Chapter 2 Tuesday, February 2
"Alright Students!" Mrs.Macaroon called attention to her class. First period of the day, Biology. Dawn and Mistletoe sat upfront. Lucky didn't have this period with them. "Today we'll be doing something fun so get excited!" she rang enthusiastically. "Look to you seat partner and apologize because today students,you get to torture them." She mused. Dawn and mistletoe chuckled along with a few other classmates. Some waited for her to explain with mild discomfort. A few muttered surprised 'oh's' and 'oh no's'. The eccentric professor continued. "I see your faces- let me elaborate. Dawn if you could come to the front please?" she chuckled softly.
Dawn had barely heard his own name because of his droopy ears. Mistletoe giggled beside him and gently pushed his arm with a hoof. He blankly stared at the teacher for a moment before rising. "uh- sure yeah." As he made his way to the front, he took the rubber band from his wrist and tied up his ears. The extra fur handing off of them was so long it made a proper ponytail. It may have been strange to tie up his ears but he didn't mind the lack of movement. Ms. Macaroon guided him to face the class and began her lesson. "Dawn here will be my volunteer. We will be taking DNA samples from our fellow classmates and looking at our ancestry. What genes made us " she beamed. There were muffled oh's and sighs of relief across the room. Dawn stood rather calm and complacent, he didn't mind the situation much. But he always seemed that way. Had a look of being high when he never was. Never smoked once, but his tired eyes and lazy smile left others with a different impression. His lack of presentation too made others think he could have been a drug abuser. Always in baggy sweats and the same red plain hoodie. He never picked his tail up when he walked. Let it drag behind his paws lazily. The lack of common etiquette made people wonder if he was okay. But he was smiling constantly- tiredly with wandering eyes, but always smiling.
Yet, teachers knew different. His records show that he was a top student and teacher's pet. Often ahead of his class. He was incredibly intelligent and never once had a record of drugs or any sort of violence. He was a sweetheart. HE smelled like lemongrass and fresh laundry. The only mammal that would know this was Mistletoe. Who occasionally stole his jackets just for that reason. Being childhood friends had that perk. So he never seemed to mind too much.
"As I'll demonstrate, after that off topic rambling from the narrator-" the students started confused as the woman rambled to herself. "i'll be taking this long swab you see here; And very gently i will-"
"Dawn if you'd be so kind, please say 'ahh'-" The canine obliged, his large teeth seeming a little more threatening than he would have liked. "stick your tongue out please-" She commented. Dawn gave her a confused glance but followed. He heard mistletoe hold in her laughter- placing a hoof over her mouth. He must have figured he looked rather silly when a few other students joined in. She continued. "You'll be gently swabbing the cheeks and throat of your table partner like sooo.." She demonstrated. Dawn had been caught up in the strange feeling of the cotton on his cheek, he didn't hear her say 'throat'. At the lack of warning, he gauged pulling his head away. Mistletoe quite literally let out an ungodly wheeze watching him cough on the sidelines.
Ms.macaroon laughed being reminded why she enjoyed her job so much. She placed the swab in a petri dish for later and gently apologized to Dawn. "All done dear. can we get a round of applause for Dawn '' She chuckled looking at the class. Through the laughs and claps dawn seemed to calm and smile as well. He wiped his mouth with a sleeve. She returned then to the DNA test. "Now using these chemicals here I'm going to test the genes in Dawn's body. We will all get to see what animals we are made of." She showed the class. They followed with captivation as the swab turned a different color when dipped into the liquid. She then looked over to dawn calmly. "would you mind if i share your results with the class?" she asked gingerly. He shrugged in response and stayed standing there. She continued on with the lecture. "As you can see here, Dawn's vile has blended into two colors. Being a royal blue at the bottom that faded into a lime green at the top. "Now looking at the mammalian color chart I handed you, you can see that dawn is quite special. He is made up of two different animals, and at that, two that probably rarely ever cross. Can anyone tell me what those are?"
The class remained awkwardly silent. Some students squinted at their charts and tried to make out pictures and words that matched Dawn's gene colors. While Some students simply didn't want to answer. Then a small tanned paw raised from the back. Dawn's eyes dragged over the class, settling on the student. It was the boy he'd seen on the lawn before. With an impossibly large tail. Only now it seemed to be bunned up so they could walk. The Tan little fox seemed to be a new kid. He had a long bit of fur that resembled hair and covered the right side of his face; Only one eye was visible. He wore overalls with a Llama printed on the front pocket, adorned with a trans pin. His ears, larger than his head, pointed forward sharply with excitement. A fox. A fennick fox at that. "yes, Pippen!" The teacher answered, eager to hear his response. "ahm- The Blue is for Wolf-dog hybrid and the Lime is undeeerrr...cat?" He answered nervously. The teacher beamed excitedly and clasped her hands together. "Yes! and that's what makes dawn here so special- you may take a seat now." She purred.
She placed the vile in a holder and reached for the empty testing supplies for students. Preparing to pass them out. As she turned away A student called out to her. "uh- Ms. Macaroon?" Pippen's gentle voice had spoke up from the back. The skunk professor raised her head with a gentle hmm acknowledging him. "Dawn's vile is changing color.."
She swiveled her head to the test tube in wonder. Sure enough it was changing to a deepened purple almost black. It began to bubble slowly and seemed thicker much like goo or ink. She stared for a minute and approached it slowly. "Well that's..., rather new..and strange-" The skunk murmured, adjusting the glasses on her muzzle. "sorry, that's never happened before- i don't really have a protocol for this kind of thing-" she nervously laughed to ease the class. there was a moment of silent pause and the tension could practically be smelled in the air. Dawn and Mistletoe glanced at each other quietly, sharing a knowing expression. "no matter!" the teacher waved it off. "It was probably just a bug or miscalculation, this is cheap testing equipment after all.. school budget!" she joked it off. The students let out sighs and chuckles knowing that it didn't mean dawn was sick or something. Or worse, contagious. "NOW!'' She placed a cork on the vile and clasped her paws together. "shall we get started class?"
After Class; Passing Period
"you think it was your demon?" Mistletoe queried. They walked in a rhythm beside each other as they headed for math. Dawn laughed and nodded. "yeah probably." there was a pause. "You know, sometimes I forget that I'm a demon.." Mistletoe glanced over to him only to find that he didn't wear a smile. His face seemed rather serious and he held a hard gaze ahead of him. He was calm but it could been seen he was deep in thought. "is it a bad thing that you're different? i mean.. you are the first born of your kind- to our knowledge at least.. you should be honored. Other than your parents and my grandpa, we don't know if there's any demons left in the world." She held her gaze on his face but he seemed distant. "not anymore at least-" he responded calmly. He blinked slowly after what felt like ages. "Sometimes I don't like being the only one, I feel like.. it's too much pressure to save my species. I'm not like my parents, they're both summoned demons. Peepaw Z too. I was born into the world- i don't even know if i really have the powers like they do." He began making gestures with his hands as he spoke. "they are all powerful hosts with control over their demons.. they have duties and rules to follow- i haven't even seen my demon." He flinched to mistletoe's touch as she put a hoof on his arm. "Dawn- why should it matter?..you don't have to make anyone proud of you- I like you just the way you are. even if you don't have a demon form. Maybe you just need to reach some maturing before it shows, you know?" she smiled trying to lighten the mood. He chuckled and put a paw on hers. "yeah, I probably don't have a demon form though. just-"
"Anxiety?"
"yeah! that!" He mused as they fell into laughter.
