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"Dude, this is super weird." Marcel mumbles.

Elmer nods. "Super fucking weird."

"Do you think the smell can set her off? Like, sweat smell?" The two rams glance behind them, where a lanky white tigress sits on a bench, enthralled by a match between Peter and Leslie.

"I saw on TV once that carnies go crazy when they smell urine."

"Oh, well, I'll be careful not to piss myself during practice, thanks El." The springbok hisses.

A forceful hand suddenly grabs both of them by the horns, and shakes them around violently. Finally, they are released with a final powerful shove. The rams reel, dizzy from the rattling.

"Easy, cap!" Elmer whines. "Now I gotta reapply horn wax."

Desmond snorts irritably. "And now my hand's all fucked up with wax. Can both of you stop embarrassing this team in front of company by gossiping in the corner? This isn't the goddamn cheerleading club."

"C'mon, cap," Marcel's voice lowers to a conspiratorial tone. "We all like Priya, but she's still a carnie. Should she really be here during practice?"

"Yeah," Elmer chimes in. "Plus she's a female."

Desmond's eyes narrow into an icy glare. "You two clowns should feel honored someone even cares enough to sit through your shitty practice drills. Knock it off and complain about it later."

"So, you're not even a little freaked out? I thought you hated carnies!"

"Don't be ridiculous. Why would I be freaked out?"

Desmond is in fact, extremely freaked out. The mere presence of not only a carnie, but a female carnie, in the training room has him on the verge of a mental breakdown. This is hallowed grounds for the rams. A haven where no carnie has even stepped foot in. It is a principle of the ram-fighting club to maintain the moral integrity of this place. Desmond would've never believed he would one day be willingly breaking this creed.

But then there's Priya. An outlier so bizarre that she transcends this code. While Desmond doesn't like the idea of any carnie (even Hafsa) to stick around the training room, he does feel like he owes the club's number-one fan this favor. It made Peter very happy too. Regardless of whether he is actually interested in the tigress, Desmond wants to support their friendship, just as he'd want his teammates to support his and the president's.

He approaches the tiger, who is still looking with sparkly eyes at the practice match unfolding before her. Peter patiently explains the moves they are using, and Leslie even-more-patiently allows himself to be pinned to the floor to demonstrate holds. Desmond suspects Priya knows just about everything that's being said, but is simply enjoying it for its own sake. The three turn their attention to the Jacob sheep and stop the demonstration.

"Hey, captain!" Peter grins. The bighorn sheep is the goofiest of the team, but he seems to be extra chipper today. Desmond smirks and offers him a hand, which he accepts.

"Good armbar, Pete," giving the sheep a pat on the back. "He's not usually this good, y'know." He gives a teasing look at Priya, now moving to help Leslie to his feet. Peter gives an exaggerated scoff, feigning offense.

Priya giggles, gingerly toying with the tube of her nasal cannula. "Both Peter and Leslie are excellent wrestlers! I'm sure you'll all qualify for nationals!"

"We all need to train a lot harder before we think about nationals." Desmond grunts as he lifts the urial up. "Competition is tough this year."

"I've heard Barnun High's got a hybrid on their team now," Leslie adds. "Half eland, half waterbuck. Horns look like a 2-foot drillbit."

Peter crosses his arms. "Ugh, ever since they let hybrids fight, it's been a bloodbath. Those guys are damn near genetically engineered to kick ass."

"That's the trouble with hybrids, isn't it?" Priya speaks up, smiling. "They can be planned to excel, as long as you mix and match correctly."

Desmond raises a brow. "Would the parents really bother to plan, have and raise a kid just to create an animal good at ram fighting? Seems farfetched."

"Most people wouldn't think of doing such a thing, it's true. But it's not unheard of. Some people really like the idea of designing their future child."

"Seems unfair to the kid." Leslie tilts his head, giving his beard a pensive stroke. "It's like they're born into the world without free will."

"Who's to say there is such a thing as free will? Can you truly say your life is truly what you want it to be if you had no inhibitions whatsoever?" Priya's voice remains as dulcet as always, but something about her words sends a shiver down Desmond's spine. She seems to have a penchant for disturbingly profound rhapsodizing.

"Ha ha, this turned into philosophy class all of a sudden!" Peter laughs awkwardly. "We're here for ram fighting, after all! Wanna see how to put on the horn gear?"

Priya's pale blue eyes widen. "I'd love to!"

The two huddle close as Peter begins to pop off his horns guards. Leslie and Desmond decide to give the two their space and walk towards the punching bag for a casual tackling drill.

"Nice to see them getting along, isn't it?" Leslie comments while charging up for an attack.

Desmond chuckles. "Peter could use company outside of us sweaty jocks." His tone becomes more serious. "Do you agree with El and Marcie? Surely they must have come to you about this."

"About being freaked out?" Leslie asks. He suddenly jerks his head down and slams into the bag with an "oof". Solid tackle. "It's kind of weird, but I'm not against it. I'm frankly more concerned by how you're so okay with this."

The Jacob sheep waits for him to back away, readying his own charge. "If Peter's fine with it, I'm fine with it. He respects this team like all of us do." Crash. His upper horn slips a little on impact. Not great.

"How unusually charitable of you, captain." Leslie steadies the bag. "I'm more used to your 'shut-up-and-do-as-I-say' approach."

"You make me sound like a dictator." He is reminded of his earlier scolding of the yak and springbok. Guess Leslie isn't that far off.

"You're our dictator. And I trust your decisions. So I'm never that worried."

"Swoon." Desmond jokes. "Don't make me fall for you."

The urial clacks their horns together. "I can't control my charm." He wipes some sweat off his brow and looks to his far off water bottle near the locker room. "I'm gonna drink some water real quick, be right back."

"Sure." Desmond give a curt bow of the head and returns to his tackling drills.

Leslie retreats into his thoughts, as he normally does. The captain's behavior had been worrying him at the start of the year. Desmond is famous for his irritability, but he had become unusually reserved for the first month or so. Leslie is never one to interfere in people's personal business, but he had been mulling over whether he should step in and help. What is a teammate meant to do? Not that Desmond would ever be honest about his problems. That's the downside of having such a hardheaded captain. Ultimately, whatever had been ailing the sheep seemed to resolve itself. Perhaps a bit too cleanly. Whatever possessed him to allow a tiger into the training room, Leslie will never understand.

He takes a swig of his water, and peers at the white feline, curiously examining Peter's head harness with her mitt-like paws. She had previously gone to his matches (as well as all the other members') to cheer him on. He'd never peg her for the sports fanatic, much less ram fighting of all things.

It's not in his nature to pry. if Desmond's fine with her, then so is he.

---

Priya waits outside the training room for the rams to change back into normal clothes. It's not long before her ears pick up the clutter of voices emanating from the locker room, becoming louder with each second. She peeks her head in to see the herd, and offers a shy wave. Once they all settle in front of her, she gives a deep bow. So she's even picked up on bovid expressions.

"Thank you all so very much for letting me watch today's practice. I'm sorry for the inconvenience it caused. I know I must've imposed."

As Desmond opens his mouth to respond, the bighorn sheep next to him speaks up first. "What, not at all!" Peter laughs. "You're great! I mean, you've been great. Uh. Great audience?"

Priya's eyes close as she offers another gentle smile. "Well, I'll be seeing you around. I'm going back to my dorm now."

As the other bovids all say their farewells, Desmond jabs a suggestive elbow at Peter's side and shoots him a look. A "don't just stand there, idiot" kind of look. Peter eventually gets the hint.

"Oh! Priya, let me walk you to your dorm! It's dangerous for females this late!" The bighorn bleats triumphantly, like he just solved a calculus equation. Everyone silently chooses to ignore that in a dangerous situation, Priya would be ten times more reliable than Peter.

The surrounding bovids all give overlapping sounds of agreement. Clearly there is now some sort of unsaid five-way wingman scheme.

"That's very kind. As long as it's not a bother." The tigress chirps in a silvery voice.

And so, building locked and routes decided, the remaining four males mosey away in the opposite direction of the sheep-tiger duo. As the two stroll along the lamppost-lit path leading to the female dorms, Peter tugs on his beard, antsy to think of anything to fill the silence.

"Say," he suddenly jolts up, a flash of inspiration hitting him. "What ever got you into ram fighting in the first place? I can't imagine it's popular with tigers."

"I suppose it's not. But I grew up with it. My family is big on ram fighting."

"Really? Your family sounds pretty unique."

"Every family has quirks," Priya grins. "This is just ours."

"You got any siblings?" Peter asks.

"Oh, tons. We're different in this aspect too. Not many tigers have large families, but ours is very big. I have too many cousins to count!"

"Hey, mine too! Well, we sheep always have huge families, anyways. I swear, I can't even keep track of how many aunts and uncles I got!"

Priya tilts her head, interest piqued. "Are you very close with them?"

"Oh, big time. My folks call me every other day, and my sibling are always around, so phone calls get long. Not like Desmond."

"How so?"

"Oh, I don't know much about it. He doesn't like to talk about it much. There was some incident in the past that freaked them out, I guess. Sometimes his mom calls during training or dinner, but he always lets it ring. It's a shame he doesn't get along with his family that well, because I've met his brothers before and they were super cool."

"How sad," Priya frowns. "I hope things change for him."

Peter shrugs. "Every family is complicated."

Priya's frigid eyes glimmer. "That's true."