Ballad Of The Stupid Wolf

3

  Louis beckoned Legosi into his office. His smile had faded a little bit, but was still present. And creepy. Legoshi's fur stood on end, while Louis leaned forward somewhat ominously.

  Louis sat down in his seat. Legoshi walked towards the front of the desk, lowering his posture to even out the height difference between him and Louis. This caused Louis to essentially be looking down toward him. Louis flicked on his clip-on lamp. It didn't turn on.

  "Hey, Legosi. I dread to ask this of you, but do you perchance have any batteries?"

  Legosi normally wouldn't, but he always needed to have batteries during drama club. This didn't mean he actually had any batteries, it was merely an observation.

  Legosi shook his head, before remembering that Louis couldn't see well in the dark. The wolf then said, quietly, "No, sorry, Louis, sir."

  Louis chuckled. "I guess we're discussing this in the dark. Spooky."

  "Wh-we could, um, just turn on the overhead light?" Legosi suggested.

  "I fear I have already sat down, Legosi."

  "Ah, okay," said Legosi, awkwardly.

  "I bet you're wondering why I called you here," said Louis, smiling somewhat wider.

  "Why... wouldn't I?" asked Legoshi.

  Louis paused. "I don't know, Legoshi. It was a rhetorical question."

  "Ah," said Legoshi, affirmatively.

  Louis nodded. "Anyways, I bet you're wondering why I called you here." Louis pulled out a peice of paper that neither of them could read, because it was dark. Even in the dark, Legoshi's sight was based largely off of motion.

  "Fuck," said Louis.

  Legoshi sighed and turned on the overhead light, illuminating the words on the paper.

  It was blank.

  This was quite possibly the biggest dissapointment in his life, and he had eaten soggy food before.

  Louis turned the paper towards himself, and took out a pen. It was a fancy pen. The kind of ink pen that rich people and calligraphers used.

  "We need to make some plans. You see, now that we're not raising any money from tickets, we seriously need to do some fundraising. We need to determine just how much money we need for equipment, software, etcetera, and then determine a way to get it. We've got a lot of the sound design covered, but as you're the lighting and VFX guy, we definitely need to talk some things over."

  Legoshi gulped. "But Louis, we have an inherent conflict with each other which hasn't actually gone away!" He had started talking with his hands, so he quickly put them behind him. No matter how much Louis wanted Legoshi to be assertive, the wolf simply could not convince himself.

  Louis rolled his eyes. "I'm not even supposed to be with Haru anyway. We're just, uh, for lack of a better term, friends with benefits. Who kiss sometimes. I don't know exactly what you want with her, but it's not like my relationship with Haru has ever been exclusive. Just don't eat her, okay? You brute?"

  Legoshi stopped for a moment. Had this whole battle been essentially one-sided?

  "Oh," said Legoshi.

  Louis rolled his eyes again, for dramatic effect. "I probably wouldn't even save her if she got abducted by a gang of lions."

  "That's oddly specific," said Legoshi.

  Louis rolled his eyes for a third time. He was really nailing the expression of exhaustion and apathy. You could tell he was a great actor.

  Legoshi could also tell that Louis was kind of sad while saying this. His cute little deer ears were drooping a bit, and his posture went slightly inwards.

  Louis slid the paper a bit closer to himself. "Anyways. I would like us to come up with a list of equipment and software we're going to need as we transition to digital. We don't need to do it right this second, but please do some research on the subject."

  Legoshi nodded.

  "Am I free to go?" he asked.

  Louis paused. "Legosi?" he asked.

  "Yes, Louis?" Legoshi said, still instinctually shying away.

  "Are you nervous about all this?" Louis asked. "You're curling in on yourself again."

  Legoshi paused. He straightened out his posture some. "Sorry Louis, it's a force of habit." He had already gone back to slouching by the time he was done saying this, but Louis just sighed.

  "Some wolf you are," the deer said. "I'd probably make a better wolf than you, to be fully honest."

  Legoshi sighed. "I... agree with that, I guess."

  The deer just rolled his eyes. YET AGAIN. "Are you not going to defend your own pride as a wolf? If I said such a thing to Bill, he'd be..."

  Legoshi frowned. "Yeah, but nobody even likes Bill. If he's the image of a perfect carnivore, how does that encourage me to be one?"

  "Nobody likes you either," Louis pointed out.

  "Jack likes me!" Legoshi said, defensively.

  "He's probably only pretending to like you. I keep on starting to like you, and then you do something dumb, and I dislike you again. You're one of the worst carnivores I've ever met," said Louis.

  Legoshi whined, tears building up in his eyes. He didn't care much about what Louis thought of him, but the thing about Jack really hurt.

  "I bet you ate Tem, thinking it would make you a better carnivore, but even that failed, and now you just have a guilty conscious," Louis asserted.

  Legoshi shook his head desperately, tears really pooling up in his eyes. "NO! NO! I didn't eat Tem, Louis! I'd never-"

  "Are you not the one who attacked Haru?" asked Louis.

  Legoshi paused. "Wh-"

  "It only makes sense. You were outside by the fountain that night when she first had the injury. Zoe said you were distracted. And then you suddenly became obsessed with Haru?"

  Legoshi involuntarily growled a bit, stopping quickly. "S-sorry, Louis. I didn't mean to growl. You're just... making some dangerous... serious accusations! I'd- I'd never hurt Haru. I'd lay down my life to protect her!"

  Louis chuckled. "Yeah right, because we both know you're so assertive."

  Legoshi began to stammer apologies and denials of the accusation, repeating himself a bunch of times.

  "Legoshi?" asked Louis, gaining the wolf's attention. "I don't care if you did or not. It is, after all, just your nature. But you need to cover your tracks better. I think that's all for now. Please report back your research next week." Louis smiled as though he hadn't just said a bunch of stuff that was totally out-of-line. Legoshi turned around, exiting the room without saying goodbye, feeling quite angry. If Legoshi had been any other carnivore, Louis wouldn't have DARED to say such things!

  Wouldn't have dared to imply Jack didn't like him. Imply that he ate Tem.

  Though... Louis was right. He did attack Haru.

  Maybe Louis's assessment of my character wasn't even all that wrong, thought Legosi, slouching even further than before. He began to tear up again, and lumbered all the way back to his dorm.