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Post by Kristofor on Sept 18, 2020 10:58:28 GMT -6
And there were two teams?, I ask her. She nods, and digs into her own knapsack to pull out a white hat with a seafoam green-blue B on it. When she put it on her head, it was obviously human sized and fell over her eyes, so she turned the duck beak brim around and wore it like a strange head covering. 'This is a batball cap. Humans wear them to show support for their favorite team.' she's blushing a bit, a bit of red showing through her brown fur. What's the B stand for, I ask her. 'The Bayou Boggers. They're an amphibious team who play down south.' Batball must be popular, to even be played down south. 'They dont' play with bats though, they hit the ball with their spears.' Spears? She goes on to explain about small goblinish creatures that look mixed with a nearly full grown frog, still with a tail, that used spears. I pull my knapsack a bit closer. +1
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 18, 2020 11:01:46 GMT -6
'Occasionally, the radio station talks about the game, so if you can, try to tune in.' she tells me finally, taking her oversized cap off and stowing it in her knapsack. The bus is starting to slow down again, and finally stops. Outside, I can see a line of humans with bags to feed the bus belly to get on. The busman gets off the bus, and the humans have to hold onto the seats as they get off when it lurches upward a few inches. We watch the exchange of barfing up bags from the belly of the bus and the filing off humans who leave in different directions through a small set of doors that somehow accumulate many people of all shapes, colors and sizes. The busman isn't visible now but humans are coming up to him, and passing over bags to feed the bus. However, nobody gets on until the busman gets up the stairs, sits himself down, and starts calling humans aboard.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 18, 2020 11:11:24 GMT -6
Where are we now on the bus route?, I ask her. The rabbit fishes into her knapsack and pulls out the bus brochure, to spread it out again. This was the second stop from where I had gotten on, and that was at... I don't understand these words here. 'West Woodland was where we got on.' she points out. Tracing the line in which we traveled... 'New Pethia is the sixth stop. The bus service doesn't drop off inside the city though, it was too much dictation of foot traffic, from what I heard at one point.' The humans are coming aboard, staring at a fox and a rabbit (us) sitting in the back seat of the bus and finding places to put themselves and their variously sized and shaped and colored knapsacks. Some weren't knapsacks at all, but suitcases or what looked like bags you got kidnapped in. My seatmate giggles a bit at my shocked expression of such variety.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 18, 2020 11:19:41 GMT -6
'I've never seen a fox get so surprised at what humans do.' she whispers once we start moving again. Humans are pulling out all sorts of items from their knapsacks. Papers, walking radios, telephones, and a few dug out flapping typewriters with a picture frame instead of a piece of paper in the top. Its really quite intriguing, I tell her. Seeing all the different variety of what humans do and make. They make so much, and so many choices. How do they even pick between them? 'A lot of choice I see them do has to do with money.' the little rabbit whispers to me. 'Humans and money cannot separate; they use money for everything. I hear money is very important in New Pethia too. You need lots of it to afford a good place to live, to feed yourself and your pets, supplies to care for and train your pets, and more. Its very costly.' My knapsack shivers a bit from Mira's sleeping.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 18, 2020 11:25:55 GMT -6
That's... going to be a difficult thing. See, I don't have much money on me. What little I have, most was spent on this ticket into the city. That money will be for any legal fees to integrate into the city, and food for myself and Mira. Mira eats bamboo, and wasn't bamboo something that wasn't easy to get, depending on the area? What if there was rent? I would need a job almost immediately to cover my costs. My fox toes curl up inside my shoes as I hold my knapsack closer, head buzzing with all the things I would need to suddenly live in a new place. Maybe I should've asked for some money to get myself started. The thoughts twist around in my head like a snake, and my stomach twists up with mild anxiety. I don't... know if I have enough money to get started., I finally mutter out loud.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 18, 2020 11:30:33 GMT -6
The rabbit looks at me with a bit of concern. Those big gray-purple eyes I swear might see deeper then my fur. Calm down, I tell myself. Its nothing to get too worked up over. You aren't even there yet. My head still buzzing, I work to center myself, drawing a deep breath in through my nose, hold it a bit, then exhale slowly through my mouth. Deep slow inhale, hold a bit, exhale slowly. The tension building in my body slowly starts to soften up and melt, like someone melting butter on hot bread. I am less then a slice of bread... Humming an old scale I was taught to help center my mind in my meditation practice. 'I'm sorry, I should've thought more then opening my big mouth.' she whispers in my ear. The sound of a soft impact of fur against fur, she must be doing one of those faces with pretending you got bopped on the head. Some females did that if they were silly? +1
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 18, 2020 14:43:46 GMT -6
She pats my arm, and... stops quickly. I open one eye and look at her paw. Yep, my fur is clinging to her paw. I swear I had already groomed myself today. Sorry..., I sigh a bit in exhale of my breathing exercise. Instead of being disgusted or worried, she giggles a bit, using her other paw to scrape the blonde hairs off her pawpad. 'You have pretty fur, with all the blonde among the black.' she says, rolling the hairs together into a little twist. 'Do you style it at all?' Uh, no. I usually just try and stay groomed., I tell her. My eyes close again and I look to center myself again. The bus bumps along beneath and around me, so its very difficult to stay fully focused. 'With such pretty fur, you should style it more often. Would look really cool.' she says wistfully. 'I wish I had pretty fur.'
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 19, 2020 11:39:16 GMT -6
I cast my mind about a bit while I meditate; not terribly many other animals had such short brown fur, short of the tailor when I had to get remeasured for new clothes. Only my ex girlfriend comes to mind.... but she didn't have brown fur, it was golden brown and white. What about... fawn spots? I admit, the only rabbit I've met personally is white, with red eyes, so I've never seen anyone do up their fur., I finally decide to say. But don't some rabbits have white markings and others with lighter or darker faces and ears? 'I could try that... but fawn is a color more then a pattern.' she considers. 'Just a few spots on the cheeks and such?' Let me borrow a piece of paper and a pencil, I ask her. From opening my eyes, I can see the slightest hesitation in her movement before rummaging in her knapsack. I'm moving mine over so I can write on my knees instead of disturbing Mira.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 19, 2020 11:55:09 GMT -6
An old flyer of something in a language I don't understand is passed over, with a blank backing, and a pencil. Thankfully I'd seen pencils, and used them. Shifting myself slightly in my pretzel legged position, to avoid my tail, I look at my seatmate for a minute or two, looking at her features. For rabbits, she's pretty plain. All brown fur, just a bit of lightness to her underpaws. Its a short sketch, but drawing her face and shoulders would be best for the idea I have in mind. Fawn spots I can see clearly in my mind; I've been up and personal with, and they did range downwards. Would you mind taking off your hat briefly?, I ask her. She looks mildly startled at the thought of doing so... but briefly removes it after some hesitation. As I suspected, her ears spring right up. And they are slightly darker at the top. Like a wild rabbit.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 19, 2020 12:07:12 GMT -6
And like a timid prey animal, she hasn't turned her back on me once. Its kind of sad to be viewed like that. But reverse the role and I'd be extremely timid about talking to a fox too. All her fur to my eye is short and kept that way. Or it just is naturally short. Rabbit's fur was short too. The guy in the chef suit. So growing it out wouldn't do... So I sketch her bust drawing, taking careful detail on her ears as my seatmate wrestles them back down her back to put her hat back on. A little nose, relatively light whiskers, I barely need to draw lines to show them. My free hand that originally held the paper down briefly reaches to brush against what few whiskers I had myself. Fox whiskers aren't nearly as prominent. But we do have them. Or at least MINE aren't as prominent.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 19, 2020 13:17:09 GMT -6
Along the upper lip of our muzzles on either side, under the chin, a few on the back edge of the cheekbone, and a few eyebrow whiskers. And rabbits have them only on the upper lip of their muzzle, at least this one does. I hadn't looked closely enough at Mira; did she have whiskers too? Just a few scratches of the pencil for her whiskers, and I work on making a relative likeness of my rabbit seatmate on my paper. It takes a bit, and I need to be careful, as I'm left pawed and sometimes left paws can smudge their artwork. Looking up when my pencil stops, she's staring at my drawing. '...you're really good.' she is in awe. A slight flush heats up my face as I return to my drawing. My aunt taught me the basics of drawing, but this is the first off-paw drawing I've done. Its not bad. +1
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 19, 2020 14:04:25 GMT -6
I've only seen fawn spots on foxes, so I'm only working from memory., I tell her. A few little circles I place above her eyes, little dots of lighter area through the fur, which I've done very lightly for a reason. The circles are mostly just erasures. Some fawn spots on her cheeks, and a splash of lighter spots on her throat and lower. Finally, its enough for me, and I hand her back the pencil and the paper. She takes it, and... just looks at it. The fawn spots are a bit more dense from what I've seen, but I don't know how much you want to lighten your fur. 'Probably just a little...' she traces the drawing with her fingers, 'The more you stand out, the more likely you'd be hunted...in the wild outside the cities.' The familiar part of the woods wouldn't be like that... would it? Would Mira has been safe in the wild? Doubt it.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 19, 2020 14:33:37 GMT -6
'You said you would need to make money to earn food to eat...right?' she asks. My stomach starts to twist up again, its an uncomfortable feeling. Instead of answering, I just nod and try not to grimace. 'You should draw pictures of people. Earn a bit of money on the fly.' I'll consider it. An artist for hire doesn't sound too bad., I answer at last. If the supplies wasn't too expensive, I think that could work for a start. She smiles and her buck teeth show a bit. As we were talking, the bus has slowed down, and stopped. The third stop, but only one person gets off, and tells the busman that they (I can't tell if its a he or a she human) that they had no bags to remove, and leave the bus. If I had to describe emotion from behind, the driver looks a bit pleased that he doesn't have to haul off any single bags. Only one person with a single bag gets on, with nothing else, with a ticket.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 19, 2020 14:44:39 GMT -6
'Three more stops, then that's your stop.' my seatmate says, wiggling a bit. 'I'm a bit excited of seeing the city, but also nervous.' she wrings her paws some again. Me too. My side of the river had nothing interesting specifically to speak of. The valley woods had more so, being outside the town I picked up the bus at., I tell her. By now, I need to undo my legs from their pretzel, the blood isn't flowing past my knees. Massaging my deadened limbs with one placed over my other knee, it hurts a bit. 'Just a country fox?' I nod. 'You're so polite when you talk, I thought you might have been in the city at one point.' Really, I wonder to myself. No, I'm just a polite guy., scratching the back of my ears a bit in surprise. But also a country fox, yes. 'And I'm just a country bunny.'
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 19, 2020 20:11:04 GMT -6
You’re a very kind bunny, country or no country., I tell her. It sounded like a compliment to my ears, but she gets shy again, wringing her paws again. We go back to not talking for a little bit, me massaging my legs back to life and checking in the knapsack to make sure Mira didn’t get covered up by something in her sleep. She seemed to be doing just fine. Good. And the rabbit next to me goes back to looking out the window, her chin resting in her paw. The seats aren’t built for taller animals like me so the tallest support point on my body is my neck, so reclining my head bumps against the window. The bus reaches its fourth stop while just trying to relax. I’d be dishonest with myself if I wasn’t nervous. But going to a new school or living with your relations is nothing to moving away.
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