With the holiday season freshly out of our heroes' minds, Lindsay, Rudolph and Colin join a theatrical play that will premier on Valentine's Day. Shaq meets a new friend. Joey begins undergoing his were-kangaroo development stages. And Rick is still dating Jade. Why? And Huckleberry hatches a plot to alleviate Warneeri's childraising woes.
"Dunmore Tales"
DT-03 Cupid's Powerplay
By Darrel James VanWinkle
12/29/2003-02/23/2004
Chapter 01
The early January winter snows created a sparkly, mystical appearance over much of Kingdom University. Aiden Harris, Stuart Masterson and Gusto Cristian were out building snowfurries in the deep, freshly fallen snow. Gusto stifled a smirk as he tagged his friends and pointed out Rick Mooney and Jade dressed nicely, and heading across campus towards the movie theatre.
Stuart smiled. "Rick must be a glutton for punishment. He doesn't have to date Jade anymore, yet he's still doing it. Why?"
Aiden hummed. "I don't think Rick is doing it on purpose. I think Jade fell in love with him and he's afraid of hurting her feelings by dumping her. Plus, with muscles like Jade's, would you want to be the one to tell Jade that you didn't really like her?"
Gusto and Stuart gulped. They hadn't thought of that.
The scene slowly drifted to the left, leaving the snow angels to their games, and soon focused upon the newly rebuilt Ycehart Hall dormitory building. The old place stood taller now, having more floors, far more room and space. Lindsay Dunmore and Rudolph Ranger had pulled some strings among the King's Coast Construction Beavers, and Ycehart Hall was equipped with a new gymnasium, a new library, an indoor swimming pool, and a fully functional parking garage. A gift shop, restaurant, and upper floors, for graduate students, were also added, as a result of the strings that were pulled. Sharing bedrooms was no longer necessary, as everyone now had their own bedrooms within the shared dorms. After completion of the building, Rudolph and Gusto moved out of Alpha Tai Dashpaw and into Ycehart Hall's new graduate rooms. This didn't sit well with Mr. Sethnic, but his hands were tied, and Jade's fist was present in front of his muzzle, so he backed off to allow them to transfer between the buildings.
Joey sat in his bed typing an email to his uncle, Reed Huxley, on his new laptop.
"Dear Uncle Reed,
Ah am 'aving a great time 'ere at Kingdom University. Lindsay and the others 'ave been very 'elpful in making my stay a pleasant one. My only problem is my in'erent werekangaroo dilemma.
Ah thought Ah 'ad it all under control, until last night. There was a break in the clouds and the full moon peeked through just enough to cause me to start shifting toward my feral side. Lindsay and Dennis quickly got me out of the campus and into the wilds so Ah could 'unt. We almost didn't make it. And Ah almost turned on my friends. It scared me, uncle Reed.
Ah really need some 'elp with this before Ah accidentally infect those Ah care about. Please. Tell me what Ah should do. Ah don't know if Ah can survive another close call like that one.
Your studious nephew,
Joseph 'uxley."
Joey sighed as he clicked the send button. He was scared. Last night had been too close for comfort. Another few seconds and he would've turned on Lindsay and Dennis. Joey didn't want to be an out-of-control monster.
Chapter 02
Shaquil Pernardo quietly sat in the Ycehart restaurant having a hot meal. Most of the residents and employees in Ycehart were actually surprised over how quiet Shaq had been since his ordeal in the hospital. Shaq was simply staring into his food, eating small bites.
Earlier that day, Shaq had attended his weekly scheduled psychiatric meeting with his shrink, a white-furred male lion doctor named Jyirdra Vannah. Psychiatric help all because he tried to kill himself last month.
Damned safety catch... Who would have guessed that the smartest tabby cat on campus would be foiled by a safety catch? All of this was really that damned nurse's fault. She had played on Shaq's feelings and led him on, verbally stabbing him at the right moment when she was finished with him.
Now, Shaq sat there, alone. No one loved him, as far as he was concerned. Everyone had just put on an act for his benefit. "It'll be a dark day in Ycehart before I'll ever meet anyone really special..."
Suddenly, as if on cue, some icicles fell across the power lines outside of the campus, causing the whole campus to be plunged into darkness. Shaq blinked his eyes when this occurred so immediately after his statement. Then, he noticed a flashlight's beam approaching his table. When the carrier of the flashlight got close enough, Shaq got a good look at the guy.
The male zebra was average sized, for a morphic zebra, but then Shaq noticed the rest of the guy's body. The guy was a zebrataur. The zebrataur was dressed in the garb of a knightly squire, though it was evident that these adornmental coverings were made for the winter climate. He was light grey with solid black stripes all over much of his body. His equitaur torso seemed slender, though perhaps not as much as Shaq might've thought. The hooves were a solid dark grey color, while his tail appeared to be long and ropey like that of a unicorn or a donkey. The zebrataur wore glasses over his pretty turquoise eyes, while much of his long mane was black.
"Temporary power outage. You'll need this until the power comes back on."
Shaq smiled as he admired the cute male zebrataur. "Um, thank you. I'm Shaq."
The zebrataur smiled back. "My name is too long, but my friends call me Zu`larr."
Shaq mentally glanced skywards. {Thank you, Okali. I owe you one.} Shaq offered Zu`larr a spot at his table. "Would you care to join me, Zu`larr? I was having lunch. I can share."
Zu`larr smiled and settled to the floor beside Shaq's seat. "Thank you, Sir Shaq. I humbly accept your gracious offer."
Shaq blinked his eyes again. {Sir Shaq? This kid must've been raised in a castle or something.}
Zu`larr and Shaq chatted quietly through the rest of Shaq's lunch break.
"Dunmore Tales"
DT-03 Cupid's Powerplay
By Darrel James VanWinkle
12/29/2003-02/23/2004
Chapter 01
The early January winter snows created a sparkly, mystical appearance over much of Kingdom University. Aiden Harris, Stuart Masterson and Gusto Cristian were out building snowfurries in the deep, freshly fallen snow. Gusto stifled a smirk as he tagged his friends and pointed out Rick Mooney and Jade dressed nicely, and heading across campus towards the movie theatre.
Stuart smiled. "Rick must be a glutton for punishment. He doesn't have to date Jade anymore, yet he's still doing it. Why?"
Aiden hummed. "I don't think Rick is doing it on purpose. I think Jade fell in love with him and he's afraid of hurting her feelings by dumping her. Plus, with muscles like Jade's, would you want to be the one to tell Jade that you didn't really like her?"
Gusto and Stuart gulped. They hadn't thought of that.
The scene slowly drifted to the left, leaving the snow angels to their games, and soon focused upon the newly rebuilt Ycehart Hall dormitory building. The old place stood taller now, having more floors, far more room and space. Lindsay Dunmore and Rudolph Ranger had pulled some strings among the King's Coast Construction Beavers, and Ycehart Hall was equipped with a new gymnasium, a new library, an indoor swimming pool, and a fully functional parking garage. A gift shop, restaurant, and upper floors, for graduate students, were also added, as a result of the strings that were pulled. Sharing bedrooms was no longer necessary, as everyone now had their own bedrooms within the shared dorms. After completion of the building, Rudolph and Gusto moved out of Alpha Tai Dashpaw and into Ycehart Hall's new graduate rooms. This didn't sit well with Mr. Sethnic, but his hands were tied, and Jade's fist was present in front of his muzzle, so he backed off to allow them to transfer between the buildings.
Joey sat in his bed typing an email to his uncle, Reed Huxley, on his new laptop.
"Dear Uncle Reed,
Ah am 'aving a great time 'ere at Kingdom University. Lindsay and the others 'ave been very 'elpful in making my stay a pleasant one. My only problem is my in'erent werekangaroo dilemma.
Ah thought Ah 'ad it all under control, until last night. There was a break in the clouds and the full moon peeked through just enough to cause me to start shifting toward my feral side. Lindsay and Dennis quickly got me out of the campus and into the wilds so Ah could 'unt. We almost didn't make it. And Ah almost turned on my friends. It scared me, uncle Reed.
Ah really need some 'elp with this before Ah accidentally infect those Ah care about. Please. Tell me what Ah should do. Ah don't know if Ah can survive another close call like that one.
Your studious nephew,
Joseph 'uxley."
Joey sighed as he clicked the send button. He was scared. Last night had been too close for comfort. Another few seconds and he would've turned on Lindsay and Dennis. Joey didn't want to be an out-of-control monster.
Chapter 02
Shaquil Pernardo quietly sat in the Ycehart restaurant having a hot meal. Most of the residents and employees in Ycehart were actually surprised over how quiet Shaq had been since his ordeal in the hospital. Shaq was simply staring into his food, eating small bites.
Earlier that day, Shaq had attended his weekly scheduled psychiatric meeting with his shrink, a white-furred male lion doctor named Jyirdra Vannah. Psychiatric help all because he tried to kill himself last month.
Damned safety catch... Who would have guessed that the smartest tabby cat on campus would be foiled by a safety catch? All of this was really that damned nurse's fault. She had played on Shaq's feelings and led him on, verbally stabbing him at the right moment when she was finished with him.
Now, Shaq sat there, alone. No one loved him, as far as he was concerned. Everyone had just put on an act for his benefit. "It'll be a dark day in Ycehart before I'll ever meet anyone really special..."
Suddenly, as if on cue, some icicles fell across the power lines outside of the campus, causing the whole campus to be plunged into darkness. Shaq blinked his eyes when this occurred so immediately after his statement. Then, he noticed a flashlight's beam approaching his table. When the carrier of the flashlight got close enough, Shaq got a good look at the guy.
The male zebra was average sized, for a morphic zebra, but then Shaq noticed the rest of the guy's body. The guy was a zebrataur. The zebrataur was dressed in the garb of a knightly squire, though it was evident that these adornmental coverings were made for the winter climate. He was light grey with solid black stripes all over much of his body. His equitaur torso seemed slender, though perhaps not as much as Shaq might've thought. The hooves were a solid dark grey color, while his tail appeared to be long and ropey like that of a unicorn or a donkey. The zebrataur wore glasses over his pretty turquoise eyes, while much of his long mane was black.
"Temporary power outage. You'll need this until the power comes back on."
Shaq smiled as he admired the cute male zebrataur. "Um, thank you. I'm Shaq."
The zebrataur smiled back. "My name is too long, but my friends call me Zu`larr."
Shaq mentally glanced skywards. {Thank you, Okali. I owe you one.} Shaq offered Zu`larr a spot at his table. "Would you care to join me, Zu`larr? I was having lunch. I can share."
Zu`larr smiled and settled to the floor beside Shaq's seat. "Thank you, Sir Shaq. I humbly accept your gracious offer."
Shaq blinked his eyes again. {Sir Shaq? This kid must've been raised in a castle or something.}
Zu`larr and Shaq chatted quietly through the rest of Shaq's lunch break.
Comment