Of all the nights she could have misplaced her bra; it had to be this one. The day of the family portrait with, well, the family. Brigid had just turned eighteen and, as with most milestones in the Ashtear lineage, a family photo had to be taken to commemorate the moment.
An appointment made months in advance at a posh photo studio in the heart of Toronto by her father, who, thanks to his work in the Canadian political scene, had developed connections with and could schedule appointments outside of the studio’s open period.
Her mother stood by the doorway, tall and slender. Her deep, forest-green fur clashed against the pure white fur that covered her muzzle, forearms, and paws. She stood almost sentinel-like near the large front door of their spacious two-story house, a thin night overshirt draped over her shoulders.
“Brigid dear, you’re holding us up.” She said calmly. “We’re going to be late.”
The younger fox moved from drawer to drawer, tossing various articles of clothing onto the floor behind her as she dug deep in search of that one piece of underwear that was specific to only her, at least, as far as members of her species went.
“I can’t find my fucking bra, mother!”
The behind-closed-door declaration caused her mother’s ear to twitch, but her father, who sat silently reading the newspaper in a fake, ignorant bliss.
“How do you lose something you only have one of, Brigid?!” her mother barked back.
The back and forth drew the attention of Brigid’s siblings. Her older sisters were nearly identical if not for their different colored eyes, emerged from the kitchen. And though they were almost the mirror image of one another physically, they couldn’t have been more different personality-wise.
Solstice and Randi took after their father more than anything, each sporting vibrant red coats of fur, white mid-sections, and dark brown limbs. The tips of their bushy tails ended with the same white fur, though one curled and the other, Randi in this case, had a frayed look.
Randi groaned, “Get your tits in gear, Brigid. We. Got. To. Go!” Randi’s voice was raspy, deeper in pitch than her sisters. She kept her black hair cut short, similar to the Pixie cut, but with more feathering on the fringes. She wore a black vest over a long-sleeved white shirt, and the sleeves rolled up in thick rings halfway up her forearm.
“I know your sister is … different, dear, but do you have to use such language?” Her mother said as the image washed away the faces of her sisters. Her nonplussed father and her overbearing mother.
* * *
The fox awoke in her bedroom, inside the second-story apartment she shared with her friend in Brickhedge. The room was dark, save for a tiny sliver of light that threatened to creep in through a broken slat in the blinds. A fault was only visible in the wee morning hours when the windows were covered.
As the calendar rolled over into December, the temperatures began to plummet as winter drew near. The average daytime temperature hung around the upper 30s while nighttime temperatures freefalled into the teens. Townies swore it was normal, if not a bit warmer than usual.
Slipping out of bed in nothing but her underwear and a huge shirt covering it all, she clumsily made her way to the window and pulled back the curtains, then the blinds. The world below her was cast in a grey light as a thick cloud cover crept overhead, blocking out what warming light the sun could provide. The town was decorated in bright holiday decorations sure, but a lot of the charm and character had been bled out of the place with the arrival of the pre-Winter weather.
“Oh, but just you wait, lass. Brickhedge may look drab now, but when it’s covered in snow for the next three months—“
The next three months. She screamed internally at the thought. Perpetual snowfall, the townie claimed, was nearly as rage-inducing as the half a month of rain they dealt with in April. Even still, she found herself oddly taking the man’s word for it, as no one in town had steered her wrong yet. Other than that nasty cat she encountered that first week.
A knock at the door snapped her out of the trance she’d fallen in. Then came a muffled voice, “Hey Brigs, are you up yet?” It was Eligh, her big gay friend, who served as an avenue to get away from the overbearing, overly critical family she left back in Canada. “Sorry if I’m waking you, but the power’s out again, and we have no heat.”
“For fuck’s sake,” she hissed. Her claws clacked against the hardwood floor of the bedroom. Opening the door, she was met with the jaw-dropping sight of Eligh’s bare chest. Muscular, broad, and covered in coarse red chest hair that mingled with the blond body fur that covered the rest of his body. “Again, really? Is it a rite of passage or something else equally fucking stupid that new citizens have to go through in this town?”
Several moments later, the duo were fully dressed and hunkered down in the living room. Each with a heavy throw draped over them, their bodies covered further in thick winter wear as their breath began to vaporize in the rapidly chilling air. Fur only went so far in staving off the chill, especially in prolonged events such as this.
ME: Goddamn power is out again. D=
The text was rapidly typed and sent, and the phone pulled back under the cover as the fox nestled up against the big bear for warmth. Being like this here, now, brought back memories of some of the first years she’d spent with the bear, trying to get by in a new country in a shitty apartment in an even shittier part of town.
“I know what you’re probably thinking, Brigs, and I’m sorry.” The bear grumbled from beneath the King sized quilt, which even looked almost too small for the bear’s mass.
She didn’t answer.
“I’m going to see if I can’t pull some strings or something and try and get this building back up to code without too much of the expenses being put on the landlord. Probably the only way something will actually get done.”
“Aren’t there any condemned houses we can buy up like Advrik did and just fix that up? I re-he-eally don’t think I can put up with losing power every time the thermometer drops or rises ten goddamn degrees.”
But the big bear didn’t respond. It said all that the fox needed to hear. His colossal arm emerged from beneath the blanket, wrapping itself around Brigid and pulling her closer. He draped the remainder of his blanket over her.
There’d been something more bothering the bear, Brigid thought. Something outside of the job, that much was clear. Under any other circumstance, she’d begin to try and pry open the grizzly’s defenses, but it could wait.
“Why don’t you head over to Advrik’s and hang out there for a bit, eh? I’ll stick around here and wait for the power to come back—“
“No, Eligh. I won’t bother him every time I experience a minor inconvenience in my life.” Which was a lie in this particular case, as she was still awaiting a reply to her text.
“I don’t see why not. He really cares about you, everybeast can see it. I highly doubt he’d think it an inconvenience—“
“It’s not that. I just… This is our problem; he shouldn’t be expected to cover for us. Especially something so trivial. We’re fine here, bunched up like this until they regain the power. We’ve done it before and can certainly do it again…”
Ding!
The Guy: Aww, I’m sorry to hear that. You’re welcome to hang out here if you want. I’m heading out on another monster hunt, but you have a key, so feel free to let yourself in.
She glanced at the notification on the lock screen, then tucked the phone back into her shirt. She smiled as she nestled up against her friend. “And besides, with our lives’ current trajectory, how many more times do you think we’ll find ourselves in situations like this?”
The bear’s body felt slightly less tense as she chewed on her words. She knew she couldn’t be there to take care of Eligh forever, not now with the wolf in her life. She hoped she could find somebeast special for Eligh soon, someone who could provide the same level of care and support she offered him.
He has to be out there somewhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment