Bare Your Fangs

Part One

It was very nice out that day, although it was nighttime. I've always been a huge fan of the cold, nighttime air. The others were having a good time as well. I loved hanging out with my group of friends. There were about ten of us, all circled around a campfire we had built. Seven carnivores and three herbivores.

I fell into the herbivore category.

You know, I'm quite proud of myself. Most herbivores would run the second they saw a group like this, but I like the diversity. Plus, we still have the other two, a llama and her pygmy boyfriend. The other seven were all wild cards as well. We had a polar bear, a bengal tiger, a falcon, a raven, gray wolf, mountain lion, and a spotted hyena.

We all understood and respected our differences. This was a great group of loving, and loyal friends. It was scary, but I needed carnivores in my life. Life gets really lonely without them. I mean, of course I kept my distance, as all herbivores should, but I still think we were very close. Shit! I thought, I had completely forgotten about the marshmallow I was roasting and it had melted into a fiery mess.

"Geez," Ren, the bengal tiger, chuckled. "Caught you in a daydream?"

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that,"

"No worries, here, have another one." He handed me a pink marshmallow.

"Thanks,"

The carnivores were super nice to us herbivores, probably out of pity. Kinda sucked. I think I was valued by them, but in most cases, carnivores perception of herbivores will always be blind-sided by our weakness, and vice versa.

...

After we finished up at the fire pit, I was following the others when some herbivores had given our group the side eye from across the street. We went our separate ways from them, of course, but I couldn't help flip them off in my head.

"Oh my god, are those poor herbivores okay?" I imagined them saying. It's not fair. Carnivores shouldn't have to face that kind of discrimination. I wonder how the others feel...?

And that's when I realized someone else had noticed. It was Tal, the spotted hyena, bearing his teeth in scorn. It was just for a second, but it felt nice that someone felt the same way. I hope he didn't take it personally. None of the others seemed to notice, so I felt as though I should talk to him about it.

Later

We walked through the outskirts of town before going back in. It was best for us to be discreet while traveling, although I wasn't complaining. The shimmer of the sea was so beautiful from the railing. And it's even more beautiful when your not running into a pole! God, I was such a clutz. No one noticed, thankfully.

"Hey, Mury," Dao, the llama, greeted. Everyone shortened my name to "Mury" as it was easier to say. "Do you wanna go karaoke with me and Don?"

Her smile was comforting, but... "Sorry, I've got cram school."

"Aww, bummer," She pouted comically. "Well, see ya!"

The two walked off into the distance, away from the group. The others were still walking near the railway, but I had to get home. Under normal circumstances, I would've been ecstatic to hang out with Dao and Don, but I really did have cram school. I started walking a bit faster across the street before getting halted by Tal.

"Hey, are you going home?" He asked.

"Yeah, I've got cram school. History test tomorrow and I'm definitely not ready for it."

"Um, are you sure wanna walk home alone?"

"Oh, I'm fine, but if you wanna join me you can."

He looked forward and found the group was still walking. "Yeah,"