Twisted Wonderland

A Dorm Suit

You stand in the Savanaclaw dorm lounge. You just finished explaining your situation to Leona who folds his arms.

"Not a chance."

Jack rubs the back of his neck. "You didn't even pause before answering..."

"No pets allowed in the dorm." Leona glances at Grim. "They shed all over the place."

Grim glares at Leona. "First of all, I AIN'T NO PET. Second of all, I DO NOT! Aren't you guys, like, a billion times furrier than me?"

Ruggie snickers. "This is about you, not us."

"For one thing," Leona continues. "our empty rooms haven't been cleaned in months. Dorm students use 'em as a dumping ground for their junk. Where are we supposed to put up two extra freeloaders?"

Ruggie hums to himself. His ears perk up with an idea. "Ooh, I know! Why don't you just bunk with 'em in your room, Leona?"

"Wait, what?" You say with wide eyes.

Leona glares at the hyena. "Ruggie, if you keep flapping your lips, you're about to find 'em sewn shut."

"Think of it this way, Leona." Ruggie continues. "You're used to havin' people do everything for ya, right? What if we put 'em in charge of serving you instead of charging for room and board?" Ruggie shrugs. "Seems like a win-win to me."

Leona let's out a low growl. "Ruggie, you little..."

"I dunno if it was that major magic I chugged a whole potion to use or what, but hard work's been wearin' me down more than ever lately. And if I might remind you, Leona, I busted my tail for you." Ruggie puts his hands on his hips. "So I'm thinkin' I'd heal a whole lot faster if I had these guys waiting on you for a while!"

Leona scoffs. "You're a regular mercenary sometimes."

"Hey now, I haven't said a single dishonest word!" Ruggie laughs.

You hug the stuffed bunny close as you place a hand to Leona's shoulder. He looks down at you while raising an eyebrow.

"I promise we won't be a nuisance, and if you'd like, I could even draw you another picture." You say hopefully. "I'll make a sketch better than the other one I gave you."

Leona stares into your eyes. His emerald eyes almost glowing in the night. Leona sighs and rolls his eyes.

"Just remember, even the slightest bit of trouble from you and you'll be out the door faster than you can say tuna casserole."

You smile up at the lion. "Thank you so much, Leona!"

Leona folds his arms. "Yeah, sure. Whatever."

Grim wipes the sweat from his brow. "At least now we don't gotta sleep outside."

Ruggie fist pumps the air. "All right. Jack, bring some spare bedding to Leona's room."

Jack smiles, nodding. "Will do."

Ruggie laughs, leaning in to whisper to you. "Lucky me! I get to coast down easy street for three whole days!"

"I heard that, you know. You're in for it later." Leona waves for you to follow. "Okay, herbivores. Get the lead out and follow me."

Leona leads you to his room. Clothes, jewelry and school supplies are half-hazardously strewn all over. You would be honest in saying you weren't surprised to find Leona's room in such a state.

"Daaang!" Grim walks around in a circle, admiring the room. "Now this is a wild man's room!"

"Quit yer gawkin'." Leona growls at the cat. "I'm goin' to bed now, and if you disturb my sleep, I'll turn you into shag carpet."

As soon as Leona plopped onto his bed, he immediately fell asleep.

"He was out in literally three seconds!" Grim says amazed.

You shush Grim. "Keep it down. We don't want to wake him."

Grim waves you off. "Yeah, yeah."

Grim hops into a the couch in Leona's room. He curls up in a corner and quickly falls asleep. Not feeling all that tired, you pull out a blank piece of paper.

You sit in the floor with your back to the couch and grab a notebook to use as a hard surface for your sketch. You think for a moment but then you know the perfect thing to draw.

After a couple hours of drawing, you were happy with how the sketch turned out. You drew Leona again but this time, magic glows all around him as he grins. His hair flowing with the magic swirling around him. You put it on the desk, spotting the previous one you drew. It was propped up against the wall.

You smile and walk over to the couch. You curl under the blankets and hug the soft bunny close. You close your eyes and welcome the sweet embrace of sleep.