Finally finished this chapter, i was holding off until the stat system was fixed, but i thought that i should release it now after someone asking when the next chapter was being released.
JC silently stood before Juno's home, he would be lying to himself if he told himself that he wasn't nervous, but this was a massive step in his and Juno's relationship, he inhaled and sighed before stepping to knock on the door, glancing around as he waited, looking up as the door opened, he saw a beautiful brownish grey wolf standing there,
"oh, you must be JC" she said in a joyful voice "I'm Rosie, Juno's mother, come on in" she stood to the side for him to enter,
"yes, it's great to meet you" JC said as he stepped in, a small quiver in his voice
"no need to be nervous" she said "not unless you plan to break Juno's heart" JC gulped as her voice became a bit more threatening with that statement,
"n-not at all" he said, trying his best to stay calm, Rosie giggled a bit,
"i know you won't, just teasing" she said with a smile, leading him to the living room "i'll let Juno now that you're here" she walked off, leaving JC there, he looked around at various family photos, hearing movement behind him, he turned, but saw nothing, he looked back at the pictures right before he heard a small giggle, JC grinned gently, thinking he knew who this was, he glanced around, and saw a separate entrance to the living him, he glanced towards where he came in, making sure they weren't watching and sneaked out, Apollo peeked in and saw that JC was missing, he stepped in cautiously to investigate, not seeing or hearing JC sneaking up behind him, until he was scooped up under his arm,
"gotcha, you little scamp" he said, holding the squirming and giggling wolf pup, before putting him down and kneeling to face him "so, you holding the values of Beetron close to you" he asked
"of course" Apollo said with a smile "i do my best to protect those in need" JC smiled and tussled his head fur,
"good lad" he said "though I hope you haven't been reading Beetron Neo, right?"
"oh, no, I accept that I'm not old enough for them, so my sister holds onto them until I am" Apollo explained,
"so Juno is being a good sister?"
"yes, but I didn't mean her" this confused JC a bit,
"you have another sister?" he asked,
"he sure does" replied a bored sounding voice behind him, JC looked back and saw an albino wolfess standing there, wearing a small sleeveless grey top with straps resembling a pentagram, finger-less black gloves, torn black shorts and black stirrup leggings, he also noticed that she had grey patches on her shoulders cheeks, ears and tail, probably dyed to give her more colour and uniqueness, or did she have a form of leucism, he stood quickly, stunned "so, you're the human that Juno mentioned" she asked, her red eyes nearly glowing as she examined him,
"uh, yeah" JC replied, still a bit stunned "I'm shocked that she never mentioned you, miss…?"
"Loona, spelt with two O's" she explained, close to sounding pissed "and I'm not surprised that she'd hide the dirtiest secret of her family" she added bitterly as she pulled out a red smartphone and started using it casually,
"uh…..sure" JC said "but I doubt that that is the reason"
"don't pretend that you know anything about me" Loona replied
"then don't assume that I don't want to know about you" JC stated, Loona glanced up at him silently for a moment before returning to her phone and leaving the room, passing Rosie who sighed,
"sorry I didn't warn you about Loona" she said,
"it's fine Rosie" JC replied "just another factor of your family to be curious about" Rosie smiled
"so glad you see everything in a positive light" she said,
"well, when making a first impression, you have to" JC explained "or so I've been told"
"your teacher must be wise" came Juno's voice, JC turned and they hugged "sorry I took a while, I was in the shower"
"it's fine" JC replied "i guess it's hard to get dry with all that beautiful fur" Juno giggled at this,
"stop, you're embarrassing me" she giggled,
"what kind of boyfriend would I be I didn't?" he asked "anyway, why didn't you tell me about your sister?"
"even though she thinks and tells us otherwise, she's a massive introvert" Juno explained "and I want to respect her wishes in regards to her not wanting to be social"
"i see, well that's fair" JC replied, shooting a glance at Loona who was peeking in, listening, but looked away,
"there's the male who stole my daughter's heart" JC looked up in shock as a large blackish grey wolf stepped in,
"uh….yeah" JC managed to say as the wolf smiled and grasped his hand,
"well it's about time Juno introduced you to us, name's Julius" he said, shaking his hand, JC mentally sighed,
'Legoshi said that wolf families would act tough only to become extremely welcoming, glad I asked for his advice'
"hehe, yeah, to be honest, I wasn't sure how you or Rosie would react to meeting me" he said, still a bit nervous, Julius gently patting his shoulder,
"ah, it's fine" he said "we consider all our friends to be part of our family, oh yeah, Juno mentioned that you do some sort of a prayer on the meat you consume, right?"
"oh, uh, yeah, only on the cooked meat though, I never buy and cook my own" JC explained,
"well then, maybe you can do so for our dinner, make it seem more special"
Julius led JC out into the backyard, JC saw the BBQ with a small pile of raw meat beside it, he looked it over silently as they approached it,
"i made sure to ask Juno about your beliefs and customs, she brought up how you have thylacine ancestry" Julius stated as they stopped before it,
"yeah, they used to bless the meat they ate, to make sure that the life they consumed would continue on afterwards" JC stated "much more if they knew the name" he added, looking the meat over
"her name was Myra, she was gravely injured in a traffic accident, the poor girl never made it to the hospital, she was training to be a firefighter" Julius gravely explained, JC glanced at him for a moment before silently touched the top most steak and sighed,
"may the flesh of Myra, a life that had been cut short, be accepted into our bodies, may any lingering portion of her spirit live on within us until our passing, so that her life may have a proper end"
"well said" Julius gently said, patting JC on the back "i'll get these cooked up, you go and get to know everyone better" JC nodded and headed inside.
Wandering in, JC paused by an open bedroom door, peeking in, he saw the somewhat dark room full of Gothic themed items, more curious then nosy, he stepped in and looked around, in awe with the unique style, his eye then fell onto a detailed statuette of Marcus' Neo Form, a cross between his Beetron form and his lycan form,
"what are you doing in here?" JC turned and saw Loona looking at him,
"uh, sorry, I saw the door open and got curious about the room design" he explained, Loona just stared at him
"i see" she said simply, he saw her eyes darting the statuette and the manga of one of the Beetron Neo issues, as if feeling conflicted on something,
"i'll get out of your fur then" JC said, passing her, Loona looked as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't "oh yeah, which is Juno's room?" he quickly asked
"oh, uh, turn left, 2nd door on the right" Loona replied, not expecting to be asked anything,
"thanks" he said and left the room
"so stupid, should've asked him" he paused for a moment when he heard Loona muttering, almost missing it entirely, not wanting to put her on the spot for it, he shrugged and went to Juno's room and stepped in, catching her trying to hide something,
"i thought that we had to knock if the door's were closed" she said, quickly stuffing something into a drawer,
"oh? I didn't know that" JC replied, causing Juno to pause and look back,
"oh, JC, I didn't realise it was you" she said, JC smiled and looked at the drawer, seeing the lingerie he had bought for her,
"thinking of wearing that tonight?" he asked, she gently blushed,
"w-well, I was c-considering it" Juno replied, JC smiled and hugged her,
"maybe save it for when you know that it'll just be us" he told her as she returned the hug,
"OK"
JC glanced around the room, seeing that Juno had collected some of the artwork he had made for the festival last year,
"i don't remember you buying these" he said, Juno looking up at him,
"when I moved into your cabin, I found the folder with them, i-i think they're the master copies" she explained, JC approached and examined one, seeing a small smudge in the corner, rubbing out a bit of the detail before he glanced at the others,
"yup, they are" JC said "and honestly, I think you're the best person I know to have them"
"uh, thanks, b-but, are you sure?"
"I'm positive, because I know you'll keep them pristine" Juno smiled more
"you know how to make me smile" she said gently,
"because I hate to see a beautiful wolfess like you upset" JC stated, causing Juno to giggle a bit,
"you always flatter me with that "beautiful wolfess" line" she said "and I love it"
"that's why I say it" they both laughed at this and hugged for a while.
Later, the 5 wolves and single human came out to the dinning room to eat,
"JC" he looked up at Rosie as she came over "because of your diet, I took the liberty to prepare something additional" she placed a bowel of steamed vegetables on the table,
"that's nice, but you didn't really have to go to the trouble" he replied,
"no trouble at all" Rosie said with her signature smile "since this is a special occasion, I felt it was appropriate" JC curiously speared a carrot with his fork and tried it,
"whoa, honey glazed with a hint of cinnamon and brown sugar"
"indeed, I always prepare some for guests, even those who don't eat vegetables normally enjoy them greatly"
"i can taste why Rosie" JC complimented,
after a while, the 6 of them started eating, JC talking and joking with each of them, minus Loona who was eating silently, eyeing her phone, she groaned right when a message came through
"let me guess, it's your boss again?" Julius questioned, sounding annoyed
"yup" Loona replied simply, looking a bit annoyed,
"boss? So where do you work?" JC questioned, Loona looked at him as if he asked an offensive question,
"I'm a secretary at a business in the back alley Black Market" she sharply replied "it's called I.M.P"
"I.M.P?"
"it stands for Indulgent Meats & Processing" Rosie explained "they specialise in adding extra flavour to meats, even soy products, but the boss is a creep"
"yeah" Loona added, sounding more iritated "he treats me and the other employees as family, but more towards me, likening me to being his own daughter, it p-….. ticks me off" JC glanced at Apollo when she said that last bit, knowing that it was for his sake,
"i see"
"honestly, I think all of that is complete garbage, being a family, whether real or not" JC paused, a bit of meat nearly in his open mouth, he slowly put his fork down, lowering his gaze,
"at least….you have a real family….one that was there from the start…..and is still here now" Loona stared at him silently, the glare slowly fading as she realised what he was saying,
"i-I'm sorry JC, i-i didn't mean to sound so insensitive" she said, her ears drooping, he glanced at Juno for a moment "guess I wasn't paying attention when Juno mentioned it, or I didn't think to care…. i-I'm sorry" JC stared blankly at the table for the moment,
"it's fine" he said softly, the rest of dinner was nothing but awkward silence, Loona finishing quickly before retreating to her room, JC watching her go, understanding where she was coming from, but still feeling a bit down, especially the fact that he never did get around to telling Juno about the letter.
Afterwards, JC approached Loona's door and listened for a moment, gently knocking on the door,
"g-go away" came Loona's voice, sounding upset,
"i wish to talk" JC responded gently "may I come in?" there was a pause before she slowly answered
"y-yes" JC slowly pushed the door opened and approached her
"are you OK?" he asked, sitting by her on the bed "I'm not upset if that's what you're worried about"
"i'm so sorry, I didn't realise that you would be sensitive about that" Loona said, doing her best to be calm,
"it's fine, but I was being honest, having a family is much better then some foster care" JC said, starting to tell her about his upbringing, Loona's eyes widening,
"i never thought about that"
"could've been much worse though"
"true, I might've grown up in a prison of on orphanage until close to my 18th, only getting adopted before then" Loona mentioned, JC looked at her,
"that's oddly specific" JC replied, Loona looking back at him,
"i used to have nightmares of that" she explained, JC nodded gently before getting up to leave, Loona quickly and awkwardly asking him to sign the Beetron figure she had, JC more then happy to oblige before heading back to Juno's room
"so, is she feeling better?" she asked as JC sat with her,
"yeah, much better" he replied, Juno smiled at him,
"you really do know how to bring out the best in others"
"it's a curse" he joked, both of them laughing "but I enjoyed myself tonight" he glanced at the lingerie he bought for her "come to my place next weekend, wear them" he nodded at the lingerie "so we can have fun" Juno giggled,
"looking forward to it"
a few days later, JC wandered the black marked, looking for the company that Loona worked at, just to check on her and to see what they offered, as he rounded a corner, he felt a chill, looking down the alley, he spotted a familiar looking gazelle standing there, only difference was that they weren't wearing the surgical mask, the grip on the sheath of his katana tightened as the leopard muzzle slowly morphed into a sinister grin, JC swallowing hard, knowing full well who this was, and why both Yahya and Legoshi were after him.
sorry to end the chapter on a cliff-hanger, but it's to keep you all in suspense before the next chapter comes, i might hold off on releasing it until the 3rd season is released next year, just to get Melon's character down, i cannot figure out character tones from comics or manga too well, but if the release date is set after april, i'll start working on it, so stay tuned until then