CrossActs #1

 

 “So, Mr. Wolf, if that is your real name. I need a little of your backstory to ensure you’re not a threat to the Mobius.“
Sitting across from the interrogator. Dressed in only a pair of sneakers and fingerless gloves was a wolf who looked as if he’d been run through the ringer and back again—several times. Heavy bags sagged under his otherwise youthful red eyes. His fur was ragged, matted and even missing in big splotches.
“Of course it’s my real name.” A youthful but exhausted voice replied, hesitation threading itself amongst the syllables. “Actually, on second thought, that’s a good question.”
The sheep conducting the interview cocked an eyebrow as she stopped writing. Leaning back in her cushioned chair  — an odd piece of furniture for a quote on-quote interrogation room. Aren’t they usually kept in cold, minimal spaces? 
“And why is it a good question, wolf?” She asked, leaning forward and placing her elbows on the only piece of furniture that separated the two strangers.
“I’m an orphan in the purest sense of the word,” The male wolf’s ear twitched. The room was chilly, almost too damp despite how well furnished it was. Red curtains across boarded-up windows that blocked out any and all sunlight. Can’t be giving any poor Mobian that finds their way in here shreds of hope, the wolf supposed.
“Care to elaborate?” The sheep was a real cutie. Clearly very strong based on the toned appearance of her biceps and how easily she had tossed him away after he’d fallen on top of her.
“Sure. I was found as a baby near the southern reaches of the Azure Lake Zone. Old couple there found me, took me home, and kind of raised me for a bit, hoping my actual family would come searching for me.”
“What do you mean by ‘kind of raised’ you?” She raised a brow at the grey-brown wolf, dropping the pen once again and leaning forward. The sheep’s plastic emotions were hard to get a read on.
He hoped it was just for the sake of the interrogation because seeing her smile would make his day right now.

Laik the Wolf, a former member of the Resistance Army and then-resident of Sunset Heights. He’s a timber wolf of about 3’4”. Crimson eyes, white muzzle with two fangs jutting out of the top of his mouth. His ears taper off into two wisps of fur, as does his muzzle at either end of his face, giving him a bit of a frazzled appearance. He has a thick tuft of fluffy white chest fur where it would otherwise be exposed skin on most Mobians.
Laik has a lighter color mask of fur that surrounds his eyes, further accentuating the species’ expressive faces. Finally, the fur on his head has grown out from between his ears into an overlapping, feathered sort of hairstyle, further adding to the mongrel-like appearance of the Mobian.

“They took me to their home, which was a boarding house in Blueburgh; you know, the big town built into the side of the northern mountain of Azure Lake Zone? They brought me in, but my understanding was everyone who lived there had chipped in to help raise me, at least until I hit school age.”
Laik leaned back in the chair, feeling some energy return to him despite feeling (smelling and looking) like he’d just rolled around a landfill.
“…Guessing you want me to continue. Okay, well, once I reached school age, I was kinda just left on my own. Fed myself, bathed myself. No one hounded me, and I was free to come and go as I wished. Which was how I found myself basically spending all my free time running around the fields of AZL and—“
The sheep held up a hand. “No acronyms, please.” She said coldly, without taking her eyes away from the paperwork. 
“Azure Lake Zone, sorry. Anyway, they gave me the start in life I probably wasn’t going to get otherwise, but once I could run and talk, I was basically on my own. Learning the ways of life by talking to people around Blueburgh, roughing it in the fields. Picked up fishing eventually, even dug out my own home around the area they found me.”
“…Your own home?” She asked, an emotion other than ice cubes now finding its way into her inflections.
Laik nodded. “Yep, took me all spring and some of the summer, but I dug out a burrow in a hillside. Fully furnished it and everything by taking discarded furniture from—“
“Ah, theft. Another crime for the history sheet.” She jotted it down.
“Huh? Hey, wait, you can’t do that! That was years ago, before the Death Egg threat. And besides, it was furniture that the rich folk had already thrown out!”
She leaned back in her chair and laced her fingers. “And? You still took it without permission. May I also ask how you found the lumber to sure up the burrow’s interior?”
Crap baskets! She got him on that one. He’d taken it from the lumberyard beneath the city every night. Actual theft. 
“Anyway, I think that’s probably enough for now.” She said as she leaned forward, gathering her papers up into a neat stack. The large bell hanging from the choker around her neck swung forward as she moved, bouncing slightly off her prominent chest and making a clacking sound before coming to a rest.

“Wuh? Already? But I hadn’t even gotten to the—“
Her hand shot up in a halting gesture. “Where you have been since the war with Dr. Robotnik and the fall of the Egg Empire still needs to be investigated, so I highly suggest you stick around Central City in the meantime. You aren’t in trouble,” she smirked, “Something I probably should have relayed to you at the beginning of the interview, but alas.”
Laik felt a flood of relief at the statement. The sheep had allowed him to go through that entire process, filling out his bio sheet, which doubled as an application for the Restoration—something he had no intention of joining, not really—but also the Q and A just now.
“This whole thing was for me personally. You embarrassed me out there, in front of a lot of people.” Rising from her chair, she turned to the file cabinet behind her, opening the top drawer and placing the papers she’d just filled out, standing on the tips of her toes to do so.
Laik said silently, equal parts relieved and in awe; awe at the image before him. The sheep was marvelous all around; a pretty, albeit stoic face. Prominent breasts, toned musculature. And now seeing her form behind, he saw she had a really cute butt as well.
Had he not found himself lost in the sight of her posterior, he’d have seen the slate-blue eyes glaring back at him from over her shoulder. And the anger that was quickly boiling up in her muzzle!
SLAM!
The filing cabinet’s drawer shut with a force that had probably damaged the track. “Listen, wolf, I’ve already got one of your species hanging about here acting strange, and I don’t need another, so I suggest you take the break you’ve been given and get out of my sight, understand? We’ll call you if you are needed for further questioning.”
He sank into his chair. The sheep was far scarier than anything he’d encountered off-world these past few months. Ears flat against his head, tail trying to find itself between his legs, he replied with a meek, “Yes, ma’am.”
“Now get lost.”

Pulling the door shut as gently as he could, Laik had exited the interrogation room and stepped out into the hall. A soldier standing guard beside the elevator waved. A bucktoothed turquoise woodchuck with a shaved head, wielding a standard-issue Wispon and decked out in combat gear. 
“Hoo boy, I’z heard Ms. Lanolin rip into yous jes now.” He said in a strong, slack-jawed accent. “Whud’ya do this time?”
This time? “Got caught looking at her backside.” Laik shrugged, not feeling he owed the guard any explanation. “What did you mean by ‘this time’?”
The simpleton slapped his forehead in disbelief. “Yuz kiddin’ me, brother? The whole ‘tire Rezzturation heard about you doin’ a face plant into Ms. Lanolin’s—“
The door to the interrogation room opened just as the elevator doors slid apart; the guard clammed up and immediately snapped back into his duty. He saluted the sheep as she stomped by, heavy boots crashing on the concrete floor, the thumps echoing down the short hallway.
“You still here?” She asked point-blank. The sheep wore standard military-like articles of clothing, though hardly battle-ready. An orange tank top over green cargo pants was a nice color combo. The heavy steel-toed boots were the only part of her ensemble that looked ready to deal with badniks.
“Y-Yeah, I was just waiting for the elevator. Wanna ride it with me?”
“Sure, but we’re stopping at my floor first.”
Laik nodded as the pair stepped into the elevator, the doors closing behind them as the guard saluted, chuckling the whole time.

The sheep took up one corner, leaning against the wall. Eyes never left the wolf, who took up the opposite corner near the button panel.
Laik felt the tension. The sheep clearly didn’t like the wolf, let alone trust him. He couldn’t blame her for either feeling. Recruited by Knuckles suddenly during the war, then disappearing along with the Phantom Ruby the moment Dr. Robotnik had been defeated. He’d probably have felt skeptical of anyone in his position, too.
He’d been honored as a hero, with the earliest achievement of his “career” having been helping free Sonic the Hedgehog from a year-long imprisonment aboard the Death Egg. 
Later, he’d helped Sonic defeat Robotnik and bring about the end of the war entirely, resulting in the eventual disassembly of the Resistance Army.
Lanolin crossed her arms in front of her, glaring at the wolf. If she hadn’t been so cute, the show of intimidation she was putting on would have had the wolf trembling. Everyone he’d talked to since his dramatic return painted the sheep as a powerful boss character.
He just couldn’t shake the tiny, nagging attraction he had for her.
“I—“ He started.
“Don’t talk to me.” She finished it. 
The door dinged, and she stepped out, immense clouds of wool at the back of her head drifting lazily behind her… and was that a Wisp hiding out in there?
The sheep turned and faced the wolf before the doors closed, feeling like a mouse being cornered by a cat. 
“Keep to the city, wolf. I personally want to investigate you further, and it would be in your best interest to stay close. Understand?” 
Laik saluted, then nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
She bit the corner of her mouth, if only for a second. “My name is Lanolin. Do remember my name, please.” The doors were rapidly sliding shut.
With safety quickly finding him, Laik felt a quip bubble up. “Oh, trust me, I’m not about to forget you anytime soon.” He said, smiling and exposing his upper fangs.
The last glimpse of the sheep he saw as the doors came together was the sheep’s cheek twitching in anger.

Stepping out onto the Restoration Headquarters’ main floor, he was greeted by several kinder members of the group. It was nice seeing people smiling again, with less and less donning combat gear and Wispons, which plagued his last memories of his time on Mobius before… the impromptu off-world travels started.
“Ah, Mr. Wolf! Please step over here,” a small beetle behind the front desk waved. She had a bright green shell and dark skin. Her mouth was set within a grey muzzle. Her little antennae twitched enthusiastically as she spoke.
“Ms. Lanolin buzzed me just now and told me to give you this envelope on your way out.” She handed the wolf a heavy, yellow, padded envelope. 
“And I just wanted to personally say welcome back, and to thank you for all that you did for us during the war.” She sprang from her high chair, wings buzzing in a steady WHIRR as she wrapped her arms around the wolf’s neck and embraced him.
“My family and I wouldn’t be here today if not for your heroic actions during the attack on Capital City, so thank you so, so much! I can’t wait to tell my family tonight that The Rookie is still alive and well in Central City!”
Laik was speechless. After the interactions with the sheep and the goofy guard up above, he wasn’t sure what to expect from the rest of the world. Had he really become a hero following the war? He had been deemed KIA, which shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did; to think his name is carved in a vast monument in Capital City somewhere, honoring his life and memory.
“…Mr. Wolf? Excuse me, Mr. Wolf.” The june bug said, snapping him out of the trance. “May I make one suggestion, sir?”
“Oh, yes, absolutely!” he replied enthusiastically.
“Go home and take a shower as soon as possible.” She was spraying herself with far too much perfume now, attempting to mask the grime she’d no doubt picked up in her impromptu hug.
“That,” he said, “Is an excellent idea, thank you.”