The wolf stood silently, listening and appreciating the grizzly's speech. His voice wavered in the beginning, filling Advrik with some hope that the beast might not be the threat he initially took him as. But as the speech went on, Eligh's voice grew stronger and stronger, firming up to match the beast from whence it came.
"You could take him," said the mole, who, at 9am, was already munching on a funnel cake dusted with powdered sugar.
"What?"
"You have a magitek weapon, right?" Desmond replied. "Just waltz on up there and challenge him."
Advrik's ears fell flat. "Starting to regret having told you about that. Look, I dwelled on our little interaction a bit too much and developed a temporary infatuation, is all. I'm sure it happens to you all the time, too. And besides--"
"Nope." He interjected. "I've never caught feelings for anybeast one time in my whole life. I'll even admit to your stupid tiny wolf head right now that I even wanted so as an itty-bitty mole, but it just never happened." He continued gnawing at the still-hot web of fried dough, allowing half the fried pastry to dangle from the side of the paper plate.
The wolf winced, wanting to take the mole seriously, but few interactions thus far have given him much reason to take him for his word.
"And besides, I'm too busy with my career to concern myself about finding a partner right now."
The mole coughed and hacked, sending bits and pieces of chewed funnel cake flying, landing on everything and everyone within range. "Career?! What career? You don't even have a part-time job, let alone a career!" He laughed, "Which reminds me: How on earth ARE you keeping yourself afloat right now? Fuck, even I'm doing better than you are, and I work for my landlord."
Advrik had a rebuttal at the tip of his tongue but found it fading into the ether as the grizzly spoke.
"--We live in a world today where beasts like me--like the lot of you--are mistreated as if we were somehow subprimal..."
Desmond halted his chewing as Advrik rested a paw on the chubby beast's shoulder. "Well, there you fuckin' go."
The wolf applied some pressure to the mole's shoulder but didn't speak a word. Mentally, he chewed upon the revelation that Desmond had been right, that he had acted with too much haste in their first encounter. He wouldn't admit it, but the thought of the possibility that the two now actually had a chance made him slightly dizzy, and as the bear's speech wound down and the Kesha music began to play, he found himself needing to sit down.
* * *
Brigid hoped that the wolf had been listening to the speech. If he really had been under the impression that Eligh and Brigid were a couple, then that allusion had been shattered, if only. And maybe now he wouldn't be so elusive.
Just maybe.
She left Eligh behind with the mayor and other government heads to submerge herself in the party, telling herself that she wouldn't go looking for Advrik. That if he wanted to be found now, he'd reappear. She also had to remind herself that he acted like a fucking pansy and fled at the slightest hint of potential trouble, and that should be taken into mind should she meet him again.
The energetic playlist continued from the town hall PA system, with Wham!'s 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" now playing. Not George Michael's best, she thought, but damned if it wasn't catchy. Nearby a small group in nothing but swim shorts danced around a fire hydrant that had been retrofitted to disperse water at a gentler pace upwards, creating a steady waterfall that fell all around them.
Probably not the brightest idea should there be a fire, but hey, it was just one hydrant.
The energy and fun coming from the group had her tapping her hand against her hips in rhythm to the music, and she almost wanted to join them. Almost.
Stopping at a food truck, she treated herself to a frozen chocolate-covered banana on a stick. Drinks, water at least, were being freely distributed during the event given the heat this summer, so she grabbed a bottle while she was in the area, then made her way back out onto the street as 'Footloose' began to play. Another banger from the 80s, she thought.
She'd begun to lick at the thin chocolate shell covering the banana sensually, unknowing of what she'd been doing until it had garnered the attention of nearby males. They'd already begun approaching her by the time she realized what she was doing, quickly biting the tip of the banana off and then snarling at the resulting brain freeze.
It was already too late, and the approaching iguana and retriever were mere feet away, their bare chests impressive at first glance. They were at least good-looking, she thought, pretending not to see them.
And then they walked right past her, crowding around the massive warthog that had been deepthroating two frozen bananas at once.
"Oh-oh my," she said, feeling her face turn a bright red at both the embarrassment and at the sight of this shirtless monster of a warthog committing an obscene act in public. The reptile and canid each grabbed a meaty arm as they dragged him off.
She finally recognized the warthog as the butcher from Turnip Street. Mister Brock!
Brigid shook her head in resignation, relief, and embarrassment as she continued, enjoying what was left of her frozen treat.
* * *
Advrik tapped his paw with the beat of the music. Wham! always promised a good time when blasted over a loud speaker.
"I'd never have taken Mr. Brock for a deepthroating champ like that," Desmond remarked, having caught a glimpse of the butcher's surprising public act of indecency. He handed Advrik a bottle of water and his frozen banana, which must have surprised the wolf, given the expression.
"Oh, hey, thanks, Desmond." He said, taking the offers from the mole, who refused to make eye contact. The pair left their initial starting point and ventured further down Main as the party started to get into full swing.
"Don't mention it. Please."
"Ya know," Advrik said, taking a bite of his banana and snarling as the frozen fruit triggered a brain freeze. "Ouch. I didn't think I'd be seeing some of the stuff I'm seeing right now." He paused at the sight of two felines griding each other, attempting a public scissoring in broad daylight—both standing upright and fully dressed.
He shook his head to clear the image from his mind. "Not from the residents of Brickhedge." The sight of sex acts without the rush of blood to certain extremities just seemed unappealing, especially when viewed in a public setting with children around. He shivered.
He was relieved when a police officer appeared and separated the two.
'Smooth' by Santana and Rob Thomas was playing now, perfectly vibing with the festive summer celebration. Advrik had always liked the song and found it to be what the summer atmosphere would be should it somehow be turned into a song.
How the beasts of such an otherwise slow, laid-back town had the kind of energy to dance and sing like they were now was astonishing. The town really turned out for events, making him excited to see how the major holidays would be handled.
The jazzy-rock guitar rifts of Carlos Santana perfectly accompanied the next sight so well that he wondered if he wasn't in the middle of some staged event: Down the way, a small group of beasts danced with each other. An opossum with green hair, a raccoon, a doberman pinscher, and a mountain lion grouped together amidst a bigger crowd around the intersection.
It was the mountain lion's ass that caught Advrik's attention. Her back was towards him as she swayed her hips in long, smooth motions, her tail trailing behind in equally long swishing motions that only complimented her moves. She was no amateur dancer, he thought.
The doberman took the blue lion into her arms and spun her around, the loose knot keeping her hair up coming loose and allowing the sea of green to fall all around her shoulders.
The sight was something to behold. He'd never seen such fluid dancing motions performed live before. Sure, there had been the occasional lewd video he'd come across on the internet, as well as any scene in a movie that involved a strip club or dancing in general.
Perhaps it was the sheer beauty of the lion that really grabbed his attention.
That or he really was an ass man, and the toned appearance of her butt swaying in that blue bikini bottom like it was had finally converted him.
When he caught a glimpse of her chest as the doberman dipped her in his direction immediately reminded him of why he was a breast purist.
She opened her eyes as she leaned into the doberman's arms, locking eyes with the wolf.
* * *
Brigid had finally allowed herself to stand back a bit and collect her thoughts as she downed a bottle of water after having failed to realize how thirsty she had become.
Water trickled down the sides of her mouth, soaking through both her shirts. She was glad she had worn her sports bra that day. Otherwise, she'd be buttoning up the Hawaiian shirt. No one saw the girls, she declared.
And then a little slice of hell ripped through the crowd as a blood-curdling scream drowned out the closing chorus to the current song, one which Brigid couldn't have identified to save her life.
Heads turned to the direction from where the scream originated as beasts began to group around. The crowd split like a horde of ants trying to flee the ray of a magnifying glass as an unidentified beast rushed through them to get help.
Brigid pushed her way through the crowd to find a lion curled up in a fetal position and sobbing. She recognized her immediately as the town's doctor, a newcomer herself, though she couldn't have told you her name.
"Someone get a doctor!" The opossum with the chest scars yelled before sending the raccoon at his side off to fetch help.
The fox kneeled beside the sobbing lioness. She'd been through enough of Eligh's panic attacks to be able to identify one at first glance.
She noted the irises of the lion's eyes had shrunken to the size of a pinprick, a sight that was easy to identify as the woman was not blinking. "What's her name? Can anybeast tell me what happened?"
The doberman in the workout gear chimed in, her voice taking the fox by surprise with how much higher pitched it was in contrast to her looks. "We were dancing, and I spun her around and held her down like this," she recreated the motion she had performed with the lion, failing to notice that her workout bra had been pushed up and over one of her small breasts.
"And she just started screaming?" Brigid tore her eyes away from the panicked expression of the doberman and back to the lion, who continued to mumble to herself amid a sea of tears. Her body trembled violently, Brigid noted. She pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Eligh.
He picked up a moment later.
"Eligh? No time to talk. Do you have any more Xanax on you? Great, bring them to..." She looked around, trying to get a bearing on where she was. The only notable landmark was the Happy Snowman snowcone truck.
"Got it, I'll be right there." He said as they hung up.
"I think she's having a panic attack."
"My aunt had suffered several when I was younger. I've seen it before." She lied, trying to keep Eligh's condition out of the public circle, but the rest was all true. Whatever had happened to the poor woman had hit her like a freight train.
"It's okay, sweetie," Brigid said in a warm, motherly-sounding voice that surprised even her. "Help is coming."
The lion mumbled to herself in a low, strange tongue between the sobs and the sniffles.
* * *
Advrik couldn't get the scream or the terrified expression that had flashed across the lion's face. She had seen it, she had to!
The One Who Lies Beyond the Blink.
He'd ruined that girl's day, potentially even her life, if it stuck with her the same way it did the worker at the orphanage.
Upbeat music continued to play despite the incident, and while he wanted to go back and check on the lion, he figured it'd be best not to be seen anywhere near her right now. He considered heading back to the house when he felt a sharp, jabbing pain in his side.
Desmond, poking the wolf with the stick of a half-eaten corndog, shouted, "Aye, da'fuck happened?" He said, spraying chewed bits of hotdog and the cornmeal crust all over.
"Someone had a panic attack," he lied. "That's what I heard, at least."
"Bummer. Bet some homophobe saw one too many rainbows." He laughed, spraying even more crumbs to the curb.
Hours passed, and lunchtime had come and gone; the crowd had cycled out with a plethora of new faces as the first-liners retreated to their dens to refresh for the evening festivities.
* * *
The wrinkled paper that covered the examining bed rustled as Callista sat up, rubbing her forehead to ease the headache she was now suffering from. "That," she started, "has never happened to me before." She shifted from cheek to cheek, her brow creasing as she felt a gross moisture between her legs.
"You pissed yourself." Said the doberman, who'd been sitting on the chair nearby. "Twice."
The lion pinched the bridge of her snout, and she screwed her eyes shut against the pain that pounded the inside of her skull. "Haven't done that in a while. Not since my shit-faced drunk days, at least."
Much to her relief, there had been another doctor called in for the day to watch over her office while she got to attend the celebrations. Now, she found herself sitting in her own examining room as a patient. She noted how weird it was seeing the room from this view.
"You feeling okay, Ms. Reigns?" Asked a new voice. The temp that filled in. He was tall, a bit on the old side but fuckable in a DILF sort of way. He stopped, momentarily stunned by the spread legs of his patient, before quickly regaining his composure. "Don't stand up, not yet. How is your vision? The room stopped spinning, yet?"
"Yeah," she said, now rubbing the back of her neck. "What happened, anyway? I don't remember anything. Nothing except for--"
There was a knock at the door, followed by a green-haired opossum and a new face she didn't recognize. "Callie! You're awake! I came as soon as I got the text from Ellie."
The fox that stood beside Leif was a cute little number; The lavender-colored fur and ink-tipped ears and tail were quite striking. Modestly dressed, too, which probably meant she was straight. Bummer.
But when has that ever stopped Callista Reigns from flirting, she asked herself.
"Callie, this is Brigid. She's the one that took care of you after your... fit." Leif said, gesturing the fox forward.
The lion slid off the bench and stood erect, towering over the fox by a foot. They regarded each other with smiles, then exchanged a handshake.
"Thank you very much, Ms. Brigid." Callie used her throaty, professional-sounding voice, one that somehow sounded even more sultry than her normal speaking voice.
The fox, Brigid, smiled and said, "You're welcome, doctor. I don't think I've ever heard someone scream quite like that. Fuckin' scary--" She realized she casually dropped an F-bomb with a total stranger, stopping dead in her tracks.
Callista got a mild chuckle out of the fox's embarrassment. "Can I ask you a question, Brigid? You too, Leif, Elliot." The two doctors regarded each other for a moment, and then the older gentleman slipped quietly out of the room.
"Right before I screamed my lungs out." She swallowed hard as she thought back to the moments that led up to the attack. "Did anyone else see a brown wolf at the festival?"
Brigid's heart caught in her chest. Advrik WAS there, but what did he have to do with her panic attack?
Callista continued, "Like, I'm talking this huge, muscular beast; Had to have been hybrid or something because it had a huge rack of antlers on its head.
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