The Curse of Beasts (BEASTARS)

Wilting Mind

Alan did his best to simply focus on himself rather than his quest for a new purpose, but it was easier said than done. In his eyes, the two were inseparable. While he did focus on himself over the break, he hadn't thought about the next step to take at Cherryton. That one issue glared in his mind, almost buzzing like a persistent insect. He ignored it when he could, but found himself letting his thoughts drift over to the books he read on humans.

It seemed like they integrated themselves on their own at first. Though it was only in small numbers, it said a lot about humans' history with animals. If they were like this in the past, why do it with so few? One of the books he read had talked about humans' affinity for being around each other, almost like wolves. It gave them a sense of unity in larger groups, supporting one another and becoming a combined force. He guessed the ones that stayed in animal society wanted to experience life with them and did so on their own accord.

After a few days, his search began again on the digital front. He decided to focus on human-animal relationships to find out more about integration. He found a few good results, like an essay detailing the dynamic between the two societies. It gave him a better idea of how they got along and the animals' fascination with humans. Even with that, it wasn't what he needed.

Even though it gave him some background on the relationship between humans and animals, he wanted to find an example of integration. He needed something that could tell him what a human could do in animal society. If he could find something about humans setting their place among animals, he could try and follow in their stead.

Unfortunately, he had no luck finding anything. Even worse, the search began to take its toll on him.

Alan walked down the hall in a daze— eyes lidded and movements sluggish. Sleep wasn't coming easy for him lately, sometimes from his thoughts and others from nightmares. The latter was worse, though, as he wouldn't be able to keep his mind off of them. He managed to hide it well enough from Todd, but the goat could easily see his lack of sleep.

The human soon found himself outside near a pillar, leaning against it with a yawn. He didn't know if he could keep this up for much longer, given his tired state. It was taking a lot out of him just to keep awake in class, and that was with other students taking glances at him! He is used to the attention at this point, but it's still irritating.

"Alan?", he jumped from his near-dozing to see Riz.

"Oh, hey.", he pulled a smile. "Sorry, I'm a little tired."

"I noticed you stumbling in the hall earlier. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I guess I'm in a bit of a slump.", he rubbed his arm slowly. "I've been searching some things up, but it hasn't gotten anywhere. Todd said I should take a break from it, but my mind keeps going back."

Riz nodded after a moment, "I'm guessing it's important to you if it keeps coming back to mind, right?"

"Yeah...", Alan shifted his gaze slightly.

"Well, you could try finding something else to keep your mind off of it.", the bear suggested. "Or at least take a nap after the next time you do your search. You don't look like you'll be able to stay awake for much longer."

He gave a small nod, "I have a free period right now, so I can probably get a little sleep before lunch."

"You wouldn't be able to search very well if you were dozing off in the middle of it."

The two chatted a bit more before going their separate ways, Alan heading to his dorm for a nap while Riz stood idle. He liked the human and found him pleasant to be around. When he first came to the Drama Club, he was as surprised as everyone else! Of all the clubs in the school, why that one?

Especially after...

He frowned slightly, feeling a tiny shiver down his spine.

It can't be helped I guess., he thought as he started back into the building. They're just so alike.

Now that he was really thinking about it, it was mainly in personality that Alan was similar to Tem. They both had optimistic attitudes and were able to make everyone smile. It was hard to explain, but Riz could see the alpaca in the human's place a number of times. On some occasions, it was hard to decipher which one he was seeing!

He winced as his head throbbed for a moment, making him scratch it in annoyance.

Maybe it's not healthy to think about it...

He rested a hand on his stomach and a small smile graced his lips, Yeah, he's almost like a human copy of you. Well, if he weren't part-wolf, at least...

~~*~~

Alan woke up feeling more well-rested than before, though he wasn't completely energized. To his surprise, he managed to fall asleep well and not have any nightmares. He wasn't sure if he'd even be able to stay asleep, given his previous state. Even so, he was glad to know he was able to get even a little rest.

As he got out of his bed, he noticed something on the side of his pillow. It was a folded sheet of paper, most likely placed while he was asleep. Did Todd put it there? The goat would probably be in class at the moment, so it couldn't have been him. A look at the door didn't show any signs of someone coming in, not that he could see outright. Picking up the paper, he unfolded it and saw writing on it. He had to squint his eyes a bit, as the lettering was in harsh lines as if whoever wrote it had trouble holding a pen. It took a bit of effort, but he was able to make out the message.

"MaIn HaLL BathrOOm. 12 PM TomOrrOw"

It was as cryptic as it was confusing. Who wrote the letter, and why do they want to meet? There was nothing to go on— no name, no trace of any kind. He didn't even have an idea of who the sender might be! Not many of his friends knew where he was roomed, but it also wasn't much of a secret. The human wasn't sure what to think of the note. Was it a prank? Was it someone trying to scare him or threaten him?

Well...at least it's a Saturday., he thought as he folded the note back up.

~~*~~

A.N: Okay, kiddies, mini story time!

So the last time I updated, last Wednesday, my area was hit with high winds because of a tropical storm that night. I'm alive, which is good, but my power got cut out, which is not good.

Even worse...it lasted TWO WHOLE DAYS! Can you imagine it..? Two days with no lights, no microwave, no internet...no YouTube videos?! Yeah, that set me back a ways, and in one of my online classes especially so!

Luckily, I still have my backlog of chapters, so I'm good on this front. To compensate for the missing chapter on Friday, I think this would be a good time to give a sneak peek of what's coming [relatively] soon:

"It's not your fault, you couldn't have known—"

"Oh, you're right!", he said with a dry laugh. "I'm not the one at fault, that's you! You're the one that caused all of this, and do you know why?"

"Alan, there's a time and a place..."

He stood out of his chair swiftly, "Don't talk to me about time and place, you're the last person I want to hear that from! I'm not the one that made us miserable, you are! If you had a shred of decency, if you even loved her—"

"How can you say that?!", the wolf snarled, bringing them both to silence.