It was lunchtime at Windian High, and the usual large group of friends were gathered together at one of the longer tables in the outer part of the cafeteria, talking happily and eating as they spent their lunch time relaxing after their classroom stresses. Diane was in a much better mood, no longer annoyed at either her boyfriend or Frank. Lucy, Janet, Ellen and Yuki were all talking about the upcoming dance. Ray almost did a spit take when Lucy brought up something that had happened during the last dance at Windian High. Back then, Ray had still been worried about harassment from WINGS, and he had gone to the dance disguised as a friend of Diane's. During the dance, WINGS seemed to have been none the wiser to Ray in his disguise. He was even able to dance with Lucy. So of course when Lucy brought up the guest that Diane had brought to the last dance, and then turned to grin widely at Ray, asking him if he was going under the alias of Saul again or not, the dragon's eyes had gone wide and his face had turned a bright red as he attempted to swallow down his milk instead of spitting it out onto the table in surprise. Lucy simply laughed at his reaction as Ray tried to regain his composure.

"You knew that was me?"

"Oh, like it such a complicated disguise." Lucy rolled her eyes. "Different hair color, different eye color, and a different name."

"But..." The dragon rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. "It wasn't.. blaringly obvious was it?"

"Hey," Lucy grinned at her boyfriend before taking a sip of her drink. "WINGS didn't bother you, right?"

Kate giggled as she listened curiously to her friend's conversation. The young woren was attempting to open her carton of milk, but finding that for some reason today, the simple task seemed much harder. With a yelp, she jumped out of her seat in time to avoid milk splashing all over her as her carton tore open messly and poured out over the table. Immediatly, those sitting near her pulled their lunches and items away from the mess of white liquid as it pooled on the table. Kate's ears and tail fell into a pout as she watched her lunch drip into a small puddle on the ground. "Aw...."

"Whoa, you okay?" Frank was prepared with some extra napkins as he began to clean up the milk mess. Kate smiled at her boyfriend, her tail waving lightly.

"I'm fine, it didn't get me. Thanks Frank, for cleaning it up."

"Hey, no problem." Frank chuckled as he balled up the soaked napkins and tossed them into a nearby garbage can, immitating a basketball shot. "Alright! Three points!" The woren gave him a curious look and Frank just chuckled.

"Anyway," Kate shook her head. "I'm going to go get some more milk, hopefully some that isn't as hard to open." She chuckled a little uneasily as she pondered her inability to open up a simple milk carton. "I'll be back." With a wave to her friends, the woren headed off towards the indoor section of the cafeteria to buy more milk.

She never made it that far.

"HEY!" Kate was started by the sudden shout. She hadn't even noticed that she had bumped into the forestclan teen until he had whirled around and was glaring at her viciously, his lips pulled back in an angry snarl that revealed his rows of fangs. The wolf let out a throaty growl as he sized up Kate. "Watch where you're going, furball!"

It took her a moment, but she finally recognized the wolf teen as Luke Mickel, the forestclan member she had fought in the Colosseum. That sudden realization of course triggered something else in Kate's mind.

"THAT LOUSY FLEA BAG CALLED YOU A WHAT???"

Tellka... Kate's ears had pulled back due to the volume of Tellka's voice inside her mind, and the woren winced a little. Luke, however, uknowning of the mental conversation that was going on in Kate's mind, took her body language as a sign that he was intimidating her. Immediatly he snorted and shoved his face closer to Kate's, letting out another loud growl as he barked out his demand again.

"Hey! I said watch where you're going, you stupid bag of fur! Didn't you hear me?!"

By now, of course, Kate really was intimidated by the wolf infront of her. She shrunk away from him, attempting to retreat from the teen, but Luke simply stepped forward, keeping himself in a close space with the younger woren. There was a glint in his eyes as he stared down at Kate, and the woren could sense that he was having fun tormenting her.

"Kate, what are you DOING?!?" Tellka's voice shot through her head again. "Don't let him talk to you like that! Stand up against this jackass!"

But Tellka... Kate was startled out of her reply and she yelped loudly as suddenly Luke's muzzle was right in her face. The woren tried to pull away, but the wolf lashed out with a clawed hand and grabbed a hold of her wrist, his tail wagging back and forth as he growled.

"Are you even listening to me? HAH!" Luke threw his head back with a howling laugh. "Or what's the matter, cat got your tongue?" Luke turned a malicous look back towards Kate and snarled. "You know what you need, kitty? You need to learn some manners! Like how you're supposed to reply when someone asks you a question!" The wolf let out a snarling bark and jerked Kate towards himself. She gave a cry of surprise and fear as she stumbled to keep her balance, trying to pull away from her harasser. All she could feel was the tight grip of his hand on her wrist, his rough fur brushing along her arm.

And suddenly it wasn't there anymore.

Kate's ears perk forward in curious wonderment as Luke let out a sharp yelp. She looked up to see what had happened, and was confused to find what seemed to be a large sheet of grey infront of her.

It took her only a second later to realize that it was Frank standing infront of her, a look of fire burning the Persona User's eyes that Kate could only remember seeing just a couple times before. It was a look of anger, a fierce protection. A look that said 'you just messed with someone I love and now you're going to have to pay dearly,' and that look was trained right on Luke who was attempted to match Frank with a murderous glare of his own.

"Oh, and what's this? Now the furball's got back-up?!?" Luke barked loudly at Frank. The Persona User didn't even faulter under the wolf's taunts. If anything, the look in his eyes just became more determined.

"What..... what did you just call her?" Frank's voice was low and dangerous as he replied to Luke. The wolf snorted, lolling his tongue out in a mocking face at the Persona User and his tail wagged as he replied.

"You heard me. I called her a furball. A mangy, flea filled, bag of walking fur, who would only look good skinned and stretched out across the wooden floor of some noblemen's house. Now, you got a problem with that?"

There was a dead silence that sounded through Kate's head in a deafening way. The woren's ears flicked uneasily as she proded around mentally for the voice that had just vanished from her thoughts. Tellka?

"Oh please tell me..." Tellka's reply came as a venomous growl that sent shivers down the young woren's back, "that Frank is going to rip this guy apart, because if he doesn't, I swear to Landon himself that I will..."

Kate busied herself with trying to calm down Tellka as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes from the safety of hiding behind her boyfriend.

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