"Why are we doing this again?" Malice asked.
"For one, because Jamie urged us to," Sarah explained as they moved down the hallway to the room that had been Princess and Tiffany's room, "the other reason was that they didn't think your prank on April Fool's Day was funny."
Malice gave a bit of a sigh. While she had some resentment of the High School Queen who became a Poodle Animalian, her prank really wasn't intended to have any hatred or spite in it. Maybe it was a bit over the top over the fact that Tiffany had been chasing after Simon for all the wrong reasons and she wanted to defend her mate's honor and choices, but there was nothing personally vengeful in Malice's mind when she pulled the prank. In a very real sense, Malice was enjoying the fun that went along with April Fool's Day. She even had fun in the end when Sarah got her back. That was all in good fun. However, Tiffany and Princess didn't like the prank and Malice had actually found what interactions there were to be less than friendly and particularly with Princess, who hadn't been the target of Malice's prank. Malice sighed and then nodded.
When Malice nodded, Sarah then turned and knocked on the door. The two waited quietly until the door opened to reveal a lone French Poodle Animalian who was presently wearing a pink tee-shirt and a pair of white shorts that were loose fitting and matched the color of her fur/hair. She frowned almost as soon as she saw Sarah and then bared her teeth at Malice.
"My sister did not like your game," Princess actually growled at Malice and ignored Sarah's presence completely.
Malice was actually taken aback by that statement. Sarah remembered Jamie saying something about Tiffany and Princess having a relationship similar to the relationship she had with Malice. Malice didn't believe that, and Sarah, herself, was a bit hesitant given that the High School Senior was not well known for being particularly open and kind even before the Animalian Outbreak first occurred. Rumors of Tiffany being rather distant with underclassmen and those who weren't either athletes or on the Cheerleader squad or Dance Team had circulated to the point where even Sarah had heard them even while she, Abby, Sophie, and Jessica were still eight graders. Listening to Princess speak and her direct growl towards Malice gave Sarah the suspicion that perhaps they had been wrong.
Princess moved to shut the door, but Sarah managed a quick move forward and reached out to hold the door open before Princess could close the door. It was this that finally got Princess to acknowledge Sarah's presence.
"Malice is here to apologize," Sarah spoke while lowering her ears in an act of submission and lowered her tail so that it hung limp behind her. Sarah hoped that that would be enough to get Princess to let them enter.
Fortunately, Princess did back off from the door and let them in. They entered to find a fairly typical looking hotel room, which was something that had amazed Sarah to no end given how quickly many of the buildings on Mieni had been upgraded. They could even here an exhaust fan running from the attached bathroom. After a few moments another French Poodle Animalian emerged from the bathroom wearing a pair of navy blue shorts with a white tee-shirt with their high school's logo on the front and stretched over the curve of her generous bosom.
"Hey, Princess... before we go home... I was thinking we could at least go and..." Tiffany began when she saw Sarah and Malice standing in the room and being looked over by Princess. Her look went from fairly cheery to actually very sour.
"Uh... hey... sorry about the prank," Malice spoke, "I'd gotten carried away with the holiday... sorry. I didn't mean any harm."
"Pranks are only funny when both laugh," Tiffany answered.
"I know... and again... I'm sorry," Malice spoke.
"And why you felt you needed to prank me... I'll never know," Tiffany answered, "we barely know each other."
Which was true. While the four of them might all be double dosed Animalians and looked to be about the same age, it needed to be remembered that Tiffany was a High School Senior while Sarah and Malice were only Freshmen.
"I... I suppose..." Malice said slowly, "I was defending Simon's honor."
They both watched as Tiffany's more determined look faded and she actually whimpered a bit. Princess actually moved to comfort Tiffany, the same way that Malice and Sarah would comfort each other when something proved to make them struggle. It only served to make Sarah think that their assessment over Tiffany and Princess's relationship had been wrong.
"Everyone wants to draw attention to that," Tiffany said after a moment, "Simon was one of the few canine Animalians at school. Everyone that I'd been friends with wanted to be Lions and Tigers or Horses or some other large animal stronger than a dog... And Princess is a girl... my sister...I had no one to be happy with... and all these Edicts... Simon was the only one I could get at school... and I thought he'd jump at being with the most popular girl."
"And she saw me as a sister," Princess answered, "we love each other... but as sisters."
Sarah and Malice both blinked in surprise. Tiffany's whole pursuit after Simon had been out of the fact that she had felt... isolated? It'd make sense if one considers that Tiffany had held herself as one of the "popular girls" in school and had then been caught by surprise when her pet was uplifted and then found herself as an Animalian and one that didn't have many looking for her as a possible dating option. Not every athlete that she'd dated as a human became an Animalian, for whatever reason. Some were like Sophie's present boyfriend who's parents were remarkably tolerant and supportive of Animalians, but wouldn't give their permission for their children to join Animalia while they were under the age of eighteen or under their parent's roof. Others chose to become other Animalians based species other than Canis Lupus/Canis Lupus Familiaris.
"So you went after Simon because he was the only male canine in school?" Sarah asked.
"The only one who was single," Tiffany answered, "and without any one else...at school... he was my first choice..."
Tiffany looked down for a moment and then fell silent.
"But Jamie has been quite helpful for her," Princess added, "and that has helped her begin to understand more on the details on what has happened with animals uplifted into Animalians and humans turned into Animalians, be it by accident as Tiffany was or by deliberate exposure the way Simon was."
"You didn't understand your own sister?" Malice asked, lowering one ear while leaving the other perked.
"It's not so much that she misunderstood me," Princess spoke, "it's that she had some confusion over whether or not an uplifted Animalian could legally mate with a human turned into an Animalian under the Edicts."
Tiffany nodded to Princess and then looked to Sarah and Malice, "but as Princess said... Jamie's helped. I've met a few uplifted dogs and wolves that don't have mates and I've found myself in the running for whoever Jamie DOESN'T choose with regard to her suitors and fully realizing that the Edicts don't forbid me to date an uplifted male dog... It's helped a lot."
"Wow," Malice said slowly, "that's shown a lot of change... again... really I'm sorry about the prank. Really, I am."
"Maybe we could go down to the snack bar," Sarah offered, "Malice and I will buy some jerky or maybe some fish... your choice."
Tiffany and Princess smiled.