"You're late."
"Piss off!"
"...what happened? You're not usually this angry without a reason."
"What does it matter to you? It's not like you're stuck here anyways."
"Ellen... we came here to talk. We're not getting anywhere if we don't tell the other what's going on."
"This doesn't matter."
"...if that was true you wouldn't be fuming ever since I saw you walk out of the building, go all the way across the gardens, and reach this specific bench with the shittiest attitude possible."
"Urgh! Are you always straight to the point?! You sound like an ass at times."
"I rather sound like an ass than waste your time with nonsensical bullshit. There ain't nothing more disrespectful than wasting people's time."
Ellen quieted down for a moment. She regarded the coyote with the slightest amount of surprise and fascination. Durham was quickly becoming one of the strangest animals she ever met.
Not that he hasn't already. Ever since the day he stepped on her the coyote has been trending around with that witty attitude of his. She wasn't sure how to react to him, he seemed like an arrogant ass at first that wished nothing but to annoy her. Yet, the more she saw him, the less she could understand what he was trying to accomplish.
"Why you don't sit down? We will be here for some time." He suggested while indicating the vacant part of the wooden bench with a nod. The zebra hesitated.
Durham realized she was weary of getting closer, but it was not clear if because she didn't like him or because she didn't trust him. Perhaps he would have to talk her into it.
"Hey, if you don't wanna sit near me that's fine. Still, where are on a rather open area of the campus, anyone can see us from any angle at any distance. You don't have to worry about me turning into a freak and advancing on you. Besides, I'm pretty sure you can own me any day of the week if I tried." He chuckled to himself.
Ellen eyed him with mixed feelings. He guessed right when thinking her to be worried, but not because he is a carnivore that could go berserk at any second.
"I don't want people to think too much of this if they see us sitting on a bench by ourselves. You know that would create a lot of weird rumours and, yeah, I would beat you up if you tried anything."
'At least she's being truthful about the way she feels.' Durham thought, not really feeling more at ease about it.
Much to his surprise she decided to sit down, slowly but surely. Durham kept his eyes forward, the temptation to look at her from this close made him uneasy. It occurred to him that this was the first time ever an herbivore took a seat near him. Sure, he remembered the recreation times that Jack and Legosi used to play chess or checkers. Very rarely they played with other herbivores but, ever since the news of the increase of predation incidents around town reached the flat screens, the herbivores avoided them constantly.
He remembered how upset Jack was at one of those ocassions, him and Legosi were playing checkers with two herbivore classmates. Durham was just watching the match with uninterest, his head was way over the clouds thinking about Ellen. It just happened that a television was on nearby and they were broadcasting a recent murderer of a female gazelle.
Durham wasn't unfamiliar with the predation cases that happened around town, but he wouldn't deny that his blood would boil at each time he saw that the victim was a female. It was bad enough to attack herbivores that were already naturally weaker, but a female was completely defenseless in such situations. It was nothing but pure cowardice in the coyote's view.
'Not Ellen.' Durham thought, feeling some weird sense of pride about it. 'She's tough and can break anyone's teeth if they as much look at her the wrong way. Must be an equine thing.'
"Sooo... what do you want to talk about?" Ellen asked nervously, her eyes looking around for anyone that may be watching over them. Durham blinked as he was brought back from the depths of his mind.
It was a good question that he wasn't sure how to reply. There were many things he wanted to talk right away but, for the first time in many months, the coyote was feeling hesitant to talk with someone.
"How did you end up in the Drama club?" He asked after a moment of reflection. The zebra crossed her arms, looking thoughtful and anxious for a moment.
"Well, it wasn't simple, but I got rather lucky I think. Shiira was the one to vouch for me after I was randomly scouted. I guess I wasn't really expecting to join any clubs at that time. I did think about joining the sports club thought."
Ellen paused as she heard a rather comical moan coming from the canine. She eyed him quizzically.
"Don't mind me. It's just sad to hear we were that close from being in the same club." He replied, a tinge of frustration evident on his voice. Ellen snorted through her nostrils, which was very unladylike but she didn't care.
"It was a big might. I... do love sports. Personally my favorite sport is volleyball. It's just..."
Durham decided to abandon his fake sightseeing and threw a sidelong glance at her, it was evident that something had Ellen distraught, but he could only guess whatever reason made her turn away from something she likes.
"It's alright. You don't have to say it if you don't want to. We all can-
"I didn't join because there were only carnivores in that volley team."
Durham felt whatever words of empathy he had die on his throat. The moment turned extremely awkward, that response gave him a dreadful feeling he wished he could ignore. He pondered carefully his next words as to not upset her even further.
"Were you... anxious of being in that group?" He asked slowly. Ellen shook her head, the sadness on her eyes gripped Durham's heart like an iron fist.
"No, I... was afraid... of being alone there."
Durham blinked. Ellen? Afraid? Did he heard that right? There's no way such a badass girl would be afraid of anything!
Or maybe he was so infatuated by her strong personality that he was putting her far above any doubt?
She may be strong and fierce, but at the end of every day she was still a female herbivore. She wouldn't last against powerful carnivores like tigers, lions, wolfs and whatnot.
"Is that how you cope with it?" Durham found himself asking aloud after pondering about what the zebra admitted. Ellen turned her head to the side to reward him with a confused glare. "You are aggressive for the sake of overcoming that fear?"
Her stunned silence wasn't the reaction that Durham was expecting nor telling on any way. Perhaps she hadn't realize that it may be the main reason for her imposing attitude?
"Actually, no. That kind of thing is something that has been in my blood fam-
She suddenly cut herself short. Looking away from the coyote, a pained look on her face that she didn't want anyone to see. Durham was clearly confused by this.
"Stripes? Is everything alright?" He asked worriedly. He wasn't sure what had her so worked up, but he would be lying to himself if he didn't personally admit that Ellen was about to mention her family.
Ellen's sudden distraught was brought to a halt due Durham's strange adressing of her person.
"Stripes?" She asked, keeping the back of her head facing him. "What is that supposed to mean? I heard you saying it before but I didn't pay any mind to it." The coyote frowned, fully aware that she was trying to change the subject.
"Eh, what else? You're a zebra." Durham chuckled at her obliviousness. "You're all about those beautiful stripes that cover your body. It's the most amazing thing to look at. Well, aside your eyes." He added sheepishly.
Ellen's ears perked slowly, her head rotating enough to throw him a sideways glance.
"M-My eyes?... what do you see on them?"
Durham realized he had gotten her attention for good this time. How he did it he wasn't sure, but it seems Ellen is actually listening intently to what he's about to say. Although he wished to know why she got so upset a moment ago.
He breathed in deeply. It was time to get serious. Well, more than usual.
"I see many things. It really depends on what I'm really looking for. Superficially speaking you have pale blue eyes that spark like sapphires under any source of light. If I were to look deep I would find a strong, confident, and challenging soul willing to take on anything that was thrown her way. There's also lots of mistrust and... resentment. Why? I'm not sure. I just hope it has nothing to do with who or what I am."
Ellen actually faced him with both eyes. Jaw slightly agape, the disbelief on her expression was nearly comical if not for the seriousness of the moment.
"I... don't know what to say." She eyed the coyote more carefully. For the first time she took note of his fur patterns, his lackadaisical posture, the length of his tail, the size of his ears, the color of his eyes. The strenght of the visible muscles. His pointed teeth and and rather lenghty claws. "What is this supposed to mean? What do you want from me?"
The coyote shrugged. He knew what he wanted, but things needed to work at its own pace.
"Friendship." He replied serenely. "No more avoiding me just because I'm sharp around the edges." Ellen snorted at the cheap change of phrasing. "I actually want to know more about you. I'm not lying when I say you're pretty interesting to be with, just don't think of it as some sort of infatuation or omnious carnivore desire. No, it's just me, Durham, wanting to be friends with someone he likes."
Ellen looked surprised by his intention. She was expecting him to admit feelings of some sort, but this option wasn't less difficult for her anyways.
"I don't actually think that's really that bad." She conceded hesitantly. "I just worry of what my friends might think of it."
Durham raised an eyebrow.
"Why would your friends object about you having another friend?"
"I don't make friends with carnivores." She replied duly.
The coyote bristled at her response. So much for trying to be nice and approachable. He liked her attitude but this was getting ridiculous.
"Is that so?" He replied dryly. "Then if me being a carnivore upsets you so much I can go hang myself somewhere to save you the trouble."
Ellen jolted in shock at the seriouness on his voice. Her eyes widened as she found herself under his withering glare.
"T-That's not what I-
She cut herself short as Durham stood up, his arms crossed as he stared her down with something akin to disappointment.
"Not what?! I get it. You can't trust a savage like me. After all, nothing I say matters as long I have sharp teeth and claws. Well, can't really blame you to have such biased opinions. You probably grew up with your parents stuffing your head with this predation stuff."
Ellen went stiff for a second, jolting from her seat right after. She brought her arm on a slashing motion, delivering a strong slap across the coyote's face.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK SHIT ABOUT MY PARENTS! IT'S THANK TO YOUR DAMN KIND THAT THEY ARE DEAD! I SPENT MOST MY LIFE ON AN ORPHANAGE! YOU COME HERE THINKING YOU KNOW BETTER BUT YOU DON'T H-
Ellen's shouting died out as Durham placed a hand on her muzzle. She glowered at his audacity, already preparing herself to punch him senseless. Yet, she paused as she realized that her previous attack cut a wound across his cheek, the fur around the injury reddening slowly as the canine kept his eyes on her. The sight of blood paralyzed her on the spot.
Durham breathed in deeply, the stinging on his cheek becoming rather annoying as he tried to gather his thoughts. The slap was so fierce that it made him dizzy for a couple seconds. He gathered his bearing slowly, his hand was still hanging over the zebra's muzzle. Her breath was incredibly hot and intense as she breathed in and out at a rapid rythm.
Despite being dazzled he was still able to hear her words with clarity. He finally understood why there was so much hatred of her part towards carnivores. Her parents most likely fell victims of a predation attack, the mere thought of it made him nauseous. Why? Why these things had to happen? Why was their society so fucked up?
Durham slowly retracted his hand from over her mouth. Her eyes narrowed at him in utter disgust. Such expression on her face made him extremely guilty and angry at himself. Perhaps being straightforward about things wasn't exactly always the best way to go.
He turned back towards the bench, sitting back on it sluggishly. He felt inexplicably tired, the stinging on his cheeck lessening as the awkward seconds went by. His eyes fixated at his own feet as he decided on what to do.
"I guess... since you told me something about your family... is only fair I tell you about mine."
Ellen blinked. She was fully expecting him to slash back at her, make nasty remarks of some sort, even try to defend his own kind about what happened with her family. She did not expect him to just sulk back to the bench, look at his shoes with a defeated expression on his face. The offer of sharing more about himself surprised her, she wasn't sure how to respond to this. Durham wasn't acting like a carnivore as she always believed they would.
"Durham... I did not mean to say earlier that I do not want to be friends with carnivores. I just don't have any carnivore friends, so having one all of sudden would make my friends uneasy." She said impassively. The coyote took her words in with some bitterness.
"Yeah. I guess I jumped to conclusions too quickly. Guess I'm an hypocritical piece of shit now." He admitted with a sad laugh. Ellen frowned at his negative attitude, it did not fit him in the slightest.
He sighed heavily, both of his hands hanging at the back of his head, a thoughtful look on his face as he stared into the empty grass field ahead of them.
"This might take a few minutes, and... I never talked about this with anyone... you mind keeping this between us?" He asked with a expectant glance aimed at the zebra. She bit her lip apprehensively before a slow nod in return.
"I will. Just keep what I told you between us too." She requested firmly.
"Fair. Huh... do you want to sit down? This will be a rather lengthy reveal." He suggested nervously. Ellen decided to take his word for it, even if sitting down felt more of a struggle this time around.
"Okay." Durham started once the zebra got more comfortable as she took a place by his side. "Let's start with some simple events before I break it down to you. I'm not really bothered to talk about this, but I probably wouldn't care to mention it if I had not a good reason to." He said with a greater amount of seriousness. Ellen merely assented his words with a head motion despite the coyote's eyes being closed. "So... to give you the simple stuff. My mother shot my father when I was a kid, she did it because he tried to eat me."
"WHAT?! What you're talking about?! You're a carnivore! Why would h-
"Would you let me finish?!" The coyote cut her outburst short. The zebra quieted down once she realized the edge on his voice. Still, the shock and disbelief on her face was plainly visible. "She killed him to save me. Why? Well, it took me a long time to understand why. I was pretty young and barely could perceive the world around me. He... was a good person. I know he loved me at some point..."
Durham paused. Talking about this was taking a lot more of him than he could've expected. He never saw himself as the emotional type, but thinking about the suffering his mother went through would always ache his heart.
Ellen seemed to sense his distress, her mind still struggling to absorb this absurdity she never heard of before. Her adoptive parents always talked about the dangers that carnivores could represent to the herbivore kind, but never they mentioned the case of carnivores predating their own kind. Also, how could a parent try to eat their own child?!
"Mother saw what was happening though. He changed as the years went by. More arguments, fights, rather violent reactions. It was only when he harassed her once that she decided to prepare for the worse. I was a bit alienated from what was happening, even if I noticed that my father looked a lot more angry. One night he came back, crashed through the door with unbelievable strenght. I remember that his eyes... they were red... that was probably the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life. I ran off up the stairs, he chased after me without hesitation. As soon I reached the hall my mother came out of her room, she had a pistol in her hand, a heavy caliber one. She waited for father to show up at the top of the stairs, he almost grabbed my ankle with his teeth... as soon he stopped to look at her, she shot him... the bang was so loud that my ears were ringing for minutes. I didn't see anything else, she hugged me tight and took me to my room. I was there for a long time, trying to understand what just happened. The cops showed up later on. Mother entered the room with an officer at her side."
Durham paused again. Allowing himself to breath in to ease his nerves. Ellen was unusually quiet at his side. He wasn't sure what she was going to think of this, but he at least hoped she could understand him better.
"We moved from the house to spend a few days on an hotel. I asked mother about my father, wondering if he was alright. I stopped asking after I noticed that every time I asked she would start crying. It... it really messed me up a bit. I never knew what became of him until a few months later. We visited his graveyard after I insisted on it. Mother was reluctant, but that officer that she went dating a few days before I started bothering her, he agreed that we should do it... it's weird to think that guy became my stepfather two years later."
Durham finally opened his eyes. His view became blurry and he immediately realized that he hadn't being able to hold his feelings on the matter.
"So, yeah." He sniffed. "I found out the reason of why my father went wild. My stepfather found out that dad was visiting questionable places a few months before. Somehow he got involved with the meat market and blood trafficking. It didn't make sense to me on how he ended up at such place or crime activity, he worked as a medic on the local hospital. I... I don't understand why."
He couldn't help the whimper that escaped his muzzle. His eyes closing again as he felt a torrent of emotions overwhelm him.
"I'm scared too Ellen. I don't wanna become a monster. I don't want to hurt people I care about... I wouldn't be able to live up with myself if I did."
He felt a hand land on his shoulder, the sudden and unexpected touch forced to him to open his eyes, finding himself staring back at mesmerizing blue irises reflecting his own. Ellen was crouched in front of him, her face no longer displaying anger or suspicion, but a huge amount of empathy.
"I didn't think that was possible." She whispered softly at him. He blinked, surprised to hear this kind of tone coming from her. "I guess I never stopped to think what carnivores might go through when it comes about predation. I... suppose you're right when you accused me of being biased."
"Nah, you have plenty of reason to think like that." He chuckled darkly before frowning. "I'm sorry about your parents Ellen."
The zebra's hand moved from his shoulder and went for his injured cheeck. Her fingers brushed with care around the injury, her eyes heavy with sorrow and guilt.
"I'm sorry for, well... this and your father. I... maybe we should try to talk more often? I... wouldn't mind being your friend." She suggested, a blush on her face that made the coyote smirk unintentionally.
"Oh, that sounds about right." He replied, feeling lighter already. "How about next biology class?" Ellen giggled at his reply.
Durham felt elated all of sudden. Ellen actually giggled at something he said! Although he wasn't sure why.
"Sounds fine. Maybe we should get going? Is getting dark." She advised, lending both her hands to help him stand up. He took them without hesitation.
'Damn, her hands are so soft.' He couldn't help but think. 'I hope we get to do this again.'
It was indeed getting darker, the sun was setting on the horizon. The lamps were lighting up across the campus, not a single soul on view.
"Ellen." Durham said as he stoop up in front of her, suddenly realizing how tall the zebra is. "Do you leave the club usually too late?"
"Hm, not really. Me and Els go back a bit earlier than the rest. The carnivores usually leave later. Why?" She asked, genuinely curious by his inquiry.
"I might offer to make you company on late hours if you want to. This place is dangerous at night, especially after what happened with Tem." He explained, his eyes searched for any sign of movement at the nearest treeline. "You never know these days. Not that I don't think you can't take care of yourself, but I would be more at peace knowing you're not alone at such hours."
Ellen was surprised by his offer of guarding her. Never she would've imagined a carnivore would look after her individual safety.
"That sounds really nice. I might... think about it." She replied, unsure of how to take it. Durham nodded.
"Just make sure you're never alone. I don't want to see you getting hurt."
Ellen felt something swivel inside her chest. Something about the way Durham said those words got her heart started for whatever reason.
"I promise. You better take care of that wound also." She said awkwardly enough.
"Oh, don't swear about it." He replied cheerfully to ease her guilt. "I had worse gashes from the tackles I suffer during training."
Ellen nodded quietly. Both of them were walking back to the dorms, a few other students finally appearing on their view after a long stretching silence. The sun finally dissapeared from the sky, the lights from the street lamps and buildings now their new source of light.
"Say, the summer festival will be in a few days." Ellen started slowly. Durham smiled to himself, already imagining where she was going with this. "Do you wanna come? We will be performing and all. It might be fun."
"This sounds suspiciously like a date." He teased her. Ellen rolled her tongue at him as a response. "How mature."
"Whatever. Do you want to come or not?" She asked again. She clearly got annoyed with his teasing. Durham found it funny how easy it was to push her buttons.
"Sure thing. I would love to see you dance."
Ellen's face lit up like a bonfire at his reply. She muttered under her breath, a pout on her face that the coyote found unbelievable adorable.
"Yeah, fine. Just try to not be a jerk for this next few days. Otherwise I might change my mind about this."
"What you're talking about? I'm innocent!"
"You wish."
A/N: Normally I wouldn't do any notes but I want to thank all the viewer/reviewers so far. You folks are a huge motivation factor for me and I cannot express enough how it helps me keep going. I'm fully invested in this story. Hopefully I can get more going once I have a PC to work with. This chapter was particularly challenging despite only having two characters featured. As you noticed the updates are weekly. No changes on that regard. Until next week folks and stay healthy.