"Fucking politicians!" barked Desmond as Toh and another employee at the cafe frantically moved about the kitchen and crafting area. The mole's statement caused more than a fair share of heads to snap in his direction, all belonging to unfamiliar faces and each with a press badge hanging beneath it.
The orange cat, who is simultaneously the mole's landlord and boss, couldn't help but silently agree. His shop simply wasn't built in a way that allowed them to cater to such a large crowd in a timely manner.
"Ey mind your tongue, rodent!" replied an older but well-dressed hound dog with a Faux News badge hanging from his neck and a Grump 2024 pin on his breast. Desmond simply ignored him.
The eagle with the CNN badge that stood behind them shook their head, a sign of disagreement.
Toh's Beans coffee shop was in utter chaos with a loud, gawking line of beasts waiting with orders of coffee that reached upwards of twelve cups! Being the only coffee shop on Main where the rally was set to begin in just two hours, the cat had prepared as much as he absolutely could for the paw traffic, but it evidently had not been enough.
"Can't you call in Gregory?!" Desmond snapped as he hurried past the cat, who had been ringing up yet another order of twelve coffees, each with different ingredients.
"We don't HAVE anyone else, Des! It's just the three of us; It's all claws on deck."
The slim, teenage black cat that had been working with Toh prior to Desmond's arrival brought up two more trays full of coffee cups. "I'll get the rest of your order right away, sir," she said, receiving only a scowl from a reporter who evidently worked for MSNBC news.
"This is fucking ridiculous," Desmond growled again, placing two more trays of coffee on the counter for the group that had been waiting in the corner. Taking their order, they didn't even offer thanks in return as they pushed their way through the crowd.
***
Callista, with Leif and Ellie in toe, had just stepped through the line that had formed coming out of Toh's Beans and began to slither into the street. The line quickly reformed in their wake, the beasts complaining about the heat but thankful the humidity was low.
"I've never seen so many beasts in town, not even for the annual Harvest or Holiday festivals," stated Leif, the green-haired opossum. "They're all so--"
"Fuckin' rude and pushy," the doberman said, finishing Leif's statement for him.
The seafoam blue lion had her thick green hair up in a ponytail today but sported her usual attire of a purple halter vest and black leggings. "You notice the majority of them are wearing press badges? They're just snotty network news employees; Only here to get their scoops so they can take it back to their editors and network exects to alter and change to fit the narrative THEY want to feed to their audience."
The lion pushed through another crowd of gawking onlookers, all sporting Loveless 2024 pins or memorabilia of some sort.
"If it came down to Tusk and Loveless on voting day, who would you vote for?" One beast said.
The other replied, "Well, Tusk definitely understands us nice guys more, but Loveless has way more money, so he'd know better how to handle the economy."
Callista was thankful she'd gotten out of distance before she had to listen to another second of that idiotic discussion. The lioness was politically minded, always having leaned heavily to the left as they at least didn't outright call for violence against the LGBTQ or Prey species. A lesser of two evils, she always had to tell herself come each election period, even if her registered party was nothing but a bunch of idiotic, performative politicians that talked a big game but had no issues bending over when confronted.
It was the fact that Garou Loveless's bid for presidency under the Green unaffiliated party immediately piqued her interest. LovelessCo had some of the biggest monopolies in the world, and Garou himself was one of the finest beasts she'd ever laid eyes on, male or female. But she had to know what his politics were. She'd secretly pinned a lot of hope that Garou would come in, decimate the other two parties, and finally set the country down a path where it wasn't just Democrat versus Republican every four years.
***
Advrik and Brigid hung back from the greater crowd that rapidly increased in volume outside the town hall, the sound of camera shutters sounding like the wings of a thousand insects all flapping at once as the doors opened around the stretch limo. Two beasts emerged, one tall and lanky, the other short and stocky.
"She's pretty," mused Brigid, looking at the maned wolf. "Probably an outright bitch to deal with." She swung her legs from the short red brick wall like a pup without a care in the world. The wolf was standing beside her, leaning against the same wall with his arms crossed, adding to that sensation.
"Not even a smirk? C'mon, Vrik. You usually laugh at my observations."
The wolf finally cracked a smile, "Sorry, Brigs. I'm just... anxious, is all." He said, chewing the side of his mouth. "I mean, just look at the town. Look at what they turned it into as a result of this stupid event."
Brickhedge had transformed seemingly overnight from a quiet, sleepy little mountain town of fewer than five hundred citizens to a loud, messy, and now angry destination full of tourists, members of the press from all major networks, etc., plus protestors on behalf of Loveless's soon to be opponents in the political field.
"You're not wrong... I can't stand politics either, but I kind of have to pretend I have some interest in the shit," Brigid stated, sounding almost remorseful. "Eligh is really passionate about it, and it's not like I don't understand where he's coming from with it and why it's so important to him--"
The crowd erupted in applause and cheers as the last door of the limo opened, drawing Advrik's eyes up and away from the littered sidewalk that he first laid paw on as he parked his Toyota on his very first day in town.
His eyes went wide as the giant wolf rose above the crowd like a massive, all-imposing tidal wave, the likes of which no beast had any power over.
A force of nature, this beast was.
The wolf's light-devouring black fur seemingly absorbed any bit of sunlight that had caught his powerful frame. Brigid whistled at the sight of the canid, half in an attempt to elicit some form of reaction out of the smaller but way more intriguing wolf that stood beside her, but also out of sheer amazement.
"Cally wasn't kidding; He's pretty fucking gorgeous."
Advrik didn't react. He stood motionless, eyes fixed on the giant wolf's broad shoulders and back as he walked into the town hall building, his two bodyguards at his sides.
"Hullo! Earth to Advrik!" Brigid said, waving a hand in front of the wolf's face. "Come in dickweed, do you copy?" Her favorite insult for the wolf was a play on the fact that it was her accidentally elbowing him in the crotch that led to a chain of events that allowed him to creep his way into her thoughts like a weed.
Advrik's vision finally unblurred, revealing before him the small, slender hand lined with pink paw pads and covered in purple fur. The same hand that, when he shook it that night, somehow knew deep down that he would want to hold it in his own during a walk beside a stream on a chilly autumn afternoon.
"I'm... I'm sorry, it's just when I saw Loveless's face in person, it unlocked a memory somehow."
The fox slid off the wall and stood in front of the wolf, one ear lowered quizzically. "Which is?"
"I think... he had been in the same orphanage as me."
***
Eligh and Filbert quickly rose from their seated positions as Garou Loveless and his cohorts entered the office, the southern sing-song voice of Mrs. Kinkaid chiming in through the intercom only after the fact.
The hyena and maned wolf took up positions on either side of the door, and the taller, more menacing-looking of the three silently padded into the room, hands stuffed into the pants of his slick black pants.
"Quaint," the big black wolf said, head looking from left to right as he inspected the mayor's office, golden-black eyes. His voice was smooth and polished with a refinement that one didn't often hear outside of royalty. He fixed his gaze upon the mayor and the large bear that stood beside him.
"Mr. Loveless," Mayor Filbert said with a cracked voice as he extended his arm to greet the imposing figure. "It is a p-pleasure to meet you in person finally, sir, and my, what an honor it is that you've chosen Brickhedge--"
The great black wolf took the horse's hand in a powerful vice grip, the mayor's face a combination of both surprise and pain. "The pleasure is all mine, Mayor Filbert," he said, releasing the horse's hand and trying not to find amusement as he attempted to hide the discomfort. "Much respect is reserved for beasts such as yourself. The wolf gestured to the big window to his left, outside the stage for which he'd deliver his message erected to his very specific plans.
"Y-Yes, sir, well, I cannot take the credit for that personally. This would have been a monumental task had it not been for the town planner," the clydsdale said, gesturing for Eligh to step forward.
Eligh hesitated. The grizzly had trimmed his beard and cut his hair to be as officially presentable as possible in anticipation of this moment, but now, before the dire wolf, the bear felt a wave of fear wash over all seven feet of his mass. Fear, not anxiety. That had been dulled already by the Xanax.
No, whatever the feeling was that Eligh was experiencing, it had appeared suddenly as Garou entered the office. It felt physically imposing as if the gravity had suddenly been turned up a few notches.
Garou stepped up to Eligh and extended his arm, taking the wolf's hand in his own as they shook; they peered into each other's eyes. "Mr. Loveless, my name is Eligh Brannigon, and I must thank you for the opportunity you have afforded me, this office, and the town of Brickhedge as a whole." He'd lied, something that didn't come easy for Eligh.
Though Eligh had almost six inches on the wolf, the sight of that powerful face covered in the blackest fur the bear had ever seen, punctuated by golden eyes that he would swear were glowing and separated by the pearly white fangs that filled his powerful jaws.
Even the wolf's ears curved slightly inward, resembling a demon-monster's horns.
How could one beast look and sound so overwhelmingly handsome yet have all the traits of a nightmare? It was a question that Eligh would be asking himself for the rest of the day, he was sure.
When he noticed the two standing by the door begin to approach, Eligh realized that he had not only extended the handshake well beyond an acceptable length of time but had met the wolf's intentional pressure with his own.
Fear.
"Terribly sorry, sir." He needed another lie, "I have terrible anxiety, and... I don't often get to meet such exceptional beings such as yourself."
"It's quite all right, Mr. Brannigon. You know how to return a handshake," Garou said, shooting a glance at the mayor. "Shall we get on with the day's festivities? Inquiring minds abound, and I'd hate to keep them waiting any longer." He turned and left the room with the same level of grace and volume that he had entered; the maned wolf, who was just two inches shy of reaching seven feet herself, turned and left with Garou.
The much shorter hyena stepped forward; however, "That was very unwise of you," he warned before turning and following the other two back into the main hall.
When Eligh turned his hand over, the imprints the wolf had left had seen every strand of fur singed down to the root.
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