We're Only Animals: Book 2 - Part 1: Building the Tower

Chapter 48 - A Friend in a Dark Place 2

The next day, Louis left Legosi after lunch, making his way to the entrance of the black market. Where was the clinic again?
One call with Bill later, he had his answer, and he began making his way toward the Panda's place of work. Once again, he had his gun in his satchel.
Luckily, the trip went without any hitches and he made it to the door, trying the handle and finding it unlocked. He opened it and stepped in, looking around. It was just one familiar place after another lately.
The clinic was seemingly empty, although the small bell that the door rang as it opened produced some heavy boot sounds from upstairs.
Louis stood still, waiting as the sound got louder.
The panda soon appeared, and once he met eyes with Louis, he sighed and shook his head. "Had a feelin' I'd see you around here soon."
"Is that so?"
"It is so! I'm currently treating a patient who said he was attacked by a group of three herbivores: an alpaca, a rabbit, and a deer without antlers." Gouhin walked forward and sat heavily on his old sofa. "That description brought to mind certain herbivores I know but his description of the deer didn't match the one I was thinking of. You crossed my mind then."
"I had antlers when I saw you last," Louis pointed out.
Gouhin laughed. "I mean how you supposedly tried to talk down a coyote who had grabbed you and clearly stated he was going to eat you! And then after he was tied up you proceeded to comfort him. That is unless that wasn't you in which case please let me know."
"No, that...was me."
"Knew it. Which means those two probably mentioned me, and now you're here because you want to know if I know anything about the little gang they've formed."
"I barely even got to speak," Louis chuckled. "I guess that's true. Yes."
Gouhin held up his hands and smiled. "Sorry, just showin' off my mind-readin' skills. I'll let you speak now."
"While yes, I am interested to know about their group, I am also interested to know about a mask party? I want to take Legosi for a night out there."
The bear leaned back. "Funny, because that gang you're traipsin' along with happens to wear masks when they're out doin' their operations. You're goin' there to get one."
"Okay, I get it, you know everything ever. It's not by choice."
"Talk to me, Louis. What's goin' on?"
The deer rubbed his forehead. "I don't want to say anything I'll regret. I guess what you need to know is that they're having me steal a mask from the party."
"I gathered. That, and the fact that you're bein' inducted against your will."
"How do you know all of this?"
Gouhin leaned back on the sofa, his strong arms brought up to rest on the back of it. "My entire job is the black market. I know all of the organizations that operate in it so I know whose toes not to tread on. I will say that I have a, uh, personal connection to the one we're talkin' about now. I'm sure you've been to their base. It's actually an abandoned establishment that used to illegally sell live herbivore children for consumption."
The panda's face twisted in pain and disgust as he explained. "The thought of that place always made me sick, but there was nothin' I could do. They covered their tracks and paid off the cops. I think what eventually got them shut down was a run in with one of the mob groups back here. When I heard the place was abandoned I rushed over to see if any of the kids were still there. I found a rabbit, an alpaca, and a deer."
Louis moved to sit down on the couch across from him. "Go on..."
"I brought them in. The poor animals couldn't speak and were clearly traumatized. How could they not be? They were too much for me to handle by myself so I put them into foster care with the hopes that they could be educated, undergo therapy, and be brought back into society. I visited them as much as I could, but they never did get adopted. I think parents could tell there was something...off about them. Especially the deer boy. Once they were too old to be kept they were turned out, and it seems the buck formed his little group from them and other herbivores he finds."
Gouhin turned and stared at Louis. "And you're the newest addition, it seems, although I was never under the impression that those herbivores were brought in against their will..."
"Well, no matter what, I was and I need you to tell me everything that might help me."
Gouhin grumbled and rubbed his forehead. "Do they still call themselves by their branded numbers?"
"They do," Louis nodded.
"So...Ichi, he calls himself. That kid...he definitely cracked. As he grew up he learned how to put on a mask but there's just...a rage inside of him that hasn't quelled. Can't say I blame him, but it's not healthy for him or other animals around him."
"I can tell. It's very clear he's very upset."
"I've spoken to him about his little group. Well, more like he shouted at me when I told him to give it up. It's too dangerous, and now that I know you got roped into it I'm even more worried. Does Legosi know about all of this?"
Louis lowered his voice. He nodded. "Yes...He's not supposed to or they'll kill him, but yes."
Gouhin sputtered and then looked down at the floor. "God, the fuck's happened to that kid?" he whispered to himself before turning his attention back to Louis. "What does he want with you?"
"I don't know. He says he needs me because I can create something called an Imaginary Chimera."
Gouhin looked at the deer like he was crazy. "The fuck? That ain't somethin' that I was ever made aware of."
"I don't know, Gouhin-san. It's all messed up and confusing."
The black and white animal sighed. "I dunno what to tell ya right now, kid, but I'll try and help the best I can. I'll give you the address to that party before you leave. In the meantime, how are you and Legosi? I mean, besides all this shit."
"We had a very rough patch and even broke up for a while, but it was never because of instinct troubles. It was just me being an idiot." He shook his head.
Gouhin simply nodded. "How are you two now, then?"
"Not good. Knowing Legosi's life is constantly in danger makes me sick to my stomach. It's just not fair. Why me? Because I used to be livestock in the black market? I escaped all that. Why am I back?"
Gouhin held a large hand up. "Wait, wait, wait, back it up! You used to be livestock back here!?"
"Yes, I did. Until I was adopted by my father, Oguma."
"Well, that I knew when I looked you up. Never knew you were..." he trailed off.
The buck looked to the side, sighing.
"You...you were raised in that tower too, weren't you?"
"I was, yes."
"Now it's all falling into place. He must see you as kin, then. After all, I'm assuming you all grew up knowing each other in that place."
"We did, yes," Louis nodded. "I just don't see why he needs me so badly or feels the need to threaten my husband."
The psychiatrist raised an eyebrow. "Husband? When did this happen?"
"After we broke up. By the way, we were successful in taking down the killer at Cherryton. Somehow."
"Yeah, news of that reached me. Gotta say, as much as I thought you all were damned stupid for doin' it, I was also proud."
"He kidnapped our sheep friend and told us he ate him...Turns out, it was only his leg that he ate, but if we hadn't taken any action..."
"No shit? You mean that pretty boy sheep that came here with the tiger?"
"I do," Louis sighed, looking down, thinking about their recent hangout. "Thanks to the tiger, Bill—the sheep is named Pina, by the way—we won. He...slit his throat, but Riz survived."
Gouhin nodded and looked like he wanted to say something when a loud buzzing resounded in the room. With a groan, the panda stood up. "That'd be my current patient. The coyote that attacked you. Seems he needs something in his room."
"Oh. I guess I should wait here...?"
"Yeah. I'll be right back." He walked out, his heavy boots stomping away.
Louis sighed, his hands on his legs, rubbing his knees, gently. He thought about the photos that Gouhin kept on the wall. Did he take a picture of this coyote, too? Surely.
Soon, Gouhin came back down, walking into the kitchen area.
"Hungry?" Louis asked.
"Thirsty," the doctor corrected. He walked out of the kitchen with a bottle of water before stopping. He turned around and looked at Louis. "Actually, could you come with me? I wanna see somethin'."
The deer tilted his head. "Alright." He got up, following him down the hall.
Gouhin's strong back was all Louis could see the whole trip, but his voice was still audible as he spoke. "I'm assumin' this ain't gonna trigger you or anythin'. I just wanna see how Riley might react to seein' you again. I doubt it'd be violent, so don't worry."
"Riley? Who? Oh, the coyote."
They went up the stairs, which was a part of the clinic Louis hadn't seen before. They passed a few doors before Gouhin knocked on one. "I'm comin' in with your water."
A small 'okay' was heard from the other side.
Gouhin opened the door and Louis saw the coyote that had tried to attack him just the previous day. Now he lay under the covers of a bed, looking small. His fur was messy and his eyes were tired and sad. The panda's large frame blocked Louis from view as he came forward with the water. "Here ya are."
"Thanks."
Louis stepped in, observing the canine, his arms crossed. He looked fragile and weak at the moment. As much as a carnivore could.
Riley's nose twitched when he caught the other scent and he looked up, ears perked. He stared at Louis for a second before looking away and scrunching up in the bed. Gouhin spoke to fill the silence. "Louis is an acquaintance of mine. Seemed like quite the coincidence, I thought."
Riley continued to say nothing, and instead drew the covers up to his shoulders and rolled to his side away from them. Louis noticed the lack of any restraints on the bed.
The deer looked to the panda. "Maybe I should go. He's clearly upset."
Gouhin seemed to agree. "Just something I wanted to see."
But before Louis could turn to leave, the coyote spoke. "It's okay."
The clinician cocked his head, and Riley turned over. "I...I need to apologize to him."
The deer raised a brow. "Hm?"
The canine met his eye, but it was only for a second before he had to look away again. "I know I don't deserve forgiveness. I'm a monster. But I really am sorry for what I did to you yesterday."
Louis looked to Gouhin. "Can I speak with him alone?"
The doctor grunted. "Considerin' you're armed, I'll allow it. Plus I don't think he'll do anythin'. Buzz me if you need me." And with that, the large doctor stomped out.
Louis stayed silent, looking at Riley. He moved and sat at the edge of the bed, pulling out his gun from his satchel. "Sorry. It's to be safe."
Riley sat up a little more and nodded, laying his hands out palm-up to show he meant no harm.
The buck looked down at the ground, keeping his grip on the pistol. "I'm sorry we handled you like that. I didn't know they would do that."
Riley's eyes widened and his pupils dilated. "H-huh? N-no, you three should have shot me! I had...gone rabid or something. Don't apologize!"
"I feel the need to. Did they hurt you? How's your legs?"
"I just feel numb. All over." Riley looked up and this time managed to maintain eye contact. "Why aren't you afraid of me?"
"Why should I be? You aren't doing anything right now."
"You weren't afraid of me yesterday when I tried to eat you, either. Didn't you understand what situation you were in?"
Louis gave him a warm smile. "Did you?"
The canine cocked his head. "Huh?"
"You were just confused. You may think you have wanted to eat me, but that wasn't the case. Of course, you've eaten herbivores before, haven't you?"
"...Only meat from the market. I never...directly ate one."
"And you still haven't. Thank goodness for that," Louis chuckled. His smiled, observing Riley's canine features and feeling calmed by them.
"I...I don't know. I don't know what got into me. Me and my friend just kept talking about hunting live prey and we got so into the idea that when we saw you three yesterday...something came over us."
"And why do you think you were talking about that? You don't really want to be a murderer, do you?"
Riley shrugged. "When we talked about it, we just...didn't think about it. The meat from the black market is...just meat. We never see the animal it comes from. And when we talked about eating actual herbivores, we just...never thought of them as people. But talking to you now I..." He looked up, and tears welled in his eyes.
He shuddered and looked away, folding his arms across his chest. "I really could have killed you. You're so n-nice and I could have killed you for a lousy fuckin' meal."
"And that's why I didn't react in fear. If I had, I might be food right now. But inside, I think I knew I would be okay." Louis sighed, looking at the gun. "I don't think I would have actually shot you, to be honest."
Riley cleared his throat as he tried to regain composure. "H-how are you like this? Are you a psychiatrist or something?"
"I'm not. I'm very close to a few carnivores, especially one particular canine." He held up his wedding ring. "Funnily enough, fangs and claws are maybe my favorite parts."
Riley stared with his jaw locked in place. He managed a snort. "So, the reason you didn't run away is because you're kind of a fetishist?"
"I guess you could say that. Call me a freak, I'm willing to own it." He didn't act weird or anything. Louis was just...soft in word and demeanor.
Riley managed to laugh. "Ah, it was a joke! You're just...really easy to talk to. I've never personally met a herbivore who was romantically involved with a carnivore before."
"Not many people have. A lot of animals would say it's a dangerous game, but honestly, I have almost never felt in danger with Legosi."
The dog blinked at hearing the name. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but he refrained. Instead, he said, "I guess that's why you weren't afraid to pet me after I got tied up, despite having no muzzle..."
"And you didn't try anything," Louis remarked. "I was worried about you, naturally."
"When you did that, that's when I realized I had fucked up."
"I saw it in your eyes."
"Yeah...turns out that 'friend' I was with was able to free himself because Dr. Gouhin said I was the only one there. Guess he didn't really care about me. I don't think I made any friends since coming back here to eat meat all those years ago. I didn't realize just how much I let it consume my life until yesterday."
Louis sighed, nodding. He laid on his back, looking at the ceiling. "Has your friend come to visit?"
Riley shook his head. "Either he doesn't care or he doesn't know. But really, all I'm thinking about now is all of the herbivore friends I lost touch with since I started eating meat on a regular basis..."
Louis' muzzle was the only thing that could be seen past the blanket. "People should care more. When I heard you were here, I had the urge to see how you were doing. Luckily, Gouhin-san asked me to come see you himself."
"He's a good doctor," Riley stated. "I think...I'll be okay under his care. I don't want my little brother to see my name in the paper..."
"No, you don't. I'm Louis, by the way. It's nice to meet you."
"Oh, yeah. Gouhin mentioned our names, but I guess we didn't properly introduce ourselves." Riley held his clawed hand out tentatively, and while not as big as Legosi's, it was still unmistakably a canine hand.
Louis turned his head and reached his hand out, shaking it. "And no, I don't think you're about to use those claws on me."
"Never again." The coyote looked to the side, his ears folding and twitching. "Uh, you can say no, but...could you pet me again?"
"Only if you answer some questions I have."
Riley nodded. "Go ahead."
Louis moved along the edge of the bed, sitting next to his torso and lifting his hand, stroking between his ears, gently. "What's eating meat like?"
The carnivore sighed at the deer's touch and sunk down into the bed. "It...it gives you this, coursing feeling throughout your body. It energizes you. It makes all of the food you've ever eaten taste like shit, in comparison."
"Go on." The herbivore would have asked if he should put the gun away, but now that they were talking about meat, he needed to be careful. "Is it like a drug as everyone says?"
Riley leaned into his hand and closed his eyes. "A little bit, although blood is a little more effective in that role. I guess it depends on the carnivore. Meat always made me feel calmer, or at least, that's what I thought."
"What's the closest you've ever gotten to a herbivore?"
"Well, when I was younger, I had herbivore friends, like I mentioned. And they would pet me like this...and I realize that herbivores are really good at petting."
"So what happened, Riley?"
"What do you mean?"
"What changed? When did you eat meat? Why did you eat meat?"
Riley grunted. "Well, it's seen as a transition to adulthood for carnivores, so naturally I started going to the black market after high school."
Louis made a face, and moved up to rub his ears. It may have been strange for an herbivore to do this to a carnivore, but Riley was still a canine, after all. "You've seen what meat does to carnivores before, haven't you?"
He nodded. "Hell, I saw what it did to me yesterday..."
"Your eyes glazed over. Did you know that?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. Everything became a blur, and then the next thing I knew I was tied up."
"Imagine if you had snapped out of it and there was blood and carnage everywhere. All over the ground, your hands, your face..."
Riley stiffened up, but the continuous pets from the deer prevented him from moving too drastically. "I-I know. It's all I've been able to think about until now."
Louis shook his head. "And my own instincts would have let you, if I hadn't been thinking logically, of course."
"What?"
"Herbivores have instincts to be eaten. They never teach about it. I found it out the hard way."
"I see...I can smell him, by the way. On you..."
"I'm sure you can. We're almost always all over each other."
"Has he ever eaten meat?"
"Never. And he never will. Hopefully..."
Riley looked downward at that. "I hope...I can find a normal again. I don't want to feel broken anymore."
"We're all broken in some way. And that's normal. You can't really be fixed because there's no such thing. You can only change to be better."
The coyote just sighed again, leaning his head into the petting more.
Louis rubbed a bit quicker. "Well...I can be your first herbivore friend on your way to getting better, if you want."
Riley laughed again. "Kind of awkward how we met because I tried to eat you!"
"That's how Legosi and I met," Louis laughed along with him.
Riley pulled back and raised an eyebrow. "What? Really?"
Louis' hands stayed up for a moment before pulling back and going on his lap. "Yes. He pounced on me, but when he smelled my scent and realized it was me, he ran off."
"Oh, so he already knew who you were?"
"We went to the same school and I was rather popular. Of course, I was an asshole back then."
"I see." Riley looked down, staring at his claws. "I'll need a lot of help from Dr. Gouhin, but perhaps when I feel well enough to go back to society...I'll take you up on your friendship offer."
Louis grinned again. "I look forward to it."
There was silence, broken by the coyote clearing his throat. "I'll let you go now. It was nice to meet you properly, though, Louis. I think it really helped."
"I think it helped me understand a bit more, too. And you're welcome for the pets," the eyepatched deer smirked.
"Before you go, though, I just want to ask: what happened to your eye?"
"...I was going to become a Beastar. You know what that is, right?"
He scoffed. "Hey, I'm not stupid! Of course I know!"
"I never said you were. Anyway, I was on the track to becoming a Beastar and a few carnivores thought the carnivore social standing would be affected so they...kidnapped me."
"Oh..."
"...The leader, who called himself Alpha, was just a psychopath in the end. I took his eye out with my antler and he took my eye out with his claws and then proceeded to basically almost kill me."
"And yet you still give us a chance..."
"Always."
"How did you get out of that situation?"
"Legosi saved me. Can you believe it? And he's a carnivore!"
The canine smiled. "I guess that's one way to win someone over."
"I guess so. I got taken to a tower, too, and he saved me, yet again, after we were separated for three months. Once again, he's a carnivore."
"Wait, a tower?"
"Not really a tower. It was my father's home and place of work. It's a big building. I was just being dramatic."
"Huh. Sounds like you two have a lot of history. He sounds like an amazing carnivore."
"You have no idea," Louis grinned, huffing. "I guess I should leave, then. Do you want my number?"
Riley nodded. "Sure."
"Open your phone and hand it over."
Riley did so and Louis plugged his number into his contacts.
The buck sighed and got up. "See you later, Riley. Call me or text me any time."
"Alright. Thanks, Louis. Seeya."
And with that, Louis left to find Gouhin once again to get more information on the mask party.
The panda was on the couch, smoking a cigarette. He looked over when he heard Louis. "So, how'd it go?"
"It went very well. We're friends now."
Gouhin let out a short bark of laughter. "You must be some sort of dog tamer!"
"I guess so! That's sort of what my apron says!"
"What? Apron?"
"When I cook for Legosi and I. It's just a joke..."
Gouhin still looked confused. He took a drag of his cigarette and handed Louis a slip of paper. "That's the address of the mask party. I also put the clinic's phone number there in case you ever need it."
"Thank you so much. I'm guessing you can't really do anything against them, can you?"
"I'll try and think of somethin' but at the moment, no. I'm only one animal and my job isn't to try and take down gangs. Maybe I'll try and reach out to San or Kyuu. They were always more reasonable than Ichi."
"Alright. Is there anything else we should discuss before I leave?"
"Be careful at the party. It's a place where carnivores and herbivores go to hide their species and identity so they can experiment sexually with each other. Carnivores are forced to be a bit inebriated in case of instincts, but that's probably not your concern anyhow. Just don't let anyone there try and take advantage of you."
"Sexually?"
"From what I've heard from my patients, yes."
"Legosi will be there. I'll be fine."
"Alright. I hope he doesn't mind alcohol."
"We've been drunk before. I'll keep tabs on him."
The panda laughed again. "Man, I'd pay to see that kid drunk! Anyway, you two be careful! I'll watch out for ya's the best I can!"
Louis stood up, bowing. "Thank you, sir. Call me if you figure out anything, please."
"Gimme your number first!"
"Oh? Alright." He gave him the info. "There. Is that all?"
"Should be it. Good luck!"
"Thank you, Gouhin-san!" He walked to the door. "Have a good day." And then he left.