of prey during this class. I decided to summarize this article to show what I have learned. Now, it was time for Lunch. During lunch, I usually sat alone. Predators with pets sat together, a predator is responsible for feeding their pet. I see what other pets are given. The food ranges from nasty food to high quality food. The reactions from pets being fed ranged from fear and dread to joy. Some of the pets eat normally, others must eat in humiliating poses and methods as dictated by their owners. Screams are heard from the kitchen, we are served meat from various animals.
Language class, where we learn how to communicate effectively. Aside from learning how to read or write in general, we are given free reading time a few minutes each day. Reading exciting titles such as: The predator strikes back, How to Train Your Prey, The dangers of untrained pets. There's always the constant reminder of how dangerous prey can be, and why we live like this. Compassion is a rarity in this society towards prey and pets in general.
Pet training class was next here; like the subject implies we train our pets. Pets are usually forced to do various degrading tasks with relatively liberal use of taming colors if they fail. There's ambulances nearby if an owner accidentally injures their pets too much and wishes to save them. It's generally understood that, if a pet is injured too much during training; it's the owner's fault, and that owner in turn receives a low grade. That's why injuries and deaths have been kept to a minimum. Since, I do not have a pet I am required to watch how other predators train theirs. So, that I am prepared to train my own if I obtain one. A lion in this class has his pet deer run an obstacle course. If the deer takes too long, it is shocked for how long it took over the allotted time. A wolf is seen sleeping on top of a sheep. A fox is seen teaching his bunny how to dance wearing an entirely pink dress and outfit. The bunny is shocked whenever it doesn't perform well enough. Training methods vary depending on who the owner is as well as the tasks their pets are given. Being required to watch this class over the span of four years. I have grown sick of the suffering prey are forced to experience.
I walked home from the way home. I saw four foxes carrying a bunny in a cage. The bunny smelled scared. From what I could tell looking into the cage. The bunny seemed to be of similar age as me. I noticed that the foxes have four bunnies as pets already. The bunnies aren't clothed and seem to have tons of cuts and bruises on their bodies. I ask them, where this bunny came from and what they're going to do with it. They reply, that they raided Zootopia and returned with her. They were going to eat her later during the day. This is highly unusual. Usually Savagero keeps to its own. I noted this meant the bunny was unowned. No one has claimed it yet. I noticed that there were plenty of bystanders along the road. I decided to make my move. I announce out loud: I, Elunatee Shredder claim this bunny to be my pet. The foxes grudgingly gave me the rabbit and I took her home.