"What in the absolute hell was that shit?! Are you two fucking kidding me right now?!

"Shiira, it was just-

"Shut up! All of you!! You better be thankful Louis saved this fucking dooming disaster!! I had it with yours and everyone else's bullshit!!!"

"Shiira, wait!"

"Let her go. It won't do any good to annoy her, she won't listen. Give her some time to cool her head. You all were picking on her nerves anyways, at least most of you."

"Like you don't do that to literally everyone Durham."

"What can I say? I'm a charming guy."

"Pff, fucking coyote."

Durham stared at Tao for few seconds while elaborating a proper response, but before he could say anything Ellen decided to take matters on hand and punched the black panther right on the face. He stared back in shock, a hand holding over his bruised cheek.

"Join the club Tao." Said a disgruntled Bill few meters away. The tiger has been mostly quiet ever since he left the stage after being told off by Louis. His face was looking way worse after the amounts of beating it took from Legosi. Said wolf wasn't faring any better, some outraged gasps were heard when the wolf was requested to remove his shirt. The injuries on his back were scary enough considering what they witnessed onstage.

"All of you, insane and dangerous carnivores." Said Mina, the female giraffe was staying far away from the group, standing nearby Moro, Zao and few other herbivores.

The commotion onstage had the Herbivores on a quiet panic fit. No one could blame them considering that the act performed was not planned at all. Legosi and Bill were at each other's throats. Nothing scared a Herbivore more than Carnivores fighting or Carnivores chasing Herbivores with unknown intent.

"What you're talking about? Nothing here is more dangerous than a moody zebra." Replied the coyote with a chuckle. Mina glowered at him as a response.

Durham could only lament that he managed to befriend only the majority of the members of the club. Mina was amongst the very few that have zero trust on care for his presence. She was part of the group that would constantly bother Ellen to sit with them in class whenever the zebra decided to stay near the coyote. Durham learned to let some lost causes alone for the time. Eventually Mina would grow up to tolerate him at some point.

"This is not the time for jokes Durham. These two nearly made a very messy problem for all of us, we should thank the stars that the crowd thought of it as an actual play. Right now Legosi's back is ruined and Bill's face makes him look like a puffed kitty." Ellen chastised, but her mention of Bill's face had only the effect of humoring the coyote. "This is not funny Durham!"

"Says you. I'm used to getting beaten up, but damn. Legosi, where all that anger came from? You looked like a total badass."

Legosi looked away in shame, there was nothing on him that suggested that he was proud of what happened. Els and Dom were treating to his wounds the best they could. It would do no good to show up at the medical wing with such terrible scratches on his back.

"Badass? Is that how you describe this savagery?" Came the voice of a disdainful deer nearby. Durham rolled his eyes at the incoming lecture. "May I remind you of the values that we-

"Don't care. Never asked."

"Durham! This behavior has to stop!" Came the agitated request from Sanu, the current president of the Drama Club. The pelican had been mostly neutral in regards to the coyote's presence in their storage house, but it was clear that today's near disaster has everyone in a really stressed mood. "We uphold strong values here and you make less of everything we strive for. If you can-

"Don't care. Never asked."

Sanu's beak opened in shock. He stared at the coyote as if he never saw anything like it in his entire life. Ellen regarded him with weariness.

"You... don't care about us?'

"Gez, I never said that. Look, you can hold all the values or whatever tradition you want. I personally don't really care about that stuff, as long you're not trying to screw me over or worse I'm good with whatever. If you're the type of person who can't chill or take a joke then I have no reason to waste my time talking with you. I do jokes when I feel like it, I'm not out to be an ass but rather help to set a better mood. If you're offended by it you can eat a cactus for all I care."

The perplexed looks on their faces irritated the coyote. There was nothing unreasonable about what he just said.

"Are you always this smooth? I could've sworn I was talking with a different coyote these last few weeks." Ellen asked, a humored expression that had the coyote chuckling.

"Nah, just weekends. I get bored quick since nothing really interesting happens. Speaking of interesting things... what about the PE offer I made to you? Still thinking on it?"

"Yeah, Just getting used to it, I don-

"Uh, excuse me? Aren't we adressing what just happened minutes ago?" Asked Kai, clearly annoyed at the sudden change of topic. "I think you two can discuss whatever later on."

"Alright, fair point." Durham turned around towards the cowered Herbivores. "Are you all just going to cuddle there? Come and share a hug with us!" The coyote opened his arms on a welcoming gesture. His only response was a fair amount of disdainful scoffs. "Okay then."

"Are you done degrading our club? We have more settling matters to solve and your devaluation isn't helping anyone." Louis butted in much to Durham's exasperation.

"You say you uphold values of what exactly?" Durham asked, looking at Louis with intrigue. The deer wasn't able to form a proper response before the coyote continued. "We all grew up with different views of life or the world itself. Personally I do not care what other animals will think of me if I decide that I want to marry an herbivore or dye my fur green. Who fucking cares? I get everyone has a reason to be afraid, but maybe we could try to understand more about each other instead of hiding behind the wall of fear."

"But instinct is..." Durham groaned. He hated when people brought up that excuse.

"Is instinct a feeling? Or actually something you control? Do we even understand what causes it? Mina, aren't you afraid of mirrors?" The coyote suddenly asked towards the giraffe. Mina bit her lip apprehensively.

"Well, yes. I am."

"Why?"

"Why?! Because... huh... it's... complicated."

"No, it isn't. Be honest with us and yourself. What makes you afraid of it. It's your own image, or that you might see something that it's not there?"

Mina didn't respond right away, her eyes travelled across the room full of animals looking at her with all sorts of expressions. Her resignation was plainly visible.

"I... fear that if... I might see a Carnivore behind me. It might be the last thing I see before I die."

A heavy silence fell over the area, several students exchanged worried and sympathetic glances. Durham nodded, observing the quiet commotion it caused.

"I find that perfectly reasonable. Say, how many Herbivores here believe that one of the Carnivores of this club might kill you?"

"What kind of question-

"That applies to you too, Louis." Durham said, quickly cutting of the deer's protest. He frowned but acknowledged the question with extreme reluctance. "Just raise your hand if you believe a Carnivore of this club might kill you."

The coyote awaited as all Herbivores, including Ellen and Louis, raised their hands. Much to his surprise, and several others, a good number of Carnivores also raised their hands. Bill, Riz, Tao, Legosi and Kai didn't raise their hands, but Juno, Aoba and few others did. Shiira wasn't present but surely she would've been in that group.

"But you're Carnivores!" Mina said, confused and annoyed at seeing Carnivores raising their hands alongside Herbivores. "It makes no sense to think another Carnivore would hunt you!"

"Actually..." Louis started, causing every single animal present to look at him instantaneously. "There has been regular cases of predation even amongst Carnivores. For whatever reason they started happening more often these last few years."

No one questioned him despite the clear looks of disbelief from several other Herbivores. Some Carnivores were actually surprised to hear that such events happened in their own kin. Louis shared a knowingly glance with the coyote, who only nodded in return.

"I do wonder." Durham started , looking at each animal present with the same passiveness he usually displays. "Once we all graduate and leave the campus... are we going to spend the rest of our lives wondering which one of us will eat the other someday?"

A strong feeling of unease and dread spread across all the presents. Worried glances were being aimed at all sides, no one knew how to respond to that question. Even Louis seemed uncomfortable to elaborate any kind of proper thought process. The coyote realized that no one was really keen on arguing the point, he decided to push further into this problematic aspect.

"Some might say that instinct is the main reason for the whole predatory thing. Just as Herbivore's instinct is to run away from danger if possible. Yet, there has to be something that triggers that instinct. Say, Aoba?"

The eagle student blinked at being suddenly addressed, he stared wearily towards Durham.

"Yes?"

"Does the sight of any Herbivore triggers you a feeling of wanting to devour them?"

"Huh, no? Not at all." He responded slowly. Aoba wondered what the coyote was trying to get at with such questions. Durham chuckled, nodding as he looked around for another animal to interrogate.

"Say, Bill." Durham called with a certain edge to his voice. Several presents held their breaths, sensing the tension rising exponentially. Durham had his eyes narrowed towards the Tiger, a clear sign of animosity instilled that was poorly concealed on the coyote's expression. "Does the smell and the taste of blood triggers you any kind of feeling? A strong and powerful, but inexplicable, desire?"

Bill wanted to be literally anywhere at this point. He kept his gaze away from the others, but his sudden stiffness at being under the spotlight of such troublesome interrogatory had the tiger cornered.

"Yes." Bill replied. Ellen watched the display with sadness. She couldn't ever say that she agreed with Bill using Herbivore blood as a catalyst to his anxiety. The pressure of being the animal responsible for playing as Adler clearly was too much for him, but to go such lengths for a confidence boost was just intolerable.

"Bill, do you understand that using that drug on yourself could've ended far worse than two Carnivores beating at each other?! Do you fucking even thought for a second that you could've lost control of your senses and killed someone?!"

The tiger did not reply. He just stood motionless, looking at anything but anyone. Several glances of disapproval and disappointment were sent his way, but none of it was ever acknowledged. Durham sighed. He was beyond pissed with Bill, exclusively due the fact that he could've gone wild and hurt someone. The coyote shivered to think that Ellen was the one at most risk since she has been on the play near him almost all the time. Durham wouldn't spare words if someone dared to endanger her.

"Honestly Bill, where did you even get the fucking blood? Who gave it to you? That crap is forbidden and for a fucking obvious reason! Whoever is distributing that is clearly dangerous and has no care for the consequences. I hope Louis looks into this personally." Durham eyed the deer with expectancy, but Louis first reaction was a huff of annoyance.

"I personally do not care if he drugs himself. Both of them stained my stage with blood." The deer replied, looking far too calm about the whole ordeal. Durham did not feel instinct, but a sudden urge to punch the deer's teeth out. "Both of you have disgraced th-

"SHUT THE FUCK UP LOUIS!"

The deer's ears folded backwards, his eyes widened in fear as an enraged zebra screamed at his face. Her deafening shout scared almost every single animal that was witnessing the scene.

"Nobody fucking cares about this fucking wooden floor! You overzealous piece of meat!"

Durham stared agape at the zebra, unsure of how to react to her words and fearsome attitude. Several other members were deeply shocked by her actions, some even stared in amazement. An Herbivore addressing another of his own kin as a piece of meat had to be the most alienate thing anyone ever heard.

Truly more shocking than Ellen's sudden proverbial assault was Louis frightened stance. Never before the deer displayed such in front of anyone, being an example of calm and collected no matter how tense the situation he got himself involved into.

"If wooden planks are more of value to you than our damn lives you can shove your fucking Adler's mask up your sorry ass!"

And just like that Ellen stomped away in unspeakable anger. Durham didn't dare to say anything nor anyone else. Seeing Shiira leaving upset was one thing, but Ellen was on a whole other level of a maelstrom of fury.

Durham watched her kick the door brutally on her way out, leaving a very large crack on the spot she aimed at. He whistled after the zebra was out of sight.

"Now that's a hell of a fine woman right there. Don't you all agree?"

It was just too precious to see everyone look at him as if he was some sort of psychopath.

"You two are totally meant for each other." Said Bill with a bitter snort. The coyote raised an eyebrow at his tone. Something else had Bill bothered and it had nothing to do with what happened onstage.

Louis was noticeably quiet. His terrified face slowly shifted into something hard to describe, the deer glanced at his sides as if looking for something, but returned his attention back to Legosi.

"How's your back?" He asked. Such question caught the gray wolf off guard.

"M-Me? I, uhhh, better, I think. Still stings a bit, but I will get on eventually. Els did a good job with the bandages." The wolf smiled appreciatively towards the female alpaca. Els giggled nervously. She was still too much appalled by the events that transpired. 'Why do you ask?" Louis crossed his arms while frowning.

"Well, we cannot have you dying on us now, can we? Besides, I will need to talk with you and Bill personally after everyone has left. Just don't drag yourself on the floor for too long." The deer said before walking away towards his office. "Don't forget to clean up the stage tomorrow, both you and Bill. It's your mess after all."

Legosi grimaced, making an effort to stand up despite the aches on his body. Durham approached him while throwing a meaningful look towards Els. She nodded quietly before walking away towards the group of Herbivores that were still keeping their distance.

"That's going to leave some scars Legosi." The coyote murmured quietly as he observed the injuries on the wolf's back. "You sure you don't want to go to the Hospital Wing? They can have you properly set and minimize the size of the scars."

"I will be fine." Was the wolf's only response. Durham rolled his eyes at the predictable reply.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that. You could've just ended Bill without much of an issue, but for whatever reason you decided to give up on the fight. Who cares there's a bunch of people watching? You should've have finished him off. By that I mean knock him unconscious. It's a miracle he didn't turn wild by using the fucking drug. What a moron."

"He had his reasons." Legosi relented much to Durham's indignation.

"Don't you dare. He had it coming and you went easy on him. Still, this isn't the kind of behavior you would ever display unless there's something going on with you. I don't get why Bill using a drug could cause such reaction on you. What's the real reason for you attacking Bill? What are you hiding there Legosi?"

The amount of questions that were bearing dangerously close to the truth made the wolf nauseous. He desperately tried to think of a way to divert the conversation to less dangerous waters.

"Y-Yeah. I know. Durham... I was wondering... do you..."

"Me, what?" Durham said somewhat playfully. He always found it funny when Legosi was making an effort to save face by asking embarrassing questions.

"Have you... seen Juno?" Legosi clearly didn't enjoy asking about the girl after what happened last time they met. Durham decided to let the wolf off the hook this time and play his game.

"Nah, she's been missing for few hours. I'm sure she watched the play. Be hopeful she wasn't drooling on seeing you with less clothes than usual." The coyote smirked at the possibility. Legosi's reaction was a pitiful groan.

"I hope not. But... I kinda want to talk with her. I feel really uneasy by how I, well, dismissed her attention." He explained while adjusting his loosened pants. "I should get changed."

"Make sure you have a towel or something to put underneath the uniform. Blood on white is a pain to remove." Durham advised, chuckling as he remembered a particular situation that he dealt with such issue. "Say, I need to go check on Shiira. Poor girl must be going up the walls. I rather have her calmed down before encountering J-

Durham immediately stopped talking, realizing almost too late that he was not supposed to be talking this kind of stuff around so lightly. Legosi narrowed his eyes, seemingly confused by what he just heard.

"Encountering who?" The wolf asked, his genuine expression of curiosity made Durham guilty for having to lie so openly.

"Ahn, his name's Jordan. Kinda on the same club as me. He wanted to learn how to dance and I suggested that Shiira could help him with that." The coyote smiled, proud of his quick thinking. "Though I promised him I would keep it a secret, he's very shy and all of that. Can't you not spread this out?"

"Oh, alright. Of course I won't. Don't worry about it." Legosi said, a sheepish smile appearing on his face. "Huh, Juno actually asked me to help her with dancing lessons for the Summer Festival. I... just don't know if I should if Shiira can handle that better than me."

Durham wasn't sure Legosi should either. Juno was not in the best of minds at the moment and dealing with Legosi on a personal occasion could only damage their interactions further. He honestly wished the wolf would just quit being silly and talk with the girl more openly. It wouldn't hurt to known Juno a bit better.

"Say, Durham. Shouldn't you go after Ellen? I've never seen anyone this angry without them being a Carnivore. I... she wasn't wrong about what she said to Louis-senpai." The wolf admitted, the conflicted look on his face was enough for Durham to understand that Legosi was struggling to perceive who really was on the right. "I wonder if Louis will have anything to say to her. She was really loud and it kinda scared him, something that I never thought I would actually see."

"You and me." Durham said in approval. "Yeah, I have to let her go on her own for few minutes. I don't feel like breaking bones for trying to talk with her. You know how she is. She doesn't take BS from anyone."

Legosi smiled, a reaction that made Durham intrigued.

"What?"

"You like her, don't you?"

"Yeah, of course. She's a total badass." The coyote laughed at his own description. Legosi shook his head.

"I meant it in a love sense."

"..."

Durham glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, thankfully most members had vacated the area, leaving only him and Legosi standing at backstage. He returned his attention back to the wolf, feeling uncomfortable at seeing Legosi staring back at him with that eerie passive expression of his.

"Say, Legosi... how about we make a deal?"

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I had to rewrite some things and got caught up on work. See ya'll next week. Also thank you reviewers for the attention and time spent to write words of acknowledgement! :)