Hope smiled and said, “Good, come along now, I'll show you to the kid's wing.". Hope opened the double doors that were opposite the hall that leads to the nursery. The doors opened up to another hallway, this time rather large. It was wide enough to fit about 3-4 people standing side by side. On the walls were paintings and pictures of natural scenery. Forests, plains, mountains, waterfalls. All quite aesthetically pleasing.

Hope opened another set of double doors to what looked like a large living room. There were an array of archways that led to rooms with art easels, Pottery spinners, and a bunch of other arts and crafts. There was also a television with a gaming system underneath surrounded by sofas. There was a room with three computers and some rather comfortable looking chairs. There was also a room with a variety of toys, building blocks, crayons, and colored paper.

There was a human boy playing video games online on the computer, and a kangaroo boy making something out of clay. I could see a little deer on the floor near the television drawing. There was what looked like a classroom with about 8 older looking kids and a forest owl lady at the whiteboard teaching chemistry. I could see the kids playing outside. About 3 of them, playing tag. One cheetah boy was running miles ahead of the fox girl, and the human girl was running up and down the play equipment.

Hope looked at me and said “This is our main area. We have everything a normal house has and more. The bedrooms are up to those stairs, but we give our kids some privacy apart from Fridays when we all cleanup. We have all sorts of sources of entertainment, schooling, and we often take the kids out to parks, bush walks, movies, and other activities organized by Jenny, the owl over in the classroom there. All funded, might I add, by the kind donors at Second Chance Charity.". Hope looked very proud of what she ran. And for good reason.

“This is a very nice environment for children Hope, in fact, It's most certainly unique. The combination of a class like an environment in a home-like presence is beyond amazing and efficient." I said in amazement. “Well, I'm glad you find it adequate. We like to think we provide enough services to keep the kids busy.

Jenny, in particular, loves the flexibility of being able to organize events based on what the children want, need, and know, rather than having to do the same thing year after year based on some school curriculum." Hope said while sitting on the couch.

“Feel free to talk to any of the children, I'm sure they'll be excited to see a new person. But please, don't say anything disrespectful or violent. Come back to me whenever you feel like it." Hope said before taking out her phone on the couch. “Of course," I say before walking around and looking at the children. One of them, a little deer, about 7 years old, grabs my attention with the blue blob she's drawing.

“Hey there," I said as I crouched down. The little deer looks up at me and says “Good morning, mister. Are you here to give someone a home?" she says as routine as if she were serving me a coffee. “No, sorry. I was hoping to learn about people here." I replied. “What kind of people?" the deer asked confused. “People like you," I said while smiling. “Anthros?" she said, quickly paying more attention to the conversation. “Yes. So what are you drawing?" I say, looking down at what first appeared to me as a blue blob.

It was indeed a blue blob. OUR blue blob. Green continents were scattered across a sphere of blue, and there were stick figures of all skin colors, and some with ears and tails, all holding hands. The deer smiles and says “Do you like it? It's a picture I'm making for our class project about harmony. Harmony is very important here because everyone is different. We came from different places and people and we all need to accept that all of us have different feelings about things.". Holy crap. This deer knows more about getting along with people than me...

“That's. Very good. It's very important. Believe me. So… if you don't mind. What was your life like before you came here?" I said as I sat down next to her. Hope was keeping an eye on us to make sure none of us tripped up and said something bad. The little deer frowned “I don't remember much. But I know that humans were mean to my parents. I liked humans. Everyone at preschool was nice, but then when mommy and daddy were taking me places, bad people came."

“Oh my- … that's horrible." I said, my arms getting weak. No-one should go through that. She was even nice to the humans at her school. Yet, the humans her parents had to face. Just for life to be that foul to a person living a good and fair life. “But you're not mean. You're a nice human. Right?" The deer said, lightening things up. “Yeah," I said, with a wobble in my voice.

The glass sliding door that leads to the playground is opened by the cheetah, and the fox girl and human girl come through. The cheetah comes through and notices me. “Hey! A new person!" He says, as energized as a live power pylon. He runs over at full speed while the two girls go to the kitchen for a drink.

“Hey! My name's Aidan! What's yours?" He said with a wide smile on his yellow spotty face. “Zach, hi Aidan. What's got you so excited?" I said with a grin. “You're here! That means either you've come to play, or you've come to take one of us to a family!" Aidan said, getting progressively more hyped. “Well, I'm afraid it's the former," I say as the hype almost catches on to me. “Former?" The young cheetah says with a jokingly confused look. “Former, the first option. Latter means the second option." I say, feeling like a tutor.

“Haha, you're like Jenny. She's a really cool owl. You looked like my favorite basketball player from a distance, do you play?" Aidan asked, still equally as hyped as before. Man, how long has it been since I've played? I wonder if I still have it, or if I got rusty over the years. “Yeah I played before, I still think I got it," I tell the overexcited cheetah. “Heh Well is it enough skill to take on me?" He asks with a smile. A bit of overconfidence was in his figure. “Well we will see soon enough won't we?" I get up and motion to the courts outside.

Outside where the small blacktop was there were all kinds of sports equipment outside. Aiden is ahead of me and goes to the wall, where a cage of sorts is holding a variety of sports balls. He get's the basketball out and I start stretching a bit. Seeing me exercise, Aiden does the same once he places the ball in the middle of the court. Once we finished we meet back at the half-court.

“Alright, Aiden. Let's flip to see who's offense." I say when I get my wallet out and get a quarter out. He shouts “tails" calling it first, defaulting me to heads. I flip the coin in the air and grab it with my hand and slam it on my arm. The coin's face was tails, he started as an offense. “It's tails Aiden, you take offense." “Yeah!" he says doing a few quick hops. He picks up the ball and we both check it. Afterward, I expected him to do some double dribbles and travels but to my surprise. He was doing all sorts of crossovers and turnbacks. I tried not letting his showing off get to me. However, he was fast, even for a cheetah child. He pretty much just snuck underneath me and performed a lay-up at the goal.

“Wow! You're a fast one, aren't you? Even for your age, that's pretty fast." I complement his excellent shot. “Thanks, I learned that from Tony Jones. He's the best." He says while returning to half-court. I ask him “What's your favorite team?" “The Sacramento Cavaliers." I chuckle “Good team, they made it to the playoffs 2 years ago." He nods his head and checks the ball to me. Taking offense I start to do what I use to do younger. A simple crossover and fake out turnover. Usually, that confuses the defense, but this little fireball was right on me. I do a fake out, confusing my pathway and dribble to the goal. Right beside my left leg he pops the ball from my dribble direction and steals it. He returns to 3 points and shoots the ball from the 3-pointer line. He makes it with the net making a swish sound.

“That was good Aiden. Usually, that trips people up when I do that." I say while returning to half-court. “Yeah that was pretty good, but I still got speed and these fast hands." He says air dribbling. After checking the ball, I decide to pull off something I used to do to a school friend. I stand in place and dribble for a bit, then I advance to Aiden's left. I expect Aiden to try to catch me on my feet. But I do a turnaround and sprint to the goal. I jump up very high and slam dunk the ball in the goal. “Ah yeah, I still got it." I pump my fist in the air. “For a second I thought you were still rusty." “Okay, now I have to play serious Aiden" I joke. “Same here".

The game was spectacular. I haven't been on my toes like this since boot camp. Aiden is something else, better than anyone I've ever met. Before We could check the ball for our final play, Jenny the owl poked her head out the door and said: “Hey, you two, it's time for lunch!". “Well, that ends our game Aiden. You did great, definitely showed this man some new tactics for next time." He laughs “Thanks, and you were good too. One day I want to be a professional basketball player." He says in high excitement. He grabs the ball and puts it back in the cage.

We both walk back to the building together. Aidan opens the door and gestures that I come in. I nod politely at him before he says “Ladies first.". We both laugh and head inside. All 17 or so kids are lined up for waffles. Aidan tugs on my coat “Hey, thanks for the game, Zach." he holds his paw out for a high five. “I'll see you in the playoffs" I slap my hand on his paw gently, but he accelerates his and ends up giving me the tingles.

Jenny is over by the line to the waffles, I approach her and say “Hey, Hope said you were really good with kids. I think I see why. You always give them food like this?". Jenny ruffles her feathers and says “Not at all. I keep a very good eye on their diet. Today is just one of those special days. I don't think I've seen you before. I'm Jenny, and you are..?" She holds out her wing-like-hand “Zach, Hope and Aidan told me great things about you." I shake her hand.

“Well, that's very nice of them. Welcome to our little home. Say, are you here to adopt?" She says widening her big blue eyes. I put my hand behind my neck and say “No, sorry. Everyone here is assuming that I plan to adopt." The owl tilts her head “Well, you're at an orphanage, you don't work here, and you don't have a child with you. I personally think it's easy to make assumptions. Why ARE you here anyway?".

I look around to make sure none of the children are paying attention. “Well, you see; I was raised adolian… and… my mother wanted me to hate… anthros. But I never thought anything bad about you guys and… I just wanted to see the other side of the story. What furs like yourself are like. Whether you're beasts or you really are people like me.". Jenny coos and says “How very noble of you. May I ask how you are finding us so far?". “Well, you all seem just like humans, apart from the fur, feathers, and scales. I'm really questioning why on earth humans show so much hate." I say.

“That's wonderful! I'd love to talk to you some more, but I have things to do. I hope to see you around some more!" Jenny walks away after checking on the children. I stand by to think to myself. It seems to me that The Origin puts a bad spin on them. Why the hell would Alogus make the furs so kind and humane if their only purpose is for food and pelts?

I keep thinking about what I was taught as a child. My days in school where we would do studies on The Origin. Beasts weren't even allowed in my school. As I was thinking, I heard a very familiar voice say a very familiar phrase… “Playing with your dolls again?". I remembered the old bullies at my school. And how they said I played with dolls. Damnit, they're action figures. I hear the voice again, but louder. “Why would you even play with human dolls?". That's odd. I played with wolf army men… That's when I realized; I wasn't just thinking…

I snapped out of my little mind barrier and saw two humans, a boy, and a girl standing in front of a little brown, black striped hyena sitting down with a set of army action figures. He was crying, holding his little soldier action figures to his chest. Just being pummeled with insults. “You're a hyena, why aren't you laughing at our jokes?" said the white, blonde haired boy. “Yeah, banshee, why aren't you screaming, it's funny right?" said the other ash haired girl. I felt an anger building up in my chest. Like my insides were burning. I started to sweat, and my fists balled up.

I walk over to the conflict and stand in front of the bullies. “Listen here, you little turds, that's no way to treat someone," I muttered so that none of the other children could hear. “But he's a beast who plays with human dolls!" the blonde kid remarked. I'm getting even more agitated. I bend over to their height and say “They are ACTION FIGURES. And don't you DARE say anything like that about him? Now, why don't you take your insults, and shove them- into the ground." I said before going too far.

The two human bullies scampered off like mice from a fire. “Th- Thank you." Said a whimpering voice from behind me. I turn around and see the little brown, black striped hyena boy, holding his action figures close to him. “Hey. No problem. Those sh- stupid… kids had it coming. I'm Zach. What's your name?" I said to him in a much softer voice. “Kuma. My name is Kuma." He said, wiping the tears off his face.

“I loved playing with action figures too when I was your age. I played with these little wolf soldiers. I called them Butch and Rover, and Sgt. Riley. Protectors of the forest." I said as I somewhat dozed off. Kuma grabbed his two human action figures “This is Warren and Ryan. They do lots of recon missions, spying on the enemy and exploring. Why did you play with wolf toys?".

“Well, when I was just younger than you, I got my first pocket money. Ma' said that she would take me to the toy store and I could pick any toy I wanted to buy with my own money. I walked around the store for ages, picking up different toys, and playing with them, and then looking at the price tag. Most of the things there were too expensive. But then I saw some soldiers sitting on the top of the shelf. I immediately went over to them and counted their prices. It matched my money perfectly. My mother was cleaning up the mess I had left behind from checking out the other toys, but I couldn't wait. I ran over to the counter with my coins and note and put the soldiers up on the table. The man at the register smiled and told me I chose well. I can't forget the sound of my first exchange. The mechanical noise of the register, then the sliding of the note, and 13 distinct clinks of coins falling into piles. He wrapped it up in some sparkly silver paper and gave it to me. I took it back to my mother and she was surprised to see that I had bought something while she wasn't paying attention. We went home, and I played with them all night, pretending they were doing boot camp." I stopped realizing I had talked for so long that Kuma had finished his waffles.

Odd, he still seemed as absorbed in what I was saying as he was when I was introducing myself. “That's so cool! Warren and Ryan are the few toys I got to bring when my parents took me here. But that only means there's more places to explore, right?" The young hyena said, very optimistic.