A wolf walked cheerfully through the streets. The town of Brin, although relatively small, had quickly increased its populace due to a boom in trade and the town itself made for an excellent middle stop for passing merchants from the East to the West and vice versa. And with the increase of populace, came new job opportunities for all.

“A rising tide lifts all boats" went the old saying and Raeder was one of those many boats. After getting fired from his previous workplace, “The Black Mask", for “negligence and incompetence", whatever those words may have meant, the wolf was in a bit of a slump. Luckily for him, he had recently found himself a new friend, with whom he quickly became quite intimate, who helped him through these troubling times – emotionally, financially and professionally.

Skip, his “little, tinny, furry ball of happiness", as Raeder would affectionately refer to him, was an ocelot, a year older than Raeder, was a hard working youngster, who had managed to land himself a gig as an accountant in a local ship yard. Although shy, he had a quick wit about him and a keen eye for value. Noticing that more ships started transporting works of art instead of the usual spices and fabrics, he had made the quick decision to start buying paintings and sculptures on the relatively cheap from up and coming artist. Times had never been quicker and the moment when these artists started getting just a smidgen of fame, their works would drastically rise in price, which had been Skip's cue to sell them, investing some of his earnings in more stable forms of commerce. With the rest, he would buy more works of art and repeat the process.

By the time Skip and Raeder met, Skip had already amassed a small fortune and worked as a masseuse, just because he had always wanted to be one. He wanted Raeder not to worry about money and offered to let him live with him without any sort of pay, but the wolf declined, preferring to help out, as little as he could.

“I ain't no freeloader." Raeder had told the ocelot. Those words really made the ocelot realize what kind of man Raeder was.

Agreeing to his proposition, Skip had found him a comfy job at a pawn shop. At first Raeder didn't find the job very exciting, but in a week or two, he had managed to get in the flow of things.

There was a certain charm in working at a pawn shop. He got to meet new people, see interesting items from around the world. And on the more relaxed days, he had picked up the habit of reading. He had started with penny-dreadfuls, but soon graduated to more advanced reading material.

Gone were the days when he had to stay up all night long, fighting drunkards and coming home utterly exhausted, unable to really do anything once he would wake up.

It was nice living in a home where there were more than two rooms, which barely fit any furniture and everything smelled like mold.

It was nice having a boyfriend, who actually worked and made money. And who one could much more easily talk to and didn't just stare blankly out the window, when he was in one of his moods, or spend his entire day reading one page of some dusty tome.

Life was nice. Life was finally going well.

“Good things come to those who wait" as the saying went. And Raeder had waited long enough. He felt like he finally had a future.

He got home at around the usual time. He looked up at the house – a nice, big two story building, made of brick that could keep out the cold. The first floor was painted milky white, while the second was a dark oaky color. He smiled and opened the mahogany door of his home.

Skip was going to come home in about an hour, so Raeder had time for a quick shower and a bit of lounging around. They had a date planned – a nice romantic diner, a play at the new theater and a stroll by the riverside.

It was going to be a good night.

With a smile on his face and a dance in his step, Raeder undid his shirt and pants and headed straight to the bathroom.

And then a sensation, all too familiar, decided to hit him. It felt like being hit by a gust of wind. Gust may not be the best word for it. More in the lines of a sphere. And instead of wind, the density was more of lead. In either case, Raeder flew backwards, slamming against the wall.

His head in a haze, the wolf curled up, his abdomen tingly from the effects of whatever struck him. But he knew what struck him. He's been in a similar situation before, albeit in much more pleasurable circumstances, although even that could be argued.

He tried standing up, his arms still wrapped around his lower body. And then he heard a couple of familiar voices.

“Why the Hell did you go and pull that off?"

“Well, it wasn't on purpose!"

“What do you mean “it wasn't on purpose"? I thought you said these things required purpose!"

“Well, it wasn't with the purpose of hitting him, if that's what you're asking!"

“I swear, sometimes I don't even know why I still work for you…"

“Tugg?" Raeder managed to murmur out.

Through misty eyes, Raeder could finally see his introducers – his old bouncer-colleague Tugg and the local cruse-dispeller Brona.

“He seems alright." Brona said, examining the wolf from afar.

“Great…to be frank I didn't really want to turn this breaking and entering into assault and battery."

“What…what are you doing here?" Raeder managed to say, finally able to stand up straight.

“Well…you see…" Tugg began and quickly leaned back as Raeder tried to strike him.

The ram, although a bit old, was still quite nimble and with a quick turn of his body he buried his entire fist into Raeder's stomach. Raeder, now basically impaled, was lifted a bit off the ground and curled up around the ram's hand. Although he hadn't been in a fight in a fairly long time by his standards, the pain was still familiar to him. Really, nothing could make him forget the pain. Always sudden, always humiliating, always leaving him gasping for air, which, somehow, could never quite reach his lungs. Why did they always go for the gut?

Eternity is, by definition, an immeasurable concept. But each time, throughout his life, whenever Raeder got sucker-punched in the stomach, he could swear that he felt eternity pass by him. In reality, it took Tugg five seconds to punch, lift and then throw Raeder on the ground.

Now on the ground, Raeder tried breathing normally, taking him a few tries until he once more got the hang of it.

“Stay down, if you know what's good for you…" Tugg said.

“Mmm…well…I'm guessing it's assault and battery now." Brona chimed in.

“Not really." Tugg answered, not letting his eyes off the wolf. “That was self-defense."

“Does it count as self-defense once you're already in someone's home?"

“Sure. He attacked me. I defended myself."

“I'm pretty sure you are being willfully ignorant."

“Just a smidgen." Tugg said with a slight chuckle, holding his index finger and thumb close together in front of the lion.

“Why…the fuck…are you two here…" Raeder managed to spew out in between intakes, while trying to get back on his feet.

“Brona…" Tugg motioned towards the lion.

Brona scratched the back of his head as head through a book, which he finally decided on throwing behind him.

“Well!" he clasped his hand together. “Here's the thing."

Both Tugg and Raeder stared at the lion.

“Well…?" Raeder asked, now almost completely recovered.

“Well…" Brona repeated. “We were actually looking for a book."

“A book?" Raeder asked, genuinely confused. “You broke into my house for a book?"

“Now, when you say it like that it sounds silly…"

“It is silly, Brona…" Tugg pinching the bridge of his nose. “Everything you do is silly."

“If you don't like it, you can always leave, Tugg…"

“There's a fucking library across the street! You could have gone there!  Raeder yelled out. “Hell! You could have asked me for a fucking book!"

“Pipe down, kid!" Tugg yelled and kicked in the abdomen, sending him towards the wall once more.

The hit, although relatively light, felt like herd of trampling horses on his hyper-sensitive gut. Each touch was a knife driven inside of him. Each hit was a thunderbolt. And each time he tried breathing was as if his diaphragm was cemented. On the other hand, his hellish torture didn't seem to bother the two ne'er-do-wells.

“Well…you see, we are actually here for a very specific book." Brona continued, trying to ignore to gasps and gurgles of the wolf. “We heard through the grapevine that you've moved house. I was actually very willing to borrow the book itself off of your little wizard fox boyfriend, but as luck would have it, he wasn't here. So, we decided not to bother the fellow, for who knows how long he would have been off doing his wizardly things, and we decided to invite ourselves in and look for it. You might help us out even. It's called “Memelogy: restructuring the Noo…"

Raeder lunged once more forward. He was sluggish, unbalanced. It was nothing Tugg couldn't handle. The ram simply grabbed his arm and pulled the wolf towards him, kneeing him in the solar plexus. Raeder's air supply evaporated instantaneously as he bent over onto Tugg's thigh. His jaw almost dislocated as he tried to violently breathe, yet almost nothing came to him.

“I hope you ain't starting to enjoy this." Tugg murmured as he pushed the wolf back.

“…sphere…" Brona continued, paying little to no mind to the ragdoll of a man lying on the ground. “…and the indirect path to the Kaoskube. It should be about this thick." Put his hands at about three fingers apart. “And it's supposedly written by your boyfriend's teacher. A certain Atilus. Ring any bells."

Raeder didn't answer. His insides were on fire. Every intake burnt his pathways, the oxygen scarring his organs, enflaming his soul.

“Speak when you are spoken to, maggot!"

“Hang on, Tugg. Let him catch his breath. I guess I really did a number on him with that…happy little accident, eh?"

Raeder managed to get up, leaning on the wall behind him.

“So…if you would kindly point us at the general direction of the book, we will be out of your hair in no time, to leave you to…whatever it is you were doing before we came around." Brona said, waving his hand at the naked wolf, desperately clinging to life.

“Fuck you…" Raeder managed to spit out.

“Do…do you have a death-wish, fagboy?"

“Now, now, Tugg. You roughed him up pretty good. Let's give him another chance. Where is the book, Raeder?"

“We…we don't live together anymore…"

“Huh…" Brona scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Tugg, hit him again."

“No! Wait! I'm telling the truth!"

“Oh? Then why was his diary here?"

“His what?" Raeder asked, almost regaining his strength.

“Tugg."

“No. Wait. I don't know. I don't know why his diary was here. I…maybe it got mixed in my luggage…I haven't seen him in a very long time."

“Mmm…Tugg what do you think?"

“I guess even fags can get into fights."

“Hmm…indeed. In any case, he wouldn't have probably lent his book to us. So. Raeder. Just point us in the right direction and we'll leave you be."

“I…I don't know where he is…"

“Tugg."

“On it." Tugg said, cracking his knuckles.

Before Raeder could respond in any way, Tugg buried his fist deep inside the wolf belly. A stream of air exited the wolf's mouth in the blink of an eye. He kneeled down, curled up and fell to one side.

“Let's try this again. This time, with different results. Where is your guy?"

“He's…not my…guy…"

“Fine!" Brona shot his hands up. “Where is your FORMER guy?"

“I…I don't know."

“Tugg?"

With his entire strength, Tugg kicked Raeder while he was still on the ground. The moment his foot made contact with Raeder abdomen, the wolf froze completely. Like a cannonball to a fortress wall, the kick utterly destroyed Raeder, his entire air supply evacuating through his unnaturally stretched out jaw. His eyes bulged out and slowly crossed.

“There's an old saying. Insanity is when you do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Are you feeling insane, Raeder?"

The wolf didn't answer. The world was spinning, going black. It took him a few tries until he managed to breathe normally.

“I don't know…you tell me…"

“You little queer..." Tugg murmured, getting ready to kick him again.

“Let him catch his breath. We don't want to add murder one to this breaking and entering and assault and battery."

“It won't be murder one. Maybe murder two. Or manslaughter."

“I'm not really sure about that."

“I ain't aiming to kill him. Besides. You're the one who put that spell on him, right? So…I'm pretty sure that this whole thing is more your fault than mine."

“Alright, Tugg. First off, I didn't do it on purpose. It sort of happened. Second. You are the one constantly hitting him."

“That may be true, but I'm only doing it on your orders, because you are paying me."

“What the Hell are you even talking about! We were discussing what degree murder this would be!"

“What are we really doing?" Tugg looked back at the wolf, who once again was slowly getting on his feet. “He doesn't really seem willing to spew it out."

Brona scratched his chin once more.

“Maybe…" Brona began. “…hit him again?"

Tugg raised an eyebrow at Brona before shrugging and going for another punch. In the last second, Raeder threw a punch, managing to hit the ram, knocking him a bit off balance. Tugg wobbled back, but Raeder didn't proceed with another attack, instead falling back on the wall.

“He punched me! The faggot punched me!"

“Seems that way…"

Without a second thought, Tugg threw a massive uppercut into Raeder's gut, lifting him once more off the ground, this time making sure he stayed put a little while longer.

Impaled on the bouncer's massive arm, Raeder coughed out all his air in one go. And when he had no more air, a steady stream of saliva spurred out of his mouth. Tugg furrowed his brow at the spit covering his arm and threw the wolf once more at the wall.

“You think he might be telling the truth?" Tugg turned to Brona, wiping his arm.

“Mmm…what are the chances, really?"

“What did you say earlier? Doing the same thing and expecting different results?"

Brona clicked his tongue. He looked around and took the book he held earlier. Flipping a few pages, he didn't seem satisfied with what he read, but still he put the book in his pocket.

“I'm guessing there might be some truth to that."  Brona said.

“Don't worry. One day, one of your harebrained schemes will surely pay off."

Tugg turned around, facing the wolf, who had managed to regain his composure.

“You hear that, fairy. We just might leave you alone."

Raeder's eyes narrowed and he threw himself at the ram, tackling him to the ground.

“You wanna go, bitchboy? Let's go!" Raeder snarled.

The wolf proceeded to land a barrage of punches onto Tugg.

“How's that now? Like getting hit by farriers, do we? You ain't putting much of a struggle now, are you? Good thing I'm already naked, maybe you'd want to suck on my cock a bit."

With that Raeder grabbed his cock and started slapping it onto Tugg's face, all the while chuckling to himself. After about four hits, Tugg forcefully jerked himself upwards, headbutting the wolf.

Now, getting hit in the abdomen, in his condition, was horrendous. Getting headbutted in the abdomen was even worse. Getting headbutted by ram was an entirely new ordeal for the poor wolf.

As Tugg got up, the wolf curled up over his head and the it got worse. His air quickly evaporated in one large torrent, his jaw dropped, tinny squeals being let out from his mouth. Soon after, he started drooling all over the ram's neck and back, sticking to his fur and rolling down. The wolf's eyes crossed once again, bulging out of their sockets and slowly started closing. A monument to his torture, Raeder was just about the pass out.

“Get your fucking dick out of my face!" Tugg yelled and charged forward towards the wall, bashing Raeder into it.

For a moment, Raeder had the subconscious thought that things couldn't really get any worse. He had been repeatedly beaten, humiliated and almost driven to unconsciousness. And not he was pulled back from oblivion, just as the ram slammed him against the wall, crushing him completely. It turned out that Raeder still had some air left inside of him, which got violently pushed out. He wanted to yell, but couldn't. Instead only a high-pitched squeal came out of his mouth. His eyes crossing and bulging and his jaw completely dropping, his tongue going limp on one side and finally the wolf blacked out.

Tugg stepped back, letting the wolf fall on the ground. Brona expected Raeder, clicking his tongue.

“He seems a bit dead, Tugg."

“He isn't dead he's had worse."

Brona got up and lightly kicked him. He didn't move.

“Did you really have to dead him?"

“I didn't…" Tugg furrowed his brow. “I didn't DEAD him, Brona. Who the fuck even says that?"

“I'm trying it out. What do you think?

“Nobody says that…"

“Well, they should. You can say “deadening", can't you? So why not use “dead" as a verb?"

“Because it's not widely accepted and you are going to look like an ass when you say it to someone."

“I won't look like an ass. I'll look eccentric." Brona flipped his mane.

“You'll be the assiest eccentric ever."

Brona pointed at Tugg.

“Ha! People don't say assiest either, Tugg! So there's that!"

“Whatever…" Tugg rubbed the back of his neck and wiped the spit on his pants. “So we figured he doesn't know where our guy is. What now?"

Brona pulled out the book from earlier.

“We still have this. His diary."

“You thinking there might be some clues in it?"

“Mmm…could be. It said how to soften someone's abdomen. So. Maybe it says where one can find wizard foxes."

“Why do you need this book again?" Tugg asked putting his hands on his waist.

“Why does anybody need anything in life?"

“Oh, don't give me that!"

“What?"

“You know what. We've been through breaking and entering, assault and battery and on the verge of manslaughter."

“It's not on the verge. He seems pretty dead."

Both of them looked back at the wolf. He was laying still. Unmoving. Corpselike. And with a sudden jump and inhale, he once more fell down, but at least this time he was breathing.

“On the verge of manslaughter..."

“More like murder 2."

“Possibly murder 2."

“Although the way you attacked, a case could be made for murder 1."

“Less likely murder 1…"

“There we go…"

“Just to get a stupid book."

Brona turned to Tugg, squinting his eyes.

“It's not stupid."

“How do you know? Have you read it?"

“Well, no. But that's the problem, I'm trying to rectify."

“I should slap you."

Brona turned back towards the Tugg.

“Um…Tugg, there's a…"

Without looking, Tugg turned his elbow, hitting the wolf in the nose and then spinning around and socking him once more in the gut.

“Think you could sneak up on me, did ya?" Tugg spat. “Fucking faggot. You make me sick."

The final blow was struck with which Raeder completely collapsed on the ground. Barely breathing, everything around him went dark and he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

“You're good." Brona complemented the ram.

“That's why you pay me, right?"

“Sure is."

A sound came from the door. Both intruders looked at each other and then at the entrance. A small otter slowly entered the house and closed the door behind him.

“H-hello?"

Behind closed lips, Bronae liked his teeth, a nervous tick he had developed over the years.

“Hey! How's it going?" Brona exclaimed throwing his arms up.

Tugg rolled his eyes.

“Um…g-good?" Skip answered meekly.

“Greaaaatt...you see…me and my guy here…we are…old friends of Raeder…and we…decided to drop off to pay him a little visit."

Skip leaned to one side, seeing Raeder naked unconscious body on the floor. Raeder looked at the wolf and turned back towards the otter.

“So! It's been real. But we gotta head out."

Brona and Tugg both shimmied passed the otter and exited the house, Tugg making sure whisper an slur.

Skip walked towards the wolf, who was starting to regain his senses.

“Are you alright?" Skip asked.

“Yeah…barely…"

“I see…Listen. I don't know what kind of things you were into when you were with your ex…but…I think I've made it pretty clear that I will not tolerate any form of polygamy…"

“Oh…don't worry…" Raeder slowly sat up. “There wasn't anything of the like here…"

“Mhm…you are telling me that you lying naked on the floor with two of your friends over you…"

“They are not my friends…" Raeder snapped, making the otter squirm a bit. “They…they thought I was still living with Zhei and wanted a book from him. They then beat me up for not telling them where he was."

“Do you know where he is?"

Raeder ground his teeth.

“No. No, I don't."

Skip solemnly nodded.

“Do you want me to give a rub?"

Raeder nodded and instructed him to massage his abdomen. It was nice. It felt good. But the wolf couldn't really enjoy it. The fox was out of his life and yet he still managed to affect him like that. Why would they want some stupid book? Hell, why would…why did he just leave?

At times Raeder would remember Zhei. Not the good times. There were barely any good times, or at least any that were easy to remember. He would wonder what was the fox doing right now. Was he better off now? Raeder hoped that he wasn't. It was a nasty thought, but he couldn't help it. He wanted Zhei to be miserable. And yet, if they would meet right now…he didn't know what he would do. He would yell and cry. He might even fuck him. When he thought about that little white fox, so many conflicting emotions stirred up inside of him that he could feel himself explode. But he was gone. And they would ever see each other again.

And now…Raeder had lost the only thing that he had from him. There was nothing of value in that diary. Only daily rituals, dreams, interesting circumstances throughout the day. There were a few other snippets here and there. Sometimes it would say how much he loved Raeder, how he hated himself for being such a shut in and how he wanted to change. It would also say how he hated Raeder and all of his expectations and the way he clinged to societal norms or what not.

The time he had spent with Zhei had been an interesting time to say the least. Maybe, people like him just left a mark everywhere they went. Maybe it wasn't because he was a wizard, but because of the way was he became one.

“Rae-Rae?"

“Hmm?"

“What are you thinking about?"

“Oh…the date we have for tonight…"

“Oh…okay…" Skip continued to gently rub the wolf's belly. “Rae-Rae?"

“Yeah?"

“I'm sorry for assuming that you were cheating on me…"

“It's…it's alright…"

“You are the best thing that has ever happened to me...I don't want to lose you…"

“Neither do I…"