Fur-al High

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu crashed onto the couch and eventually fell to sleep. He was then haunted by a nightmare, surrounding him with death. Shinzuu watched as people around him died off one by one, most of them in a bloody mess. He inhaled sharply and sat straight up as he woke up. Shinzuu checked the clock over the TV and saw that it was 5am, the normal time he usually woke up to when he was still on the basketball team. But he wasn't tired, so he tiptoed around the two sleeping bodies and went into the tiny little half-kitchen. Shinzuu dug into the refrigerator and pulled out some fruit juice, drinking it. He watched Veronica sleeping there in the darkness. It was a bit fuzzy, but his feline eye helped him see well in the dark, even if it's just on the right side. She was beautiful, and his chest hurt as his heart ached for her. Shinzuu took another swig before putting it back in the refrigerator. He then leaned back to the counter next to the refrigerator and looked at Reno, the poor kid. Shinzuu felt a little bad for beating him in, but at the same time, felt very little about THAT particular situation. The biggest issue was that he lost the girl in his life before he had the chance to tell her how he felt. He sighed and tilted his head back, covering his eyes with one hand, Whoever said high school was the happiest time of your life should have his head cut off...

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica didn't really dream as she slept and only heard the music in her mind. Of course, she did dream because everyone dreams every night, but her sleep wasn't a restful one so she didn't remember any dreams she had. She did toss and turn a lot though, if that was any indication of how things were going in the dreams she couldn't remember. She woke up to the sound of Shinzuu sighing but kept her eyes closed as she rolled over onto her back with her bear held in one arm, inhaling and exhaling deeply as she looked at the blackness of the back of her eyelids.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

Marlowe slept restlessly. She had been up twice, once she had tried playing Bioshock, only to fall asleep with the controller in her hands. She had dreams that had seemed to be segmented memories broken by spells of consciousness, as if she was reliving things that had happened before, but in the mentality that she had now. Schad was there, and the two were out in the woods beating each other with sticks and playing "war" with the boys on the street, throwing things at each other. She'd wake up in a cold sweat, her TV still casting a dim glow on the room, the game screening back to duller colors from the controller going idle. She rubbed her face and looked over to the clock, realizing she was back to her life, and not a dream. Schad was dead, and long before her death, their friendship had fractured. It was 4:43am. She closed her eyes and sighed, laying on the bed, reflecting. Although she had thoroughly meant what she said about her dad ignoring her, she felt like crap again for throwing his phone out the window. She sat up on her bed and buried her face in her hands, sitting in the dim glow of the TV. The dreams had only reminded her of how perfect things were back then when there were less things to worry about.

She felt tears rising, but fought back the urge to cry. Depression was an ugly thing, and despite the fact that Schad had passed, her tears weren't for her former friend, they were more or less at her realization of how alone she truly was. Her friends had all stabbed her in the back one way or another over the years, including Schadenfreude, who had pushed her aside when she fell in love for the first time. Marlowe undressed recounting the many arguments that had happened between Schad and her, always instigated by Schad's boyfriend, and in the end, Schad chose him over Marlowe, only to find that he had cheated on her with several other high school girls. That one thing had sparked fist fights, and before she knew it, Schad had been kicked out of another school and had to move. Again, Marlowe sighed, and stepped into the bathroom, throwing a towel over the shower curtain for herself. It was 5:03am by the time she turned the shower on, and she felt as if this was going to be one hell of a day.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu stayed like that for almost an hour, when he noticed that it was near 6am. Well, I guess it's time to get ready. He left the kitchen and went into his room, changing into the suit that he has never once wore in his life, but got for Christmas 2 years ago after he stopped growing. Shinzuu felt extremely somber and a bit sad, putting it on. The last time he ever wore a suit was at his father's funeral. As Shinzuu walked out of his room, he heard the alarm in his mother's room go off to signal 6am. Shiori came out of her room in just her bra and panties and Shinzuu growled at her in a whisper, "What the hell! Put on some clothes! Reno is here, if you can't remember!" Shiori gave a "Whatever" groan and put on a robe before going any further. She quietly walked around the others to the bathroom and whispered back, "I'll wake them after I'm done with the shower, or you can do it yourself, but I'm going in first." Shinzuu shook his head as she went into the bathroom. He went into the kitchen and sifted through the refrigerator, pulling out a lot of food. Shinzuu started up a skillet and a pot full of water. On the skillet, he put in slices of ham and bacon, while putting two dozen eggs into the pot.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica drifted in and out of consciousness for the next hour. She was awake when Shinzuu said what he did to his mother and had to hold back a smile since she didn't want to be discovered. After she heard the sounds in the kitchen, she slowly opened her eyes and stretched out on the futon. She sat up and grabbed the bear before she got up off the futon. Rubbing her eyes then running a hand through her hair, she walked over to the kitchen and sniffed the air. "Smells good already." She said softly as she watched what Shinzuu was doing.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

The shower felt amazingly good. She was never really surprised to know that a shower could alter her mood sometimes and make her more relaxed. She stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself, taking a look into the mirror at her reflection. She looked better than she did before she got it. She rubbed her face again, still feeling somewhat drowsy. She was never really up this early unless she had stayed up all night, but she had managed to get some sleep. She was feeling more neutral now than upset, as if the shower had washed away her train of thought. She slipped on some clothes, a T-shirt portrayed one of her favorite comic series: Marvel Zombies, some jogging pants, and a pair of striped socks over her underwear, of course. She plopped back on her bed. Her dad usually woke at 8. Glancing back to her clock, it read 7:12am. It wasn't long until there was a knock at her door. It was her father.

"Marlowe? You up?" Mordecai asked, somewhat cautiously.
"Yeah, I've been up since 5. I've already had a shower," she replied making her way to the door and opening it, looking out to her father.
"Well, that's good. Apparently Schad's funeral is at 3, so, we need to get our running out of the way... This includes getting dress clothes for the occasion since I'm fairly certain you don't have any."
Marlowe nodded silently.
"Well, I called around until I got the proper funeral home. I don't have Adali's number, but we can get it from her at the funeral." Mordecai continued, "And we still have to see what the deal is with the schools around here. From what I gather, you'll be going to a place called Feral High." He rubbed his head awkwardly. "Anyway, I'm going to go get ready, we'll leave at 8, 8:30-ish, alright?"
Marlowe nodded again, noticing that her father was still in his pajamas for the first time. He gave a half "I'm worried about you" smirk before turning and she closed the door.

[Srgntcuddles]

As Reno slept he had a bad dream, causing him to toss and turn. However he didn't wake up to the others. He was dreaming of his parents, on the day of his birthday. The three of them were out on the front lawn, having just gotten back with a few presents and party supplies. Reno ran off to get the door for his parents as they followed behind him. That's when a drunk driver went over the curb and managed to hit both his parents. He turned to see the bloody mess before everything went black. In reality he mumbled something and rolled over abruptly. Back in his dream he was with his best friend Nero, a fox, with his girlfriend Jessica, another fox. He was following a little behind the two as they were walking along the sidewalk talking about their wedding plans for the future. That's when a car pulled up near them and Nero walked over to it like he knew them. Before he got to the car a gun protruded from the open window and let off a few rounds into Nero. After that it drove off quickly. Reno shouted for him and ran over to him only to pass right through him into blackness. In reality Reno mumbled "Nero" and again rolled over. This time back in his dream he was at the hospital. He was talking to Schadenfreude with her broken leg. He didn't want to leave her, but he had to as she was about to go into surgery. As he left the room the doctors came in, though they were anything but normal. They looked like demons and other monsters. The only thing that made them look like doctors were their coats. They walked in bearing several gruesome looking medical tools, but Reno kept walking. He knew something was wrong but he couldn't stop himself from leaving the room.

Once out of the room the door slammed shut. At the sound of the slam everything turned white. It was just endless whiteness in front of him. He turned around when he heard Schadenfreude scream. He saw the doctors hovering over her menacingly and beginning to operate. Again she screamed, calling out for Reno. He tried to shout to her but found he was voiceless. In reality he muttered "Stop you're killing her", though he didn't roll over. In the dream he pounded on the glass window pane he was looking through trying to break it open. One of the doctor's turned it's head towards him, it's eyes gleamed light headlights blinding Reno. He shielded his eyes with his arm and looked away. When he looked back the room had vanished. Only the vast emptiness of the white room remained. He heard her call to him again. Frantically he looked in all directions, trying to find where her voice was coming from but saw nothing. She kept calling to him and he kept looking desperately, eventually running off in the direction he was facing. Schadenfreude kept calling to him, again and again, becoming louder and louder in his head. The cries became more blood curdling and desperate. Reno slid to a stop to look around as the voice grew loud enough to make him cover his ears. Though it didn't help, he felt to his knees covering his ears the best he could. Tears flooded from his eyes as he closed them tightly. She just kept calling his name in his head, over and over as he laid there on the floor covering his ears.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu gave a faint smile at Veronica's comment. He guessed that the sound of her saying that in the morning just lightened his mood a bit. "I would imagine so. As wolves, our diet is mainly protein. But moreso, on a morning like this, we'll need more protein in our systems. It'll keep us from feeling sore and the natural sugars in lean pork will keep us from falling asleep, as it's more potent than any other natural sugars. And the eggs make a good protein source that can be eaten in bulk without getting fat, when boiled."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica managed a sort of tired chuckle. "Are you trying to say I'm getting fat?" She raised an eyebrow at him. Her ears had picked up on Reno shifting around an awful lot and mumbling things so she looked over to see if he had woken up. Her eyes narrowed as she saw him covering his ears. "Just a second." She said, glancing back at Shinzuu then going into the living room. She knelt down beside Reno, setting her bear to the side. Gently grabbing his wrists, she tried to pull his hands away from his ears. "Reno... Reno, wake up..." She said and gently shook him, trying to get him to snap out of it.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

Marlowe sat on her bed again and grabbed her laptop, leaning against the back of her bed and struggling to type properly since she wasn't sitting at a desk. She checked on her messages and  yawned. Despite having a shower, she still felt sleepy, but at least she was relaxed. She finished and closed it, sitting it beside her bed and sprawling out on her bed, burying her face into the warm comforter. By the time her father knocked at the door, she had fallen back asleep. He had to call her cell phone to get her up and going again.

[Srgntcuddles]

After a bit of Veronica's shaking Reno woke up. He shot up suddenly in a cold sweat breathing deeply as if he just got back from a long run. Looking around he realized he was in Shinzuu's place. He calmed down a bit and felt his chest, his heart was racing. He folded his legs to sit Indian style and rubbed his eyes. After wards he slumped down with a somewhat sad expression. Reno looked over to see Veronica, not noticing she was there. "Oh...Veronica...Good morning..." he said in a tired tone. It had a bit of a fake happiness to it, trying to hide his depression.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu frowned at Veronica's accusation of him insinuating she was gaining girth, "But that's not what I..." But she had already walked away to wake Reno up. He grumbled to himself, "I was only mentioning that because everyone always eats their eggs fried or poached or some kind of mutilated way that adds unnecessary oils and calories and everything else that builds fat, and energy that either burns off fast or never burns off at all causing......."

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

When Reno finally had woken up, Veronica had released her grip on his wrists and watched him. After he finally acknowledged her, she got up off the floor, grabbing her bear and setting in a chair. "Morning..." She responded to him. She could tell that he was hiding how he was feeling but she didn't see the point in addressing it. Without another word to Reno, she walked back into the kitchen. The light in the kitchen threw her shadow onto the cupboards and as she examined her shadow, she realized that her hair was a complete mess. "Ugh. My hair looks horrible." She groaned as she moved her hands to her head and started trying to fix it, an displeased expression on her face.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

It was 8:05am when she picked up her phone. "I'm at the door, Marlowe," her father said, indicating his presence with a soft knock. She rolled off the bed with an "aw crap" and landed on her knees, reaching under her bed.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I fell asleep, let me change my pants. Love you." She hung up the phone and sat it on the bed, finally finding the pair of pants she was looking for and changing into them, leaving the jogging pants on the bed behind her. She grabbed her hat and pulled it over her head after stuffing her wallet and phone in her hoodie pocket and opened the door to greet her Dad. "Yeah, sorry."
"It alright, do you have your keys?" Mordecai asked, arching a brow as he noticed them on the nightstand by her bed.
Marlowe felt around for them and panicked for a moment, "Crap, I knew I forgot something, one second," She turned and started looking on the bed, then found them on the nightstand and headed back to her door. Her father had his arms crossed as he waiting. "Alright, I'm ready."
"Well, first thing on the agenda is we need to get some funeral clothes." Mordecai looked at her as she closed her door and locked it, "Which means you have to get either a dress or some nice slacks, something. You gotta look nice." Marlowe scowled, somewhat, but followed him down the stairs to the car anyway.

[Srgntcuddles]

As Reno sat there the smell of food drifted over to him, which made his stomach growl loudly. He grabbed his stomach in attempts to stop it but to no avail. "Ugh...When was the last time I ate...? Lesse... I don't think I ate anythin' yesterday...Or dinner the night before that...Bollocks! I'd kill for a taco..." He got to his feet almost collapsing again but managing to keep his balance. "Where'd he say the bathroom was? I gotta go..." He wandered over near the kitchen pacing back and forth as he tried to remember which door it was. After a moment he tried his luck and walked over to one of the doors to open it.