"You know... I don't get to say this often, if at all. But since it's a feat I've never seen before in all my years of teaching 'Psychanimality' I must express how grateful I am for how eager you all have been to learn my class!" The gray wolf instructor stands and moves towards the front of her desk, half leaning half sitting against the edge as she smiles proudly towards her students, "And I'm especially impressed too by how quickly you all picked it up and are progressing rapidly through the course!" The teacher can hardly contain her happiness as a toothy smile forms across her face. Her large wolf like teeth gave a few of her students a shudder, perhaps more so out excitement than fear. The large gray wolf gives a relaxed sigh, "Since you all aced the winter benchmark with flying colors, I have some fun movies rented and a budget for pizza parties 'til the winter break!" The class cheered and clapped, tails are wagging vigorously, even from the students who don't typically express that gesture. The sound of the school bell chimes overhead, the class is already prepared to depart, one after the other grabbing their belongings and heading out, "I'll see you all tomorrow! Have a good rest of your day!" The wolf scans her fleeting students and catches sight of one in particular... "Autumn? Can I speak with you for a moment?"
The inverted skunk's ears flick at the call of his name and looks up from his backpack, "Yes, Ms. Glow?" Autumn approaches his Psychology teacher, taking note that her smile is fading but trying to remain present.
"You can call me Avery, dear." The wolf waits for the final student exiting the classroom, save for Autumn before continuing with her answer, "Everything alright, kiddo? Are you... going through anything?"
Autumn tilts his head and frowns at the sudden personal probe of his wellbeing, "I'm doing okay... same old, same old."
The wolf studies him for a moment, "You know I'm a psychology teacher. With how well you all have done so far, I'd like to think I'm a pretty damn good one too, wouldn't you say?"
Autumn smiles bashfully, knowing that she's not the type to boast, "You're too good at reading us."
"It comes with the field of work!" She sits up from her leaning position and crosses her ankles with a more assuring smile, "I do learn a lot from you all too, you know? And it's thanks to every student I've ever had that I've learned so much and am capable of teaching the rest of you all that I know."
"Y-yeah..." Autumn responds, his smile faltering slightly now as he looks to the side, becoming lost in thought, "It's just..." He stops for a moment. Perhaps trying to put to words exactly how he was feeling in the moment. "I've been feeling a bit worried. About the Animiracles... and how they're becoming more and more discovered and known everywhere. I know our medicines and researchers and philosophers have advanced so much with plenty of documents and findings dating back to our ancestors. But what if it's all happening too fast? Scientists are speculating that it's not just "special cases" that only occur in select few, but that we ALL are capable of having some kind of "supernatural awakening" that's waiting to be activated."
Avery ponders for a moment, "Hmm... I have noticed a rise in animiracles, yeah... As well as a rise in crime rate as there aren't any specific laws in place yet specifically for them. Is that what you're worried about?"
"Kinda..." Autumn shifts in place as his ears droop a bit, "Maybe I'm just worried that if I did have an awakening after all, that I'll lose myself to it. What if it makes me evil?"
"You're a good person as far as I can tell. You've handled yourself well from what all you've told me you've been through. I'm sure you'll stay true to yourself just as you have from enduring those bullies for so long." Avery notes that Autumn isn't fully convinced yet and continues, "Speaking of... are they still messing with you?"
Autumn flinches at the question and a displeased frown is apparent now on his expression, "Yes... I wish they'd leave me alone already."
"You mentioned they were your childhood friends, right?"
Autumn scoffs, "Hard to believe they ever were."
"I've let the counselor know about what they've been doing to you, and he told me he'd follow up with them at some point. I'm just sorry you're still getting harassed."
The skunk flicks his tail and gives a long sigh, "It's fine, Ms. Glow. I've gotten so used to it at this point that I don't think it even bothers me as much anymore."
"Now, you know that's not true. You're clearly still disturbed by them. I'm sure you've told them to stop?"
"Multiple times now. Nothing ever seems to work."
Ms. Avery frowns and nearly jumps up with a stomp, "Maybe you need to be more drastic!" Autumn's eyes open and gaze at her perplexedly, "Oh- uh... I don't mean to become violent or anything. You know that I can't enable that. But try to take a certain action that would surely put them off from ever wanting to mess with you again. You're my top student in Psychanimality. I'm sure you'll think of something." Avery smiles at the skunk before glancing at the clock, "Oh goodness, I ate up too much of your time! You should get going before you're late!"
"That's alright, my class is nearby." Autumn begins to depart but stops at the doorway, "Ms. Glow? Uhm... thank you. For always being there for me."
The wolf smiles warmly to him, "Hey, I was your therapist in the past. You've overcome so much, and I couldn't be more proud of that. I'm here for you. Always remember that."
Autumn nods with a smile and makes his way through the busy hallway of hurrying students. He begins to think about his ex-friends; Emilio, a light-gold furred fox with amber colored eyes that befriended him first. Nola, a socially inept pink cat with glasses that Emil introduced him to soon after. And Cicelio, a muted-brown canine with light-blue eyes that came later, having just moved into town at that time. Autumn grumbles, feeling frustrated at the mere thought of them. They were okay friends, until one day Nola turned all of them against him. It didn't help that they would tease Autumn for being a skunk, going as far as grabbing his butt and pushing him away yelling, "EW! POINT THAT SOMEWHERE ELSE!" He hated how they made him feel disgusting, and had the audacity to grab his rear forcefully with no respect. It was always more so from Nola specifically, but the other two would follow suit sometimes, and Autumn grew to really despise them all. How it even ruined Cicelio and his--
"Uh oh! Everyone bust out the gas-masks!!"
'Ah fuck...' Autumn glances over by the lockers to see the three idiots smirking towards him, eyeballing him like a predator on prey. 'Just ignore 'em.' Autumn picks up the pace.
"Wrap your food in hefty bags!!" The pink cat shouts between his cupped paws to elevate his insufferable voice.
'Please...' Autumn internally pleaded as he braced himself for Cicelio's turn to say something stupid. "Do something drastic! ...but not violent or anything." Ms. Glows words played out in his head. Autumn's heart is racing, his nervous system on the verge of breaking down. He's beginning to panic. He wants to say something, but what can he say that he already hasn't! His chest is beginning to burn up. The pressure in his stomach and head building up all at once is making him nauseous. He begins to tremble from anxiety. Why do they keep teasing him for his biological feature! He didn't ask to be born that way! And yet!-
Cicelio is raising his cupped paws to his own mouth now. He's getting ready. There's no time to think! ARGH!
"Ms. Gilda's classroom couldn't compare to how ba--!"
"FOR YOUR INFORMATION, I HAD MY GLANDS REMOVED AT BIRTH!!!" Autumn shouted over them. His face is hot red from anger, trembling with anticipation from what his impulses were about to make him do. Perhaps it was a mixture of blushing too, because without a moment to think better of it, Autumn turned right around, hiked his tail, and bluntly stripped his pants right down to the ankles, exposing his posterior into the bullies' direct view, "SEE?!"
All three of the bullies choked up, staring at Autumn's behind that was starting to flush red from the adrenaline and panic rampaging within. Emilio opened his mouth to say something, something witty, something stupid, anything! But nothing came out. Nola was staring in disbelief and quickly snapped out of the trance, frowning in fabricated disgust and trying to play it off, "Dude, what the fuck! Let's go guys, Autumn's a freak!" Cicelio has an awestricken expression, his face is bright red and his tail is wagging vigorously. "CICEL. LET'S GO." Nola grabs Cicelio by the sweater and yanks both of his posse with him, storming off while the other two keep eagerly glancing back over their shoulder at Autumn.
Autumn is breathing heavily, his anxiety is through the roof right now. ...'Why did I do that...??' Autumn blinks as he comes down from the adrenaline rush. He squeaks loudly in embarrassment, realizing his butt was still on full display, and quickly pulls his pants back up, desperately and clumsily trying to fasten them with shaky fingers. 'Why... did I do that??' Autumn thinks to himself over and over as he grabs his bag, speed walking to his next class. His face couldn't be any more red than it already was. His whole body was burning up now, the pressure in his stomach and head wasn't helping the situation either. 'I'm SO glad no one else was around to see that...' he tried reassuring himself. But unfortunately for him, there was one other from around the corner, that happened to be at the "wrong" place at the "wrong" time... ... ...
