Synopsis: A little melon. A little ginger. Perhaps a bit of vinegar? Let your senses run free in this dash of spices.

Season 3- Episode 4:
Jenga and Drezda finally make it home, but will they get into the right business? And who is that white wolf?

Notes: Done in less than an hour. I -know- this is a day late, and i'm SORRYYYY!!!! I'll try harder to get it on time. ;=;

Story:

Cupidit ac Patienti:
Season 3: Episode 4: Beached Whale

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock…

Drezda paced back and forth outside of Jen’s room, the carpet springing up from where his feet sank. Evan and Seph were still gone, and Jenga wasn’t letting him take his wounds seriously.

He glanced at the odd, crystalline arrow in his hand. It was about a foot long, and made out of some type of hardy, purple crystal. It rang like a tuning fork when he flicked it. Sighing, he set it on the kitchen counter before returning to his vigil outside Jen’s door.

“Honey, I’ll be fine…” Jen winced as he stepped out into the hall. His face was slowly swelling on his left side, the dark purple bruise spreading through most of his cheek. His eye was sealed shut. Looking down, Drezda caught sight of a dark blue spot slowly creeping up from the wolf’s low-cut shirt.

Sighing, Drezda gently took the wolf’s arm and led him to his own restroom, turning the light on. He heard Jenga inhale sharply at the sight of his self, his disheveled fur sticking out odd angles; his purple, swelling face; the slowly darkening bruise on his breastbone.

“Jenga, you look horrible,” said Drez, “So god damn it, let me fix you up.”

“N-no! I’ll be fine, hon. Really.” Jenga smiled falsely, his eyebrows knitting together in despair.

“No, you won’t. So get your ass over here.” Drezda had walked to the medicine cabinet, and pulled out a small first aid kit. Turning back, he looked Jenga up and down. “Now, this may sting a bit…”

---

“You have failed me, young one.”

A small, lithe tiger knelt in front of him. How stupid the others could be occasionally. It seemed like nobody knew what they were doing.

“How have I failed you, Selraran, dearest master, how? I could not find my objective.”

Selraran brushed a bit of dust from his paw, the white fur barely showing any speck of dirt. Looking up, he said, “Because, if you had stayed a moment longer, you would have seen your target leave that building by the very entrance as did the mate of his you saved.”

The tiger choked back either a snarl or a scream, Sel couldn’t tell which. The dimly lit room they were in offered little in the ways of comfortable hearing. After a few paced from where they were, it was merely darkness. One could see the door from where they were now, but that was it.

“My lord, if I had known, I would have stayed. I-I did not know. I knew I had to leave once the wolf spotted me.” The tiger’s tail wrapped around his thigh nervously.

“You also knew not to leave anything behind.”

This caught the tiger off-guard. “Wh-what?”

Selraran stood from his chair, his slight, six-foot-tall build far more intimidating to the tiger than any bodyguard. “You left an arrow behind. And your target took it with him.”

The tiger froze. A trickle of sweat dripped down his nose and plopped to the ground.

A grin lit up Sel’s face. “I see you did not know this. Yet another sign of your incompetence. Should I just kill you now and be done with it, or will you give me a reason to spare you?”

“Selraran…Please. Please, I-I-I can do better, I promise you! Please! Just give me another chance.” The tiger fell to both knees and touched his nose to the ground, his body shaking softly in fear.

“You are pitiful, Ashangahn. Stand up, you worthless excuse for a tiger. You’ll have your chance.” Selraran grinned softly still, delighting in his sport.

Ash stood warily, keeping himself ready to bolt or bow, whichever he needed to do. “T-thank you, Selraran. You are too kind to this miserable one.”

“Yes, I am. Now, get to Josh. He will tell you what must be done. Get out of my sight.” Sel sat back down, looking to one hand and picking imaginary dirt from his claws.

Taking this as dismissal, Ash backed away, bowing. When he had left he door, he fell against the wall, breathing heavily. That had to have been one of the scariest experiences of his life. He was glad it was over.

Or was it? He thought the question to himself as he walked to halls of the underground compound, the place passing him by unobserved as he made his way to Josh’s room. This would be a long night.