"C'mon, kid. You'll feel so much better, trust me."

"Please, no! Let go of me!"

"Ha! Look at the little bugger squirm. You're gonna love what we have for you."

"NO, DON'T MAKE ME-"

"Shut yer' yap, runt. Yer' gunna enjoy this wether you wanna or not."

"I DON'T WANNA EAT ANYMORE!"

...

Dan stood outside the door to the infirmary

What went so, so wrong…

A few moments earlier…

The cast was on stage, the actors were rehearsing, the tech crew was setting up shop, the stagehands were playing cards in the back, everything was going according to schedule.

"Reaper, where are we going?" recited a female goat.

"You were supposed to die 3 days ago, Elen!" Kuzai called back.

This year, Cherryton had decided to cast Kuzai the timber wolf as the titular character 'Adler'. He was friendly, charismatic, upbeat, and most importantly: The Drama Club's star actor. A few around the school were skeptical about the decision, and justifiably so. The role had been played predominantly by herbivores, and the one time a carnivore was cast for Adler, it had ended in an onstage disaster.

However, the skeptics were quickly silenced when they saw the timber wolf performing. The way he sauntered around the stage and the way he and his fellow actors bounced off of each other was simply a spectacle to behold. Despite the track record it held, Adler seemed to be a role made just for Kuzai.

"Begone, foul spirit!" Kuzai exclaimed.

He and Jeremy were brawling it out on the stage, just as they had practiced so many times before. Dan couldn't take his eyes off the two.

Yako had been trying to teach the canine how to work the lights, but quickly put the process on hold after realizing where his mind was. He simply went back to focusing the spotlight on the stage, tracing the reaper as he fought with the cheetah.

Jeremy had a habit of tipping things just enough over the edge. That, and his inherent jitteriness had him trembling on the spot. It was hard to ignore the fact that he was a talented actor, though. He was a genius on the stage, his movements swift, able to correct himself at a moment's notice. He was only in his first year, and it seemed that he was well on his way to follow in his father's footsteps.

He loved it since he had seen his father on the big screens. He was amazed at how his usually soft-spoken and shy dad could pull off a performance that would even make the Beastar cry.

He would've never known his fathers best performance would only come after the filming of his most renowned inclusion, 'Dinner'.

Ever since that day, the white cheetah was determined to show to the world that he wasn't just his dad's hybrid show-and-tell boy. He was an actor, someone who would put on a show at any means. Someone who would bring 110% to the table, at all times.

"You will not have her, Reaper! You two simply are not meant to be!" proclaimed Jeremy.

He swung at Kuzai with all his might. He was energized, he was prepared to deliver his best mask, he was ready.

But he couldn't have anticipated his grip loosening on his weapon.

He couldn't have been ready for his footing to slip.

Eyes closed, falling, Jeremy's claws extended, trying to grip onto something, anything, to break his fall.

The floor wasn't supposed to be soft, was it?

…

Yako walked up to Dan, leaning beside the wall next to him.

"Man, that gotta be tough..." muttered the sheep. "I can't imagine what Sugi must be feeling, let alone Jeremy…"

Dan only stared at him, drowning in his own mind. He had been staring at the actors so intently, he felt he should've said something, anything to warn the goat of her impending doom. But he didn't. He only stared in shock as the goat had the flesh on her shoulder violently torn from her by the cheetah's claws. It made him feel worthless. He had only been in the club for less than a day, and already something terrible had happened.

It couldn't have been him, right?

Am I a bad omen…?

Dan was so caught up with his thoughts, in fact, that he didn't hear the footsteps of a timber wolf walking toward him and the sheep.

"Hey… the club's off for today. You guys can go back to your dorms," Kuzai informed.

Dan only looked up at him, then back at Yako. Yako only looked at the two, as if he was waiting for the white wolf to say something.

"Um, actually… could we go to the cafeteria?" asked Dan. "I skipped lunch today since I was feeling a bit unwell, so I'm a bit hungry right now."

Kuzai raised his eyebrows. He had seen Dan at lunch that day, getting his food and sitting down alone in a corner. He caught himself staring at the soon-to-be member of the drama club, and quickly averted his gaze. Once he had done so, though, he had noticed something: Dan had never touched his food. He only clutched his tray, seeming frustrated at something. Kuzai would be lying if he said he wasn't a tad worried for the other canine.

"Alright then, let's go," he supplied. "Yako, I assume you're still planning to meet with your roommates?"

"Nah, I wanna come with. I'm a bit hungry too," the bovine answered. In truth, he wasn't actually that hungry, the most he would want was a quick snack. What he was really after was to listen to the conversation between the two wolves. He was always ridiculed for being 'The Dumb One', but that was far from the truth, emotionally, at least. He had picked up during Dan's little outburst back at the hall that there was more to him than met the eye. It looked like he was quickly warming up to Kuzai, so he'd definitely be more open about some things.

...

The trio had made their way to the cafeteria, where each of them had gotten their respective meals. Seated at one of the nearby tables, Kuzai broke the silence.

"Hey Dan, sorry for having to see that today. Jeremy usually has his feet firmly on the ground, it's not like him to slip up like that." the timber wolf explained. It was pretty reasonable, as in the short window of time Dan had spent in the club, he could already tell that the cheetah had a knack for acting.

"Well, I suppose the worst things happen to the best of us some days," Dan responded.

"Yeah…"

Silence plagued the room once more.

"Hey… you never told me what you got in the club for,"

Dan nearly choked on his bagel.

"Yeah… you never told us before. What are you in for?" asked Yako.

The winter beast couldn't answer. For the 2nd time that day, he found himself at a loss for words.

"I-I uh, just really enjoy being an actor! I think it's, u-uh, very cool." Dan lied through his teeth.

Nice going, dumbass…

"Ok, yeah, I'm not buying it," replied Kuzai, arms crossed. "Judging from this morning, you probably hate acting. There's gotta be something else, right? Like, take Yako over there," he said, pointing a finger at the sheep, who was lightly nibbling a stalk of celery, staring at the canines. "Yako was adopted by a carnivore family from an orphanage, specifically a family of tigers. He never knew his birth parents."

The Jacob sheep followed up. "It's true. Even then, Ma and Pa are the best people to ever happen to me. I can't begin to imagine what it's like having herbivore parents."

Dan listened intently, nodding at the response. He always wondered why Yako wasn't as bothered as the others when he sat at their table. Now he knew why.

"So yeah, that's my story. What about you?"

Dan stopped.

"I… really, don't wanna talk about it…" he finally answered.

"Ah, I see," Kuzai got out. "Well, if it makes you uncomfortable, we won't talk about it. However, we do need to talk about Adler. Since the accident, word is that Jeremy got suspended for a few days."

The system always does that huh…

"And so, now we're scouting out an actor from our bunch, but we can't seem to find a match. We need a semi or large breed carnivore to take his spot, but no one fits the bill just quite yet. But I think I just found the perfect match, so…"

This time, Dan spat out his juice instead.

A/N: Hello people, and thanks for reading. I was getting bored of osu! and TF2 so I decided to roll my seat back and finish this chapter, so here it is! Again, thanks to everyone who reads this, and feedback is always appreciated. Until then, ciao for now.