The noise of his friend's laughter, alongside the other voices of laughter and the sounds that the contents and the inhabitants of the carnival emitted had all vanished from Camo's hearing. All that remained on his mind was that stupid corgi that he possessed such hatred towards. Maybe one thing could at least go his way today. Maybe he can finally have his vengeance upon the corgi who made him feel nothing but humiliated for months, the thoughts tormenting Camo as long amounts of time went on.
If Camo wanted to attempt hurting the corgi ever so brutally, he needed to compose a plan. The process would be very difficult, however. He was in a public area, and of course, he didn't want to appear as a bigger fool to people who have already shown resentment towards the possum. Camo wanted to try to look for a more distant place from the carnival to make his first move against Breeze.
Since Camo did possess pollution abilities, much like his fellow friends, he could obviously surprise the corgi with these abilities, and if Breeze managed to pass out due to the effects of the carbon monoxide, then Camo could do as he pleased. However, the possum would most likely get carried away and mess up the entire place, and he didn't want to be deemed a threat to other people. So as a result, special abilities were crossed out of his list of ideas. Of course he could still do his surprise attack upon the oblivious corgi. Camo would need to be quick, yet effective in order to complete his goal.
Unfortunately for the pondering opossum, the small corgi had left his line of sight. Breeze wasn't anywhere to be found. Not yet at the least. Camo insisted on searching for the corgi, but he didn't want to leave Sodo without giving the happy hyena any sort of verbal warning.
"Uhh, Sodo..?" Camo coughed.
Sodo did not hear him, and continued talking with Pile while Cori was playing with his yoyo.
"Sodo?!" Camo said his name a bit louder.
The hyena had managed to hear Camo calling for his name, despite the possum being right beside him.
"Huh?" Sodo asked.
"Hey."
"Oh, uh, hi," Sodo answered.
"I'm gonna leave just for a moment, but I wanted to inform you first before heading off," Camo elaborated.
"Wait where are you going?" Sodo questioned the possum's motives. "Are you going home or sumn?"
"No, I uhh, I uh j-just need to use the bathroom is all…" Camo lied to Sodo.
"Oh, alright then," Sodo said. "So anyways, Pile, do you want to see this ancient-looking coin I found by the lake a week ago?"
"By the lake?" Camo thought to himself.
Sodo presented unto the bear a silver coin with a skull carved into its material.
"That looks cool," Pile complimented. "Seen stuff like it before but it's cool that you just found it lying around." The bear took a bite out of his sandwich.
"I know, right? I left my place because of uh, stuff and all that, and I went by the lake to chill down for a little while. I place my hand onto the grass and I feel something cold against my paw, and it just so happened to be this coin. And I bring it with me everywhere because the details on this thing just look so fantastic!"
Sodo just proceeded to talk with the bear. Camo wanted to intervene and include himself into the conversation once more, but he felt like he was acting a bit pushy, and thus did not want to continue with that idea. Camo is a gentleman, after all. At least, he tries to be.
Walking away from the benches, Camo took one last glance at Sodo. He was apparently sharing some artwork he had captured on his phone. He had made the drawings all by himself, and the both of his friends were all intrigued by the noir drawings.
"I never knew Sodo could draw," Camo thought. "Is that what he does when he's up all night?"
Pile also presented a cloudy model that he made of a windmill. From the look on Sodo's face, he was really impressed, and so was Cori too. The dog grabbed the model, viewing it from all sides, and then gave it back to the bear. They all had a good laugh afterwards, but Camo wasn't sure as to what they were laughing about exactly. Why should he care though? It did not involve him in the slightest.
"You've been excluded many times before, Camo, keep yourself together," Camo told himself in his head. "Wasn't the first time something like this has happened, and it definitely won't be the last... I just need to find that stupid corgi."
The crowd residing within the carnival had seemed to significantly decrease a little bit, but there were still so many people to get through. Camo tried to make his way around them and walked through passageways where he could see the things that were ahead of him more clearly. This process was repeated a few times. Having to reenter the large crowd and having to exit said crowd over and over again was a bit tiresome. All he wanted was to at least catch a glimpse of that corgi he was hunting down.
There was no doubt that the opossum devoted himself to take down this corgi. He had lost himself over the slashing thoughts of revenge as his journey went on. The gentleman persona he's always attempted to portray among others had drifted away significantly quick, putting himself before anyone else. To everyone walking past his demeaning presence, his facial expression, the way he walked, the way he behaved, was as dark as the depths of space. He was dedicated, but not in a good way.
He proceeded to shove other people aside for the sake of accomplishing his own goals, which in turn made him receive some snarky comments and looks from other people.
"Hey, watch where you're going! Geez!"
"How rude!"
"Guh! What the hell's the matter with you?"
"Keep your hands to yourself, buddy."
These were merely a few of the responses Camo received based on his public attitude. Most passerbys gave weird, angry glances, and others used rather unique vocabulary to express their disgust towards him. Some people had also shoved him a bit as well, but Camo wasn't phased by this. Why should he care? All of his plans were ruined from the get go: he couldn't obtain a teddy bear for his friend due to a stupid fox he once encountered, he was fatshamed and ridiculed in front of a variety of people, and he was completely left out of the conversation Sodo was having his friends, feeling rather abandoned by his friend. It was a feeling so familiar, yet so unsatisfying.
Luckily, his keen eye had spotted a glimpse of the corgi playing a whack-a-mole game. He had just finished his turn. Although the score on the display seemed pretty high, Breeze only won a few tickets, only proving that the line on the bottom of the carnival poster mentioning that the carnival games weren't rigged was a lie. Camo knew where to head now, and he took advantage of the fact that less people were around to get in his way.
It felt as if time was swaying back and forth the more Camo proceeded to draw nearer to the corgi's presence. He could feel the little guy's body in his hands, his paws ever so desiring to crush Breeze slowly. Camo isn't usually this merciless towards others. If other people were to see him act upon these thoughts, however, they'd probably believe that he usually is like that, given that Camo can be very terrifying when angered. At least he attempts to control himself and all, but right now that morale has blown away into the distance.
Camo's luck had unfortunately vanished. He didn't lose Breeze or anything like that, but he was receiving a phone call from someone.
"Oh god, who is this?" Camo asked himself.
The opossum saw that T.O was calling him apparently.
"Why at a time like this?"
Camo answered the phone.
"Hey, T," Camo greeted.
"Hola," T.O responded. "How's the uh, how's the hangout going?"
"Oh, it's going amazing!" Camo exclaimed very sarcastically. "I'm literally holding Sodo's hand right now and we're dating as I speak this to you."
"Whoa, really?!" T.O eagerly shouted through the phone. "Aww I'm so proud for the both of you, and I'm glad it went well."
"Did you not notice the sarcasm in my voice?"
"Oh…"
"Yeah.
"So I'm assuming it didn't go well..?"
"Of course it didn't," Camo groaned. "So many bad things happened and I can't even hang out with that cute hyena."
"I'm sorry to hear that, bud," T.O sympathized. "Do you wanna talk about it or something?"
"I'm in a hurry for something right now, but all I'm gonna say is that I was made fun of by some people, and that Sodo left me out from the group he was talking with."
"Oof," T.O grunted. "You were like the black sheep of the group, huh?"
"Yeah I guess you could say that," Camo answered. "It hurts. I was so excited to be with him here…"
"So you still think you have a crush on him?"
"At this point, I don't even know," Camo whined. "And even if I am into him, he probably doesn't feel the same way about me. He just left me out of the group like that…"
"Hey man, we all feel left out now and then," T.O told him. "I understand the feeling plenty. Back when I was a little niño, my friends would sometimes leave me behind too. Not friends with them anymore, but I don't need 'em. I got you guys."
"Thanks, T," Camo appreciated. "But I need to hurry up and take care of some... uh... errands. Yeah. So I'll see ya soon"
"W-wait, Camo, hold up," T.O called for him.
"What?"
"Can I ask you a question before you l-leave?"
"Ask away."
"Nono was feeling bad earlier today, and me and Peb were wondering what went wrong with how he was feeling," T.O started to explain.
"Oh crud…"
"And when you, uh, left," T.O continued. "He began to break down out of nowhere. No warning or anything, he just started bawling. The Raggoons got scared and they hid in some little corner filled with some of Peb's yarn, and they wouldn't come out until I came to pick 'em up. We were trying to ask him what was wrong but he wouldn't budge. Peb thought that it was his fault apparently for making Nono feel bad, since he explained to me something about wanting to do his own things and not just hang out with Nono all the time, and Peb is in his room. I think he's asleep."
"I made a huge mistake…" Camo thought to himself.
"Nono also left," T.O proceeded to say. "And he hasn't come back home for some reason."
"He what?!"
"You heard me. He just ran away. And I'm concerned about him."
"Oh my goodness…"
"Do you happen to know why he be feeling that way?" T.O asked the possum. "I'm still nervous about the guy. It's not like Nono to behave that way. H-he's crazy, but, this is just different."
"Yeah, I kinda know why…" Camo gulped.
"What happened?"
"I m-may or may not be t-the reason as to why he freaked out…" Camo stuttered.
"What did you do?" T.O asked sternly.
"H-he was in my room and he asked me w-why I didn't want to take him and the rest of you guys to the carnival," Camo began to explain.
"Go on."
"A-and, I told him it was just because I wanted to hang out with Sodo," Camo continued. "And he stated that he thought that I cared about them and then I told him…"
"Hm?"
Camo grew silent. He was embarrassed by simply reminiscing about the words he said to the poor coyote.
"What did you tell him, Camo?"
"I told him "what made you think I ever cared about you in the first place?" That's… that's what I said to him. That's why he broke down..."
"Wow."
Camo closed his eyes, waiting for the angered panther to scold him.
"No puedo creerte ahora," T.O snarled in Spanish.
Oh god, T.O is really mad at me," Camo said in his head. "When he speaks to someone angrily in Spanish, he's really mad towards 'em. Sometimes he can get really scary, too…"
"I seriously can't believe you would say such a thing like that!" T.O exclaimed in English. "Unbelievable."
Camo felt ashamed at the panther's harsh remarks.
"You know, maybe you deserved feeling left out and heartbroken by Sodo," T.O added on to his frustration. "Ugh, I need to talk to Peb about this. You should be ashamed about yourself. Get to feel how Nono felt when you said something so disgraceful and heartless to him."
"I-I'm sorry," Camo tried to speak up.
"It's not me you should be apologizing to."
T.O hung up the phone as Camo slowly slid down on the wall of a game booth. The world around him was coming down like a bridge in London. Sodo hasn't shown any form of interest in him, T.O is currently angry at him, and many people at the carnival appeared to resent the mere sight of the opossum dressed in a baseball outfit. Peb would possibly show hatred towards the "gentleman" as well once T.O explained everything to the small, crazy, yet innocent jackal. And to top that all of, Nono could be anywhere right now. Who knows how far that one-eyed coyote has gone at this point in time?
"I'm such a bad person…"
Camo sighed. There wasn't really a point in regretting the things he's done. He could shove those self pitiful thoughts for a later time being. Breeze had come aboard Camo's train of thought, and the mischievous opossum was about to conduct his revenge.
The possum finally caught up to the corgi. Viewing from behind an unsupervised food stand, Camo realized Breeze was not alone apparently. He had friends alongside him: a platypus that he recognized from the water gun game earlier, a blue wallaby he saw around the whipped cream eating contest, a crimson red hedgehog brooding against a game booth, and a small blue mouse that appeared to be floating in the air.
"Darn it, I thought he'd be alone! This makes things more difficult now."
Camo decided to stalk out the group of friends, who remained within their same positions. All they did was just talk to each other really, except for the corgi. The corgi was completely silent and responded with sign language.
"I'm honestly craving something right now," the gray platypus spoke up.
"Huh?" the blue wallaby was confused.
"He means he's hungry, Hume," the blue mouse got straight to the point. "When someone says they're craving something, they want food."
"Yeah, I'm also in the mood for a snack," the red hedgehog added. "Maybe could relieve this headache of mine."
"A snack, you say?" Hume asked with a royal tone of voice. "Well say no more, Temper, for I have arrived."
Temper scoffed at him. He wanted to yell at the wallaby, considering Hume's bothersome voice alone worsened his headache. However, the hedgehog managed to keep his cool, giving Hume only an eye roll as a response.
"I'm just joking dude, c'mon," Hume chuckled to himself.
"There's a food stand over there!" exclaimed the platypus loudly, which startled the others around him.
"Drop, please keep your voice down," the mouse stated. "We're not in a huge crowd right now."
"Oops, sorry, hehe," Drop cackled to himself childishly.
"Oh. So they're approaching me by coming to the food stand? Well then, they can come towards me as much as they'd like..."
And just like that, a brilliant idea had popped up into the opossum's mind. If Breeze manages to get closer, he can carry the entire food stand into the air with him and bring it down upon the corgi's small body. Camo didn't care if the corgi was to be mortally injured by the brutal impact the heavy food cart would cause. After all, he just wanted payback, and any form of vengeance would suit the possum well.
The group of small friends had made their way towards the food cart Camo was hiding behind.
"That's it, get a little bit closer."
"Hmm, there doesn't appear to be anybody running the food stand," Drop noted. "Aww, does that mean we can't get food?"
"Apparently not," said the blue mouse. "Sorry, man."
"Come on, Float!" Drop whined. "I don't wanna walk all the way to another food stand. We did so much walking today and this food cart was so close to us."
"Let's just steal the food, ya guys," Hume sarcastically suggested.
"How about no?" Temper growled.
'I was just kidding, dang. You guys can't take a joke, hmph."
Breeze of course did not verbally participate within the argument everyone was getting themselves into. He instead was pressing his face against the image of rainbow cotton candy upon the surface of the silver food cart. He kept pointing at the delicious looking snack on the cart.
"Aw, you want the cotton candy?" Float asked the corgi.
The corgi nodded in response.
"Well I'm sorry, bud, but there's no one running this thing."
"Ah, come on, just get some for him, dude," Hume told the mouse. "Nobody's lookin-"
"No, we're going somewhere else!" Float demanded. "There might be another cart that has better stuff to eat. All this cart has are just snacks you guys usually eat everyday. Especially you, Hume."
"Shoot, are they going to leave? No! You need to act fast, Camo."
"Wait a minute, you guys," Drop paused everyone. "I see legs moving behind the cart. I think someone's hiding behind the food cart."
"Oh?" Float pondered. "So someone is here…"
"Yay, no more walking!" the platypus exclaimed.
"Who's behind there?" Hume asked out loud.
"Crud, they know I'm here. I just need that corgi to get a bit closer."
"Don't be shy, give us some food," Hume continued.
"Alright Camo… let's begin."
With all of his strength, Camo carried the heavy food cart into the air. The group of friends were shocked at the mere sight of the angered opossum, especially the corgi. Breeze did not expect to see Camo here at the carnival, but despite the frightening surprise that greeted him, he knew a fight was about to commence. The opossum roared as he proceeded to drop the cart onto Breeze's body.
"Look out!" the wallaby shrieked. He immediately pushed Breeze out of the way, but unfortunately he was injured by the cart's impact. His legs and his tail got crushed by the food cart; the tail had received more pain than his legs though. He yelled out in shock, trying to process the pain that had just been inflicted upon him.
"Hume, are you okay?!" Float flew to him. The wallaby didn't answer his question; the expression on the wallaby's face and the condition of the wallaby's injuries served as his answer. Everyone gave the opossum an angry glare.
"What's your problem?" the red hedgehog spoke up. He and the gray platypus picked up the cart, freeing the wallaby.
As much as the opossum wanted to make a monologue as to what he was intending to do and why he was committing to those actions, he didn't want to waste any time. His patience was running out, and he just wanted to hurt Breeze, even if it meant getting past his friends as well.
Camo proceeded to chase down Breeze, who at the while was attempting to lose him via using the game booths as an advantage. The booths were an obstacle towards Camo, so as a result he broke through them to catch up to Breeze easier. The corgi didn't want too much damage in the carnival to be caused as a result of the opossum's recklessness, so the small dog attempted to run through different routes that were more open and less populated. In the meantime, Breeze's friends had followed the corgi.
Breeze made his way towards an open space surrounded by dozens of more game booths. The booths were placed around in a way where they formed the shape of a cul-de-sac. In the center of the open area resided a high striker game. Given that Camo's attempts to catch the corgi were rather clumsy, Breeze came up with an idea to incapacitate the big bad possum.
Breeze hid behind one of the many game booths, as Camo attempted to find him. Breeze's allies knew where the corgi's exact location was since they kept an eye out for him the entire time, so they snuck around the booths so they could enter the one Breeze was hiding himself in. Hume was injured terribly, so Temper and Drop had to carry the poor wallaby inside the booth.
"What are we gonna do?" Hume asked quietly. "I did not expect this to happen at all." The wallaby whimpered from the pain he was still experiencing.
Breeze signalled to the others as to what his plan was. Staying secretive of his location in order to stay hidden from the possum, the corgi pointed towards the high striker machine that was in the center of the area, indicating that he wanted to use that machine in order to knock out Camo. If they wanted to proceed with the plan, the group needed to come up with a variety of things. For instance, who would serve as the distraction, and how would they knock Camo out with the machine?
Camo took a pause for a moment to view the surroundings around him. He didn't see the corgi anywhere in sight despite catching him running off into this very area.
"Where is he?" Camo asked himself. "Where did he go?"
As Camo proceeded to look around the place, Hume crawled into the open space attempting to distract the opossum from searching for the corgi.
"Hm?"
Camo looked towards the wallaby on the ground. Just like Breeze and his friends had intended, the opossum had gotten way more distracted than they thought he was going to be. Camo had the instinct of wanting to help out the hurting wallaby like the gentleman that he was. After all, it was his fault for getting the little guy hurt.
Breeze and his friends proceeded with their plan. Float flew his way towards Camo's head, grasping Camo's baseball cap and pulling it over his eyes.
"What the-?" Camo yelled. He couldn't see anything, which made it easier for the others to take him down. Hume barely managed to get up and grabbed the mallet that was beside the high striker game. He brought down the hammer upon Camo's foot, causing him to yelp in pain. He was in front of the high striker machine as the corgi wanted him to be.
The wallaby swung his hammer against the possum's muzzle, and Float continued to bring down the cap farther down Camo's face so that way it'd be difficult for him to get his cap off. As for Drop and Temper, they did their best to shove him backwards so that way Breeze could knock Camo back into the machine. The very least Camo was able to do was to swat Float down onto the ground which barely phased the small mouse in their moments of adrenaline.
Breeze leaped up into the air and kicked Camo's big stomach with all of his tiny might. This made Camo fall a bit backwards, hitting his head onto the lever of the high striker. His cap fell off of his head. Camo's head received such a terrible blow upon the lever that not only did the puck of the high striker hit the bell at the top of the machine, but Camo slowly began to lose consciousness.
Hume struck down the mallet on Camo's belly, which made it harder for the possum to breathe, and Temper kicked Camo's left eye really badly.
"I should've brought my baseball bat…" Camo thought to himself.
"Should we leave him here?" Drop asked loudly.
The corgi shrugged at the platypus. Breeze kinda wanted to help out the possum but only a little bit, despite almost killing the corgi with the food cart and injuring the both of his friends. He was puzzled on what to do really.
"I suppose we could," Hume answered. "After all, I think he can take care of himself. He's… pretty strong." Float rubbed his cheek, which was now throbbing painfully.
"So now can we go eat?" Hume whimpered, his tummy grumbling by mentioning the word "eat".
"Obviously," Float answered. "Yikes, that still hurts."
The group of friends were long gone now, and Camo just lied there on the lever of the high striker. He couldn't move, and it was troubling for him to breathe and speak.
"Why does nothing ever go my way…?"
Before he could fathom an answer to that question, he passed out.
It was the afternoon as Camo was making his way through the Cloud Domain in his van. He had just gotten back from speed dating, and was on a trip towards a small store owned by a family of porcupines. It was a favorite stop of Camo's to go to, primarily for purchasing snacks to eat later at home. He knew this place especially well since he tended to socialize a lot with the porcupines who owned the place. Unfortunately for Camo, he's talked with said family less and less over the years, since he's been busy just doing his own things and hobbies, such as recruiting allies for his group whose name he was still debating on. Considering he was a pollutant, his purpose in the city was mainly to pollute what he is able to, and luckily for him, he has found other pollutants who also share that same purpose.
As per usual, speed dating didn't go well for Camo. Despite being as gentle as he could be with everyone he encountered, he didn't land any shot of a date just like the last times he's gone to speed dating. Of course he wasn't the only one who didn't get with anyone, but he was growing tired of being unsuccessful with speed dating. It made him sad seeing others being happy with others who mutually share those same feelings. Camo wanted someone to experience that kind of happiness with.
Whenever Camo felt down though, he always cheered himself up with some snacks, hence why he went to the store. The parking lot was rather crowded with many cars, so it took Camo a while to find a parking space and the outside was very cold. Upon reaching the place, he exited his van and entered the store, where he was greeted by a big line of people and a wave of heat. A female kangaroo just finished ordering her stuff and exited the store. There was a huge stack of lottery tickets placed down on top of the counter. The opossum would be tempted to buy many of those for himself, but Camo wasn't much for luck. His speed dating experiences could summarize that very well. Whilst in line though, Camo grabbed two bags of corn chips for him to munch down on. They might not bring any fortunes of any kind, but they sure made Camo feel a bit better about himself.
In front of the opossum stood a hyena with a mohawk and pink glasses, wearing a crop top and cargo shorts. He had a black and pink sweater tied around his waist, since the inside of the store was really humid. On top of that, the hyena was pretty smelly. In his hands, he carried a boxxed turkey wrap, a small bag of chips and a chocolate bar. He was struggling to keep everything in his grasp, and he almost dropped his turkey wrap. He turned around to catch it, barely managing to do so. Camo captured a glimpse of the hyena's belly, noticing a pink radiation symbol on his stomach, which piqued the opossum's curiosity about the fellow in front of him.
"That is a really well done tattoo or on his stomach," Camo thought. "Or maybe he's another pollutant..? Should I ask him? Er, maybe I'll just mind my own business. Wouldn't hurt to ask a single question, though..."
The hyena finally made it to the front of the line as the number of people waiting decreased rather quickly. He placed his items quickly on the counter for the cashier to scan. He put his hands on his stomach, which was grumbling a bit noisily.
"Alright sir, that'll be $11.95," the cashier told him.
"Oof," the hyena mumbled. He looked into his pocket but only had a five dollar bill in hand. He wasn't able to purchase what he wanted to order with that amount of money.
"I'm sorry about that sir, but you can purchase the candy bar with that much at least," the cashier told him. The hyena frowned since he was very hungry. The cashier was about to place the turkey wrap and the bag of chips in a basket but Camo had interrupted her.
"E-excuse me, but uh-" Camo struggled to say.
"Oh hi Camo," the cashier greeted.
"Hi Maria," the opossum greeted back. "I was gonna say, uhh, could I pay for the food? For him?"
"Sure, actually!" Maria answered. She put the turkey wrap and chips back on the counter, and Camo handed her the corn chips he was going to purchase for himself. "Alrighty, uh, that'll be $17.50."
Camo had handed her a twenty dollar bill he managed to find in his wallet. "Keep the change." Camo left off with his corn chips and sat outside the small store. Camo wasn't a big fan of the cold and all, but it felt a bit nice to feel the breeze within the wind blowing against him and his snow colored fur.
He opened his first bag of corn chips and proceeded to feast on his chips. The salty taste of those chips made the feelings of loneliness vanish. The opossum lied back and proceeded to eat his food, his worries of failing all of his attempts at his previous speed dates gone. Who needs someone to love when you have food to cheer you up in sad times? But, then again, it wouldn't hurt to have someone by his side.
A couple minutes afterwards, the hyena exited the shop as well. He looked around and immediately saw the possum, deciding to walk towards him.
"Oh hello there!" Camo waved.
"Good, and you?" the hyena responded.
"Huh?"
"I'm sorry, I-I m-meant to say hello back…" the hyena explained. "Forgive me, I'm stupid sometimes…" He gritted his teeth, shy that he made a mistake in his dialogue.
"No I don't think you're stupid at all," Camo told the embarassed hyena.
"Ya don't?"
"Of course I don't. You just made a mistake was all."
The hyena didn't say anything.
"I am feeling good though," Camo broke the silence. "Thank you for asking. And uh, what about you, my friend?"
"Friend?" the hyena questioned the possum's statement.
"Yes."
"Uhh, I guess I'm feeling better," the hyena answered. "Anyway, err, I came to say that I'm thankful for you buying me this. It means a lot. So thanks."
"No problem, bud," Camo thanked him.
The hyena proceeded to leave the area.
"Should I say something to him? Ask about that symbol on his stomach? I think I should, actually."
"Wait!" Camo yelled after the hyena.
"What?" the hyena was confused. "Yo, I didn't walk that far, dude."
"Sorry," Camo apologized. "I wanted to ask you a question, if that's alright with you, that is."
"Uhh, sure," the hyena said. "Ask away, then. Let's hear it."
"Are you a pollutant?"
"That's a very specific question you're asking," the hyena commented. "Why do you want to know?"
"I'm a pollutant myself," Camo conveyed. "I represent carbon monoxide, and I was curious to know if you're a pollutant yourself. I saw a symbol on your stomach and the signs on your sweater that you're wearing tell me that you might be one. But I wanted confirmation from you though."
"Yeah, I am, actually," the hyena confessed.
"Nice."
"There's nothing nice about being a pollutant, really."
"Yeah, I know, but we were born like this, so might as well make the use of that and serve our intended purpose."
"Yeah…" the hyena agreed hesitantly. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't a pollutant though. Sometimes wish I was normal."
"Aww, how come?"
"I hate that my smell drives other people away, and other stuff with that too," the hyena tried to explain vaguely. "Don't wanna say too much since we just met."
"Right, right," Camo said. "So uh, what pollutant are you?"
"Sulfur dioxide."
"I see."
Another moment of silence arose between the two. It made the hyena rather uncomfortable, but the opossum decided to break the silence before the awkwardness got carried away.
"Your smell doesn't drive me away, you know?" Camo said out of the blue.
"It doesn't?" the hyena asked.
"I mean, you smell bad, I'll admit, but I'm not gonna run away from you just because of that," Camo admitted honestly. "You seem like a… good person."
"Thanks…"
"You know, I'm trying to put together a group of pollutants."
"Yeah?"
"Yup. I do have two other pollutants at home and all. Since many people don't like pollutants like us, I figured I could make a space where we could all be in and not have to worry about what other people have to say about us."
"Sounds nice," the hyena complimented.
"We don't have a name for the group yet, but we're working on it. W-would you like to join the group?" Camo asked him.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you."
"I'm not sure," the hyena told him. "I'm not one for groups and all. Other people make me… uncomfortable."
"Forgive me if I'm causing any discomfort towards you right now, my friend," the possum apologized.
"No no, it's fine," the hyena insisted. "You ain't doing anythin' bad. I actually enjoy this conversation."
"Really?"
"Yeah, man."
"Hey, you know, it's funny," Camo said. "When you said no no, it reminded me of one of the two pollutants back at home. They go by the name of Nono."
"Wow," the hyena laughed. "Okay, I'm a bit interested in this group now."
"Oh that's great!" Camo exclaimed. "I ain't forcing you to join the group and all, but I was wondering if you wanted to give it a shot and all. Try new things, ya know?"
"I guess," the hyena stated. "This is gonna be very awkward for me though. I've never received offers like these before, and I've never had people to socialize with ever. So uhh, if I do like it and all that, I guess I'll stay? But if I don't, would you mind if I leave?"
"Not at all," Camo assured him. "I just want you to be content with things."
"Thank you."
The opossum was way more happier than ever. He made a new friend by doing something generous for once. This is one of a few rare moments where Camo finally got to be the gentleman he's always wanted to be towards other individuals. And the best part to him was that this friend was a pollutant just like he was. His day was as brightened up as greatly as the morning sun.
"I didn't catch your name by the way," Camo told him.
"My name?"
"Yeah, what's your name? I'd love to hear it."
"My name's Sodo," the hyena reluctantly answered.
"Sodo…" Camo repeated to himself. "That's a really nice name. I like it."
"Ya do?"
"Uh huh."
"Aw, thank you…" Sodo appreciated it wonderfully.
Camo pulled out his phone eagerly and put his arm around the hyena.
"Ooh, wait, what's happening?"
"I want to take a picture," Camo cheered. "So long as you're into it."
"I don't mind," Sodo said with a low tone of voice, feeling a bit shy over all of this. "I'm chill with... this. T-take the picture."
Camo put the camera over the both of them.
"Are you ready, my friend?" Camo smiled.
"Yeah."
"Say cheese!"
"Ch-cheese."
After that, Camo had snapped a photo of them. It was the same photo Sodo sobbed over due to feelings of nostalgia when he and Camo were hanging out after an awkward breakfast between the two.
Camo slowly lifted his head from the lever of the machine. He had woken up at long last.
"That was a nice memory while it lasted."
Despite the nice remembrances of the past Camo once lived, he was still bummed out that he lost yet again to the corgi. He was wondering how long he was knocked out for. Saddened by his surroundings and his current condition, the opossum sat down in angst. A few minutes later though, he was greeted by a familiar person.
"Camo?" Sodo said. The hyena was carrying his plush toys in plastic bags in one hand and was biting down on a sandwich he held from his other hand. "W-why are you on the floor? What happened?"
"Umm…"
"Are you okay?" Sodo asked him concerningly.
"Well, it's kind of a long story, really," Camo told him.