Chapter 29
Tulu: Highs and Lows

If you were a penitatas living in Northrock, which young Tulu was, there was always a risk that any activity could become a punishment – even walking to school.
The weather was starting to crack under the pressure of shortening days and shifting seasons. Warm days were few, and mild days were broken by sudden bouts of storm-winds or torrential downpours. When heavy cloud blocked out the sun the temperature would fall sharply, leaving anyone devoid of winder clothes or a natural resistance to ill weather shivering and miserable.
At first, forced nudity was an idea that stung Tulu to her core, which is likely why her punishments had pivoted away from it for a time. More and more the option to take something other than a paddle, tail-strap or other direct source of pain had been denied to her, or had been replaced with something inventive beyond simple exposure. Today, however, the well-proven approach of public humiliation was back on the cards, and she knew it from the moment she woke up.
“Straight down to breakfast,” her father, Reel had told her in a no-nonsense tone as he roused her from bed. The six-year-old lizard had pouted, but kept her opinions to herself for fear of making whatever came next that much worse.
As soon as breakfast was eaten, Tulu was marched out of the door stark naked. Reel carried her clothes in a canvas bag and had her coat draped over his left arm, but nothing was offered to her. Not even shoes. It was early morning, much earlier than she'd usually have to leave the house. The ground had yet to absorb any warmth from the morning sun and stung her bare feet as surely as if she were walking on nails. The gentle breeze carried the biting chill of an overcast night to set her teeth chattering. Tulu hopped in place, rubbing her body vigorously to try and stimulate the blood flow to ward off the cold. “Come along!” Reel set off for the end of the row of houses, not bothering to check if she was following or not. Naturally, she was.
Walking to school via the inland road put a little cover between her and the ocean, but it was still a miserable trek. Northrock's urban geography resembled the letter 'P' when seen from above; it comprised a long, thin strip running north-south, with no more than three hundred feet between the beach and inland boundary of the correctional community, marked by the road she walked on. The northern end was dominated by the town centre, which began at the town's sea wall and sprawled inland. She had long wondered why anyone would build a correctional community this way – surely the southern stretch was far more difficult to police and regulate than having everything clustered neatly together? Today was a day when the purpose became obvious: the distance could be a punishment in and of itself.
To her credit, Tulu bore it in silence. Not stoic silence – she huffed and whimpered all the way – but she didn't beg for mercy or try to cover herself. Head down, jaw trembling, little arms clutching her chest with claws tucked into her armpits in desperate search of warmth, the six-year-old rejuve sniffled along the road. Her shame provided little warmth. In her mind it felt as though her crotch was glowing like a lighthouse, seeking the eyes of wandering souls towards it. It being so early in the day, and her home so remote, there were few eyes to pry on her. Even if no-one had seen her thus far it still felt as if thousands had gawped and laughed behind her back. Adding to this was the steadily building pressure of her bladder: she'd been denied the chance to tinkle before heading out.
“Stop here.” Reel's command caught her flat-footed. They were about halfway to school, stopped at the corner of a cul-de-sac. A rack of Watchdogs sat nearby, waiting in silence to walk their Penny charges to school. Tulu wriggled on the spot, squirming from her bladder as much as the lingering chill and glanced up at her father with pleading eyes. He smiled and offered her coat. “Let's get your shoes and socks on as well.”
“Why are you letting me get dressed now? N-not that I'm complaining!” she added her hasty addendum as Reel lifted her right foot to slip a pink frilly sock in place. A white top-buckle shoe followed.
“I'm doing this because you weren't complaining. You took your punishment nice and proper, as a good Penny should. Sometimes that compliance brings its own reward. There! Coat and shoes should be good enough for now. You can have the rest when we get to school.”
“Thank you!” Tulu briefly considered hugging her father, but settled for a respectful little bow. The cool morning still left a chilly tingle across her thighs and crotch, but with her feet protected and her core snuggly warm the remaining walk was far less torturous.

Upon reaching the school and being released by her father, Tulu darted for the ground-floor toilets as fast as her straining bladder would allow. It was not her preferred place to relieve herself due to the lack of privacy; the restroom was unisex and none of the stalls had doors. Even so, desperation demanded she suffer the potential shame. Panting with relief, the girl became aware of footsteps upon the tiled floor just as a familiar furred face appeared around the corner – her friend, Penelope. “You were in a rush this morning.”
Tulu blushed.“Yeah, I wasn't allowed a potty break before the walk to school.”
“Or to get dressed it seems,” the Roferian pointed to her bag of clothes on the floor. “The way you bolted past me I thought you were going to spew your guts up or something.”
“No, just had to go real bad. Would-” her request halted as Penelope turner her back, standing watch in front of the cubicle. “Thank you.”
“What are friends for? Although Malth's not wrong about your shyness. I'd wager everyone in school's seen you below the waist.”
“Doesn't mean I have to like it!”
“True.” Penelope answered with a sigh. “But at least in my case you know I'm not leering for my own amusement. I wouldn't do that to a friend.”
She turned as Tulu announced she was decent via a flush of the toilet. “I've caught you glancing between my legs plenty of times.” the Karrian girl let a hint of disapproval slip into her tone.
“Purely academic curiosity,” she answered with a nasal snort. “You all good?”
“Yeah. I'll see you at lunch.” Tulu shared a fleeting smile with Penelope as the girl turned to leave. Then she paused, her eyes wandering up to the circular light fixture in the ceiling. “Hope you enjoyed the show,” she growled, then went to wash her claws before making for Mr Kal's classroom.

“Ethics and Morals!” Mr Kal announced with an unacceptable amount of glee. A special kind of silence answered him; the sound of a class full of children fighting back a groan. “Perhaps the most important subject of your lives as penitatas. For today's E&M we shall be attempting introspection.  That means 'looking inward', by the way, as opposed to gazing out of the window!”
A few rejuves dared look around for the target of Mr Kal's ire. The boy in question wasn't even given time to stammer out an excuse before being summoned to the front of the class for a paddling. Tulu would rather not have watched the eight year old bare all and receive the business end of a firm wooden board, but that was part of the routine for a penitatas; your punishments were public, and you had to watch one another suffer. It reinforced the lesson, or so the theory went. When the interruption had been resolved to his satisfaction, Mr Kal continued. “You will each write me an essay. Hand written.” A few daring souls at the back risked a groan, but the teacher seemed not to notice. “You will write about your crimes: what you did, why you did it, why your motivations and actions were wrong, and a resolution on how you will be a better person in the future. I'll be strapping the tail of anyone who doesn't finish before lunch! Chop chop!”
Around her the subtle scratching of pens and pencils began, but Tulu herself remained staring at blank paper for a while longer. It was no easy thing for her to argue her motives were wrong; what was wrong about despising the old, decrepit ways of doing things? What was wrong with decrying the casual cruelty baked into every facet of penitatas life? Having now suffered on the receiving end she was more desperate than ever for things to change, if only to spare her genitals the merciless kiss of the nettles growing in her garden! She would never apologise for wanting that sort of punishment outlawed! She was entirely justified in opposing that!
The end of her pencil snuck between her teeth. The little Karrian's features contorted into a grimace as she imagined the kind of savage beating she'd earn if she dared express that viewpoint. Fine. She could lie. It wasn't hard to guess what Mr Kal wanted to read, after all...
Her pencil worked along the lined paper, adding new furrows of frustration to the girl's forehead. The lead never went quite where she intended, leading to wriggly, irregular lettering. It was something that she'd been criticised for several times now, and usually punished with lines. Sooner or later it would escalate to rulers on the knuckles or similar; the idea made her shudder, and Tulu slowed the pace of her writing to try and force a neater script. This at least gave her more time to think ahead and plan out exactly what she was going to write. “I let my impatience get the better of me... and chose to cheat rather than wait for a chance to prove myself...” she paused halfway through the line. No, 'cheat' was the wrong word. She was writing about her crimes, not a test. “I chose to...”
Something compelled Tulu to look towards Rilka, only to realise the girl's desk was empty. Still, it wasn't the cream-scaled girl herself Tulu sought, but rather to use her as a representation of where things went wrong. Everything would have been perfect had she been able to prove to the world the Juvenalas-Penitatas initiative was a spectacular failure! The thought came with a gut-punch: a judge had effectively shot the damn program down once Talek turned ten! If only she'd waited!
Her claw rose to find a tear inching down her cheek. She wiped it away and turned her focus back to the paper. “I chose to throw my life away.” She committed the statement to paper. As much as she hated to admit it, the words felt perfectly apt.
Much later, after page upon page had been filled with confessional scribbling, Mr Kal announced their time was up. He circled the class collecting essays as he went, scooping up Tulu's with little more than a glance. “Your handwriting is atrocious,” he muttered as he moved on to Lusu. Once all the papers were placed upon his desk, Kal joined some of his more desperate pupils in glancing at the clock. It was a few minutes before the hour, but a promising smile began to form on the teacher's lips. Tulu found herself craning forward as the male turned slowly on his heel, tail flicking playfully. “You really ought to be sitting quietly until the bell rings. But... I am honestly sick of the sight of you all and want you gone as soon as possible. Class dismissed!” he clapped his claws together for emphasis, and half the class were out of the door before the lunchtime bell had rung, Tulu among them.

Like most of her classmates, Tulu made straight for the cafeteria. She wasted no time in ordering her meal and settling down at the usual table where she could watch her fellow rejuves file up, many massaging their writing claws and grumbling, their classes having clearly suffered the same long, miserable essay task her own had.
Malth was in an usually chipper mood when he parked himself down, the dark grey scales of his cheeks flush and rosy. He was still grinning when Sa’shel, Penelope, and Jay settled into their places around the table. Penelope narrowed her eyes, her lip curling to show more of her Roferian fangs. “Nobody should be that happy after an Ethics and Morals essay assignment.”
“Nothing can ruin my mood today! I'm officially a three-per!”
Tulu’s eyes flared wide in shock. “Three spankings a day?”
Malth laughed at her outburst, “No, you daft nit! Three per week!”
“Congratulations, Malty!” Sa’shel boomed, giving the boy a firm pat on the back for good measure. Being significantly larger than the six year old Karrian, the blow made him jolt forward in his seat and forced a cough of surprise.
“Yeah, ‘grats!” Penelope added before hastily pivoting the conversation. “I need info, Tulu. Was Rilka in class today?”
Tulu's brow furrowed at the question. “No, why?”
Penelope shifted in her seat, throwing a fierce glare towards a wolfish Kyyreni boy, Kost, as he found a place at his own table. “I heard him talking with Ki’reth about how he ‘wouldn’t mind punishing Rilka like that again’. I think-” she paused, then leaned in conspiratorially, letting her voice drop to a whisper. “I think he raped her!”
Sa’shel let out a dismissive snort. “As if! There's no way he'd get away with that!”
“He would if he had permission!” Penelope retorted in a low growl. “We've all had our coochies abused in the name of punishment. Except Malth, obviously, but I imagine his pecker has been tortured plenty! It's not hard to imagine they'd take that extra step!” There was certainly some merit to Penelope's words in Tulu's estimation; Rilka either was, or had been a 'Black Grade' penitatas; sexual punishments, more extreme than the ones Tulu had suffered thus far, were absolutely on the cards for such rejuves.
The others at the table tried their best to watch the other table while remaining inconspicuous. Tulu joined them, but frowned at the sight of Talek laughing and smiling. “I think you've got the wrong end of the stick here, Penny. I don't think Talek would be happy to hang around with someone who'd taken advantage of his girlfriend.”
“Yeah. Can you read them from here?” Malth prompted.
Penelope frowned, her little fangs slipping from behind her lips as she bent her mind to the task. “Too much background noise,” she muttered. “I think... there's definitely something... a shared... I'm certain something went on between them!” she blurted out, exacerbated by her lack of success.
Jay raised a finger to get everyone's attention. “We could just ask? Maybe a quick 'hey, where's Rilka?' would give us some answers?” the others considered the medicalos' suggestion, and each came to the conclusion this would indeed be the best approach. “You know they're all going to be playing the Line Game, so we can find out then.”
“You ever think we're not the smartest people in town?” Malth snickered in the wake of his 'sister's' suggestion.
The others joined him in mirth, all tension bubbling away at the collective acceptance of their own foolishness. “You guys can ask them. I'm going to finish up and head to the little girl's room.”
“Still insisting on going halfway across the school to pee?” Penelope chortled.
“I like my privacy. What little we can get.”
“Fair enough. Just don't dawdle or you'll miss the first round!”

As promised, as soon as her tray was bussed, Tulu made the long round trip to the first floor toilets in order to relieve herself. The choice cost her a few minutes of playtime and subjected her to a brief inquisition from the P.E. teacher doing the rounds, but she escaped with her backside unblemished. Once her needs were dealt with a new obstacle set itself between her and playtime; two boys, both voluntaras, who had chosen the step of the door as a place to lounge about and chat. “Excuse me? Can I get by?”
The younger of the two, a Karrian male of ten with toast-brown scales cocked his head at her timid request. “Do I know you?” he asked.
“I don't think so.”
His brow furrowed. “Wait, yes I do! You were on the news! You're the turncoat!”
Her face went deathly white. “Don't say that!” she squeaked, head snapping back and forth to make sure nobody else heard her.
“Aww, don't want people to know your crime?” the boy laughed.
“Leave her alone, Hasi,” the older boy scolded, though without much conviction.
“What? It's not like it's a secret! It was all over the news! Oh, wait, you Pennys don't get told what landed each other in this town, right? So nobody else knows?”
Tears began to well up in Tulu's eyes. She shouldered her way past the pair and ran as fast as she could to the safety of her friends. The Line Game was already in full swing, but play halted as Tulu charged straight for Sa'shel and threw herself against the Drakonian's flank. “Woah! What's happened?”
“T-there were two b-boys! V-voluntaras! They were picking on me!” she blubbed into her friend's tough, saurian scales. No responses were forthcoming, but within the group many a glance was shared between penitatas who all wore the same resigned expression. Voluntaras were free to make them miserable. It was why they came to Northrock in the first place. Isabelle, an Aspatrian girl and one of the few non-Pennies playing, opened her mouth to pass comment but ultimately demurred.
She sat out the rest of the game, watching as her friend, Penelope focused on tackling Kost with a determination that bordered on vindictive. They both wound up sprawled on the hard top when the Roferian girl threw her entire weight into a diving grab. Malth, Isabelle, and Ki'reth were quick to break up the resulting fight before it could truly begin. Malth went on to claim a rare victory in the game, putting him alone on the line for the start of round two, which Tulu joined in with. She made it to the last three, and while she suspected people were letting her slip by the success helped chase away her unhappiness. The win ultimately went to Penelope, adding yet another tally to her impressive win count. The playground tradition had done its work to drive the unhappy encounter from her thoughts, leaving her feeling positive as she went into the back half of the school day.
Mr Kal spent the afternoon 'marking' and offering feedback while his class worked on their electives. Tulu was able to lose herself in instructional videos about soil minerals and plant nutrition – dry subjects to some, but a joy compared to Ethics & Morals. She was so absorbed that the sudden looming figure of Mr Kal made her jump, much to the teacher's amusement. “Pause that,” he said with a nod to her screen. A unassuming brown envelope was dropped onto her desk, sealed and addressed to her parents. “Here's your essay back. I was surprised, to be honest. I didn't expect you to be quite so self-aware. I meant that in a positive way. This sort of introspection-” he gestured to the envelope “-it's a positive sign. I hope to see more of it, Tulu. Well done.”
Tulu stared in awe at the back of Mr Kal's head as he turned to address Lusu. She had never imagined the man wanted anything from her other than a peek between her legs, and here he'd gone and acted... well... supportive. It left her so dumbstruck that an attention-alarm went off to summon her focus back to the tutorial videos, very nearly souring an otherwise near-perfect end to the school day. Upon reaching home and unveiling the essay to her parents she was heaped with similar praise from them. She had no intention of telling them that most of it was just her regurgitating what she felt sure was expected of her, not some confession of a change of heart. Still, it earned her a boon more wonderful than anything she had ever dared dream of: when bedtime came and Arno had her assume the position, her father's claw delivered one light slap to each of her buttocks, not even enough to make her yelp. “That's for being a good girl,” he said as he set about tucking her in. She drifted off thinking of Malth and his three-per-week punishment cycle. Maybe, just maybe, she could have that herself soon...

A new day dawned, much to Tulu's disappointment. For a few, blissful minutes she forgot what and where she was, basking in the borderline lucidity of a waking dream in which she was still free and happy. Reality came crashing in with the call of her Penny parent, Arno. “Wake up, sleepyhead!”
The little girl let out a long groan and burrowed deeper under the covers. It was warm and comfortable there. “Ten more minutes!” she called out without opening her eyes.
“Nope, you've got to get ready for school!”
“You mean I need to be spanked before school!” she whined back.
Though she couldn't see, her eyes still clamped shut and now buried under her covers, Tulu could hear Arno's footsteps as he moved to her wardrobe. “You're getting a spanking as soon as you wake up. That's your fate as a penitatas for the crimes you've committed. If you're late to school because of that it just means Mr Kal will give you another spanking when you arrive.”
With a huff, Tulu threw herself from under the covers, her drama spoiled by a snagged foot that sent her crashing to the ground. Arno scooped her up immediately, settling the girl back onto the bed to check her for bumps and scrapes. “You alright?”
“Y-yeah.”
A thin smile formed on Arno's lips. “You hurting yourself won't get you out of the spanking. It's the fate you've earned, remember?”
“You know I hate being spanked!” it was a futile little whine, but true nonetheless.
Arno met the protest with a shrug. “Then nettles it is.”
Eyes widening in horror, Tulu swiftly changed tune. “I'll take the spanking!” She realised that her fate was sealed even as she spoke. Arno pulled her pyjama top up and over her head, then calmly set her on her feet to pull down her pants.
“You were a good girl yesterday, but one day of good behaviour isn't enough. You've made your bed, Tulu, now go lie in it.”
Marched naked downstairs, Tulu saw her other father, Reel, preparing the breakfast table. Her fate was explained via nothing more than a nod of the head and a meaningful glance at the back door. The garden beyond was, as ever, dominated by a pair of rails held in place by a slender metal frame; Tulu cried openly as her wrists were bound to the strap dangling from the pulling block. Next, her legs were pulled apart, each ankle strapped to a free-rolling runner on the lower tracks. Once her tail was pulled up and clear, Arno pushed a button that sent the powered upper block moving, with Tulu forced to waddle along behind. Round the first bend, along the straight farthest from the house, a row of nettles grew tall and proud, though less so than she'd first arrived; this was far from the first time she'd suffered this torture, and the press of her crotch against their prickly leaves and stems had left a subtle northward bend to each of the plants. Her eyes clenched shut as the first plant drew near, tears and snot dribbling down her snout as she bawled in certain anticipation of just how awful the imminent pain would be. It came like a jolt of lightning, a hundred needles piercing the soft fleshy seams between her thin Karrian scales, leaving dimples across her stomach and groin. Moments later, the tug of the block forced her to stumble forward and allowed a leaf to flick upward into her slit, brushing up against her most sensitive place. She jumped and shrieked at the contact, her involuntary motion causing her to rub her clitoral hood against the spiked stem and send yet more agony surging through her.
“Stooop!” the bound girl wailed, knowing full well her little 'walk' would only possibly end when she'd returned to the start. The first nettle stalk ground over her cunny and flicked clear, stinging her buttocks and under her tail. The next plant was already providing its own cruel caress, reigniting the already hot, histamine burn left by the first. On and on it went, stung front and rear, inside and out, as Tulu was forced to hobble through ever taller plants. The last nettle was tall enough to sting her nipples with its topmost leafs, and bent farthest to permit her passage. The stem snapped as she mounted it, twisting unexpectedly and lacing her thighs and legs down to the ankle with wild, random stings.
The pulling block halted at last. Tulu stood trembling in the cold, legs convulsing, and lost control of her bladder. Her morning release came out at an angle, splashing against her right knee and trickling down her leg to pool in the hard, irregular stones that made up the torture track. Arno made no comment about it as he unbound her, but made no effort to clean her leg either. She was made to stand at the breakfast table rather than sit, though Reel did at least wipe her face before she was given her morning cereal.
“You can have clothes or you can have nano-lotion.” Arno's announcement caught her completely flat-footed. She stood with a laden spoon hovering in front of her open mouth.
“What?”
“Clothes or lotion,” Arno repeated. “I know you hate being naked, but I also know you hate the stinging between your legs even more. Which is worse?”
The hot, furious pulsing from her groin compelled her to pick the latter. “L-lotion!” Her father nodded and set to work, wasting no time in applying the much-beloved healing gel. Nano-lotion was more than just a soothing cream; it was full of tiny machines that could repair tissue damage and penetrate surprisingly deep under the scale. It would remove any intrusive material, counteract the chemical toxins of the nettles, reduce the swelling and heal the puncture wounds. It would itch, sure, but only briefly; after that she'd be free and clear. Even so, she flinched as Arno's gel-laden fingers touched her privates, and the slow, firm massaging of her cunny built upon the already unwelcome stimulation of the nettles. She clenched her eyes shut and flashed a little snarl as a probing finger worked its way inside of her. Necessary to sooth her, yes, but equally unwelcome. Flustered and wriggling, neither Arno nor Reel made any comment about her inability to keep still and accept her 'treatment', when normally this amount of squirm would be a source of punishment in and of itself. Reel put a gentle claw under her chin and turned her snout towards him. “You won't get in trouble if it's an accident.”
As if waiting for that prompt, Arno pushed two gel-laden fingers  firmly against her swollen, tortured clitoris and began their rough massage. Tulu yelped as she was brought to unwilling climax, twitching and gasping through the unbidden release. All the while her eyes were locked on Reel's knowing smile. “There you go. That wasn't masturbation, so you're not going to be spanked for it.”

There was at least a brief respite from her enforced nudity; she was given shoes and socks to protect her feet, and a body warmer to keep her torso a little more snug. Her crotch would be on full display for all the world to see, however; and her parents made sure there was an audience from the get-go. Talek and Rilka joined them on the morning walk, both indulging in a lengthy peek at her predicament before letting their focus return to the road. Rilka kept making absent-minded comments about how warm and snug she was; her underwear and new leggings were a particular point of pride, brought up twice each before Liki made her own observation: “if you like them so much perhaps they need to be taken off, so as not to wear them out too quickly?” Rilka remained silent for the rest of the walk to school.
Mr Kal waved both girls into his classroom, looking positively delighted with Tulu's situation. His curling finger beckoned her to his desk, a gentle claw taking her by the elbow and pulling her close for a conspiratorial whisper. “What prompted this, hmm?”
Tulu's face burned crimson, her gaze seeking the floor to escape Kal's lecherous eyes. “I didn't want to be spanked so m-my dads... stung my cunny with nettles. A-afterwards they made me choose between nano-lotion or b-being naked all day.”
“You made a good choice.” Kal said with a perverted grin plastered on his snout. He waved her away and sat smirking until the rest of the class had filed in, then directed them to their day's activities; a belittling exercise where the penitatas were to 'act their age' and complete basic literacy and numeracy assignments under the thinly-offered guise of reinforcing core skills. In reality, it was meant to bore them, or provide Kal with an excuse to spank anyone who got less than full marks. The entire first page of the test was an insult: add three and seven, circle all the vowels in the word 'Cat', and similarly basic tasks. The second page was little better, only marginally more challenging. Through she went, completing her drudge-work, until at last she turned the final page and found herself staring at the last two questions of her exam paper. A sickening dread filled her as she stared at the words in front of her.
DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS ON THE SECOND PAGE.
She flicked the exam paper back over. Right there, on the front cover where she'd written her name and Penny ID and all the other details asked of her, were a series of instructions. Write only in pencil. Do not write outside of indicated answer spaces. Read all questions before answering. “Oh no...” the girl began to panic, hastily flicking to the offending page and rubbing out her answers. It was no good – the paper remained indented, and in places the faintest lines of lead still remained. He'd know. As she wallowed in terror and grief, Mr Kal loomed into view with a paw outstretched. She still had the second page open and on display.
“Papers, please.” Kal said with an accusatory tone.
She looked up with tears in her eyes. “I'm sorry!”
“The instructions were clear, Miss Tulu. Hand it over.”
Others in the class began to realise what was going on. Mr Kal made a point of opening each exam paper and looking at the second page as it was handed in. Tulu could only squirm in her seat, devoured by the dread anticipation of her impending, and utterly unfair punishment. As soon as Mr Kal had taken the last paper the bell began to ring, and to the relief of most he bellowed, “Class dismissed!”

Tulu fled to the first floor girl's room as fast as her trembling legs could carry her. Lunch could wait: all she wanted was to hide and weep. The stalls provided her some privacy, buying her a few minutes of solace in her grief before a knuckle wrapped three times upon the door and an adult woman's voice called out. “Who's in there?”
“M-my name is Tulu!” she whimpered back.
“Would you mind opening the door, Tulu?” She tottered forward, flicking open the simple latch and letting the cubicle door swing inward. The woman was Miss Bassel, Penelope's teacher. “Everything alright?”
“I've had a bad day,” the little girl pouted back.
“They happen, dear. But we can't have you hiding in the stalls. Have you had lunch yet?” Tulu shook her head. “Okay. Hurry along then. I'll be waiting outside.”
Tulu washed her hands under the warm water tap as long as she dared before facing the world again. Miss Bassel gave her a nod, but stayed at her post beside the bathroom door to watch the girl depart. Tulu's growling stomach lured her back to the lunch room. Her usual circle of friends were gone already, but she found an empty corner on another group's table and finished as quickly as she could. As she made for the door to head towards the playground a familiar, yet utterly unwelcome voice called out to her. “Hey! Tulu!”
She turned and saw the beaming face of Hasi, the voluntaras boy who'd tormented her the day before. The ten-year-old Karrian boy grinned at her, his eyes leering at her bare crotch. “I like your outfit.”
“Go away!” she stormed away as quickly as she dared, but Hasi chased after her.
“Hold on! You might not want to go just yet!” the boy's tone made her hesitate and turn back to face him. “Why don't we go for a walk?”
“I'm not going anywhere with you,” she growled back.
Hasi met the words with a shrug. “Okay. I guess I'll just go to those kids you play with at lunch and tell them why you're a Penny. You're fine with them knowing, right? Or you can walk with me and I'll keep it to myself.”
He smirked as Tulu fell into line, and chuckled when he placed a claw upon her shoulder and drew a shudder. “Where are we going?”
“I just want to take a walk with you, that's all.” His cruel smirk suggested far more, but he chose not to expand until they were out and strolling towards the sports grounds. He gestured towards the door leading to the boy's changing room. A sickening jolt of fear surged through Tulu and she tried to pull away, but Hasi grabbed her by the arm and pulled her inside.
“Stop! Let go of me!”
“If you want my silence, you have to earn it!” Hasi snarled, the brown-scaled Karrian fixing his snout into a feral snarl as his claws went to his belt. “You can start by putting that mouth to work.”
“I won't!”
“Then everyone in this school is going to know you're the bitch who's been planning their 'special days'! You think they're going to accept that? I'll bet good money they'll do far worse than make you suck them off!” He popped his fly open and presented his cock. “Get sucking, whore!”
Tulu clenched her eyes shut, her jaws falling open in a silent sob. Hasi took the opportunity to shove his half-hard cock into her maw. The boy held her snout firmly against his crotch with both paws, snorting out cruel laughs at her instant, choking distress. “You want to breathe? Then suck!”
Her thrashing and desperate struggle to escape served only to please the boy, whose intruding member hardened fast. She complied only because the alternative was breathing in his crotch, which earned her enough leeway to pull back and fill her lungs. Even so, she was left choking and spluttering, the forced deep-throat something she was totally unprepared for. The tears streaking down her cheeks served only to delight her tormentor. “That's what I like to see – a Penny in tears!”
Snorting out huffing, hiccuping sobs through her nose, Tulu felt the fingers against her skull tense once more. Realising what he planned she began to suck more forcefully, moving on her own to avoid being choked again. Compliance earned her a sliver of mercy, enough that she could at least escape some suffering.
She knew Hasi was getting close by his huffing and grunting. The boy began to thrust into her maw, stabbing the back of her throat to make her gag once more, but her convulsions and spluttering only served to give him what he needed. Holding her head firmly against his crotch he shot his load, forcing her to choke it down with a primal grunt and snarl. When he finally pulled away he looked down upon the broken, bawling girl with a look of predatory satisfaction. “I think you and I are going to be great friends,” he laughed as he tucked his cock back into his pants. “Don't come out straight after me. Oh, and if you breathe a word of this to anyone then I'll make sure the whole town knows you're a paddle-swinger and a whore!”
Tulu lay broken on the floor, sobbing in despair for several minutes before blind terror took over. She ran, wild footfalls taking her towards the school's main gates, which were barred before her. Even so she flung herself at them, slamming into the cold, lime-green metal with an alarming clang. The impact hurt, and the cold metal stung as it drank the warmth from her body, but she did not care at all. The security guard posted in the office nearby barked something at her, but she failed to register the cry. She slumped against the bars and wailed, “I wanna go home!” The cry was repeated with ever-weaker tones as she buried her head in her paws and sobbed away.
The security guard crossed to her, picking her up off the ground and bringing her into the relative shelter of his office. “Who is your teacher, Miss?” He had to ask twice before she registered the question and blubbered a response. “Was that Mr Kal? Alright. Let me contact him.”
Through teary eyes, Tulu saw Kal arrive. The teacher appeared concerned, speaking in a soft voice to the guard as the situation was explained. Then at last he turned his focus on Tulu. “This isn't about the test, is it? What's wrong?”
The girl couldn't bring herself to speak of anything beyond her desire to go home. “P-please call my dads!” she whined, unable to bear the burden of looking at Kal any longer.
“Tulu,” Kal knelt down to address her face to face. “penitatas have rough days. Nobody will hold that against you. It's part of the process, my lass. I understand why you want to run from it, but running only serves to make things worse. Don't worry, we won't let this little wobble tarnish your record. Right?” the last question was directed at the guard, who nodded in confirmation.
“I can't stay here...” Tulu whimpered on.
“Why not? Tulu, has something happened?”
“I can't...”
She could see by the shift in his tone that Kal's compassion had limits. “Well then, if you want to go home so badly we will call your parents. But that doesn't get you out of your punishments. Come on, back to class. You can take your licks while you wait for one of your dads to get here.”

If Mr Kal had any sympathy for Tulu, his swinging paddle failed to show it. Put over his desk, the only mercy Tulu received was that her classmates were still out enjoying their lunch break, thereby sparing her an audience as her green-scaled tail was raised and the paddle's hefty wooden face came down to greet her cheeks. Already miserable, it took but a single stroke to leave Tulu bawling; not just because of the searing pain that flared in her unprotected rear, but because of the gross betrayal of the world. Through the paddle's agony the only coherent thought she could form was how unjust this life was for her! She had never deserved this! Now, when she was at her lowest and needed help the most, she was to be ignored and punished even harder!
The paddle's crack hammered home her dour thoughts. This was the way of things in Northrock – since her unjust conviction she had become nothing more than a toy to be abused for men's amusement, a glorified fleshlight. Her mind rejected the false facade of care and kindness the adults around her occasionally erected, and wailed in mourning for the fleeting comfort those lies had brought her.
Perhaps Kal sensed something was amiss by the end of the spanking. Normally, the sight of a girl's rose-red cheeks would leave him grinning with delight, but Tulu's utterly broken state showed through in her limp form and silent, gulping tears, the cries of pain having bled away the instant the paddle stopped swinging. He helped her off the desk and planted her feet just in time for the class to begin filing back in. “You can wait outside for your dad.”
The wait was not a long one. Arno found her as Kal had left her; slouched forward, head against the wall, silent tears forming a small, but visible puddle between her feet.
“Tulu?” the girl failed to move at the sound of her voice. “What's happened? What's wrong.”
She answered with a pained whimper. “I want to go home!”
“Alright. Come on, I've got your clothes here.”
The walk home was made in silence. A band of ill weather had blown in from the ocean, lingering as a fine mist that was visible only via the uniform grey it turned the sky and the subtle prickling sensation on the face as Tulu and Arno walked home. He tried to speak with her, yet never to any avail. Each attempt was met with a more stern tone, becoming increasingly a 'Penny Parent' tone as his desire for explanations grew. In the end he relented and left Tulu to her silence. When she finally spoke, safely at home, it was only to repeat her quiet, insistent request to be kept from school. No reason given as to why.
“Tulu, if you want us to help you then you need to tell us what's wrong first. We are not going to keep you from school without good reason.” Arno pressed as he made the girl ready for bed. He had long since grown tired of the whining. “Has something happened? Did you fall out with your friends? Are you afraid of being punished again like you were today? Help me to help you.”
“There's a boy... a voluntaras. He said he was going to tell everyone what I did.”
A soft sigh slipped from Arno's maw. “Well now we're getting somewhere. I'll have a word with this boy tomorrow and we'll have this all straightened out. Will that make you feel better?” Tulu gave no reaction. The brief flicker of hope Arno felt died in his chest, and with a weary shrug he resigned to simply putting her to bed and hoping tomorrow would go better.

While the next day was pleasant, Tulu walked to school sick to her stomach with dread as to what her father might do. She tried to focus on the pavement, with its clean, regular patterns of flags, looking for irregularities or imperfections; then to the grass, the bushes, the farmlands across the road; she hunted for anything she could fixate on enough that it might provide a hint of distraction. Alas, all her mind returned to was the impending confrontation.
Arno took her straight to the security office at the gate and made a request to speak to Hasi – Tulu was almost certain that had been the bastard's name – and upon finding a likely candidate waited patiently for him to be summoned. Morning classes had begun by the time the message reached the boy. By then, security had closed the main gates, and Arno made a point of reassuring Tulu that her absence would be authorised. Hasi emerged from the main building's front door, looking puzzled. If he was at all alarmed by seeing Tulu's father he did not show it.
“Hasi, wasn't it?” Arno asked. “I'm Mr Cleed, Tulu's father. Could we have a word?”
“Of course, sir.” the boy smiled politely as he walked over. His smile widened as he looked Tulu's way. “Hey, Tulu.”
The girl shivered at the false friendliness the boy showed her. Arno failed to notice. “I've been told that you threatened to reveal Tulu's crimes to the school. Is that true?”
A look of shock swept over Hasi's features. “No! I'd never do something like that! We're friends!”
“Friends?” Arno raised an eyebrow at the comment.
“Yes. Well, we had a bit of a falling out recently. A silly slip of the tongue, really, but it obviously upset her if she felt the need to tell you about it. I'm sorry, Tulu. I really didn't mean to suggest you were a bad person.”
“We're not friends!” Tulu had wanted her reply to be forceful, but fear made it come out at a tremble, tantrum-like yelp. “We've never been friends!”
Arno narrowed his eyes as he scrutinised his daughter. He shifted his focus back to the voluntaras boy, who appeared confused by the exchange. “Tulu? What's all this about. What did you two fight over?”
Fearful tears began to leak from her eyes. “I don't know him! He just threatened me out of nowhere and then... and then... he made me suck him off to buy his silence!”
“What?” Hasi threw his claws up as if to ward off the accusation. “Sir, I never forced myself on Tulu!”
“Then why did she just claim you had?”
The boy pointed towards the security office. “You can check with the school yourself! I've never done anything to hurt her! But... we have been... intimate, sir. I thought you knew because she told me she had permission to have a boyfriend.”
“Liar!” Tulu screamed.
Arno snapped his head towards her. His voice was low, but forceful. “Tulu, let me handle this. Young man, I never gave my daughter permission to engage in sexual acts with anyone, nor has she shown any interest in doing so. You say you two have had sex?”
The boy blushed. “She gave me a blowjob in the changing rooms. But I never forced myself upon her, she did it willingly!”
“I hope for your sake that's accurate.” Arno replied with a hint of a snarl. “I think I'll follow your advice and ask the security staff if they can corroborate your version of events. In the meantime, I suggest you both go to class. Are you in Mr Kal's class, Hasi?”
“No sir.”
“Then run along. I suggest you not to wait around for Tulu.”
Arno watched the boy head back inside before leading his daughter to the security office. Tulu watched, quiet and fearful, as Arno spoke and explained what he wanted. Tulu was made to stand where she couldn't see the monitors, but she could follow along via comments and questions: Arno wanted to see footage from yesterday. His face set into a scowl at what he saw. Then he asked for other cameras, and asked if there was footage inside the changing room. There was not, and Tulu knew there wouldn't be – it was a space where privacy was provided due to the presence of voluntatas and medicalos rejuves in the school. All that Arno could be given was confirmation that both of them had been in the room and in close proximity for some time, then Hasi had left, with Tulu following shortly after. Arno asked to watch certain pieces of footage more than once. His tone became increasingly cold, his expression hardened. He wanted to see earlier footage, anything that might indicate where and when the pair met. That would take time. “The day before yesterday, at lunchtime, on the steps of the playground doors. The green doors.” Tulu's instruction got Arno what he wanted.
“What do you think?” Arno asked at last. He had become terribly, frighteningly still during the study of the footage.
The security guard scratched at his neck. “I can see if we picked up any audio, but the angles are wrong for a lip-read so those won't be clear.”
“Show me yesterday again, outside the changing room.” Arno's lip trembled as he fought back a scowl. “There. You can see she's pulling away.”
“We can look into this further. Might be worth you taking her home.”
“Contact me as soon as you have anything.” Arno returned his focus to Tulu, his features softening as he knelt down and hugged her tight. “Why didn't you tell me any of this yesterday?”
“I don't know!” the girl began to sob, accepting the embrace and leaning into it.
“There's no need to worry now. We're going to take care of everything. That young man is going to regret hurting you.”
The resolution came that same evening. Tulu was curled up under a warm blanket while Reel read to her when the phone rang. Arno answered, and what snippets of conversation Tulu half-heard made her eyes burn and breaths shudder. Arno took a seat and looked at her as he spoke. “The school interviewed Hasi about the images. He continues to insist the two of you were friends who engaged in a mutual sex act. I know that's not true, Tulu, but procedures have to be followed. Rest assured, we are not taking this lying down. He's been told that if he does not confess we will be involving the police.”
Although Tulu smiled at the words, there was no joy in her expression. “Will they convict him?”
“I don't know. That will depend on the evidence.”

Hasi fought the charges. The school suspended him during the investigation, and while Tulu was free to return she was also instructed not to discuss the matter with anyone. Rumours ran around the school, flowing from Penelope's lips as per usual, but many others besides; the changing rooms had been closed for 'cleaning', which many took to be a cover story. Tulu's anxiety ensured she was under the constant scrutiny of her Roferian friend, whose eagerness to be the font of all gossip had her chomping to learn what Tulu kept held back. Their friendship was perhaps the only thing that kept Penny at bay.
Out of the blue, after two weeks of waiting and wondering, Tulu was summoned from class and told to report to the reception desk, where her parents waited in formal attire. A hovercar had been requested and sat idling, taking them southward once they boarded and rising upward, slow and steady, to a safe altitude where proper speed could be built up. Their destination was the town of Canning, three and a half thousand miles away. No time at all to a modern vehicle.
The town was hardly the sort of place people came to without a prior need. Its northern stretch comprised of sprawling chemical plants and industrial sites, while eastward lay quarries and mine heads. Their destination was the town's judicial building, a tall, slender tower with a wide dome-top that doubled as a landing pad. Tulu was led inside, through security checkpoints where she was stripped and searched. Her clothes were not returned.
The courtroom was presided over by a tall, slender Karrian woman. The judge watched as the parties involved filed in; Tulu and her parents sat on one side of the room, Hasi, his parents, and a solicitor took the other. Being back in a courtroom made the girl feel a little dizzy; she found herself swaying gently as Hasi and the solicitor took the stand and made their initial addresses.
To the solicitor the judge said, “I take it you are here to speak on behalf of the accused?”
“Yes, your honour. As per his legal right as a rejuve, my client has requested I represent him.”
“I am not challenging his right to have you here. Mr Elnarq, do you consent to allow this man to speak on your behalf?”
“Yes ma'am.” Hasi replied.
“Very well. I have reviewed the materials of this case, as have my associates; three judges and two judicial cores have been tasked to act as seconds. They will serve only to provide supporting judgement should my ruling be contested. Mr Elnarq, you stated in your records that you were friends with Tulu. Is that correct?”
The solicitor answered for him. “Yes, your honour.”
“When did you two first meet?”
As the answer came to her, Tulu felt her stomach knot. The first time she'd seen Hasi, as best she could recall, was when she'd been left bound and exposed outside as a punishment. Various rejuves had been invited to come and gawk at her. Hasi had been among them. Bile rose in her stomach as the solicitor insisted that Hasi had come as 'moral support', not to mock her.
To the surprise of both rejuves, the judge requested Exhibit A be put on the screen. The image was taken from one of the street lights, a wide-angle shot that showed Tulu's exposed, helpless, nude body for all to see. “That boy there, laughing at Tulu's situation. Is that you, Mr Elnarq?” It took a while for the confirmation to come forward. “This does not look like friendship to me, young man.”
Next, the focus moved onto their encounters at school; the exchanges on the steps of the playground, and what had been gathered since. Every answer made Tulu want to scream with rage; her attempts to escape were played off as her being upset over a punishment, or having tripped and stumbled. She was ready to throw up when the solicitor calmly repeated the most cruel lie of all: that she had not only willingly pleasured Hasi, but had asked to do so. The questioning ended on an image of Tulu, slumped against the school gates, bawling in grief. Reliving that moment brought tears to her eyes.
“Miss Tulu? Take the stand, if you please.”
Shivering with dread, Tulu rose from her seat and hobbled forwards, taking the place Hasi had occupied moments before. She dearly wished that clothing had been provided. “Am... am I not allowed representation?”
“You lost that right when you became a penitatas,” the judge answered coldly. “I will be blunt. You are a liar, Miss Tulu. That is a matter of record: you are an inherently dishonest and deceitful person, and the last time you came into a courtroom you openly lied to the judge about your actions. Why should I assume you will behave differently now?”
The accusation left the girl reeling. She swayed as if physically struck, mouth agape, unable to offer anything other than wordless gasps and hiccups in reply. Shock and grief overwhelmed her as she surrendered to the idea that her past had damned her once again, and within moments bawling sobs erupted forth. In that grief, with tears streaming down her cheeks, she found her voice. “How can you say that!? Just because I lied before I'm a liar forever? That's not fair! I'm a Penny because I lied, and it's the worst thing I've ever known! I get punished so much! I can barely cope with what I already have! I'd never do anything to make this worse for myself!” she folded in on herself, bending over and hugging her chest under the weight of anguish that spilled forth. Her forehead dinged against the metal rail at the front of the stand and rested there, acting as an anchor point as she shuddered and bawled.
The judge sat and watched until Tulu's sobbing eased. “Do you have nothing more to offer in support of your accusation?”
“W-what else can I offer? You've seen everything.”
“Then it seems I have to make a choice. Return to your seat, Miss Tulu. Mr Elnarq, please return to the stand – without your legal counsel.” Once her instructions were performed the judge leaned back in her chair, finger steepled together in contemplation. “Someone in this courtroom has lied to me, and to make the wrong call has dire consequences. If your claims are true, then to sentence you means condemning an innocent boy to the life of a penitatas. If her claims are true and I find you innocent, an abuser walks free. I cannot help but bring to mind the maxim that it is better the guilty go free than the innocent be punished...”
At her father's side, Tulu began to weep once more at those words. He was going to get away with it!
“...and yet, having considered everything presented, I feel the only right way forward is to believe your victim. I find you guilty, Mr Elnarq. Do you intend to challenge this verdict?”
Hasi's expression, still and neutral during the final declaration, shifted into a pained, frightened grimace. He blinked, twice, and his eyes began to redden. In a croaking voice he answered, “No ma'am.”
“That reflects well on you. It would have been better had you not dragged out whole affair and brought it to court at all, but that you admit your wrongdoing at the last is, to me, something to be acknowledged. I sentence you to four hard-time cycles six-to-twelve, to be served at the Northrock Correctional Community. Upon completion of your sentence, you will be given leave to remain for no longer than twelve months, after which you will be banned from the community for one hundred years.” With the striking of a gavel, Hasi's fate was sealed.

In Tulu's opinion, if there was any justice to Northrock she would have been given some reprieve from her sentence. As it was, the rote punishments resumed the very next morning, albeit delivered by an apologetic father-figure who tried his best to explain to the sobbing lass that her spanking had nothing to do with the ordeal she'd so recently endured. Both parents walked her to school, setting off late and walking at a slower pace than usual. Tulu spoke to them only once during the walk to enquire about Hasi. Reel assured her the boy would not be attending school for some time, and when he did he would be warned to stay well clear of her. The three walked to Mr Kal's class together, Arno offered an apology for her tardiness on arrival, and the teacher accepted it without comment. Ethics and Morals had come around once more. Her page remained blank for a long, long time; she knew the words to write that would appease her teacher, but her heart just wasn't in it.
With the ordeal over, Tulu was finally able to confide in her social circle. Complaints about the day's uninspired offerings fell away as she recounted the blackmailing and forced oral acts she'd been forced to perform. A sympathetic silence met her words. Then came a Roferian claw upon her own right wrist, and a gentle squeeze that drew her eyes up from her plate. Penelope's voice was soft and barely above a whisper. “We know who you were. We know you used to be one of the paddle swingers.”
A jolt of terror surged down Tulu's spine. Her heart misfired from the shock. “W-what? How did you know?”
Penelope flashed a distinctly Roferian grin, warm as an alligator's smile. “Jay looked you up, but for the rest of us it was a hunch. I knew from the day we met you were hiding something, and you always seemed to know things a new girl shouldn't. It seemed to fit, you know?”
“And you 'overheard' some odd things,” Malth added. “No Penny Parent would flap their lips the way yours supposedly do.”
As Tulu began to fold in on herself another, larger claw came to rest upon her shoulder. The Saurian head of Sa'shel loomed large into her field of view. “Don't fret it, girlfriend. It's not the big deal you think.”
Penny continued, “I'll admit I probably wouldn't have let you sit with us if I'd have known. But I didn't, and now that I've gotten to know you... it's not worth losing a friend over.”
“Thank you.” Tulu smiled for the first time in what felt like years. Even the kitchen's questionable decision to put broccoli in the pasta couldn't darken her mood now. After lunch there was the playground, free of Hasi. Even his friends had found a new place to hang out, avoiding their old spot as though it were now cursed. Over by the swings there was a shouting match as the usual swing-hogs had arrived late and found their preferred activity usurped. A group of girls were doing handstands against the wall of the science building, with a separate group of boys watching, smirking every time a girl's skirt fell to reveal their underwear. Over by the playing field a young boy stood trembling in terror, watching Mister Titus pull a second boy's pants down and unleash a bare-bottom thrashing with a paddle. The poor souls had likely run onto the playing fields without permission. Finally, there was the multi-sport court; the rectangle of lines and semi-circles painted onto the playground that could be repurposed into any number of school-approved activities. Today, as it was every day, it was home to the Line Game. The sport of sports. The most important activity in the school day. Tulu squared her shoulders, shook her limbs, and marched toward the court with purpose. Today she was playing to win.