J36: Prototype 4b

Chapter 2.1

Let’s step back for a moment to talk about us rather than what’s been happening.

I’m Nex. Nexus Tom Kovan to be exact. A 48-year-old jackal anthro, born in Germany near Cologne. That’s also where the company which my family runs, was founded: Kovan Laboratories. Leading Company in the scientific research and development of modern technology.
Since the stuff the company made needed to be tested, I was usually the one to give the prototypes a try, since they didn’t want to risk that anyone gets hurt.
So why am I the one to do the testing? Well, I’m immortal since birth due to a genetic mutation. No one can really explain how or why it happened, but my family came up with the idea of using me for testing since I can’t be killed in case something goes wrong. I’m somewhat fine with it though, since I get to test neat stuff, some of which are interesting, some aren’t.
The company has two mayor establishments: one near Cologne, and one in Safe Haven, which is where we moved to when I was 16, and where we live now. We moved there because of the academy which is in that city: Zoophoenix Academy. And that’s where I met Jack.

Jack’s full name is Jackson Wells. 49 years old, and a jackal anthro as well, born in the US and moved to Safe Haven when he was 11. His backstory might be more interesting, yet sad:
When he was young, his father got ran over by a truck. He’s related to the devil’s family, which is why he’s cursed with bad luck and immortality on request of his mother. In fact, Satan’s son is Jack’s cousin. Other than that, before I met him, he was one of the people at school who was pretty lonely, not by choice – others avoided him due to his curse.

We met halfway through the first year. I first found him getting bullied, which was, according to others, the usual. After I decided to step in and send them off, after a while of exchanging Not-so-PG sentences and a few fists send their way, I helped Jack up and checked if he was okay. We are close friends since that day.

Huh? You ask what an anthro is? Well lil’ Jimmy, lemme tell ya.
Besides the humans, there's also another race, which is the anthros. Anthros is the more widely used term for “anthropomorphic”, which describes an animal with body structure and traits of humans. To simplify: Animals walking on two legs

Stepping in on Jack getting bullied might’ve been one of the best decisions I could’ve done, in his view. In the following years, I helped him in many situations, mostly emotional things, but also uhm…physical ones, as in sending fists to the bullies again, and exchanging Not-so-PG sentences again.

But he also helped me whenever I needed it.

And I’m thankful to him for that.