Fuzzy, Julie, Kenji, Mother Bear and Courtney - Monday, July 23rd, 2074 - Morning - Blake Island

Fuzzy was forced to attend something which was called "class" and "class" was bizarre. Everyone sat in a desk chair facing forwards towards an older woman that Fuzzy had seen earlier, as apparently Julian was not the only teacher as she'd assumed. Fuzzy sat at the back in a corner so as not to have anyone behind her in case of ambush but also close to the door so she could escape if necessary. The class size was far smaller than the size of the assembly as well and she counted only fifteen people.

What startled her most was that everything was so clean and new. She'd never been surrounded by so many clean, new things before. Her "school clothes" for example, the shorts and t-shirt, were clean and unlike the homespun that Rat Man made with its heavy but sturdy stitching, she could barely see these. She did keep one piece of home though, which were her black, scuffed up boots. They'd briefly been out of her possession and all of the ash stains had been polished out of them.

That feeling of newness all around was also bizarre, but a good bizarre. She liked clean clothes and how they didn't make her want to itch. She'd even been show last night that she had more two more sets of school clothes and that she could have more if she asked. They were in the small house in a closet which she’d been told was hers. The house was barely two rooms, a bedroom and half bath, but to Fuzzy all of that space just for her floored her. Then again she’d been shocked when she realized that she didn’t have to share it with anyone. She’d slept in a clean bed with clean sheets last night for the first time ever. Rat Man had hammocks and cots, but they were often shared by other children when she lived with him. It felt good, but she didn’t entirely trust that feeling. She wondered how everyone here survived if they were surrounded by such ease and softness without growing soft themselves.

Also upon further examination she found that while the shorts and shirts everyone wore were mandatory, people accented what they wore. There were different kinds of shoes, necklaces, facial piercings, earrings, hair of many different styles and colors along with ornaments in them. Some of the older teens even had tattoos, though everyone here was young and they had none, or at least showed none. One other person wore goggles for viewing augmented reality like she did, but most people either wore glasses or as she later learned, wore contact lenses. Everyone had a commlink, though they rarely came out. However, she was the only person who had a commlink that clipped to her ear. It had drawn looks, but while that made Fuzzy feel self-conscious, she didn’t dare display weakness by taking it off.

The older woman at the front of the class cleared her throat. She had grey, plaited hair down to her lower back, a leathery, brown face, maybe Amerind of some sort, and her face was creased in a permanent scowl, her brown eyes hard. She was also much shorter than everyone else, stooped with age, though she did not use a cane. She wore a simple, purple dress that reached past her knees and black sandals.

"I'm Mother Bear," said the teacher, "You may call me teacher or Mother Bear. I'm here to teach the introduction to magical safety course. I have been teaching classes like these for nearly thirty years in education and out. I plan to teach you not to do things, what not to do and how not to do them. I'm here to teach you how not to use your magic and how not to hurt others or yourself.”

Fuzzy noticed that Mother Bear stressed the word “not” quite a bit. She also noticed that many of students who looked excited at first found their faces falling.

“This is a safety course, and as of right now most of you are unsafe,” she continued, “Right now you are a danger to yourselves, a danger to others and unlikely as the case might be, a danger to me."

Her eyes flicked to the back row where Julie sat.

"Julie Freeman. Stand up," said Mother Bear.

Julie looked around at the room. She was the only ork in a room that did not contain a single other ork or troll or even a dwarf. There were only elves and humans. She stood up nervously, her eyes forward.

"Julie here is the most powerful awakened in terms of raw magical power," said Mother Bear, "Not only of the freshman class, but including the sophomore, junior and most of the senior class. In fact, she's even a match for a handful of teachers if you only measure power."

Julie allowed herself a rare smile. Fuzzy saw her back straighten with pride, but then she slumped seconds later for some reason, which Fuzzy found strange.

"And she has no control," said Mother Bear, "Which makes her dangerous. She also has an instinctive knowledge of how to cast a manabolt which is a killing spell."

"Why is she even allowed in class then?" asked a girl.

The young, teenage girl was like Fuzzy in that she was fair skinned, blonde and blue eyed. However, they couldn't have been more different. While Fuzzy was androgynous with short hair and solidly built for her height, the girl was almost offensively beautiful with long, blonde hair that went past her shoulders. The kind of hair that was absolutely begging to be pulled in a fight. She was also tall at almost six feet. In fact, as far as Fuzzy could tell, almost everyone at this thing called school was taller than her, which annoyed her.

Mother Bear's glasses flashed for a moment and she briefly mouthed something out loud before the light in her glasses winked out.

"Well, Courtney, this is because she didn't learn it on purpose, but spontaneously," said Mother Bear, "Spontaneously learned spells come from situations of extreme stress. Your body calls out to your magic to do something of extreme importance and in rare circumstances, this actually happens."

"Huh," said Courtney.

"We do teach combat magic in the third year," continued Mother Bear, "Even then we only teach non-lethal spells. The learning of lethal spells on the island is allowed only for those seriously considering a career in the security or the military."

Courtney dramatically rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, we employ those people," said Courtney, flippantly, "We don't actually become them. Ew."

There were a few laughs, a few mutters of agreement and a few nods of the head. It seemed like the majority of the class openly shared Courtney's opinion.

"I'm aware that most of you are children of corporate upper management," said Mother Bear, "But despite your upbringing, a few of you each year actually find a purpose beyond ordering people about like your parents do. In fact if you have any interests at all beyond megacorporate upper management or becoming a socialite or some dilettante, we're here to cultivate them."

"What," snarked Courtney, "Like be a teacher?"

Again came the smirks and laughter from the assembled students. Not from Fuzzy though. She just watched the confrontation with interest.

"You could do worse," said Mother Bear, placidly.

"Hardly."

Mother Bear didn't immediately respond. Instead she half shuffled, half walked forward towards Courtney. The short, old woman, who was the only person shorter than Fuzzy in the entire class, got close to Courtney and slowly invaded her space. Courtney raised a hand, which at first Fuzzy thought might be used to strike the old woman, but she instead heard the young teen snap her fingers.

"Security," said Courtney, with practiced boredom.

Moments ticked by as everyone watched. Nothing happened.

"The only security on the island," said Mother Bear, calmly, "Are the school's security guards and the security spirits. None of which are at your beck and call. They are here to protect you. All of you. But they are not here to allow you to bully your way through the slightest of inconveniences like an old woman standing too close to you."

Courtney's face flickered from disinterested, to confused, to outrage in just a few seconds. Her fair skin turned scarlet and she began to scream.

"How dare you talk to me like that!" bellowed Courtney, "Do you know how I am?! Who my father is?!"

"Don't scream in my class, young lady," said Mother Bear.

"Who the fuck are you, even?!" she continued, "What..."

There was a flash of something, Fuzzy noticed. A little light that flickered from Mother Bear's fingertip and it gently sank into Courtney's throat. The girl continued to rant, but now she did so silently. Her mouth moved and her hands wildly gesticulated, but nothing came out. Nor did the repeated snapping of her fingers do anything either. Mother Bear turned away from her and half walked, half shuffled back to her position in front of her desk, never taking her eyes completely off Courtney, Fuzzy noticed.

"You'll find that a great deal of things from your previous life have ceased to matter at this school," said Mother Bear, to the rest of the class, "How large your bank account is. Your private security teams. The power and influence of your parents. Myself and the other teachers are well insulated from all of that. Your parents are aware. And while Julie here is dangerous, Courtney is as well because no one has ever placed any limits on her privilege. And while your average person can get away with that, awakened can't. For everyone's safety, theirs and yours, all of you are going to learn a bare minimum of self-control."

The students, who'd been pointing, smiling and laughing at the silently screaming Courtney, who was at the edge of tears, suddenly grew quiet and more than a little afraid.

"Your privileges that most of you enjoy in life have been suspended," said Mother Bear, "On the weekends you'll be able to plunge yourselves back into that life if you so choose. The world will be at your fingertips just like before. But you will find limits here. Your parents are not only aware of them, they agreed. So while Julie here does have a killing spell at her fingertips, and that is dangerous, there is absolutely, positively nothing more dangerous than a magically awakened person with no sense of their own limits. Not just to others, but to yourselves."

Mother Bear looked coolly over the class in that semi-detatched but intent way that many old people do.

"Julie, you may take a seat," said Mother Bear.

Julie, who'd been standing up, her head bowed, took a seat.

"Courtney, are you ready to stop screaming and join the rest of the class?" asked Mother Bear.

Courtney's face was red and blotchy, her eyes streamed with tears and just a little mascara as well, which had run despite its designer quality. She folded her arms petulantly. The older woman looked at her, sighed and pointed towards the door.

"Fix your makeup," said Mother Bear, "Be back in five."

Hope flashed across Courtney's face at the sudden prospect of freedom but then in sullen anger at being told what to do.

"Just don't make your classmates wait too long," said Mother Bear.

That hope was dashed by the weight of the stares of her classmates. Mother Bear lifted a bony finger, skin paper thin and pulled the little light from Courtney's throat and it dissipated in the air. Fuzzy could hear a long, ragged breath from Courtney, who decided to leave.

"Five minutes of free time," said Mother Bear, obviously bored, "There's at least one like this every year."

Most of the students began to chat excitedly among themselves. Fuzzy was close enough to listen.

"Who was that girl, Courtney?" asked one girl, near Fuzzy.

"Yeah," said a guy, "That was pretty funny."

"What corp is she with?"

"NeoNET, I think," said the guy, "Hey, you think she can...You know, actually make us do stuff?"

"Fucking as if. She's just a teacher."

Fuzzy listened, waited and tried to check the clock app through her goggles connection to her commlink that Julian had showed her. She couldn't remember how to use it though and so she just watched Mother Bear, who checked an actual watch on her bony wrist. After roughly five minutes passed, there was an angry shout from outside from Courtney. She slowly backed up into the classroom as something that looked like a small, slate grey boulder, roughly three feet tall, with stumpy arms and legs, but no head. It corralled Courtney back into the classroom. Courtney, for her part, sighed dramatically, defeated, and made her way to her seat to sulk.

"Thank you, spirit," said Mother Bear.

The old woman gave the earth spirit a bow that with her stooped back, made her look like a question mark. The earth spirit said nothing of course as it had no mouth, nor did it wave. It just vanished into the air. It was simply there one moment and gone the next.

"And now that we're all here, class can resume," grumped Mother Bear, "And this is where I'll tell you to start paying very close attention. This will be very important to your stay here at Blake Island."

Mother Bear folded her arms behind her and began to shuffle walk in front of her desk. It was so slow that Fuzzy only realized moments later that she was pacing.

"As of right now until this course is finished you will not bully one another," said Mother Bear, sternly, "You will not be snide or cruel towards one another. You will not get into any physical altercations with each other. Until all of you learn to get your powers under control you will not use them outside of this classroom. You will not show off or mess around with them. Nothing. The course is two weeks long and mandatory and if you do not complete it to my satisfaction you will stay with me even longer during your free time, which is my time. Anyone violating these rules will be tied to the shame pole in the middle of campus for the entire weekend. Do not test me.”

She made a hand gesture and a picture of a pole appeared against the blackboard which lit up in augmented reality, though in normal reality it remained a simple blackboard. Then simpler graphics rolled across the screen in black in white of a simply designed person being lead to the shame pole, tied to it and being made to speak to others when they approached. She pointed at each picture as they became relevant.

“If any of you are placed on the shame pole then you will tell anyone who passes you what you did. You will tell them why you did it. You will tell them you are sorry and you will mean that you are sorry. Unlike when I was a girl, you will be allowed food, water and bathroom privileges. Feel blessed."

Shuffle, shuffle, turn.

"Luckily for you though, everyone else on the island knows not to mess with you either or they'll suffer the same fate. The purpose of this is so you don't fire off magic randomly if your emotions run out of control."

Shuffle, shuffle, turn.

"Today you have one and only one test. You will describe to me what I just said back to me after I told you to pay attention," said Mother Bear, "This will not be a written test so the inattentive ones can't cheat. You will use the application relevant to this class. I have administrator privileges for all of your commlinks and so I had it installed while we were talking. Anyone who fails this test will be tied to the shame pole for an hour. If there are too many of you I will get creative. The rest will have free time for the rest of the class as a reward."

Mother Bear ended her pacing.

"You have five minutes. Begin."

Sudden fear spread through the teens. People began to work furiously with their commlinks to describe what Mother Bear just said back to her. In another age the scribbling of pens and paper would've been heard. Now people mumbled and tapped on their commlinks or put on haptic gloves to tap on keyboards that existed only in augmented reality. There would be no cheating. This didn't keep people from trying though and more than one student looked left or right for answers that they couldn't possibly see.

Fuzzy did not know what to do. Her commlink was on but she had no idea how to use it. The shame pole sounded bad. It would draw attention to her and leave her vulnerable. She’d never owned a commlink before and had no idea how to use it. After some desperate flailing with the commlink she found what she thought was a test, but wasn’t entirely sure. However, something stopped her.

There were words. Fuzzy didn't know what they meant. Not a few of the words, not some of the words, but almost all of the words. Fuzzy didn't know how to read. Julian made it seem so easy to work the commlink when he helped her before, but the words stopped her. She sighed and resigned herself to the shame pole. As she looked around, she could tell that she wouldn't be the only one. She took off her goggles because they still didn't fit her right just yet. She now saw the world as it was. The blackboard was just an empty blackboard once again now that she no longer saw the world through her goggles.

Out of the fifteen students that were present, which was half of the class, there were four that were consigned to the shame pole: One girl, one boy, Fuzzy and Kenji. Surprisingly enough, Courtney was not consigned to the shame pole.

"Class dismissed,” said Mother Bear, “Everyone find something else to do for an hour then go to lunch. Except for you four, all of you will stay and talk to me."

Courtney walked out, the picture of affronted dignity. The girl and the boy looked disheartened, but Kenji only looked bored. She went to each of them one by one, but cast an angry look at Kenji.

"Elizabeth, why were you not paying attention?" she asked.

Withering under the mighty gaze of the diminutive woman, she whispered something.

"Speak up. I'm old,” snapped Mother Bear.

"I was texting someone," she said, miserably.

"Right after I told all of you to pay attention," barked Mother Bear, "During a safety class. You do know that if you cast a spell wrong, you'll bleed to death out of your ears and eyes, right?"

"Wait...Is that a thing?" asked Elizabeth, warily.

"Yes," said Mother Bear, "It is a thing."

This finally seemed to register to her.

"Like...Out of them?" asked Elizabeth, "A lot of it?"

"At the worst end."

"That sucks," decided Elizabeth.

Mother Bear nodded.

"Having bled out of my ears and eyes before and survived it, I can assure you that yes, it does," said Mother Bear, her tone droll, "Now since the range on texting is limited on the island, I figured out who you were texting pretty fast. Follow the AR tags for the shame pole file that's being installed on your commlink. I don't want to waste my twilight years punishing you myself. I'll get the highlight reels later. Remember that you're not just wasting my time, but wasting your own. Shame pole. Go."

Unlike Courtney, Elizabeth seemed unsure of herself. So simply walked off. Mother Bear glared again at Kenji, but turned to the other teen.

“Damien, why were you not paying attention?” she asked.

"I was..." started the young man.

"Texting as well,” interrupted the teacher.

Apparently her question had been rhetorical.

“It looked like you were texting Elizabeth it seems. Peer to peer. It’s a short hop so you dodged the matrix jamming."

She raised her bony fingers and clapped a few times.

“Congratulations, you figured it out. You thought you were being sneaky. You’re not,” she said, flatly,” And yes, I read the chat logs. Neither of you are clever and you in particular need to work on your flirting technique young man. Even I thought those texts were bad. Next time I'll send out a mass text with the file."

"No, you won't," said Damien, angrily, "Those are private."

"What, you've never had a note read in front of the whole class?" asked Mother Bear.

Damien seethed but said nothing.

"Hrm, tell her too," said Mother Bear, who ignored him, "I’ll make good on that threat so don’t test me. Anyway, I trust you have listened to my lecture by proxy and know what to do?"

He narrowed his eyes, worked his mouth as if tasting something sour and then nodded grudgingly.

"Yeah, sure."

This seemed good enough and she dismissed him. So off he went. Then she rounded on Kenji and glared at him. Kenji smiled placidly.

"Well?" she seethed.

"Porn," he said, placidly.

"Pornography!" she bellowed, her face inches away from his, though she had to look up. "You were watching pornography during a safety class! A class in which I teach you how not to injure or kill one another or yourselves! That is not acceptable behavior!”

Her hard little eyes attempted to burrow into him, but failed to make even the slightest impression. He continued to smile placidly while she sentenced him.

"Shame pole, and if you ever do something like this again I will eat your entire weekend, young man," she seethed, "It won't just be the shame pole either. I'll run your ass ragged."

"So I just follow the..." started Kenji, blithely.

"Get! Out! Now!" she exclaimed, each word its own shout.

He turned to Fuzzy, winked at her in a way that made her feel decidedly uncomfortable and left. Fuzzy didn't know what pornography was, but it must have been very bad for her to yell at him like that.

"And what is your excuse young lady?" she seethed.

She didn't turn that anger on Fuzzy. Instead she tracked Kenji as he left. Her face was back to her normal scowl when she was met with Fuzzy's commlink in her upturned hand. She'd taken it off her ear.

"What? Is it broken?" she asked.

She reached out for it, but Fuzzy clenched it in her hand and pulled it away.

"It's mine," she said.

"Young lady, I'm not interested in if it's yours. I'm interested why you weren't paying attention. And as you didn't write anything, I assume that you didn't."

"I was paying attention," said Fuzzy, "I always pay attention."

'Your inability to send me your results tells me otherwise," said Mother Bear, blithely.

Fuzzy ground her teeth. Admitting weakness was bad, but she was stuck between admitting she didn't know how to use the commlink and being accused of not having paid attention.

"Do not harass other students and do not be violent towards other students or I will go to the shame pole," recited Fuzzy, "If I am tied to the shame pole I will tell everyone what I did when they pass. I will be given food, water and bathroom privileges. Failing the test will lose my privileges at lunch. Disobeying your rules in the future will take the entire weekend. The purpose of all of this is to maintain control over our magic so we can all be safe from ourselves and each other."

Mother Bear’s scowl lessened in intensity and she quirked an eyebrow. The teacher’s posture became more relaxed and she clasped both hands behind her back. Fuzzy reasoned that the old woman must be dangerous to move her hands so far away from someone so close to them.

"Okay, so you learned the lesson," she said, and her tension continued to ease, "Honestly I don't understand why it's so hard to listen."

Her eyes slipped out of focus for a moment and her AR glasses briefly lit up. Fuzzy waited patiently for her to speak as she continued to mumble and complain.

"Your commlink is barely even set up," she asked, "Not some designer 'link either like the rest of them. Barely a burner comm. Why are you unprepared?"

This was again a choice to admit weakness or not. Everyone else was gone though. She resolved to be prepared next time.

"I don't know how," admitted Fuzzy.

"You mean to tell me that you are a fifteen year old girl and you don't know how to use a commlink? I find that unlikely," she said, dismissively.

Fuzzy wasn't sure how to explain. How this place was so different from the ash drifts of Puyallup, how she barely knew what a school was or how to explain Courtney's bizarre behavior. Mother Bear worked on her own to understand, her eyes still unfocused as she read the AR display on her glasses, but then her eyes came back into focus a full minute later. Fuzzy waited silently and was rewarded for her patience.

"Oh. So that's what I missed at the staff meeting," she said to herself, "You're from the barrens. Not Redmond. Puyallup."

Fuzzy nodded.

"And from deep enough in that you didn't use one of these? I’m half surprised you're not toxic,” she said, under her breath, “Julian wouldn't bring that back here, no...Girl, erm, Fuzzy. You don't know how to set that up, and I see that you didn't even bother to try. Can you read?"

Fuzzy said nothing.

"And you're from deep enough in the barrens that you don't even use a commlink," said Mother Bear, wistfully, "I bet you feel naked without your weapons too, huh kiddo?"

Fuzzy’s eyes narrowed.

"Julian took them," said Fuzzy, angrily, "He made promises about what I would get but not about what would be taken away."

Mother Bear shook her head.

"Don't worry, kiddo. You get used to it. I was in the army for eight years. We awakened are never truly disarmed. At least once you learn a thing or two," said Mother Bear, who smiled wickedly.

Fuzzy shivered. She’d been right. Mother Bear was dangerous.

"You mean like Julie?" asked Fuzzy.

"Oh, far more than Julie,"

Fuzzy seemed to think about this and said something she probably shouldn't have outloud.

"I wish I had her spell," said Fuzzy.

Mother Bear's face darkened.

"And why would you want to learn a thing like that?" she said, slowly.

Fuzzy held out one arm and made a pulling motion with the other.

"Julian took away my bow," she said, "And my spear, knives, traps. Everything. He promised me I could hunt those things called deer."

Mother Bear's face brightened a few degrees, which meant that her scowl came back.

"Ah, I see," said Mother Bear, "For hunting."

"It's how I ate," said Fuzzy.

Mother Bear nodded seriously.

"Well, besides it being forbidden to all but the most trusted of seniors," said Mother Bear, "You wouldn't want the spell. A manabolt necrotizes flesh."

Fuzzy tilted her head in confusion.

"It kills flesh," supplied Mother Bear, "Rots it on the spot if you cast it hard enough. You'd ruin the kill."

"Oh...Then no, I don't want that then," said Fuzzy, "Do you have any spells just for animals?"

Mother Bear tapped her withered lips in thought.

"You know, I've never been asked that," said Mother Bear, "And I don't know if it'd be allowed or not. The ban on lethal spells is to protect students...But just a spell for hunting animals? Hmm..."

"So they exist?" asked Fuzzy, eagerly.

"They do," said Mother Bear, thoughtfully, "But I think that you'd miss the thrill. Your average animal can't stand up to magic. Your average person either for that matter."

This made Fuzzy pause. She had to eat of course, but one of her joys was the thrill of the hunt. The tension of stalking a kill, the thought behind where to place a trap, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, taking a life so she might eat. There was nothing like it. If she lost the thrill, if it became too easy, who was she? Certainly not a huntress, she knew.

"I'll stick to my bow," decided Fuzzy, "But I'll need it back."

"Surprised a little thing like you could take down a deer," said Mother Bear, a bit incredulously.

Fuzzy flexed a well muscled bicep.

"I have a fifty pound recurve bow," said Fuzzy.

"I assume that's a lot."

Fuzzy relaxed her bicep and nodded.

"I'll see if I can get your things back, or at least access to them," said Mother Bear, "You can't have them all of the time. That's not how things work around here. But if you stick around long enough, we can teach you how to be a little nightmare without lethal spells. More than enough to defend yourself, you understand?"

This helped Fuzzy relax. Being disarmed was essential to living in Puyallup.

"How long?" asked Fuzzy.

"If you pass my safety class then you'll learn a spell of your own choosing in two weeks,"

Fuzzy thought about this and decided that this wasn't good, but it was good enough. But she had one final question.

"Why isn't Courtney going on the shame pole?" asked Fuzzy, "She caused a lot of trouble."

"You trying to get her put there?" asked Mother Bear, suspiciously.

Fuzzy shook her head.

"I just don't know how things work yet," she said, honestly.

"Oh," said Mother Bear, "I just hadn't explained the rules yet. Besides, I didn't want to humiliate her any more than she already did to herself. These would-be lordlings can be touchy. But there's always at least one who doesn't understand that things have changed. Now...Go outside. You won't get many sunny days like this in Seattle, much less the Puyallup barrens. I need to have a talk with Julian."

Fuzzy and Sasha - Monday, July 23rd, 2074 - Noon - Blake Island

Fuzzy was free for a time and so she went home and spent it with Puppy. He was in her room, lying on the hardwood floor. He had a cage too, but she didn't allow him to be put in it. It was a big cage, so it seemed he was expected to be very big indeed which pleased her. She spent some time with him outside so he could explore and not use her room as a bathroom. She played with him and he licked her face when she picked him up, which she did often. Fuzzy giggled and smiled a rare smile, and when it was lunchtime she brought Puppy with her. After all, he needed to eat too.

Puppy was the star of the show at one of the outside lunch tables, though the lunch line inside wasn't open just yet. He gamboled about on the top of the table wagging his tail and occasionally barking and growling in an attempt to get someone to play with him. Girls and even a few boys cooed over him, but most didn't stay for too long. She kept Puppy within arm’s reach so no one could steal him, but did allow others to pet him if she was holding him and kept a close watch so no one would sell him or make a meal of him, though the people here looked well fed. Some overfed in fact, but not many. Perhaps they were storing up fat for the winter when times were lean, but a few people were definitely overdoing it. Instead of staring at the overfed people, she turned her full attention back to the table. She sat with Sasha, Julie and a few other girls she didn't recognize.

"He's sooooo cuuuuute," cooed Sasha, "What's his name?"

"Puppy," said Fuzzy.

"I love dogs. I didn't know we could have a dog here," said one of the girls.

"You can't," said Sasha, "Not unless your magic specifically works with animals."

The girls looked to Fuzzy and then to Puppy as they suddenly understood something Fuzzy did not.

"I bargained to bring him along," said Fuzzy, proudly.

She felt a little full of herself. After all, no one else she’d seen so far had dogs on the island. She also noticed that Julie, who was nearby but not too near, kept quiet, but seemed as if she wanted to come closer. At the same time not twenty feet away from her there was Kenji. He was tied to the pole with thick rope around his stomach, though two others were tied with him as well. He spoke to someone else who was not tied. Everyone tied and untied laughed uproariously and the untied young man pelted towards a crowd of people. The young man talked to a crowd of people and the laughter spread like wildfire. Fuzzy was brought back to the conversation by Sasha.

"Where'd you get him?" asked Sasha.

"I found him while hunting," said Fuzzy.

Fuzzy omitted that she'd nearly killed Puppy when she first met him. She knew not to say that much at least. People living easier lives probably wouldn't understand how lean it was out in Puyallup.

"Oh cool. What do you hunt with?" asked Sasha.

"Bows, traps and sometimes a spear," said Fuzzy.

"My brother does some bow hunting sometimes on the weekends," said one girl, "Very exclusive. Luxury hunting grounds."

"Luxury?" asked Fuzzy, not understanding the word.

The girl also misunderstood and so she explained without taking it amiss.

"Ultra exclusive hunting cabins, lodges, you know," said the girl, obviously bored with the idea, "But mostly it's for hunting magical animals. He thinks he's this big hunter because he took down a cerebus hound but he was just drinking beer while a dozen other people chased it out into the open so he could shoot it. He was so drunk he blasted another guy in the leg before he finally shot the hound. Big hunter, huh?"

Fuzzy was less than impressed.

"I hunt alone," said Fuzzy.

"Yeah, that explains the look you got going on," mused Sasha, "Cut your hair with a knife, hairy legs, all that whipcord muscle on that small frame of yours. Real woman empowerment. I like it."

Sasha scratched Puppy between the ears absently as Sasha continued to make assumptions.

"I like hunting. Anything I can find, really," said Fuzzy, "Most of my clothes are leather though. My kills."

She took pride in that after all. She could share a little bit. It wouldn't hurt her to let them know she was dangerous and cultivating a reputation for being dangerous would keep people from messing with her.

"Nice," said Sasha, "I wear synthleather even though it feels like slumming it. I would wear real leather, but it takes all of that care. My dad doesn't let me wear it unless I take care of it. He's a huge hardass. So what kind of leather is it? Maybe something exotic?

They were corporate princesses after all. To them, Fuzzy wasn't some poor, barrens huntress. She was wearing the same thing everyone else was. Her commlink on her ear was cheap, but everyone knew that metalink commlinks are just burners. As someone assumed to be wealthy, this didn't make her poor or weird, but eccentric.

"Devil rat," said Fuzzy.

"Ew," said the girl.

"Shut up, no way," said Sasha, her voice awed.

"That's gross. They're like dog sized gutter rats," complained the girl, "You really wear that stuff?"

Fuzzy felt uncomfortable all of a sudden. She picked up Puppy and clutched him to her.

"He's mine," she said, quietly.

She was talking about Puppy, but the girls took it another way.

"I think it's bad ass as hell," said Sasha, "Going out on an urban safari to go and kill devil rats with a bow and a spear? Then getting a leather coat as a trophy? My dad would never let me do that. Hey, do you have the coat?"

"Yeah, but it's mine," repeated Fuzzy.

Though the subject of "mine" was now her coat, not Puppy.

"Yeah, can I see it though? I'll know if you killed it. I'm really good at assensing," said Sasha, excitedly, "If you killed it then it should be linked to you. So you killed it, right? You're not just bullshitting me?"

Fuzzy felt stuck again. Either she'd be called a liar or she had to produce her coat. Her coat was in her room and she could easily go get it. Fuzzy wanted lunch though and people began to go inside of the main building where all of the good smells came from. Who knew if there was enough though? She thought Sasha wasn't going to let it go and this was a way for Fuzzy to display her prowess as a huntress.

No, decided Fuzzy, Sasha was just way too interested and her brown eyes were alight with thoughts of the hunt. Fuzzy respected that, but still was unsure of how to feel as she thought about how to respond.

--

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