Chapter 1

"You know, I really hate this shit." Wilson grumbled as he picked through the racks of clothes. "One day, I swear, I'm going berserk on their asses."

"You don't like getting dressed up?" Barry arched his long neck and raised a confused but inquiring eyebrow. "It should be a nice night."

"Oh no, I don't mind this. It's a break from the monotony." Wilson crossed his thick arms, covering the bulk of his barrel chest. His lumbering form turned slowly, facing his friend. "Do you know a fucking seven year old was flinging peanuts at me for an hour? I don't even like goddamn peanuts!"

Barry chuckled as he went back to choosing his tie for the evening's affair. While tonight's party was a special event, his friend's after hour tirade was a regular occurrence. He only wished that Wilson's memory wasn't so acute.

"Well, what are you going to do?" Barry shrugged his narrow shoulders in a sort of resigned way. Sometimes the tactic of feigned indifference helped to soothe his friend's insulted pride.

"I think one of those damn things almost put out my eye!" Wilson shook with thunderous rage, his elephantine feet lifting and falling in frustration. With each stomp, the floor of their small apartment shook. "The sign says not to feed us! It's not like it's not in English! And what the hell was his mother doing?"

"Handing him the peanuts?" Barry offered sarcastically, turning his attention back to the clothes rack that hung in his closet.

"Handing him the peanuts!" Wilson bellowed in confirmation, the aspiration and perspiration showing on his furrowed grey brow. He shook his head sadly as the rage started to slowly flee his mind.

Hearing the heavy elephantine sigh of his best friend, Barry could sense that the tirade was almost over.

"You know what I blame?" Barry never took his attention away from the racks of clothes. With so much neck to cover, he always felt that choosing the right tie was essential to his attire. In fact, it was pretty much the center point around which he decided the rest of his clothes.

"The parents?" Wilson replied, with a sense of certainty in his voice.

"Nope." Barry smiled as his hoof seized on a long golden tie, pulling it out and holding it against his tan fur for contrast. "The cartoons."

Wilson paused in mid movement as he thought about that, his trunk reached up and scratched the side of his head. Then he turned and looked at his friend for an explanation.

"The cartoons." The giraffe repeated, frowning as he returned the tie to the rack. "They perpetuate these myths. You must like peanuts and be scared of mice, because that's what the cartoons say."

"I guess." Wilson's broad shoulders shook slightly at the mention of mice, he honestly didn't care for them himself. "Think I should wear the tux tonight? How about the blazer?"

Barry glanced at his roommate from across the room, it was bad enough he was having a hard time picking his own clothes out. Now he was going to have to dress him too.

"Kids these days." Barry offered with a resigned shrug. He thought maybe distracting his friend back to his previous annoyance might force him to pick his own clothes.

Wilson rolled his eyes, the exasperated suddenly appearing on his face again. "I swear, I know why Uncle Ralph went crazy. One day I'm going to snap and trample some 'innocent bystanders' myself."

Barry shook his head slowly, he had no doubt that his friend really had no intention of doing any such thing, but stranger things had happened.

"I'm going to wear the tux." The elephant stated, matter of factly, the fingers of his thick paw grasping a hanger and pulling the dark black suit from the rack. "I want to get some tail tonight and I ain't coming home alone."

Seeing that his friend had made his decision, Barry decided it was safe to pull out the clothes he already decided on hours ago. A light gray suit, a dark red tie, and a freshly pressed white shirt.

"Oh yeah, Big Poppa is going to get some tonight." Wilson's trunk caressed the lapel of his suit like he was stroking the leg of a fine woman. "If my boxers are hanging off the doorknob, don't be barging in on me."

A good hearted chuckle echoed out of Barry's long giraffean throat. "If your boxers are hanging off the doorknob, I'd have a hard time finding the door."

To all outside eyes, it looked like just another quiet night at Greenville Zoo. All the tourists had long since left. The gates had been locked. The janitors had swept the pathways and collected the garbage. Even the zookeepers seemed to have all gone home.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The pathways that the average person would expect to be empty, we're actually teeming with life. Animals wandering freely through the pathways of the labyrinthine lay out of the zoo.

And still, that wasn't an accurate description of the situation. To the casual observer such a description would make one think of a mass of chaos, when the animals had thrown open their cages and taken to an uncontrolled fervor of activity.

Instead what the observer would see would look very much like the average day in the life of the zoo. Pedestrians strolling on two legs throughout the zoo, congregating and chatting at the various intersections and plazas that dotted the zoo map.

All of the animals behaving, for lack of a better description, like humans.

"So when is this wedding going to start?" Maureen leaned against the green metal railing that separated the pathway from one of the small grass pastures that dotted the zoo. She absently scanned the movements of the crowds with her narrow brown eyes, trying to discern their general movement.

Lola glanced at her friend for a second, had a thoughtful gaze, and then began to giggle uncontrollably. Her eyes bulging from the strain and giving her face a maniac look of insanity.

"Hey, watch the drool!" Hillary instinctively took a step back from her friend, glancing down and double checking that no errant flicks of spittle had made it onto her perfectly white dress.

Hillary liked the white the white cotton and lace contrasted against her thin brown fur, she flexed her long busy tail and curved it around herself. Slowly starting to groom it and pick bits of lint out of the brown and black fur rings.

"Sorry." Lola, the hyneaess meekly replied, the embarrassment managing to stifle down her giggles.

"Hey." Hillary glanced at Maureen, "Where's Tony? I thought he was your date tonight?"

Maureen rolled her eyes in annoyance at the mention of her on again off again boyfriend. She knew the lothario is probably deep in the midst of trying to grease his way into some unsuspecting female's charms.

"The pandas just came out of quarantine. He probably thought his best chance would be to get his teeth into them before anyone warned them." Maureen wrinkled her nose in annoyance, giving slightly snooted face a predatory appearance.

It was easy for her to imagine the cheetah with his slick words prying the new girls away from their virtues. She'd been on the receiving end of his ways more than a few times.

"Where did the pandas come from anyway?" Hillary asked with interest, her whiskers twitching in thought. She didn't often find herself in the loop of zoo gossip.

"Beijing Zoo I think. They shipped Arnold off in exchange." Maureen laughed, "One wild guess who got the better end of that deal. Arnold is probably hiding under a rock in some Chinese zoo right now."

Hillary blinked for a minute, trying to remember which one was Arnold. She was never good at names either. When she failed to find a mental picture to associate with the name, she finally asked. "Arnold?"

"Yeah." Maureen shrugged. "He was the old tortoise. Never came out much. I guess I wouldn't either if I had to carry that thing on my back all the time."

"Poor Arnold." Lola said with distinct sympathy, even though she immediately broke into a new set of giggles.

"Why do you even go out with Tony?" Hillary, the raccoon asked, tearing her mind away from the enticing prospect of foreign panda triplets.

Maureen shot her friend a cold, withering stare, "What do you care? You don't even live here. You just sneak in every night. I mean, really, you're lucky we even let you hang out with us."

The retort caused Lola to descend into another round of giggles. Tense situations seemed to have that effect on her more often than not.

The two friends stared at each other, saying nothing.

"Helllllloooo, ladies!" Fergus shouted as he leaped in front of them with a flourish. He spun his arm elaborately, placing it across his mid section, and then bowing deeply.

In stunned silence, the trio of girls stared at the flamboyant parrot, attired in red velvet felt and a giant hat.

He stood up fully, the large emerald feathers of his crest standing proudly against the evening breeze. "And why are you three lovely ladies standing here unescorted?"

The trio of girls stared silently for a moment more, until Lola started to giggle again. The other two beginning to laugh outright, until all three were almost falling over from convulsions of laughter.

Fergus stood, frowning, wanting to slink off, but embarrassed into silence.

"I knew it." Maureen groaned out through tears of laughter. "Pirate days went straight to his head."

"Next time, he'll show up with a peg leg and an eye patch!" Hillary added in laughter. "We'd better hope they never you in a slasher movie attraction, Fergie."

"Take a deep breath." The young woman said reassuringly. "You need to calm down."

"I am calm!" Cleo shouted back, betraying her frayed nerves. She had no intention of shouting of course, but the words sort of came out on their own.

"Calm. Suuuuure." Beryl replied, looking incredulously at the wolfess in her pearled, ivory white dress. "Give me your hand, I want to show you something."

Cleo took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She figured her bridesmaid was about to show her how her hand was shaking. Try to prove to her just how bad her nerves were racing, so all she did was concentrate on keeping her hands still.

Even as she tried to still her hands, Cleo's ears short stubby began twitching. The nervous energy searching for a way out of her body. Still, with a quiet confidence, she extended her left hand to the human woman. Smugly waiting to see what she'd say now.

"Look." Beryl replied with a satisfied sound, holding the wolfess' paw in her hand.

"What?" Cleo spit out, annoyed, her lips instinctively curling and sharp white incisors peeking out. "My hand isn't shaking!"

"I know." Beryl frowned, trying to quietly calm her friend. "But your claws are out and all tensed up. If you keep this up, you'll shred your dress even before the ceremony starts."

Cleo sighed heavily, realizing that her friend was entirely right.

Beryl squeezed Cleo's paw tightly, reassuringly. "Here, sit down. I'll go and get you a cup of tea. It will help calm you down."

Cleo slumped into the offered seat, playing little heed to wrinkling her dress. At this point she wasn't even sure she needed it.

"Here. It's a little cold. But just sip it slowly." Beryl offered the small white tea cup down to the reclining wolfess.

"Beryl?" Cleo asked in a low, almost scared voice. Not making any movement to take the cup. "Am I doing the right thing?"

Beryl stared down at her friend, blinking slowly as she processed the question. But she didn't feel like she could answer it properly without knowing more about what brought the question on.

"What do you mean?" Beryl asked slowly, trying to take a reassuring tone.

"With all of this?" Cleo grasped part of the dress in her lap and lifted it up, shaking it slightly in annoyed confusion.

"You're just nervous, that's all." Beryl knelt down next to the chair and whispered into the wolfess' furry ear. She reached to the bride to be's face and slowly start to rub her neck, just below her jaw line.

Cleo groaned softly at the reassuring touch. It seemed to help calm her mind, though she couldn't figure out why.

"As much as I hate to admit it." Beryl whispered playfully. "My brother is a really nice guy. And you're both lucky to have found each other."

Cleo nodded slowly, somewhat agreeing with the words she was hearing.

"I've seen you two together. I know you two really are in love." Beryl added, the words starting to come easier now. She found herself not thinking about them, just saying what she felt in her heart. "You know you're both happier when you're together than when you're apart."

"I guess you're right." Cleo replied half heartedly, staring down and the bunched dress in her lap.

"No." Beryl said slightly sternly, moving her hand to hook the underside of Cleo's chin, turning her head so she could look the wolfess in the eyes. "I know I'm right. Now say it."

Cleo's lips curled into a slight smile, "Okay, you're right. Now stop trying to stare me down like some sort of alpha female."

Beryl smirked and leaned closer, giving her friend a small peck on the end of her nose.

"Hey, hey, hey!" the short mass of gray and white fur stumbled into the room, promptly walked into a wall, and fell over flat on it's ass.

"Holy Jesus." Vincent growled in annoyance as he watched the small bear staring blankly up at the ceiling. "This fucker is stoned again! God damn koalas all go through life in a haze!"

"At least he's dressed." Dave said as he ambled over to check on the fallen form. "Usually he's naked and hanging upside down from a tree."

"I thought naked and hanging from a try was your thing?" Vincent chided the monkey. "Usually flinging crap on the guests."

"Hardy-har-har." Dave sneered with sarcasm. "Aren't we the comedian?"

Vincent looked at the groom with pleading eyes, "Why did you ask him to be groomsman anyway?"

"Who?" Brendon inquired, trying to diffuse the antagonism between the wolf and the monkey. "Lawrence or Dave?"

"Our resident dope head." Vincent's annoyance now redirected towards the groom. "Lawrence of course."

"It seemed like the right thing to do." Brendon shrugged slightly. "He was the first friend I made here."

"Yeah." Vincent shook his head slightly. "He was probably trying to see if he could score a hit from you."

"It will be fine." Dave tried to provide the voice of calm reason. "I'll get him sobered up and no one will know the difference."

"Ooooh." Lawrence moaned in amusement as he was propped up by Dave, the room spun around his eyes. "Good eucalyptus."

Vincent rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the groom. "I don't know why you're going through with this."

Brendon glanced at the wolf in surprise, "Because I love her, of course."

"Yeah, well, love is fine and all." He cast an appraising eye up and down his friend slowly, trying to spot anything that seemed out of place on the groom's tuxedo. "But just one girl? I mean, there's a whole bevy of them out there. While limit yourself?"

"Some of us aren't the wolves the others of us are." Brendon replied with a good hearted chuckle.

"Well, I just want you to remember one thing." Vincent snorted in reply to the good hearted jab. His paws reaching to straighten the already immaculate tie of the groom. "You cheat on my sister and I'll just have to kill you."

"Got it, boss." Brendon gave his best man a wink, then glanced at his watch. "It's just about time. You ready to do this?"

In the day time the rotunda was usually four times a day for a family friendly comedy show, meant to amuse the juveniles while their parents recovered. Happy smiling, interns in uniforms that made them look like they might be zookeepers told bad jokes and occasionally trotted out some tired animal for display.

Hawkers would wander the aisle ways and try to sell everything from sugar laced soft drinks, just what you needed to help calm down your children, to food, and cheap trinkets.

With that in mind, it was hard to recognize the same rotunda that the inhabitants now congregated into. Long bolts of white lace ran along the sides of the benches, hanging down in boughs decorated with bright red roses. The stage covered with plants, flowers, and soft carpeting. Bolts of cloth hanging from the overhead shelter and red carpets laid out down the stairs leading to the front of the stage.

The overhead speakers that usually piped in tinny, calming, friendly music now played soft gentle tones. Relating the romantic aire that the bride hoped would welcome all of the couple's friends, try to show them the smallest glimpse of what the bride and groom felt for each other.

The seats were already mostly full, a multitude of forms and shapes lining the benches. Interspersed in them the occasional zoo keeper or other human who was privileged enough to know the truth of what went on after hours in the zoo.

"There she is." Wilson nudged Barry in the side with his elbow, before rubbing his hands together like a mad scientist in some old B-movie. "There's the lucky lady."

Barry extended his neck, bending it down as he narrowed his eyes. Finally spotting the source of the elephant's attention.

"Sandra?" Barry said in surprise. "You're after Sandra?"

"That's right." Wilson confirmed happily, starting down the stairs of the rotunda, with every expectation of sitting right next to the blonde haired zookeeper. "I've seen the way she's been looking at me. She wants me."

Barry swallowed slowly as he tried to think of a tactful way to reply to his friend. The time the lump in his throat took to travel down gave him plenty of time to think of the right response.

"You're out of your mind." Barry replied incredulously. "She's way out of your league."

"Yeah, right." Wilson continued on, undaunted, even as Barry could only see nothing but disaster resulting from this.

"Dude, she works with the gorillas. The gorillas." Barry's voice was almost pleading now, his only intention trying to protect his best friend from the crushing rejection he expected. "You know how the gorillas are."

"Gorillas, scmaillas." Wilson shrugged, still unconcerned. "Once you go elephant, you don't go back."

"At least wait until later." Barry countered. "I heard that women are always more receptive after a wedding."

Wilson paused and thought about that, glancing at his friend to see if this was just a trick. "Really?

"Really." Barry nodded, hoping to hell Wilson would buy it.

"Let's sit back here." Maureen said as she started into the very first empty bench at the rear of the rotunda. Her eyes already narrowing and scanning the other guests, a predatory look of venom on her face.

"Back here?" Hillary protested, looking around annoyed. "I can't see a thing from back here."

"Oh shut up and sit down." Maureen spat back, distracted with her spying and having no patience to argue with her friend.

Lola started giggling uncontrollably, the exchange spurring on her cackling. Her laughter cut off by a loud yelp of pain as Hillary's heel found Lola's toes.