In the Morning

The morning seemed to drag on for hours. Daria had sat, fully clothed on her bed, for what seemed like hours. Dr Armeccitti hadn't been around much so she had noone to chat to and she had nothing with her except her books, not that she was in the mood to study. She leafed idly through the pages, observing dull passages on the history of speciation among canines. The content itself wasn't inherently bad, but her mind was on other things, namely why Armeccitti had been acting so strangely. She was dwelling on this very thought when the sound of clipping hooves, reached her ears. Lexi!

She hopped off the bed eager to greet her sister, but was surprised to see not her, but a larger, extraordinarily well endowed Doe. She looked confused.

'Who are you?' She asked. Perhaps she was a little impolite, but she was hoping her sister would have been around.

The Doe gave her a look of contempt, 'As if you don't know! You're sister has surely told you plenty about me!' She leered at Daria, taking exception to her confusion.

'I'm sorry I really don't know who you are. Are you one of Lexi's friends?' She tried to be more polite this time, noting the larger Deer's rancid temper.

She snorted derisively, 'Friend? Huh, no. Wouldn't be friends with a slut like her...' Daria felt a twinge of anger at the insult against her sister, who was this person to be so cruel. The Doe continued, 'No, I came looking for you. You're Daria right? The diseased one?'

'Yes, I'm Daria.' She spoke with a firmness in her voice. She wasn't going to let this woman demean her sister unchallenged, 'What's it to you?' She squared her shoulders. 'And what do you mean diseased?' She added, cottoning onto the Doe's other comments.

Her nostrils flared and she snorted again, smirking as she spoke, 'Diseased! As in infectious. Don't play dumb, everyone knows about you and Red. He fucks you and catches whatever you have. It's why you keep ending up here, right?' She poked a finger accusingly towards her.

Daria stared at her incredulously, 'What? No, I-'

'Ah, shut it! I'm not gonna fuck you anyway, so don't try to pretend. I'm not going to fall for it. You won't give me anything.' The thickset Doe advanced on Daria, towering over her. She wasn't anywhere as near as tall as Blake, but she was far more intimidating to her. She stepped back, her snout twitching nervously.

'What- What do you want?' Daria squeaked, trembling at the looming Deer. For the first time in a long while, she felt threatened. A cold fear gripped her, her palms felt sweaty. She could feel her pulse and the cold blood rushing in her ears.

The Doe grinned, malice dripping from her parted lips. She could sense Daria's fear and relished it. 'Why,' She began again, reaching out a hand to grab her, I want y-'

'What do you think you're doing?' A deep voice echoed from behind the Doe.

The hand froze inches from her. Daria saw the smile fade, replaced with a expression of frustration.

'Blake.'

'Siobhan.'

The Stallion strode up to the pair, 'You still didn't answer my question. What were you doing?'

Siobhan sighed, 'Nothing, nothing. Just getting acquainted with Daria here.' She patted the smaller Doe heavily on the head. Her voice was as hostile as her pats and Daria did her best to duck away, edging closer to Blake. Thankfully, it seemed the Stallion noticed her discomfort and moved up to stand next to her.

'Really? Looked awfully like you might be trying to exercise privileges. The medical wing is off limits if my memory serves. Might have gotten into some trouble if I hadn't been passing by, hmm?' Blake's words were equally barbed. Both parties knew exactly what the other thought.

'Guess I'll get going.' Siobhan spoke through gritted teeth, shooting Daria a killer glare.

'I think that's a good idea.' Blake responded, smiling sarcastically at the busty Doe.

Siobhan made no further comment and turned to leave. Her hips swayed as she strolled out, emphasising her huge ass beneath her skirt. Blake watched her leave, Daria noted however, he was staring pointedly at the back of her head and not anywhere else.

He turned to her, 'You alright? It looked a bit hairy for a moment there.'

Daria didn't answer taking a few shaky breaths. She thought for a moment she had regained her composure, but as she went to speak she found herself overwhelmed with emotion. Unable to stop the flood, she burst into tears, throwing herself at Blake and holding him tightly. 'I'm sorry.' She sniffled, ruining Blake's shirt in the process, 'She- She- She really scared me.' She sounded childish, she new this, but there was no other way she could think of putting it.

For his part, Blake was shocked. He had seen Siobhan being somewhat aggressive, sure, but Daria had seemed to be alright. He patted her shoulder reassuringly, rubbing her back with his other hand. 'There there.' He knelt down and embraced her properly. Whether this was the correct action, he wasn't sure, but she seemed to respond well to the affection, pulling herself closer to him. At least now she wasn't messing up his shirt.

'I- I don't kn- know what she wanted... but she said horrible things. About Lexi and me.' Daria gushed. She didn't understand why she was so affected, it seemed so trivial. But Siobhan's eyes. The look in them, she could see the image burned into her mind. It was just so unsettling.

Blake squeezed her again, 'Hey, you're alright.' He quickly looked her up and down, 'You are alright aren't you? She didn't touch you?'

Daria shook her head, taking a shuddering breath. She was managing to calm somewhat, the emotional wave subsiding.

Blake led her to the bed and they both sat down. The bed creaked and bowed under the extra weight but neither of the two were in any position to care. He reached over to the bedside table, offering her a tissue. She took it, dabbing away at her tears before blowing her nose liberally, and throwing it into the nearby bin.

It took her a while to calm down... Aside from a little redness in her green eyes, she appeared to be back to normal. The two sat in silence for a moment, neither interacting with the other. After they had sat down, Blake had withdrawn his hand and there was a tension between them, a pressure to broach a subject they both knew they needed to.

'I'm being partially exempt.' 'So I guess I owe you dinner?'

The two spoke at the same time, neither able to hear the other over their own words. A humorous smile played on Blake's lips and he motioned to Daria, 'You go first.'

Perhaps he thought it a kindness, but Daria was not looking forward to repeating herself. It had been hard enough the first time, but she took a deep breath and spoke, 'I'm getting partial exemption.' She saw Blake's expression shift to sympathy.

'I see.' He didn't look surprised, 'I suppose partials better than complete though. What is it? No more major stuff?'

Daria blushed and shook her head. She still wasn't used to talking about her potential intimate exploits so casually, even with him. 'Ah, no. It's more of a care thing. I can't have-, uh, do anything with anyone I don't trust, and I've been told to limit myself to four partners per day.'

Blake stifled a laugh.

'What?'

'Four partners? Only with people you trust? Sounds like you've got the good end of the deal.' He chortled.

Daria pushed his shoulder, 'Hey! Don't laugh!' She pouted, 'That number includes any exercise of priveleges. And it's not like I trust a lot of people anyway.' She lowered her voice to a whisper, heat rising in her cheeks as she spoke, 'And you know that it helped me find out those things about myself. I don't have that anymore.' She huffed.

Blake just shrugged, 'It could be worse is all I'm saying.'

Daria glared at him, 'Oh yeah, and apparently there's a rumour that I have an STI.'

Blake baulked, 'I can see why that would put you in a bad mood.'

'Yeah,' Daria sighed. 'Siobhan mentioned it,' She shivered at the thought of the intimidating Doe, 'It does explain why everyone avoided me though.'

'Hey, it might be helpful. It's always awkward to have to tell people about exemption, you'll have some time to let everyone know when it's inconsequential anyway. Then you won't have to turn anyone down.'

'You really think people will suddenly stop believing it? I have to admit I might even believe it, regular trips to the medical wing, the guy everyone thinks you *ahem* 'slept with', disappears...' She trailed off, 'It's quite convincing.'

Blake raised an eyebrow, 'You're talking about Red, right?'

She nodded.

Blake smirked, 'Don't worry. He'll be back soon. Although I suppose I should apologise for his temporary hiatus.'

It was her turn to look questioningly at him, 'Were you that mean to him?'

Blake looked a little lost, 'I didn't think you'd mind that much, given what he did to you... but don't worry I didn't do too much. He's just getting over his bruised ego, that's all.' He paused for a moment, 'and a sore behind.'

Daria gasped in shock, 'You spanked him!?'

Blake was caught off guard again, 'Yeah? I don't spank that hard, but it still has to be a punishment. I kept him out of the DO's hands as well. That's a good thing.'

Daria was both curious and concerned, 'And?'

'And what?' Blake was defensive now, why was she pushing so hard on this. 'I gave him a choice, me or the DO. He chose me, he got a spanking. There were some conditions, which he broke. He wanted out of the consequences, so he got another choice. I never made him do anything without an alternative...' He paused, thinking, '...Except wear thongs for a month but that's it.' He saw her quizzical look, 'It's not just to humiliate him, or because they suit him, (they really do though), it's because of what he's like. He straddles the line every single time, but rarely ever breaks it. Living dangerously isn't great, but we can't just revoke privileges for that, nor for his infraction, which was relatively minor and a first time offence. Red's proud, he'll find the thong embarrassing. We haven't touched his privileges, but I bet he does very little to exercise them while he's wearing a thong... Happy?' He was clearly annoyed at having to explain himself.

Daria looked satisfied, 'Sorry, I just didn't like the idea of it all just being cruelty. I see what you did wasn't just that.'

'Good!' An awkward silence fell again.

Blake stood up. His tone was still tinted with irritation when he spoke, 'Look, I'm going to take a walk. I want to speak with you later though, ok?'

Daria nodded, 'Sure, see you.' She was disappointed that the Stallion left in such a huff, and felt a twinge of guilt at her actions. She'd pressured him too much for an explanation and wound him up. She sighed, sitting alone in the wing, and wondered who her next visitor might be.