Author's Note: Hello Lads and ladies.
Hi guys… it's me after another long wait time. Some problems in production due to real life errors that are bout to get sorted through will need to occur but you shan't worry. We are working ahead and are already on Chapter 21, just editing needs some time.
This one is just something to feel good about before things happen in future chapters. What things? Mafia things. More I will not say but you shall be warned… there's gonna be carnage. I mean what do you guys expect, the murderer is still on the loose… but we are very close to his reveal which is already written and will occur in the chapters to come except something changes in edit which is happening all over the place.
You guys have a good time with this, we are soon going to get a lot of things happening in quick succsession and things are gonna become so much BIGGER. BIGGER THAN LIFE ALLOWS!
Editor: SuperAverageFoxyboy Enjoy!
-Portal
Chapter 14: The Clinic of the Back alley.
Gouhin thought himself to be the holder of a somewhat seasoned skillset. A veteran in the business that he worked in. It was a record of nine years that he worked in the black market as the sole guardian that kept the meat addicted in check. He understood the world that was hidden behind the walls of the back alley. But when it came to the world outside those walls, he was still at times taken aback by how much it has changed.
The phone call with the Saint Bernard was short. It was an outcry for help that initially sounded like something that Gouhin could handle with ease, but hearing the further details made him need to take a pause.
Gouhin hadn't practiced the "normal" types of therapy in a long while. He knew Barkley's brother Michael. A case that he had excelled in treating. A patient that wanted to change and wanted to stay on the route of being a behaved citizen. A patient who was so impressed by the changes in himself that he even went into psychology himself to help more people.
Gouhin trusted Barkley and his family. And in a peculiar case of the world moving at its own speed in disregard of anything else, he accepted this case. The first case that would have nothing to do with the meat-crazed. The first normal therapy he conducted in ten years.
As he had to learn, the world worked in mysterious ways that God had set out for each and every soul. Questioning the specifics would be a waste of time if no answer was given anyways. And as the next day rolled around, and the time of the tiger's arrival drew shorter, he stopped thinking about why he agreed to help. He just knew that he had to. Just like he knew that he had to help the whole group those three months ago.
"Good morning, Doctor Gouhin." The panda turned towards the door, seeing the tiger. He wore a tracksuit under his coat, of which he currently had flung over his shoulder.
"Morning, kid." Gouhin walked to the table, picking up a small slip of paper on it. The Word 'Delivery Notice' was printed in big bold letters on top. He pressed it in the tiger's hand.
"We'll talk about plans after your morning exercise. I got a few errands to run. So this will double as your morning round." To Gouhin's repeated surprise, the tiger simply nodded and jogged into the morning darkness without once complaining. He watched as he passed the corner. On the way to the main street that was usually deserted in the morning. Too late for nocturnals, too early for day dwellers.
"He's determined," Gouhin smirked to himself. This kid was the right one for the job.He has to be.
The darkness had given part to the first strands of daylight peering over the buildings as the sun started its journey across the sky.
Bill returned with the packages strung to a stick that balanced on his shoulders. Gouhin observed the tiger's breath normalizing remarkably quickly.
"You're the athletic type, right?"
"Run my rounds every Thursday and Saturday, sir." Gouhin smiled at the information and shook his head.
"Drop the sir. You can call me Gouhin. I've never learned your name, though."
"'It's Bill."
Gouhin nodded and grabbed the teapot off the stove where it had been boiling since Bill had left.
"Well, Bill. Here's some tea if you'd like. It's a personal assortment this time." He smirked at him as he poured. Bill felt a little mocked for the bamboo tea. In a way, it felt like a test. Like the panda was gauging his abilities. The liquid steamed in his cup and tasted bitter and sweet as he took the first sip.
"So," Gouhin started. He walked into the hallway beside the main room, emerging with a rolling whiteboard. He placed it in front of the table. He grabbed a marker from the bottom tray of the board.
"This will need some rescheduling." He started to write out a list that Bill studied from his side of the table. It was nothing that the tiger didn't anticipate.
"Point one." He motioned towards the list with the marker.
"You won't be taking the train here. You'll jog all the way here as your morning route."Already did that, thought Bill as he silently nodded.
"Point two. You'll make your way here at 1:00 in the morning and then go back to your school at 10:00. You still have school in the day, and I got work to do in the afternoon."A new schedule. Got it. Bill nodded again.
"And Point three. No meat consumption outside of this clinic. You got to stay clear-minded and not grow resistant to meat effects." Bill nodded a third time, at which Gouhin's eyes narrowed.
"Any complaints?"
"No Sir- I mean Gouhin," Bill replied. The panda felt something weird. A feeling of something being not the way it should be. The world wanted this to happen, but not in this way specifically. He dismissed it as his logic finally waking to the absurdity of this situation.
"Hmm… then come follow me." The panda lead Bill down the hallway to another turn. The corridor being noticeably shorter than the others. He led him to the back end, a few doors being very tightly cramped on the wall, indicating that they were of small size. Gouhin flicked a finger, a cigarette appearing in his hand. With the other he grabbed a lighter from his pocket, the flaming wandering under the cigarette, accentuating Gouhin's face in the darkness. He opened the door to a small broom closet of a room. A sleeping mat was in the corner, a small refrigerator beside it.
"In any case. You'll probably need to start sleeping in different cycles than you're used to. Schoolwork will also be a priority. So when you got some time on your hands, you can just nap or stay for the night here." Bill nodded for the third time, also anticipating this.
"I'll work something out as soon as possible, Doctor Gouhin." Gouhin studied him for a moment. Interest flickered in his eyes as the cigarette embers reflected off it.
"I, for some reason, feel like you should complain more… Someone like you wants to live his own life without hearing anyone else's opinion. You seem like one of those types anyway." He looked away, not of awkwardness, but out of calculation. Bill still felt like he was being tested, the panda wanting a grasp of his character before taking any action in this enormous game of chess they were playing. Bill didn't stay quiet for long, looking at Gouhin with the vigor of a stage actor playing the role of a lifetime.
"I can survive with a monster out and about. But I can't live with one. That would be pretending everything's alright. Which it isn't, I know that you are aware of that." Gouhin's eyes looked onto him, the gauge now actively measuring his character. Bill's vigor remained of the cold burning type, his voice never leaving the quiet intensity of desperation.
"I will gut him in the street like he gutted my friend in that lecture room. Feeling abandoned and alone as that monster slowly ate him. I want to let him feel that same feeling of desolation as his own meaningless life comes to a halt." Bill paused for a moment, longing not for breath but for words.
"I just want my friends to not be scared of me. Not because I may be a carnivore like that monster -that shadow of a carnivore- but because I did nothing about it." Gouhin studied him for another moment longer. Bill thought it was the last moment that he wanted to check if it was his true intention or if he could detect the smallest hint of fear. But nothing clear came of it. All he knew was that he smiled after that. A fatherly and companion-like smile. He had beat the test. The gauge thought his character to be true.
"I'll be damned for being a massive fool… helping a kid training to take down what could, at last, be a problem that I would need to handle… But you have a nice grace to your words. An actor's grace. Not the cheap kind, the award-winning type." He held out his hand again, now the solemn swear coming from him.
"I'm Doctor Gouhin. And I'll help you train to beat that shadow of a carnivore." Bill grasped his hand. And with a firm and hard shake, the deal was sealed. No half-assing about it.
Legosi looked up at the clinic, a tower emerging from the bungalow that was the main floor. He looked to the golden dog beside him that smiled reassuringly.
"Are you sure this is the place? It smells like a meat freezer…" Jack waved his hand at the wolf's worry, patting him on the shoulder.
"I trust the guy in there. A friend warmly recommended him to me." Alarm bells went off in Legosi's mind. It was rare when Jack lied to him. But now, it was painstakingly obvious.
"I don't know… it just seems off," Legosi replied, hoping the dog would admit to his lie and let them take the train back to school. He felt more than just off. The place smelled of savagery in the afternoon sun that did marginally nothing to heat the just shy of freezing air. The smell of meat mixed with the smell of potent adult carnivore sweat to form a concoction that only made him draw grim conclusions. Jack's hand grabbed his shoulders.
"Legosi…" His tone had the hint of giving up in his lie. Not enough for Legosi to guess what he would say next.
"What he normally does isn't important, ok? He agreed on helping you, and I have it on good authority that he is just as capable as all the stories about him say." Jack's grip tightened on his shoulder a little more, his voice lowering in volume.
"Trust me… He'll help you." The wolf looked at the Labrador to see a very complex mix of emotions. Helplessness in his ears, hope and love in his eyes, and the very real hint of fear in the corner of his mouth.
"Ok…" The wolf replied, accepting his worries as the payment for all the strife he put the dog through. He was rewarded a grateful smile that broke the tension he felt.
"I'll be going into the city for a little something. I promise I'll be back when you're done." He took another intense pause. "Best of luck, Legosi. It won't be easy, but nothing truly ever is."
The two shared eye contact, and Legosi smiled.
"Thank you, Jack. I'll… see you in a little while." They hugged shortly, and with that, Jack departed with a wave.
After the labrador had left around the corner, Legosi turned to face the menacing building once more.
The smell wasn't the only thing that worried him. The building itself had a pulsating aura. But not an alive and well one. The heartbeat of every building was specific to its type. And this one gave off something more akin to a hospital than a simple clinic. He sighed, realizing again that worrying didn't make things any better.
The black door had a resounding knock that pleased his ears. Closer to the building, a new smell that was so faint he couldn't place it as it made its way into his nose. The thoughts of stripes came, with no other context. The smell reminded him of stripes. What type? He didn't know.
Gouhin opened the door to laugh out loud. The destiny he felt this morning now more resembled a sense of premonition or clairvoyance.
"It's you!… why didn't I expect that." As Gouhin exclaimed his own surprise, so did Legosi almost recoil in pure shock at the memory. His new therapist was the very same animal that had helped him all these nights ago.
"You… are a therapist?" Gouhin's eyes narrowed at the wolf's observation.
"I'm almost positive I told you guys who I was that night… Come in." The door opened further, and with a bit of reluctance, Legosi stepped into the building.
The first room was much more of a living room than a lobby. A large table stood in the middle. It was covered with papers, table decorations, and other seemingly random items. The room's left wall consisted of a small kitchen, neatly fitting into the design of the multi-purpose room. In the corner was a doorway into a brightly lit area with a few couches and an armchair. It seemed to be the main therapy area. Opposite the front door was a rolled whiteboard that was freshly wiped, the smell of soap still in the air. And to the right of the room were a few doors that were drenched in darkness, the light bulb that hung above the table's radius being too small.
"Please take a seat on the couch there. Something to drink?" The panda motioned towards the couches in the brightly lit room opposite the door.
"Milk, please."
Gouhin smirked at the request but did not comment. He grabbed a cartoon from the fridge and poured a glass.
Legosi sat down on the couch, now seeing the hallway out of view from the front door. Beside the doorway at an angle not seen from the door, a dark hallway lead further down the building. The smell of meat and sweat was the strongest here, the hallway reeking of adulthood.
The panda entered the room, placing a cup of tea for himself and a glass of milk in front of the wolf.
"Thank you." He still stared down the hallway, leading Gouhin's eyes down their path. He walked towards the hallway and closed the door.
"Ah, sorry. I have a few patients over for the night." He picked up a spray bottle and pushed the lever a few times. The smell of citrus didn't fully cover the scent but did it enough to make it possible for Legosi to ignore it.
"You keep patients in your clinic? Why?" Gouhin raised an eyebrow at the wolf. You got to be kidding.
"I specialize in meat addiction treatment. We are in the Black market after all." Suddenly Legosi understood both the smell and his own feeling of unease. The smell outside was the smell of meat-crazed lunacy that raged on in the walls of the meat supply.
"I didn't know that."
Gouhin chuckled this time.
"Not much of a Black Market dweller, are you?" Legosi shook his head, Gouhin already feeling amused by this weird caricature of a wolf.
"Ever since the Gumi's started with their foolish turf wars, the streets became riddled with thieves and meat-hungry delinquents with nothing on their minds but trouble. I was hired because I take care of these animals. I detain them, restrain them and treat them." His finger motioned towards the door to the black hallway. Legosi internalized the image in his mind of many metal doors, all for solitary cells. Periodic screams and scratches sounding from every second one.
Gouhin was even more amused by the skeptic and borderline fearful expression of the wolf. His eyes looked wide with shock and narrow in confusion at the same time in a way that couldn't be assessed how it was possible.
"You don't have to worry. Your hardly a patient on the level of meat addiction, are you now. When your friend called me, whatever his name was, he said that you just needed therapy for some personal issues. He described to me that going to other specialists would be a hard feat. Mainly due to the distance between them and your school… which would make scheduling and time management too hard for a full-time student."
Legosi took a small sip of the milk. It was refreshingly cold in the warmer clinic. The radiators must have been dialed up to accommodate the warmer climates of what pandas preferred.
"I only agreed to it because I hadn't done normal therapy work in a long time." The panda continued. "And because I had a feeling that I should say yes… Fate wants me to help you, I think."
Gohuin chuckled resoundingly, putting Legosi at ease. "I'm not one to believe in such superstitions. But it does seem like a coincidence after all the things going on."
Legosi nodded and continued to watch the panda. He grabbed a clipboard and a bull-point pen off the table, crossing his legs. He clicked on the back, the pen's tip emerging from the plastic casing.
"Are you ready to begin?"
Legosi took another sip and placed the glass on the table. He readjusted on the couch until he found a comfortable position before straightening himself before the Panda.
"I-I think so…" He looked around awkwardly. Gouhin gave a sound of agreement and lowered the pin on the board.
"Alright. My name is Doctor Gouhin. I will be your therapist for a period of six to eight weeks. Depending on the severity of your problems, we may extend this period as needed. Now we are going to start with a few basic questions. I need your name, species, age, sex, name of a parent or family member responsible for you, and their phone number."
"Legosi, Canis Lupus, 17, male, my grandpa Gosha. His phone number is 457-3898501." Gouhin jotted down the information.
"Status of relationship. Single, married, girlfriend, boyfriend."
"G-girlfriend."
It felt extremely good to say that, even if it caused him to stutter profusely. He could see her face in front of him. Touching his face after that night by the fountain. So much wonder in her eyes. So much life in them. It was something he treasured deeply.
Gouhin concluded the basic set of information. He looked up from the clipboard and leaned forward to grab the cup of tea.
"Now, Legosi-" He took a big gulp. "Tell me about what's been bothering you. All I know so far is that it's something that causes you nightmares. Care to talk about that?"
What followed was a long period of listening, making notes, and just hearing and comprehending. Gouhin understood by the halfway point why he had felt like he should say yes. Because it was a case that was complex… and something different. Superstition here nor there. Something had led him and these kids together. And he was supposed to take care of them, in one way or another.
What surprised him most about the whole story was that you could never see it if you looked at him. He looked like a pure-blood through and through.
Eventually, Gohin finally got the courage to ask the one question that had been prodding his mind. And when the wolf presented him with a picture, everything clicked. He and his grandfather looked like carbon copies of each other, just in different species. The facial shape was scarily similar. In a side-by-side comparison, there was no single shred of doubt about their relation.
After Legosi finished his retelling of the past week's events, Gouhin remained silent for a while. He grabbed beside the couch, handing him a box of tissues. He dabbed away the tears as the doctor looked at his board for a little longer, calculating the case.
"What do you feel after a nightmare?" Legosi looked off into space, remembering the first night he had seen her. The cool breeze carrying the voice out from his ears, not into them. Her green scales shining in the moonlight as she stepped closer.
"Traumatized… full of sorrow… in panic." He answered, Gouhin looking down on the board again.
"Are there things that calm you down after a nightmare?" Legosi now thought harder for a little longer. He shook his head. He hadn't tried anything because he was preoccupied. Not that anything would have helped. His mind was dead set on his mother after every dream.
"Alright. Then we'll start with easy steps. I'll give you a CD of forest ambiance to get you out of that headspace." Legosi nodded, listening intently.
"What makes you happy, or to better put it, what do you do when you're happy?" Legosi's head filled with nothing but the reddish-brown she-wolf.
"Ehm… I spend time with my g-g-girlfriend." Gouhin wrote something down again.
"You stutter when you're nervous?"
"Yeah." The wolf admitted. Gouhin raised his head off the board and looked at the wolf.
"As I heard, you and your girlfriend sleep in the same space. Does she wake up when you are having a nightmare?" Legosi looked down in shame again. She had woken up almost every single time.
"Close to every time…" The panda nodded.
"Alright." He straightened his back.
"In case of a nightmare. You'll take the CD and listen to it. It's instinct-driven, meaning it'll put you into a state of relaxation. Once you manage that, you should do something positive. The way the CD works is that it'll get you out of the panic, but it won't keep you out of it forever. That's why you'll need to do something positive to distract yourself from it entirely." He looked over the piece of paper on the board.
"Eat something that you like, listen to your favorite piece of music. Or the most effective method. Be intimate with your girlfriend." Legosi's eyes widened.
"Y-Y-You d-d-don't mean?…" Gouhin kept a serious face.
"It's the most instinct-driven and positive activity readily available to you that can be both done alone or with a partner. Something to distract you."
Legosi suddenly was in a trance, his nose twitching and his arms sagging beside him. He looked dazed and yet totally focused on whatever he was imagining. He saw her again, this time slowly opening the knot at the front of her uniform, the top slowly drifting down, revealing that wonderful cream-colored chest of hers…
"Ok!" Legosi exclaimed, crossing his legs in shame. Gouhin thought this to be a success. He looked down on his board and added 'Head over heels' to the section of his partner. He had already started writing down a few characteristics he could remember from the night. Energetic, Lively, protective. He heard himself say in his mind:Great girl he got himself.
"Well then. I think for the first session, that should be enough." Legosi grabbed for his phone. Gouhin handed him a card.
"Your friend gave me your number already. That is my business card, don't ask. It's orders from management." He pointed upwards. The two walked back into the room Legosi had first entered.
Legosi stood by the table as Gouhin opened a door and walked inside. He overlooked the newspapers that were sprawled on the table. A half-full ash-tray stood by it, the smell of tobacco being faint to the stench of meat craze. The papers themselves were grim.
'Beastar Declares New Special Commando for investigating Devouring Cases'
'Police mail overflowing with Death Threats'
'Mayor debating a city-wide Curfew'
'Devouring cases on the rise, Police still searching for assailants'
"These journalists should really get a knock to the back of the head. Over half of these aren't true." Legosi almost jerked together as the panda came to his side, observing the terror on his table.
"Devouring cases had a spike that's now lowering again. The mayor talked about a curfew, which was denied by the city council. And the police mail had a wave of threats that are in no way anything fucking special." Legosi looked at the table and suddenly had to think of Els in the club, asking him to find out what they would do about the murderer on school grounds. Whatever will happen, He thought, it's going to be bad.
"Are you following these events, Doctor Gouhin?" Legosi inquired. The panda lit a cigarette and took a draw.
"That mess in the city is the police chief's fault. He's got the whole police department mismanaged and ineffective. Part of me is starting to think that the Beastar himself is enjoying seeing him squirm, but I don't know. That horse is…" He took a long pause, trying to find the right word. "Let's just say the Beastar is a case for himself."
"You know the Beastar?!" Legosi's mouth drew open in shock, the panda laughing in response.
"That bastard? No. We wouldn't be friends based on our differences in views. But my employer has had the 'honor' of shaking his hands." He singled out the word honor, raising his brows to signal the sarcasm.
"Oh well." Legosi felt awkward again. "On TV, he looks pretty good."
Gouhin shook his head at the statement and stepped and walked to the door. "Everyone looks better on television. But I can tell you that he wears his in-official title as 'the devil in black' with pride."
He grabbed the doorknob and opened the door, the front of the clinic was shielded from sunlight, giving the misty air a blue sheen.
"Next session is next week Friday. Call the number on the card at the listed times if something happens and you need rescheduling. And here." He grabbed into his pocket and held out the CD to him. Legosi took it and looked at his face in the rainbow-colored reflection of the CD in the clear plastic case.
"I'm looking forward to our next meeting. It was a smooth first session," said Gouhin.
"Thanks a lot, Doctor. Till the next session." The wolf nodded and left the clinic, the door closing at a resounding click. The wolf was shaken by the story but felt good. It always felt good to tell someone about one's woes, but now he had something against them. Something concrete to battle his reoccurring nightmares.
Legosi took a deep breath and pushed it out with a sigh, observing the cold cloud it produced. The temperature had dipped to the freezing degree for this unusually cold September day. He looked down the path out of the court in front of the clinic and walked along with it without any care. The smell of his blonde-furred canine friend irked forward towards the gates of the market.
Only half an hour later, Legosi found himself back at school. He had dinner with Jack in the cafeteria and then made his way towards the club building, passing by animals of all kinds that he didn't pay much mind to. He walked up the stairs and through the door to the garden. The freezing weather didn't reach through his fur as he briskly made his way through it to the gardening shack.
The insides were decked out with scented candles and a few lights that they had placed over the week that they had stayed here already. Legosi laid down on the mat and slipped his hand behind his head, the other resting on his stomach. He rediscovered that he truly did feel good today. He had made the first step towards reclaiming his mind against his mother, and he didn't break down in terrible panic.
He felt great. He closed his eyes and laid still in wonderful ease. And without any worry, he dozed off into dreamless and comforting sleep.
He awoke without opening his eyes when he heard the door to the shack open, two steps sounding and the door shutting again, this time the lock being turned. The covers were drawn. The soft steps traveled only a bit further to the mats, shoes being whipped away, hitting the wooden bed frame. A rustling of fabric and weight lowering itself on the mat to next him.
Her lips against his caused a feeling of lovely surprise that led to a grin he couldn't suppress. He opened his eyes to a sight that made his lower half throb. Her uniform was slipped off just slightly, teasingly hinting at the cream fur on her chest. Her ears were lowered a bit against her head, and the fur on her head was ruffled in a way she only did when she was excited. She mounted him with a quick jump, causing delightful contact between the two that made Legosi groan.
"Ju-" She placed a claw on his lips, jumping from one to the other.
"Ssssssh, my precious. We can talk later. Now just kiss me." She breathed huskily with a tone of desire that tortured the wolf in its loving sound. Their lips mashed against each other, and he obliged happily. Multiple times.
"If we got married. Where would it be?" Her face rested on his chest, his arms enveloping her. He laughed with a low voice that he only used when in intimacy with her. She loved it every time.
"There's a church in Camilla park. That's where my Grandpa married…"
She smiled slightly.A sentimental softie through and through
"There are cherry trees in the churchyard. And their petals rain down in the summer. That's where I want to hold you in the moonlight." He continued. They kissed in an exhausted manner that was nothing but pure animalistic youthful love.
"Then that's where we'll go…" She mused, rising and lowering with his chest as he breathed. She closed her eyes, enjoying every contact between them.
"How was your therapy session?" She asked, a grin spreading on his face as he realized that the fantasy he had while at the clinic sort of came true. He had gotten to see how far down the cream color went.
"Pretty good… His prescription against nightmares was… well… you." She looked up into his eyes, seeing his smile that held no amount of mucking about.
"Was it now?" She grabbed at his wrists, pinning him. "What exactly did he say?"
The smile on his face grew wider as the sultry expression never left Juno's face.
"He said that after a nightmare after I calmed myself down -he gave me a CD with forest sounds, nothing special -I should do something positive… something like…" He leaned forward effortlessly against her strength, stunning her in attraction. He leaned close to her ear.
"You…" He twisted her on her back and kissed her, the she-wolf melting into it immediately.
After a little while, the two laid in the darkness. Wrapped in blankets and pressed against one other. It was a good night.