Kummer/Sweet Reason pt2
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Kummer walked down the clean, gray hallways of the Grandville facility of the Corporation. It was nowhere near the lockdown time, given by the number of Employees and when he last ate, it was sometime after lunch he thought. In his hands he held the three bags of Cheetos splashed with kanji and large pictures of smiling strawberries. He gazed at them with a sigh, then trudged onward, deeper into the base.
Security had barely given him a look with the bags. Kummer had worried over that. Alpha hybrids were not permitted equipment. Some he knew were permitted toys along the lines of allowing animals toys to keep themselves entertained and out of trouble - an experience he actually did not have currently. Alphas were also not supposed to eat anything outside the dictated diet. Both of those were reasons why he had been concerned that the bags would be taken away. The eye-rolling that Security did on seeing the Cheetos was fortunately the worst Kummer had to suffer.
I have no idea if the tiger is even here, he thought while he neared the Alpha cages. I’ll have to hang onto them if he’s not, I guess.
Hugging the bags close to his chest, he hunched his shoulders and tried to appear harmless to the Employees that wandered by. No one gave him any more than a cursory glance. He existed and wasn’t causing problems. Apparently, that seemed to be enough for them to indicate he was “operating as designed”.
Past the final corner, the young wolf Alpha stopped dead in his tracks. Near the Alpha cages, Iceberia was lumbering near the open cage door. He was either going to or coming from somewhere, but no matter what the big tiger Alpha was in no hurry.
Kummer took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. His panther instincts jumped up immediately on seeing the tiger, urging him to ambush the bastard and mark out territory. The wolf instincts screamed to watch and let the stupid tiger go by, just wait for a chance later. Warring instincts made Kummer’s head spin. With a great force of will, he mentally took hold of his instincts by the proverbial scruff of the neck and pinned them flat, keeping them quiet. It was the first time he really had been able to manage that. He didn’t need either one harassing him. He needed them working with him.
Fehral said ‘be brave’, he told himself to try and bolster his confidence. I can do this. I can do this. He’s no different than that stupid Scottish Terrier I had as a kid who’d go eat a whole bar of soap, throw up and do it again. He let out a slow breath. Only this one outweighs me by a good damn bit and has ice powers.
Iceberia was almost to the cages. Kummer glanced at some of the lions and other Alphas that lounged nearby. They shot the tiger dirty looks but nothing worse sprung from it. Fehral told him he needed to make sure the other Alphas saw him do this. He figured the bats and lionesses would do.
Kummer took another breath to steady his nerves. This is stupid. Fehral is right, if I don’t get it together they’ll kill me. I am a whole ‘person’. Ok, they cut me up … I’m still alive. I’ve just got to get used to that ‘me’ is kinda animal sometimes. But I can think. I’ve a mind. I’m not some jumble of parts. I’m a living being. All of me. I just gotta get used to and remember that. I gotta survive. Like Fehral was trying to get me to see ...I have to be ‘Kummer’. All of me. God, that’s going to be hard. He clutched the bags protectively. I can do this. Just … keep it together. I am not pieces parts. I can do this. What is that Sutra keeps saying? Yeah … ‘Kummer, go do something interesting’.
Quietly, with his most innocent look on his furred face, he padded over to Iceberia. Kummer approached from the tiger-man’s front, right side. That way, he hoped, Iceberia would not feel trapped, surprised or ambushed. Kummer wanted to avoid Iceberia attacking him outright.
But … he might knock me around anyway, the young wolf mused, then sighed dejectedly. If he does, he does.
While Kummer approached, he kept his eyes downcast, or at most on the tiger man’s chest. Either way, his instincts suggested that was enough to avoid accidentally making a challenge to Iceberia. When he was just at arm’s reach to the large, white-furred Alpha, he stopped and cleared his throat. The three lionesses watched curiously from their huddle, tense and ready for problems - it was that little Canadian wolf again, after all. In the other cage, two of the bat Alphas quickly hushed their constant prattle and watched the scene wide-eyed.
“You, me no get along right a‘way,” Kummer said timidly. “So, Kummer find peace offering. Hear you like Cheetos? Kummer find.” The young wolf-hybrid shrugged. “Hope Iceberia like strawberry? Find three bags, you keep all.” Kummer took a deep breath. “Please … no hit again?” He asked casting up sorrowful eyes to the tiger Alpha, holding out the three bags of strawberry coated Cheetos. “Kummer try find more if Iceberia like … please … no more hit Kummer?”
Iceberia paused to scowl at Kummer. The tiger’s eyes flicked down to the bags of Cheetos being offered, then back to the smaller white and gray-furred Alpha. Iceberia growled, mostly for effect. Finally, he snatched the bags out of Kummer’s grip. “Give,” he rumbled, then shoved the young wolf Alpha to the ground with a hard push. “Pashol na khui,” Iceberia said in Russian, followed by a grunt of, “Moodeela.”
Kummer got to his feet and blinked in surprise. He watched while the tiger man walked away with the Cheetos bags clutched in his meaty fists. Surprised, he slowly backed away when Iceberia jerked open one of the bags then plunged his white-furred muzzle inside. Methodically, he munched on the pink-coated Cheetos.
Time to go, Kummer thought watching Iceberia walk away. He noticed the other Alphas nearby, the lion pride, the bats, they were watching Iceberia and then Kummer strangely. It was as if they suspected something had happened, but no one had enough information to pin down what.
Quickly loping away down the hall as casually as he could manage, he went to the bath areas. Digging around, Kummer located an old bar of pine tar soap. He took an experimental sniff. It was pungent. He could see how that would bother the feline Alphas. With a shrug, he stripped off his leather bodysuit, then started to scrub his fur using first the pine tar, then some other Company Authorized shampoo - not that anyone was strict on its use.
I forgot to ask how long it would take before … well … that stuff takes effect. Kummer mused. I’ll make this kinda quick then get back.
He rinsed and dried himself as best as his fur would allow, then used one of the nearby air vents to dry his undercoat - he knew what ‘wet dog’ smelled like and didn’t want to make anyone suffer through that.
Once dry and smelling ‘clean’, Kummer slipped back into his leather bodysuit. Still there was no sound, no roar of outrage. It was quiet. Carefully, Kummer walked back to the Alpha cage area. He half-wondered if the tiger had eaten himself stupid on the Cheetos. Though that in and of itself might prove to be a cosmic event given how ‘bright’ the tiger-hybrid already was.
Thick as a brick comes to mind, Kummer mused while he walked down the hallway.
By the time he arrived back at the cages, all was about as he left it. The few lions that were in attendance were grouped in one cage. Bats held out a private huddle in another and had fallen to more gossip-whispering. Iceberia? The white-furred king of self-debauchery had reclaimed his corner throne, and was heaping praise on his “number one” fan. Kummer rolled his eyes in disbelief, then started towards the cage he was usually assigned to.
The wolf Alpha took no more than three steps then stopped dead. He heard before he saw, the lioness group sniggering. The bats, incessant gossips that they were, stole glanced over their shoulders towards “his majesty”. Kummer eased over next to a design workstation where he could get a better look. Just then, Iceberia came up for a brief breath of air. Kummer’s eyes went wide.
At least a third of all the fur on the tiger’s muzzle had already started to fall away in soft, willowy plumes, leaving a lovely, pink hairless snout behind. Save for missing wrinkles, the white-furred tiger had a good start on resembling a hairless Egyptian house cat. Kummer snickered, keeping the larger of his amusement to himself.
Iceberia saw Kummer and snarled a little, obviously unaware of his current condition. As the wolf-Alpha watched, yet more white fur drifted away in steady progression. Without another comment, “his worship” returned to “worshipping”.
That is until Brigid’s Verse sauntered into the room.
Kummer’s eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. He wasn’t actually afraid of Verse, he just didn’t like her. It was more the anticipation of her discovering her prized “Squeeze Toy Alpha” or whatever Iceberia was to her at that moment. The young wolf Alpha couldn’t stand much more, he turned towards the design workstation.
Oh look, a workstation. How’d that get there? Kummer thought, nearly dying of amusement inside. I think I’ll punch a few random buttons for awhile.
The jumble of words that flowed from Brigid’s Verse, that oddly enough bore a strong resemblance to a Longbow air-raid siren, echoed through the room. Kummer didn’t pay attention to what she actually said, there really wasn’t any need. Hearing: “My poor tiger!” and “that’s so disgusting! What are you thinking?” which was combined with the flow of vanity-laden moral outrage, left the wolf with a fit of giggles that distracted him to tears.
Kummer tapped a button at random, then another. Nothing really happened, not that he expected the workstation to produce anything. However, a camera would have been ideal.
The Killing Dance had been sitting in the common area pretending to be interested in Ceylon Spinel’s droning on about playing poker, when the shrill voice of the Princess cut through the air like one of his swords. This was what he had been sitting here waiting for, he thought. He rose smoothly, turned to investigate and give the new wolf Hybrid back up if he needed as he said he would. The almost alien voice of Spinel came from behind him as he made his way across the room, “ Pics or it didn’t happen”, he said to the dancer. Coming into the commotion filled room the Dance leaned one shoulder against the wall, recorder in one hand and an emotionless face as he watched.
In the cage, Iceberia looked up from his “royal calisthenics” at the fifth shriek from Brigid’s Verse. He glanced outside the cage, giving her only a second of an irritated look, before adopting his ‘dumb tiger’ mannerism.
Which did not quite match up to his steadily growing, self-administered, “poodle cut”.
Outside the cage, the red-haired Delta clamored for Medical. Iceberia frowned. He had the sense he missed something. He just wasn’t sure what. Thinking it over he picked up the last bag of Cheetos and shook it. Satisfied there was in fact a few more pieces left, he plunged his muzzle in.
Then he saw the fur. Specifically his own. Where it was no longer providing a proper shrine to his “royal scepter”.
In a panic he started to roar, only the plastic bag was still around his muzzle. The roar was aborted before it began, instead it sounded as if a drunk kitten just tried to bark like a seal. The tiger swiped at the bag in a panic, shredding it instantly. Cheetos, crumbs and white fur flew in a snowstorm around the beleaguered Alpha. He backed away in a panic seeing the extent his kingdom had suffered an “early harvest”.
“Iceberia!” Brigid’s Verse said shrilly. “Get out here this instant!”
Stunned into stupid obedience - which really was a short trip - the tiger Alpha stumbled out of the cage. He looked around the room, at the other Alphas and then at his Delta.
Behind him, Hasira, a lioness, managed to control her snickers long enough to say, “Nice doo. Lose fur, look like poodle dog. Not know you French.”
“Oo la la,” a bat said barely audibly.
In the doorway, just arrived from a puzzle-solving drill, Fehral made that pfft noise she used for dismissal or derision. She stalked into the room further, approaching the tiger to just barely outside swinging distance, well within pouncing range for either one. Ignoring Brigid's Verse, or pretending to at any rate, Fehral cocked her head to the side slightly as she appraised Iceberia's new look very blatantly. Turning very slightly to address Hasira, without quite taking her eyes off the black-white-and-pink tiger, Fehral corrected, "Oh, better. Tiger lips and cheeks all pretty pink tint now." Back to facing Iceberia directly, she concluded, "You look like bitch dog."
From within one of the cages, another bat who was snickering to the point of crying managed, “Hentai tiger … ‘Tiger Pink’.” Then the Alpha collapsed in a fit of giggles.
Iceberia's clawed fists shook with rage. He glared at the bats, the lions, over at Kummer, then eventually at Fehral. With a deep breath he tried to roar a challenge - naturally a precursor to an attack - only three bags of drug-laced Cheetos had taken their toll. He coughed as the powdered snack food went down the wrong pipe. Instead of a roar, the tiger managed a kitten-like ‘mewl’ that ended with a squeak. Wide-eyed he gripped his throat in shock.
A strange and chilling song came from behind the group, a sound none of them had ever heard before...laughter from the Killing Dance. It was real whole-hearted laughter. He was laughing so hard that he had slid down the wall and onto his rear. His hand wavered holding the camera and his other arm gripped his stomach. Tears were flowing down the always controlled Delta’s cheeks, but even this sound this sound of mirth was a bit chilly to hear, it was unnerving really.
Fehral wanted to turn and look, first to make sure her Delta had not somehow lost his damned mind, second purely for the new sensation of seeing her Delta completely out of control. She didn't, though, because she had to push the tiger Alpha just a little farther if the lesson was to have any chance of success. She let her head straighten again, made clear she had trouble taking her amused gaze off the primary site of damage long enough to really focus on his face.
"You been told no eat stupid Cheetos," she pointed out. "You no listen. Now you fur all fall out and you turn into silly bitch dog. Do to you self. You want fight over it, not gonna change that you do to you self ... but okay. Bring it, princess. 'Less that gone away forever along with you fur and you big manly voice. Maybe you can be cute instead?"
From the cage, another bat giggled, “Pica-pink... I choose you!” Suddenly, all the bats melted into a fit of giggles.
About that time, through the main doorway to the Alpha cages, a Medical team arrived as was required in response to any ‘medical emergency’. Three men and one woman, they were dressed in the usual armored coveralls. One carried a medical bag, two a portable stretcher - it was the Alphas after all. Only they made it no more than two steps inside the room before they stopped in amazement.
The lead medic, and the most senior of the team, turned to his co-worker. “Ok, that’s twenty you owe me. He denuded himself before he went blind.”
“Bullshit! We’ve not checked his vision.”
“Screw that, he’s standing there like a poster child for masturbation-mange. Of course he denuded himself.”
Brigid's Verse, caught between her own amusement and sheer outrage quivered in place. “My tiger is in trouble here! Help him!”
The female paramedic shook her head while she walked forward with the medical bag. “Delta, it’s gonna take a lot more than us to fix that. Ever try a twelve step ‘no Cheetos’ program?”
“Think we need the stretcher?” the youngest of the team asked.
“Only if we have to knock him out with it,” the team lead replied. “Eh, better grab what’s left of the Cheetos, if nothing else it’ll keep him occupied while we … eh … re-fur him … or something.”
The Medical team descended on the bewildered and stunned tiger, pulling him away out of the room. Trailing behind, arms occasionally flailing like a deranged muppet, Brigid’s Verse heaped barbed encouragement - that somehow tied back to her looks and Art - to the Medical team to ‘fix’ her tiger before her next lease.
Fehral turned at last to look at her Killing Dance. Her gaze swept briefly across Kummer, not giving away that she knew he was involved.
During the conversation between the parties the Killing Dance had collected himself and was once again for lack of other words... normal. The only evidence that this scene had broken his emotional controls were his red-rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks that had made his camo-face paint to run. He clicked a button on the recorder and closed it then smoothly placed it in his belt. “That was amusing”, he said with conviction to the general populace of the cage area, “I hope he learned something from this.” Shaking his head as he turned to walk out the door his voice could be heard behind him as he said comically, “Pica- pink I choose you...heh. Come Alpha two...more puzzles.”
Fehral lingered long enough to glance at the bats and the lion pride, whiskers forward and vibrating with mirth and approval. "Whatever you done, whoever done, be good if Empl'ee scrub all tiger toys .. and if whoever done not be alone for a while, juss in case tiger want to punish." She followed the Delta away, tail curled in a tight loop behind her.
While Fehral left, Kummer punched another pair of buttons on the workstation, singing lightly about the “Emperor’s new clothes”. The young wolf looked up and around, then wiped tears from his eyes. He saw Hasira looking at him with a cross between a smirk and amusement. She crooked a clawed and furry finger in his direction.
Wide-eyed, Kummer glanced around. On seeing no one, he looked back at the lioness, and pointed at his chest dumbfounded. She nodded. He half-grinned.
Well, it may be good to be the king, he thought, I think I’d rather be brave. I think it's gonna be more fun, and at least you get to keep your fur on!
