"To be honest? I have no idea." Cooper's ears dropped in annoyance. His grumbly voice told Noah that the mission was a failure. "Girls are confusing, pretty or not." Then his ears and tail shot up, as though he'd heard something creep up behind him. 'But I'm meeting her tonight! So leave the door unlocked. I'll be back really, really late. You'll probably be passed out already." The buck smirked. This was his chance to look like a man. He'd scored a date with a beautiful woman, what else could he want?

"Yeah! My best friend has finally overcome his fear of women!" The joke went too far when Noah went into a cheerleading pose. Cooper was not amused. The panther sure was. It was a big moment.

"Oh, but um, on a completely unrelated note," Cooper interrupted his friend's teasing with a serious tone. "Can I borrow your hoodie, uh, the black one, and a mask?" He asked. The students weren't really supposed to be creeping around the halls at night. The campus cameras would find him if he wasn't careful.

"What, on that long, skinny muzzle? It's a date, not a crime scene. Are you guys going to vandalize the dean's office, or something? I get the feeling that may not turn out the way you want it to." Noah purred. He knew Cooper wouldn't do anything like that. He had been a goody-two-hooves since they were little. "You can take the hoodie, I don't care. But if I gave you one of my masks, you'd suffocate, or just not be able to get it on." With a snort, Noah rooted through his clothes. They were a jumbled mess in the closet. At least they weren't on the floor. "So, when are you heading out?"

Cooper hadn't even considered that. He was always told that if he didn't arrive early, he was late. But how early should one show up to a date? That would be when he would leave. To trick Noah, at least. He didn't want the panther knowing what he was up to. Not yet. He himself wasn't sure what it was all about, yet. 'Maybe after our next class? Uh... I'm not going to meet her for a little while, but I haven't been to conf- to where she wants to meet, in a long time. I have to re-find it."

"Sounds good!" A hoodie flew through the air, getting caught on Cooper's antlers and dropping on his face like a mourning veil. "Let's do this! Last class, whoop whoop!" Noah led the way out into the hall. This last class was one of few they shared.

The two walked, and spoke all the way down the hall. Cooper had the hoodie neatly folded over his lanky arm. They passed a few animals in the hall. There went a llama, and a cape buffalo. Noah found his eyes following them. He wasn't hungry. His eyes softened in a strange kind of way. Internally, he remembered a speech he'd once prepared for his family. A family he knew would never hear that speech. He was too afraid to deliver it.

'My name is Noah. I'm a black panther, born into a family of normal jaguars. I have the same basic instincts as every other carnivore: Hunt, kill, eat. The thing is, I want something to protect. Maybe it's a hero complex, or maybe it's something even worse in my head, but... but I find myself really attracted to herbivores. Plot twist, my best friend is a deer.'

It seemed like a faded memory of the past, that speech. At the same time, whenever his strange affections arose, he remembered it so clearly it was like he delivered it to a full audience.

On the other side of the hall, a group of canidae. Foxes, wolves, coyotes, jackals- they were laughing and talking together. Cooper's instincts stiffened his grasp on the hoodie, perked his ears and tail. Yet, he smiled. He himself had a speech prepared, years ago. When he had delivered it to his parents, they sent him off to live here. It was meant to get his head out of the clouds. How else could they keep their little fawn safe?

"My name is Cooper. I'm a white-tailed deer; one of the smallest, frailest species of deer. I have the same basic instincts as every herbivore: Run, hide, freeze. The thing is, I love the adrenaline I get around every carnivore. All of them. I'm a timid, cowardly, skittish guy, whatever word you want to use. But when my body thinks I'm about to die? I feel so alive! Plot twist, my best friend is a panther."

They both said the same thing. "But he's the only one of them I feel safe around. He's the only one of them who I could ever trust. That's why I can't leave just because society says to."

"As a carnivore,"

"As an herbivore",

"I'd kill for him."

"I'd die for him.