--Editors note: This is a first chapter to a new story set in the same universe as After Dark. You might spot some cameos of other characters you recognize, and the events herein are cannon to the first story. (Though I may or may not write their side of events in the next chapter. We'll see.)

For the record, this chapter happens simultaneously with the last chapter of After Dark.

As always: CHECK THE TAGS. If you're offended by something in them, STOP READING.

Other than that. I hope you enjoy. Chapter two is already well underway.

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After Dark: Interlude.

Chapter 1: Especially at 30,000 feet.

Jay sighed softly as he watched the credits of his movie starting to roll, eyeing the clock on his laptop and moving to close the lid, pulling his motorcycle jacket a little closer around him. The plane was cold, compared to the hot, Queensland summer he'd just come from. As the flight attendant walked by, pushing the drink trolley, he got a smile and a soft Australian accent speaking, "More juice?" He nodded, and his tomato juice got an extra scoop of ice and a topping up of red liquid. The drink trolley moved on, and he smirked to himself, watching the shapely rear end in tight slacks move on to pour more drinks for the few other passengers. The twentieth century had supposedly done away with discrimination by looks, but the flight attendants in first class always seemed a cut above the ones in cattle class. The human flight attendant looked back, and gave the Bilby a big grin as he caught Jay eyeing his rump, getting a long-snouted grin in return.

He rubbed lightly at his earrings, which had cost him a trip down virtual stripsearch lane, sighing a bit, and grumped at the thought of those pictures on file, no matter what they said about privacy. His finger ran across his chest as well, over one of the titanium bars that ran through his nipples, wondering just how much of a giggle that got at the Sydney terminal, where he'd boarded the higher security international flight.

He unthreaded his long tail from the first class seat, mindful of the soft puff of plumage at the end, as he put his laptop in it's case and under the seat, pulling a second, similar case out from beside it and slinging it over his shoulder. He looked forward, noting his timing was quite bad as both the forward restrooms were occupied, and sighed, walking to the one to the rear of first class, mindful that his balance was not very good on a moving surface. This one was occupied too, so he waited a minute, smiling to the sour faced biddy in business class who was talking the ear off the man in a power suit seated beside her. She fell silent as she saw the pink fur and the piercings in his ears, and gave him a look that could have melted steel, to which he returned only a grin of cherubic innocence.

Once the human who'd been in the restroom exited with an apologetic smile, he walked in and shut the door, tucking his tail gently under one arm. He placed the case on the small counter and sighed as he started to undo his pants, letting them slip down and poking lightly at the pink, flower-print diaper around his waist. Soaked. He sighed and decided to cut back on his juice intake, as he'd been drinking it nearly constantly for most of the flight. He unzipped the bag and pulled out some wipes as well as a fresh diaper.

Fucking Mosaic, he thought, as he tossed the used one in the trash, grabbing the wipes and thoroughly cleaning himself. Pink fur AND a weak bladder. He tossed the wipes in the trash and affixed the diaper to his tail, then wrapped the waistband around his waist and pulled the bulk of the diaper through his legs. It wasn't as comforting as his usual kind, which was the more conventional tape-on affair, he thought as he pressed the front velcros to the waistband in front. Much more convenient for getting on standing up in a confined space though. And at least they matched his fur, he thought with a grin as he looked at the pink frills on the rump in the mirror, giving a tiny wiggle.

It was at that moment someone rapped on the door loudly and said, "Air Marshal." in a deep baritone "W-what?" Jay said, thunderstruck, "L-let me get my pants up." he said, yanking the motorcycle leather up over the pink padding around his waist, doing his fly, zipping his bag, then sighing as he opened the door to stare at a black American who looked to be in his fifties. "What seems to be the trouble, Sir?"

He got an impassive stare. "I need to see inside your bag. You were in the restroom an awfully long time." Jay closed his eyes, giving a long suffering sigh. "Sir, I was searched at Sydney. I even got to walk down the special aisle. My bags got scanned just like everyone else's. Why-" The air marshal cut him off. "Now, Sir." Jay hung his head. "If you must." He said, as he unzipped his bag and showed the contents to the air marshal, who pursed his lips.

"Apologies, Sir, that does explain it." his eyes glanced to the sour faced woman, who got even sourer. "We have to take every complaint seriously. If you feel you were treated unfairly, my name is Mr. Lennix." Jay looked to the woman in confusion, who glared at him, got to her feet, then practically shrieked. "It must be up to something! What was in the bag? Check it's pockets! I know it's up to no good." Jay folded his ears and the Air Marshal now looked thunderstruck, staring at her as she ranted, along with every passenger in earshot. The ten or so furs there, including one flight attendant, a Kangaroo, stared at the woman as if she were from another planet. The air marshal finally raised his voice, cutting her off. "MADAM." he said. "Please, you are only embarrassing yourself." Flight attendants poured in from every direction.

She glared at him, then glared even harder at Jay, pointing a stubby, ring laden finger at his face as she advanced, jabbing him in on the snout roughly with her nail. "I don't care. FREAKS LIKE HIM SHOULD BE IN CARGO!" Jay stood there, frozen to the spot as every eye in the airplane was now on him, The air marshal stepped between them and folded his arms. "Madam, I have witnessed you committing assault on another passenger. There are at least ten witnesses that will swear it was racially motivated. You are now under arrest."

He reached into his suit pocket, past the gun that was artfully concealed in a holster, and pulled out a pair of zip tie cuffs as the woman gaped at him, seemingly dumbstruck for a moment, before she started to protest loudly, and he cut her off again. "IF you continue to bother the other passengers, I will gag you as well." He looked to Jay as he secured the cuffs, the Bilby just standing there, unable to move as tears filled his eyes, and Mr. Lennix's face fell. "Sir, I apologize deeply and unreservedly. Please, go sit down. I'll come speak to you in a minute." The flight attendant who'd filled his juice gently wrapped an arm around him. "C'mon, love, lets get you back to your seat." he said softly, pulling Jay away as he started to cry, holding the Bilby to his side. The air marshal said softly to one of the other flight attendants. "Miss, please inform the captain that I've arrested a woman for assault. I'll be removing her from the plane into federal marshal custody."

Jay sat down, and another worried looking flight attendant brought him a wound wipe, gently dabbing the small injury with it. "Here, Sir, It's just a small cut, but..." Her face fell as Jay flinched away from her touch, then looked up to her, still sniffling. "I'm so sorry about that. If there's any way that the airline can make it up to you..." He shook his head, wrapping his hands around the seat arms, huddling in his seat as he shook his head a second time. Her face hardened a little. "Sir, We'll all say exactly what we saw, that you didn't do anything but stand there and that she attacked you. She'll probably go to jail for a while." He gave a shuddering breath, and closed his eyes.

***

The flight attendants fawned over him, perhaps worried about publicity, perhaps genuinely worried about their crying passenger. Several of the other passengers had walked by offered their own testimony, one or two patting his arm as he sat there, slowly pulling himself together as he shook off not the tiny cut, but the depth of hate behind it. They landed without incident, and he finally deplaned, nearly the last from first class to do so, and winced at the blast of cold air from the gap between plane and terminal, trying not to employ the mode of locomotion his body was designed for, instead walking left and right with a slightly awkward gait and grumbling to himself at his backwards knees, as he always did when in view of others. He got personally walked through customs by the air marshal, and answered a few questions. His shivers passed, replaced by anger, but he kept calm and quiet when answering the few questions he was asked, then listened as several flight attendants recounted the same story. The woman didn't say a word except to ask for her lawyer. Mostly, it was a formality, since the chief witness to the assault was the marshal, who said that despite the relatively minor scratch, the sentiment behind it was assault in and of itself, especially at 30,000 feet.

He left the interview room with a promise of a phone call from the marshal, and rejoined the other passengers walking out. He looked up at the large sign at the exit to the baggage claim area. "Welcome to America." and shook his head. He didn't want to come this way at all, he thought, rubbing his leg lightly. He missed his room at home, his bike, and his few friends. He didn't think Greyhaven University was worth the trip, and especially not dealing with crazy humans. He was lost in thought as he wandered over to the baggage claim and pulled the lone large backpack left on the carousel, pulling it on his back with some difficulty. He walked to the exit, and scanned the people waiting there, giving small pained grunt as he saw his full name. "Jayden Andronicus." It was held by a Mosaic kid of a species he'd never encountered before, and though there were a few blended people around he seemed to stand out, much like Jay himself did. The brown fur with darker rounded ears, and a dark stubby muzzle made him practically giggle as he had a flashback to The Lion King, though he managed to restrain himself as he walked over to his ride. "Yeah, that's me."

The Hyena smirked at him, speaking in a soft texan drawl. "Well, yeah, I can see that. Unless there are a whole shitton of pink bilbies out there of who's existence I am not privy to." he tossed the sign in a recycling bin, beckoning. "I'm Richard. C'mon. It's nearly an hour back to the Hall and I don't wanna get caught in traffic." he said, leading the way.

The two walked towards the exit, the Hyena's long legs soon outpacing the Bilby, causing the lanky, taller male to sigh and pause, looking back. "C'mon. Nobody's going to care if you speed it up a little." he said, grinning wryly as he watched the Bilby continue to plod along. "Unfortunately, I can either go at this speed, or warp 9." Jay retorted. "And I don't like doing that, it draws far too much attention from security guards." Richard sighed and paused as the Bilby caught up. "Fair enough."

They got to the bike, and Jay gave his first real smile since he left home. "Oh. Nice." he said, genuinely impressed as he ran a hand along the bike's navy blue paint job, while Richard grinned, scratching an ear. "Oh, you like bikes?" he asked, tilting his head, and Jay nodded. "I have a Honda Valkyrie at home. Oh Four model. But this is nice... Ducati nine hundred sport... looks like one of the last ones before they switched to the thousands, so, oh two?" Rich grinned broadly. "Got it in one. It was my dads." he said, with a softer smile that had a note of sadness to it, then shook his head. "Anyway, here."

He unhooked one of the helmets, then donned his own. The faceplate was made of clear flexible plastic that moulded itself to the Hyena's muzzle, then expanded a bit and hardened into a protective shield. Jay put his own on, and smiled as he felt the plastic mould itself to his face. Richard made a soft "Hmm," noise as he examined the backpack on Jay's back. "You'll have to keep close to me... That won't be a problem, will it?" he said, softly, smirking, his voice coming through a small headset built into Jay's helmet. Jay bit his lip, then finally responded in a soft voice. "Not in the least. It's just physics." The Hyena nodded and chuckled. "Ahh, I failed that class." he said, and and got on, then shifted forward as Jay got on the bike behind him, the Bilby gently wrapping his thin arms around Richard's middle, "Well, if you like, I can tutor you." Richard grinned. "Really?" he said, and the two sped off, the Bilby swiping his phone over the exit gate's meter, causing both to chime to each other as the payment went through.

***

Just under an hour later, the two pulled up at the end of University Crescent, in front of a three story victorian that had seen better days. Jaiden stared dully at the sign proclaiming the name of this establishment as Unity Hall. Richard turned and drove the bike up the driveway along the side of the property line and pulled into the small garage. He switched the bike off and pulled his helmet off, nodding to the Bilby. "Well, we're home. Oh, I forgot to mention... I'm assigned as your big brother, so I'll be giving you the grand tour tomorrow, and, um, if anything happens you need help with, then you let me know." He grinned. "Thanks for being a good passenger. That much extra weight don't work unless you got yer passenger tilting with you." Jay just chuckled, undoing the helmet and handing it back, the plastic face shield losing its rigidity, the impression of his face disappearing. "No worries."

Richard smiled and walked ahead. "This way. I'll show you to your room. Your parents must be loaded if you get your own private room." The Bilby blushed, his ears matching his fur for a minute. "Yeah, um, My mum's pretty famous back home. My uncle too, though I never met him." The 'Yena looked at him and thought for a moment. "Wait, Andronicus... wasn't your mom the one who fought for the Australian version of the 28th amendment?"

Jay sighed and nodded. "Yeah. It was before she even had me... Anyway, yeah... My family's loaded." Richard smirked a bit. "Okay. Dinners on you then." he said, and got a giggle. The two walked past a German Shepperd with a stack of library books and a hurried look on his face, then got in the elevator. The Bilby was too tired to appreceate the decor much. He got to the door of his room and the Hyena waved his phone at it, unlocking it, grinning to Jay as he waved his hand into the room. "Welcome to your humble abode." he said, giving a mock bow.

The room was the same size as the others in the block, except stripped of the second bed, a couch occupying the space. There was a larger bathroom, a bath as well as a shower stall, and Jay looked longingly to the shower, then to the stacks of identical boxes marked DHL, dropping his backpack near the couch. "Um, I'd invite you in, but I just had a seventeen hour flight and I really need a shower." he smiled to the Hyena. "Thanks again." Richard bowed again. "Happy to help my little brother, any time. You need anything, you give me a call... here's my number." he said, pointing his phone to Jay's pocket, which beeped, Jay blushed and grinned. "Thanks, I will." Richard grinned. "Hey, I can come back tomorrow morning to help you unpack. Class doesn't start 'til Monday, so we have plenty of time." Jay flushed again, his glance drawn guiltily to the boxes behind him. "Um, I'd kinda prefer to unpack on my own."

Richard blinked, then nodded. "Okie Dokie. Suit yourself. Breakfast, then?" he grinned. "I'll come knock around nine." Jay nodded and smiled. "Sorry, I... um, I..." Richard waved his hand. "Naw, don't worry about it." he said, smirking. "Now... Um, if you need any... sanitary supplies, I can hook you up. We have a stash here you can borrow from... Not that I'm assuming you need such things, or anything." He rubbed the back of his head, and Jay giggled softly. "I have my own in one of these boxes... but thanks." Richard bowed, and slipped out the door.

Jay all but dashed for the shower.

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Chapter 2: You are not responsible for the actions of others. - Coming soon!