# Starfall: Chapter 21: Love, Loyalty, and Lies: Part One

Author: Slatepaws
Tags: Character Development, Date, Human, Mark Mercer, Sci-Fi, Story Progression, Story Series, Vivian, Vixen, Vulpine, Zootopia

First off, no I’m not copying ‘Officer’s Verse’ I did not read the restaurant scene in that story till after I had reached the part in this one.  
Now, my original idea was to have chapters dealing with the various dates and such between Vivian and Mark, but that would make Mark’s side ‘much’ longer than Usako’s. So instead for the first part of this chapter we have Vivian recalling and trying to figure out ‘how’ her plan went so wrong. Learn a little about her place of residence, and then some interaction between her and Mark as we learn more about him.  
There’s also an indirect shout out to a game I’ve enjoyed playing. Those who’ve played it probably can spot the call out. Not to mention just a pinch of HFY flavoring to this chapter.

Starfall: Chapter 21: Love, Loyalty, and Lies: Part One

  

  

Grumbling, Vivian hip bumps her medium mammal sized front door open from the larger door. Jostling the key in the lock she pushes it open. ‘You’d think a place so concerned with keeping the pipes from freezing by wrapping them with heating coils because this is a historic building, would fit proper inner doors for the residents.’

Entering, the vixen slams the door shut. Not out of anger but because the poorly installed small door inside the large wolf sized one won’t close otherwise.

  

Re-locking the door and securing two chains, the younger Wilde tosses her keys onto a salvaged end table sitting next to the door. Dropping her purse on the floor next to it a moment later.

  

‘One month, I can’t believe I’ve stayed at this job an entire month. The longest I’ve ever held a normal job.’

  

Flicking her ears, Vivian pushes aside one of the self-made partitions used to turn the nineteenth century large wolf studio apartment into a one bedroom, one craft room, and one bath, fox sized bachelorette pad. On top of getting it for cheap because it only comes with power and water. No Heating or AC, no elevator to get to its eighth floor location, and certainly nowhere near the weather walls to make the lack of HVAC inconsequential.

  

Pushing the divider back in place once inside the ‘living room’ with the kitchen as the only source of heat, she makes sure the blankets and sheets draped above and across the top of the dividers stay in place. Turning to the ancient wood-fire cooking stove she flicks on a single table lamp.

  

Sitting next to the cast iron monstrosity is a more modern two burner small mammal kitchenette and a tiny fridge, barely as tall as she is.

  

A pile of twigs and various scrap pieces of wood sit neatly on the other side of the ancient cooking implement.

  

‘I’d start a fire in the old stove, if I wasn’t needing to leave in a couple of hours…’

  

Looking behind herself, Vivian stares at her wagging tail. “Stop it. This is still a job! I mean sure, he’s nice and it’s kinda fun to have him lead instead of me doing it for a Todd. Not to mention for an Alien, he’s a bit handsome…”

  

Grumbling she sheds the winter foot-paw protectors, and she stomps off to her bedroom. Past a set of old curtains used as a door rather than the divider between the living room and entrance. Turning on another lamp, the glass base taped together, Vivian removes her work earrings.

  

Placing them in a lock box pulled from the corner of her bedroom, her work bracelets follow suit, only to stop as her eyes land on her alarm clock next to her small mammal sized bed. Made by cutting a larger bed mattress down to size.

  

‘Only two hours till I need to be ready for our dinner date…’

  

Stopping in her track’s reaching behind herself to unzip the plain dress she’s in, Vivian’s tail wags some more while her ears raise and lower showing her clashing emotions.

  

‘Dating? Him? When did this go from thinking about all the money I’d be getting for handing over that tablet of his to the Skulk to me enjoying my time with him and courting him?’

  

Shaking her head, the vixen shimmy’s out of the dress, followed by her underwear. Throwing all three articles of clothing into her dirty clothes hamper. A simple repurposed storage cube bin.

  

‘I know it wasn’t the second time we met, two days after I paid a visit to my ‘it’s okay if I do it’ brother and head in the clouds sister-in-law and the day after that kind of nice after work drink I had with Risa.’

  

Indulging her Vulpine instinct’s, Vivian shakes her fur from head to tail-tip, fluffing herself up. Moving about some other storage cube bins. Each stacked on top of each other, making it her closet and dresser, since the cubbyhole furniture for six of them was a hundred zbucks. Compared to the less than ten for the bins alone.

Vivian pulls out a fresh set of bra and panties as well as two thick towels.

  

‘I slipped past the media circus surrounding Nicky’s den again, then Mark and I talked in their spare room as he made himself at home there. I know that it wasn’t then, I mean sure I liked his voice and all those muscles he has…’

  

Her tail fluffs out as the vixen leaves the bedroom, heading for the bathroom to put her things next to the free-standing cast iron tub. One with early twentieth century style shower head and curtain around it. A similarly old style toilet sits next to it in what makes up Vivian’s bathroom, similarly surrounded by dividers, only with no blanket over the top of them as the shower’s height makes that impossible.

Placing her stuff on a makeshift table, she pushes in place similarly constructed steps, then drags a rough wood platform into place inside the tub for her to stand on.

  

‘Normally I’d wait till that old wood oven’s heated the entire apartment before taking a shower, but I’m on the clock here…’ The naked Vixen huffs and grabs an old beat up electric space heater from a corner, dragging it onto the tile section of the floor.

Plugging it in, Vivian waits for it to warm the partitioned section of the apartment, so she won’t freeze.

  

‘What about the next meeting with him? That Monday when my ‘holier than thou brother’ and the antithesis of bunnies got called in for a peaceful herdist demonstration. One I planned to attend before Mark got caught, but had to go to work to keep the deal with him. Then rush over to their place to watch over the Human afterwards for my brother and sister-in-law.’

  

She glares at the heater that’s taking its time in warming the area as the incandescent coils click.

  

‘I know it was a favor to my brother because Mark shouldn’t have been left alone for his own protection. Still, I think he could’ve handled himself with how strong he appears to be. Sure it wasn’t a planned one, we were going to meet that Wednesday after all.’

  

A smile develops on the vixen’s lips with her tail starting to wag before Vivian knows it. Only to clamp down on the appendage's movement it a moment later.

  

“I mean really, so I walk in on him doing push-ups, one handed with only his shorts on, flat chiseled chest that you can grate cheese on, on full display…. Oh Vivian, you’ve got it good girl…”

  

Shaking her head and pushing the images of his abs out of her mind, Vivian feels the room become warm enough. Shutting off the sketchy heater, she climbs up the old step stool, then steps onto the wooden platform. With a flick of the wrist, Vivian closes the surrounding curtain before reaching up and turning on the water to a mostly hot setting.

  

‘Sigh, if I’m being honest with myself, I guess it would be that Wednesday meeting the full first week a month ago when things started to change.’

  

Soaking herself, Vivian lathers up with her preferred fur conditioner, something that she nor any vixen she could think of would ever skimp out on.

  

‘To both our utter surprise, all it took was a week and the media ‘completely’ forgot about Mark. Seriously, for my first week at work it was nothing but what we can get our paws on about him. Then on to the next bit of celebrity gossip. So what if Gazelle and one of her tiger co-dancers got spotted at that interspecies clinic. The ungulate auto-tunes her music anyway.’

  

A slight grin crosses the vixen’s muzzle.

  

‘My little in with him ‘did’ at least help this boss get past ‘she’s a fox’ phase. So there’s that.’

  

Taking time to work through her tail, Vivian puts herself back on track at the matter at paw.

  

‘Thinking over it now, it should’ve rung alarm bells when he greeted me at the front door at my brother’s place and I saw him in a set of business casual clothing. Clothing I ‘KNOW’ someone must have altered and I’m betting it was dad. Mom did forgive Mark for what he did after all. I was wearing a casual pair of jeans and a t-shirt on the other paw, and the look of him sent my fur puffing in a good way.’

  

Grabbing a shower comb, she meticulously goes through her winter coat of fur. The vixen through experience knows a combing at this stage will mean less to no tangles when dry, and she wants her fur to be perfect.

  

‘So, I showed him around town on that meeting. Sure other mammals stared, a few wanted autographs with Mark upon seeing him. He took it in stride and if I was in his paws… boots?’ Vivian shakes her head.

 

‘Shoes are weird… Anyway, I wouldn’t have been able to take it… I know he was looking at me during our walk, hell he had to have been since the t-shirt I deliberately chose was little low-cut, showing off my fluff and curves. Yet, I ignored I was looking back at him just as much. Especially that tight but weird ass without a tail and the way he filled out those altered wolf clothes.’

  

Putting the comb back, Vivian lets water flow through her fur to wash away the shampoo.

  

‘We went to some less touristy traps, while he talked about what his world’s cities are like. They sound interesting, but I can’t imagine what a super city would even be like. Zootopia is one of the biggest around and a city with the center like savanna, only with it being forty square miles of skyscrapers and high-rises? The entirety of Zootopia can fit in something that size. Sadly the couple of hours we spent walking together ended before I knew it. Next thing I know, I’m on my way back home, sad and eager for the next time we’re going to meet up.’

  

Shutting off the water, Vivian shakes her fur out again. Pulling the curtain back, she climbs down the stool. Grabbing the first towel, it quickly gets laden with water, so the Vixen grabs the second towel to get the rest of it. ‘I love and hate my winter coat of fur, wish I had a bigger place, so I could have a fur drier like my brother…’

  

‘A few days later, on a day off from work for me, we have lunch at a nice café. I’m not like my brother, I’ve not forced myself to eat more of a vegetarian diet. I fully embrace my specie’s omnivore roots. Turns out Humans are as well, not that he’s shown me his teeth yet. So we enjoy a nice fish sandwich together on a sunny winter afternoon. I invited ‘him’ but I let him do almost all the talking, all I did was eat and stare into his eyes, those wonderful eyes.’

  

Sighing as she does another shake, just to remove that bit of moisture clinging to her undercoat of fur. Dressing herself in the clean underwear she brought in with her, Vivian Looks down the selected bra and hmphs. ‘Maybe the push-up one instead.’

  

‘I think… it was then being with him mattered just as much as the money I’ve been promised once I lift that tablet off of him. Those eyes of his, hard but caring. Like he’s seen things but hasn’t let it drown him. He talked about his life on a farm, these beings called Bio-Morphs and such. I was only half paying attention. I was wondering what he went through to have a gaze like that. Yet afterwards I realized he hasn’t talked about his time on those ‘resource runners’ he mentioned.’

  

Grabbing both wet towel’s, the Vixen climbs the step stool and tosses them over the curtain rail to dry. Then, with the old space heater in hand, she takes it and the non-push-up bra in hand-paw back to her room. Setting the heater on a loose ceramic tile on top of a cinder block she has for this purpose, she plugs it in. Setting it to a lower temp for her enclosed bedroom.

  

‘Then Risa found out that I was seeing the Human because he called ME. I’m supposed to call him… It was out of the blue, I had only said I would call him later with the next time I had available. Instead, he called me, at work, and Karma the dammed ferret was on the table laughing out loud as my tail went a mile a minute in my chair.’

  

While waiting for the room to warm, Vivian replaces the bra in hand-paw with a push-up one. Donning it, she moves those storage bins around to her ‘nice’ clothes bin.

  

‘Yes it was the stereotypical ‘movie’ date couples do. Only, we had it at my brother’s den, why? Because he wanted to not only watch a movie, but compare it to the version of it from his world. I mean it’s unusual for the Todd in a vulpine relationship to ask for when the dates happen, but by Karma I couldn’t say yes fast enough to him! If it was a normal Todd I would’ve gotten angry at their bold advance, but him, something about him makes me want him to take charge like this more often.’

  

Vivian shuts the heater off. Digging through her nice clothes bin, the vixen pulls out a red, and a black dress. Looking both over, she holds them one at a time against herself. Judging how they go with her fur.

  

‘It was the first Terminator film. Not my favorite, as it were made well before I was born and it shows. Can’t deny it was a good movie though. What I didn’t understand was that he was snickering and laughing a few times during it, until he played his universe’s version of the movie. Sure the actress who played Sarah Cooner is a decent Raccoon actress, but the Fox they cast as the Terminator in our film? Nothing, he has NOTHING on the Human actor they cast as the Terminator in Mark’s version. Even Mark says the actor was unusually large and buff for Humans that were not still practicing their ancient hunter and gather lifestyle. He also muttered something about steroids or something.’

  

Dropping the black dress back into the storage bin Vivian gently lays the red one on her bed. Pulling over a reclaimed and reupholstered stool, she sits in front of a reclaimed table and mirror littered with make-up and nick-knacks. Picking up a hand brush, the vixen starts going through her fur inch by coppery inch.

  

‘Needless to say I enjoyed myself, even if Mark’s version of the movie was scary compared to ours. We decided to meet every other day. Either to watch another movie, play a video or board game, visit a place or otherwise hang out somewhere.’

  

Pulling her tail onto her lap, Vivian meticulously brushes it. ‘I wonder if he’ll notice how much care I’m putting into my fur, I know his kind doesn’t have fur, so he may not notice it but by Karma I will put all my effort into making it shine.’

  

Stopping mid brush. ‘Focus Viv! He’s supposed to be falling for me!’ Resuming brushing her tail, the vixen sighs loudly.

  

‘Fine, I admit these are dates now! Are you happy my traitorous feelings?!’

  

Grumbling Vivian shakes her head. ‘They have been since he took me to the opening of the winter park in Tundra Town for the season on our next meeting. It doesn’t mean I should fall head over paws for him like some Vixen with a crush… Winter is not helping either, damn breeding season.’

  

Putting her brush up, Vivian looks over at her alarm clock. ‘Already been an hour, Karma dammit. He’ll be here in forty-five minutes, then it will be a ten or so minute walk to the restaurant for dinner.’

  

Shaking her head, the vixen chuckles. ‘Don’t know why it’s so hard for my brother. This new time and number system just makes sense.’

  

Looking her fur over and nodding and approving of its appearance, Vivian picks up her chosen evening garment. Slipping it on she lets out a reserved sigh.

  

‘Yea, I think that was the moment there. Walking in the winter wonderland. My hand-paw in his ‘hand’ as he carefully slowed his gait down to match mine. I started loving him as we admired the beautiful sights… Karma dammit, I don’t want to stop loving him with knowing what it feels like.’

  

Grumbling more at her predicament, Vivian works out the creases in her dress by hand-paw.

  

‘What am I going to do though? I can’t back out of such a deal with the Skulk since I know I’m under scrutiny for it. They sent me a text yesterday asking if I can get the tablet ‘soon’, that a ‘month’ was more than long enough to woo a lonely male into trusting me.’

  

Opening her lock-box, the Vixen takes out her nicest set of jewelry. Copper earrings with real emeralds in them, the same shade as her eyes, then gold-plated bracelets. She sets them on the table in front of the mirror for the moment.

  

‘I’m sure as hell not going to break things off with Mark, and stealing it from him now feels like a betrayal. Can’t talk to my brother either, I’ll never live it down with him lording it over me that I got over my head again. Not to mention they’re still on ‘protection’ duty for Mark in their supposed off hours, I could get arrested for being a ‘potential threat’.’

  

Vivian shivers for a reason other than the cold in her apartment.

  

‘The Skulk has connections in prison and corrections system throughout the city if not farther. I wouldn’t be safe even in precinct one’s holding. Sure my brother works there, but so do fox janitors.’

  

Sitting on a stool in front of the same table, Vivian gathers her cosmetics and accidentally grabs one of her color pencils. A leftover from her ‘pencil experimentation’ phase of her art a while ago. Picking it up instead of her eye-liner, the vixen looks it over, rolling it between her thumb and forefinger’s paw-pads.

  

‘There’s an idea! I’m an artist first, and a thief second. I doubt the Skulk would be able to tell the difference between the real thing and a fake at first glance if I do a good enough job copying it.’

  

Vivian’s ears fall to the side though as she places the pencil on the table. “The only issue is I still have to steal the tablet, so I’ll have references.”

  

‘At least just long enough to get photo’s of all the details…. Which still means betraying Mark and I don’t want too, not anymore. Karma dammit I have feelings for that Human.’

  

Picking up the correct pencil, Vivian works on her makeup; Eyeliner, Fur-powder, Whisker and nose shine. She goes all out in dolling herself up, taking so long her phone gives off the ‘fifteen till’ alarm she set up in case she got distracted.

  

Reaching over, the vixen silences it with a claw tip.

  

“Okay, so slight change of plans Vivian.” Muttering to herself as she puts her makeup away while doing a final check in the mirror. With that done she puts on some winter foot protectors and her jewelry.

  

“We have a wonderful dinner. I discuss how the relationship will continue as a vixen should in such cases…”

  

Smiling dreamily, Vivian’s tail wags at the memories of how she’s felt in Mark’s presence. “Though I wouldn’t be opposed to his suggestions on the matter.”

  

Triple checking herself in the mirror, the youngest Wilde nods, before quickly shutting off the heater. Moments later she’s in her ‘living room’ sitting in a reclaimed kitchen chair from a local empty lot. Just with the legs cut down from a lion’s height to a fox's height.

  

Phone in her hand-paws, she waits for Mark. Her eyes watching the time tick by on the screen. ‘Once I have the photos it shouldn’t take me long, maybe a day or two after work to make a ‘good enough’ copy to fool the Skulk handler I have to dead drop it to. Not like they’ll be able to tell the difference. Then I can get the hell out of the city, they don’t have too many assets elsewhere. Especially the country where they’re already suspicious of foxes…’

  

Lowering her ears, Vivian sighs. ‘That still means hurting Mark, and where would I go? The only place I can within what money I have now, is Bunny-Burrow. My sister-in-law’s family would put up with me for a few days no questions asked, then what? I’d have Mark angry with me, by extension my brother and Judy will know. When they do, so will her family in Bunny-Burrow.’

  

Despite the dress and the chair, her tail tries its best to curl up between her legs while Vivian whines.

  

“You’ve really gotten yourself in a pickle this time viv. Your brother won’t be able to bail you out and your Sister-in-law will have your head with how gun-ho she is about the law.”

  

Looking down at her phone. Minutes left till he shows up, Vivian glances at the door. ‘Maybe… Maybe I can come clean to him…. No! At the very least let me have this one dinner date then my life, can crumble around me like it should. I hate to say it, and I won’t to my brother’s muzzle, but he was right. I shouldn’t of gotten myself tied up with the Skulk.’

  

Forcing herself back into a normal posture and her tail from trying to shove itself between her legs to the point she hopes it’s not wrinkling her dress, Vivian sighs.

  

‘How else though would I be able to fight back at the world, which hates my species? That so unjustly discriminates against many species because of who they are and the money, or lack there of they have?’

  

Clenching her mouth shut, the vixen gently slaps herself across the muzzle. ‘Stop it! Start thinking like that now and you’ll think about it all throughout the dinner rather than what you should be thinking about. I want to ‘enjoy’ this last date with him before everything goes to shit.’

  

Using the phone’s selfie camera to make sure she didn’t mess her make-up up, Vivian’s ears twitch as the faint sound of footfalls echo from the stairwell, down the hallway to her room. Something that sounds similar to hoofs, but lacks the weight of any Mammal she knows with them.

  

‘That must be him. Sounds different from any of the other tenants, no one with hooves lives here and his ‘shoes’ sound like them, if a hoofed mammal wore rubber booties all the time.’

  

Standing, Vivian snags her purse from where she left it. Stuffs her phone inside, then checks if her wallet is in it along with her emergency makeup kit, mace, and taser.

  

‘Not that I think I’ll need the latter two for any other mammal, Mark’s registered as a martial artist at the same level as my brother and sister-in-law.’

  

Closing the purse, the vixen makes a quick scurry round the apartment shutting lights off, except the one next to the door. While double checking she shut the heater off before closing the divider between the entrance to her apartment and the living room behind herself.

  

Just in time to hear those familiar foot-falls come to a stop on the other side of her door.

  

Ears up and forward, her tail lightly swishing side to side, Vivian stares at the door as the few seconds before Mark knocks stretch longer to her than they actually are.

  

Knocking on the door, Mark quirks a brow upon seeing Vivian open the door near instantaneously. ‘Usually I have to wait.’

  

As the vixen’s tail goes into a full on wag, Mark inhales slightly in surprise as his left brow joins the right one.

  

‘Form fitting red dress, copper earrings like her fur with gems the same shade of green as her eyes. Is her fur fluffier than normal? Her nose looks brighter than normal and are her whiskers fuller? She ‘does’ look good in that dress… Are her boobs bigger or is she wearing a push-up bra?’ Lowering his eyebrows, Mark kneels carefully and presents his right-hand forward while holding his left arm behind his back like a studious gentleman.

  

Just like his father taught him.

  

‘Oh that’s not fair! I’m going to have to give Mom and Dad a piece of my mind as they ‘had’ to have tailored that suit! The dark gray suit jacket and off-white dress shirt underneath, combined with black slacks. Just tight enough to show his well toned figure. That ‘hair’ of his, the only fur on his body  smells clean and is nicely combed. He shaved his face again, still weird, but I can’t deny it helps his look handsome look.’ Forcing her tail to slow to a more ‘proper’ rate of oscillation. Vivian gently lays her hand-paw on top of Mark’s palm.

  

An action that proves utterly fruitless. Her tail resumes its full on wag as Mark lowers his head, lightly kissing her hand-paw before he stands. His posture looks natural as he’s more than used to the awkwardness of holding her hand since she’s about half his height.

  

The well-dressed Human gestures down the hallway towards the stairs. “Ready? We should get going if we’re to make it the restaurant on time Viv.”

  

“Sure.” Giggling lightly as the vixen lets Mark lead her, it morphs into a slight smirk on her muzzle.

“Only a month here in the city and you act like you know your way around the place. We have plenty of time to get there, it’s only in the revitalized district, a straight shot down the road from here.”

  

Letting go of her as they reach the stairs, Mark lets Vivian use the small mammal section while he uses the medium to large mammal portion. The vixen having to traverse two steps to his one.

  

“When you live in one city, you’ve lived in almost all of them. I lived a bit in the mega city Kansas City and if I could navigate the maze of one way roads and bridges it has I can manage Zootopia.” He waits at each landing for Vivian before proceeding down the next flight, all the way down to the ground floor whereupon he holds the stairwell door open for her and gestures for her to exit first.

  

“You know. As the Vixen in this relationship, ‘I’m’ supposed to be the one holding doors open for the Todd.” Her tone betrays that despite her words, Vivian doesn’t really mind it his attention.

  

Grinning back, Mark follows and let’s go of the door upon their exit of the stairwell. “Good thing I’m not a Todd then.”

  

“Careful, you’ve been hanging around my brother too long and are picking up some of his annoying snark.” Vivian hops ahead, turning to look back and up at Mark with a grin on her muzzle as her tail swishes about.

  

Taking no effort in catching up to Vivian, Mark holds his hand out for her. Taking it, the vixen’s led out of the run down, but clean lobby of the apartment building and onto the sidewalk.

  

“Snark isn’t exclusive to your brother Vivian. It’s the language of a well running crew of a resource runner, along with sarcasm.” He counters, while he lets Vivian take the lead in heading down the street.

A few mammals turn and look or stop and watch them pass, overall, both the Human and the Vixen get ignored by most of those braving the crisp and clear winter evening.

  

Tail wagging, Vivian ignores the few glares that are sent her way by the mammals they pass. ‘Does Mark notice them? If he has, I doubt he cares.’

“You’ve yet to talk about that ‘Mr. Mercer’” Adding a faux formal tone playfully, the vixen looks glances up at her date.

“Do you fear a Fox like me wouldn’t be able to take it?”

  

Mark smiles back at her. “Well, Ms. Wilde, I’m trying to put Humanity’s best foot forward here outside what I did when I first landed. I’m not proud of what I did to survive on a resource runner, no sane person would be. So if you ever run into one who is, run.”

‘If I hadn’t gotten to know you, started to enjoy your company, even start to feel attraction and love towards you. I would’ve assumed you couldn’t take it because your colleges are the same as the one’s back home in this era. Churning out emotionally stunted vapid children, unable to take the mere description of hardship.’

  

The Vixen nods once in understanding as the pair enter the newly revitalized part of this neighborhood. The stares of Mammals start to exclusively fall onto Vivian, rather than Mark. ‘I get the feeling there’s more he isn’t telling me, is that odd?’

  

“I’m guessing this Pawtalion is kinda like Italian food?” Ignoring the stares at his date from more fancy dressed Mammals, Mark glances down at her while keeping an eye out for the restaurant in question.

  

‘Jealous a fox looks better in a dress than you?’ Vivian glares back at a red deer doe before returning the look of the Human she’s with.

“Depends. Is this ‘Italian’ food geared to omnivores, a mix of grains, fruits, veggies, and seafood?”

  

Seeing a place just about a block away that may fit the bill, the wagging of the Vivian’s tail confirms the Human’s suspicion.

“Yes, though they do so, at least the higher end places, in a graeco-roman flair.”

  

Vivian grins. “Then yes, though a bit stereotypical for a month anniversary, can’t say no though to such a good meal though.” She pauses just for a moment as they prepare to cross the street before the packed establishment.

“Though, I’m guessing you mean ‘grassgo-roeman’. Despite the silliness of claiming a couple of roe deer brothers raised by a wolf tribeswoman founded the city of roem.”

  

The Human shrugs. “Not as unbelievable as our version where two Human toddlers got fed and raised by a feral wolf.”

  

This stops the vixen in her tracks. “Wait. Are you pulling my tail in this?”

  

With the walk sign green, the couple dashes across the crosswalk before the timer runs out and the light changes. Once back to a sedate pace, the two get in line for the restaurant while ignoring the stares of both interest and disgust for the Human and Vixen respectively.

  

“Nope, they even have a statue of two kids sucking at a feral wolf’s teats in or near the center of the city of Rome. I mean sure it was more or less iconography of their military and diplomatic prowess, that they were like wolves.” Mark shrugs.

“Even humans find it weird.”

  

“Weird.” Shrugging, Vivian glares back at those who’re staring at her as the conversation takes a momentary pause while they slowly approach the front of the line.

  

An Auroch Maitre d’ in a flawless two-piece suit stops the two just inside the restaurant. His three fingered hand held out in front of him, signaling the Human and the Vixen to stop.

  

“Do you have a reservation? The waiting time for a table without one is…” The undomesticated species of cattle glares down at Vivian, then back to the Human.

“Three hours.”

  

Twitching his eyebrow, Mark ignores the blatant change from forty-five minutes for the group in front of them.

‘Offense’s taken, not given. That’s what dad said, if he has a problem with Vivian, that’s on him.’

  

“Yes, party of two, under Mercer.”

  

Keeping his eyes on the Vixen and not the Human, the Auroch remains professional otherwise. “I’m sorry Mr. Mercer, but I don’t see your reservation here.”

  

Quirking a brow, Mark reaches into his suit pocket as Vivian tenses a bit.

  

‘He wouldn’t be stupid enough to bring such a valuable object with him would he?’ Only for the vixen to relax as he pulls out what’s considered a mid-range Wolfdroid phone that looks brand new.

  

Tapping on it a few times, Mark then shows it to the Auroch bull. “Here’s a receipt for the reservations to prove we have one, since you didn’t bother to check your list. I would also like to point out the bad press your establishment would receive for denying the only Human on your planet entry simply from the company he keeps.”

  

Pocketing the phone, the Human looks up at the Auroch Maitre d’. “Not to mention the fact I paid for this reservation, rather than asking the brother of my date here.”

  

Mark politely gestures, and beckons Vivian to step forward. The vixen reluctantly does so. “One Nicholas Wilde, whom this is his sister. Vivian Wilde because as you know, the cover charge is rather high. To pull some of his still owed favors with ‘your boss’ to not only allow us entry, but have a meal on the house.”

  

Eyes going wide on the mention of the former hustler and information broker. The Auroch swipes the company tablet off his comically small, at least for him, podium. A few taps of his stiff, nearly fully keratin covered two fingers and a thumb, and the Auroch looks back at the two.

  

“I apologize sir. Our system got updated today, and we’ve been having issues with reservations not instantly showing up upon being searched for. There is indeed a reservation under Mr. Mercer, party of two. May I see your ID or Drivers License to confirm it?”

  

Reaching into an inner pocket of the suit-jacket, Mark pulls out a wallet, then in turn a shiny new plastic ID rather than drivers license. Holding it in his hand, the human presents it to the Bull.

  

Staring at it, then giving one final look at Vivian, the Auroch Maitre d’ snorts, turns, then calls out for a waitress. “We’ll have you seated shortly Mr. Mercer, I’ll also have your drinks tonight comped for the inconvenience.”

  

Mark puts his ID away while the Auroch invitingly sweeps his arm, gesturing for them to enter as a similarly well-dressed Snow Leopardess approaches with two menus in her hand-paws.

  

Reaching for Vivian’s hand, the human waits for her to take it before walking up to the Waitress.

  

“Hello, my name’s Kathy, I’ll be your waitress for this evening!” Voice laden with the fake cheerful tone all who work in the service sector pick up, or quickly lose their jobs.

  

“Thank you, Kathy.” Mark automatically replies.

  

“It’s not a problem Mr. Mercer. Follow me please, you reserved private booth is this way.” The Snow Leopardess turns, then half walks, half sashays through the other mammals and around the tables, closer to the back. Her tail invitingly swaying back and forth.

  

‘I wonder if the walk and the tightness of the outfit showing off her curves with that exotic feline grace is part of the uniform or what she does to get good tips.’ Mark muses while following.

  

Keeping a hold of the Human’s hand, Vivian doesn’t stop her tail from twitching a bit showing her annoyance. ‘If Kathy thinks pushing her bust out and swaying her hips and fluffy tail of hers will earn her a tip after what the door mammal did, she’s got another thing coming. I… I don’t know what to feel about him refusing my brother’s help though if that was what he was implying.’

  

The Vixen’s thoughts stop part way to the booth as her ears pick up a comment from the Waitress, one she knows Mark can’t hear, nor any other Human as it’s subvocalized by the feline. Most likely to herself.

‘You thought the Human would be taller, and you’re disappointed he’s with someone else other than you after just meeting him?’

  

Looking up to Mark as they approach the booth, Vivian can’t help smiling at the warm feeling of knowing she’s got someone as desirable as him running through her chest.

  

Only for it to disappear as the task ahead of her rears its ugly head again. ‘Still got to steal that tablet…’

  

Bending over, just a bit more than needed. Kathy places the menus opposite of each other on the booth’s table.

“Here we are Mr. Mercer. Take a minute to look over our drink selection before you choose entre and meal or meal courses.” Using a similar move as the bull earlier, she motions at the booth while backing up from the two.

  

A moment later she disappears into the crowd of waiters, waitresses, and patrons. All the while a marble rabbit sitting at a table within sight and earshot of the booth slowly lowers his laptop screen to watch the two as they arrive.

  

Shrugging off his suit-jacket, Mark folds it and places it on the cushion of one side of the booth. Kneeling a bit he, much to the bemusement of his vixen date. He helps her onto the opposite bench seat of the booth before sitting down next to his jacket.

‘About the only bad thing I can say so far is no chair, seat or bench I’ve seen so far gives proper lower back support for me… then again everyone has tails…’

  

“That could’ve gone better.” Mark muses, then smiles at Vivian. Her tail instantly wags till she forces it to stop.

  

“When you’re a fox. You get used to it…” They both flip to the drinks section of their menus. ‘Hmm, oh what the heck, a fine wine to get drunk on sounds good considering what I’m about to lose.’

  

Glancing the way they came for a moment, Mark mulls that line of thought over for a second. “I can understand their reasoning, but you have no responsibility for what foxes born before you did. My people have been there, blaming the children for the sins of the father, it didn’t end well.”

  

Only giving the drink menu a quick scan, he chooses something with the highest alcohol content available on the menu. ‘Though that’s saying something. What they consider alcoholic, barely has any in it compared to what even a light beer is back home…’

  

Deciding the topic is a little heavy for such a date, Vivian drops it. “So, did you really turn down a favor that my brother could’ve cashed in to have all this for free?”

  

Closing the menu, Mark politely folds his hands on the table in front of him. “Despite his insistence to make sure his ‘little sister’ has the best anniversary date possible and as a gift on her ‘going straight’ as he put it. Where I’m from and how I was raised, accepting such a gift for such a purpose would be rude. It would show I don’t care for you nor that I can support you if needed.”

  

Vivian swallows. ‘I’ve not shied away from telling him how I made money, pretty much told him in that first serious conversation on the day we met. Why does it feel like I’ve disappointed him already? I haven’t even done anything… Yet….’

  

“I’m not sure how I feel about that. It would’ve saved us that little scene there.” The vixen closes her own menu for now, having decided on her own refreshment for the evening.

  

A moment later Kathy returns and the two order their drinks, after the Snow Leopardess cards Mark considering he’s ordering, to them, a high alcohol product. She’s off to go put the orders in the system and to retrieve them.

The Human and Vixen reopen their menus, this time looking at what’s on offer for their dinner selections.

  

“They’ve got me an ID, an account with what looks like a decent amount of cash to use for the moment and some job prospects.” Mark breaks the silence between the two, which just fell upon them.

  

Looking up from her menu, her choice already made. Vivian smiles. “That’s good, though I would understand if you’re a bit disappointed since it would be a far cry from what you had in the bank before arriving here. Why bring it up though?”

  

Making eye contact and smiling lovingly back at the vixen in front of him, Mark reaches out to take one of Vivian’s hand-paws.

“Because, I think we’ve hit it off well enough, maybe, we can move in together and see if we can handle it? The protection detail that your brother and sister-in-law had on me will be coming to an end soon. Living with them was never going to be anything other than temporary, that was made clear by both them and the police in general.”

  

Taking his hand. Vivian blinks a few times as she squeezes it out of pure instinct as her heart rate soars. “That’s… That’s the Vixen’s prerogative though. A Vixen’s den is her sanctuary. Letting someone she sees as a perspective mate into it would confirm they would be officially courting by Vulpine culture.” Vivian more or less explains to herself out loud in a tone of voice of someone casually talking about it while her body language speaks otherwise, betraying her happiness at this turn of events.

  

Especially since her tail beats the bench’s tail-hole a mile a minute, her ears shoot straight up and forward, while her emerald green eyes sparkle like her earrings in the light of the booth.

  

“You can say no then, though I have a feeling you’re not going to.” Smugly smirking, Mark points to Vivian’s tail doing its best by sheer force to widen the bench’s tail hole.

  

The vixen looks back at her tail like it seriously betrayed her ignoring the rest of her body language doing the same. Playfully muttering ‘traitor’ to it, Vivian does nothing to stop it as she turns her attention back to Mark.

“This meal’s supposed to be about the future of our relationship… Just before I say yes, I need to state that the apartment I have has no heat nor air conditioning. Not to mention it’s on the eighth floor of a historic building built before elevators as you’ve seen. I’ve also not done anything that would allow a mammal larger than myself from using what I’ve set up to make up for the first issue. It’ll be hot in the summer and cold in the winter as well as cramped. Do you still want to move in?”

  

The Human shrugs. “It’s that or move back to the squatting location I was staying at before I made the mistake of trying to rob your mother. Not to mention, you get used to cramped when you live in a berth on a ship. All of that pales in comparison to sharing a place with you.”

  

With a muzzle splitting smile, Vivian nods. “Then yes! You can move in!”

  

Timing though forces them to let go of each other as Kathy chooses that moment to return with their drinks in hand-paw.

  

The Snow Leopardess placing a small mammal wine glass next to Vivian, then a small mammal ice-bucket with a small mammal bottle of red wine into the bucket. For Mark, she places an iced medium mammal glass half filled with ice cubes followed by a medium mammal can of a Pawtalion wheat brew Beer.

  

“Would you two like to order now, or do you need a few more minutes to decide?” Kathy takes out a notepad and pen from a pocket in her uniform.

  

“Yup!” Vivian pops the P, then points to what she wants in the menu. A pasta and surf combo. The Snow Leopardess Waitress scratches that down on the pad, then turns to Mark. Making sure to lean forward a little while holding her arms a bit closer to herself. All to emphasize her bust as if saying ‘I’m bigger than her’.

  

A move that makes the Vixen tilt her ears slightly back in anger. ‘Yup no tip for you if you keep on flirting with my BOYFRIEND!’ Those same ears droop, just barely noticeable to anyone paying attention, like the rabbit buck a few tables over. Whom is acting like he’s working on his laptop, instead of taking notes and using the camera on it to record the two.

‘That I’m going to betray…’

  

Mark in turn orders a lasagna stuffed with fish and veggies. ‘Normally these things have beef in them, but that would be tantamount to cannibalism here for them.’

  

“Excellent choices! I’ll make sure the chef puts this on the priority list.” Winking flirtatiously at Mark, The Snow Leopardess turns and sashays off to the kitchen again.

  

Vivian lets out an annoyed snort. “The nerve of her.” While Mark shrugs.

  

“I mean cats are nice, but, she’s not you.” He mentally sighs. ‘Way to sound corny. It’s like what you said to Pippin when you had a crush on her…’

  

Shaking her head, the vixen laughs, then takes a sip of her wine. “That sounds like a line right from a rom-com, but I’ll take it.”

  

Returning the smile, Mark opens the beer can and pours it into his glass. Picking it up and taking a sip, he shrugs. “It’ll do.”

  

“Aright, that’s another question I need to ask! First.” Vivian points a finger, claw tip covered in copper nail polish, at Mark. “You need to tell me about this resource running thing you did. You’ve told me everything about your friends, family, even the Bio-Morphs like the one you had a crush on when you were a teenager. The one thing you haven’t told me about is what you did those years on that ship.”

Lowering her finger, the vixen scoops up the empty beer can. Glancing at the ingredients, Vivian quirks an ear. “Second. How can you find one point five percent alcohol content per serving ‘it’ll do’? That’ll get all but the largest non-megafauna Mammals drunk in short order.”

  

Vivian places the can onto the table and slides it back to Mark’s waiting hand.

  

Catching it, he places it off to the side. “Simply put, Humans, either by a quirk of nature. Or the fact that our ancestors had to rely on beer and spirits to get clean water compared to yours or other Mammals here. Have much higher tolerances for Alcohol. Not to mention my heritage also plays a part since I’m a mix between two cultures who, even for humans, love Alcohol.”

  

Motioning to the can, he smirks. “Beers back home have between Five and Seven percent alcohol. A Wine back home like the one you’re having can have as much as Fourteen percent. Our spirits are even stronger compared to yours, they can have between Forty percent for a cheap Vodka to sixty-five percent for a good Whiskey.”

  

Mark mentally sighs. ‘I miss having a shot or two of good Whiskey. Without the alcohol content in theirs it lacks the flavor I’m used to.’

  

The vixen just openly stares, slowly putting down her glass. ‘Well there goes hoping he’d be too drunk tonight for him to notice me taking those photos…’ Her ear twitches at the sound of the rabbit who’s watching them, drop his non-alcoholic drink in surprise.

  

Mark just laughs. “Your brother had the exact expression on his muzzle. He then invited Fangmyer and Wolfard over that night to test if I was lying. I drank him, that poor timber wolf, who can’t hold his liquor, and even the tigress. She’s got, like, over fifty or more pounds on me of pure muscle. Under the table with ease.”

  

“Well, at least you must’ve wiped that smug look off his muzzle that’s so annoying some times?” Vivian takes a healthy drink from her glass, letting out a content sigh before pointing to the wine bottle.

“It may be weak by your standards but this is a ‘good’ wine.”

  

Tapping her claws idly on the table, Vivian chuckles. “Next thing you know, you’ll say you can eat chocolate, which without special processing is poisonous to canidae, or large amounts of capsaicin, which can be consumed by herbivores and omnivores here, but in small amounts?”

  

Mark smirks. “You said it, not me.”

  

“Humans are weird.” Vivian blurts out loud and their spy mouths soundlessly.

  

The Human in question shrugs. “Something I’ve been learning compared to all the sentient Mammal’s here since I arrived. You’re all Human like, but then you all act, without admitting it, like the feral versions in my home. On top of that, I’ve been finding a lot of your food a bit bland compared to what I’m used to.”

  

The vixen opens her mouth, but closes it as Kathy arrives carrying a large platter and a small folding table in each of her arms respectively. Placing the latter down and unfolding it with practiced ease. The Snow Leopardess places the platter on it before placing the selected dishes in front of both the Human and the Vixen. Naming them as she does so.

“If you need a refill, just wave me down, okay?” Winking at Mark, she heads to serve another table.

  

The snort of annoyance dies in the Vixen as she eyes and smells the meal she selected. Vivian’s stomach grumbles reminding her of her hunger having not eaten much today.

Filling up her fork, she takes a bite of her pasta and surf combo, whining in pleasure at the taste. ‘If it wasn’t so expensive, and the service, I’d come here again.’

  

Mark though, upon taking a bite of his lasagna, puts up a false smile. ‘The tomato sauce is a little bland without all the spices normally in such a sauce back home along with the cheese. Hmm, I wonder if they used real or fake cheese in this. I know cows here sell their excess milk, there’s like an entire sub culture around it and it’s super expensive…’

  

Vivian points her emptied fork at Mark. “Okay, with that out of the way. What about this resource running thing you were a part of. I get the feeling you’re not exactly proud of it, yet I would like to know more since we’re going serious here.”

  

Loading up her fork with more food, she watches Mark’s expression change from a smile to a frown. ‘He may lack a tail and ears. Yet that face of his is just as expressive. I only had to learn how to read it. He just had a fake smile, most likely for the food, before frowning. Not that I can blame him with what he just told me. His eyes though have a sadness to them too, he must regret what he did a lot.’

  

Putting down his own utensils, Mark takes a chug of the wholly too light beer for the subject.

  

“Okay, well imagine the old wild west, considering your history parallel’s my world starting at about the Middle Ages more or less with a few exceptions.” Mark pauses, waiting for Vivian to nod.

  

Vivian nods. “Okay, I get the picture. No surprise that outer space would be a lawless place honestly. I mean didn’t Deeless Adams say you wouldn’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-boggling big it is?”

  

“Douglas Adams is his name back home, and yes.” Mark eyes the third of a glass left of his beer. ‘Eh, I’ll get another. They did say it was on the house.’

  

“Yes it was lawless, to the utter complete definition of the word and in spirit, once you left the sol system you were on your own. Everyone on board had to act a moments notice be ready to defend; the ship, their lives, and the cargo. In the handful of tours I took we repealed multiple boarding actions and the bridge crew deterred a few more by using makeshift ship to ship weapons we had.” Keeping eye contact with the vixen, Mark’s expression gains a slight long stare as he speaks.

  

‘Okay, now I kinda regret asking…’ Her tail goes still. “Using makeshift weapons?” Taking a sip of her wine, Vivian cocks her head just slightly to the side in that canine way of looking at something curiously.

  

Unnoticed by Mark though, his tale has the utter attention of their Leporidae spy a few tables over.

  

Tapping his fingers on the table in confirmation, Mark continues. “The company that owns the ship, that I was technically an employee for. Franklin International Conglomerate of Stellar and Intergalactic Trade, ‘technically’ forbids ship to ship weapons on their resource runners. As that would run afoul of a loosely enforced trade treaty between the United States and China over interplanetary resources. ‘No merchant or cargo hauling ship of any birth, size, or tonnage shall be armed’.”

  

“But in such a lawless place…” Vivian pipes up.

  

“Yup.” Mark nods again. “Hidden in the hull when we’re in the sol system or any of the limited Star Force craft are at our destination colony world. They come out for the rest of the time. They’re the first line of deterrence for pirates.” Sighing, he takes another bite of his ordered food.

  

“If we were as well armed or at least escorted by Star Force ships, piracy wouldn’t be much of a problem for any runner, but that too would fall afoul of that stupid trade treaty. So because of it, I’ve had to kill, a lot. People who just wanted rocks and minerals, or supplies and equipment. I didn’t enjoy it.”

  

Finishing off his ‘beer’, Mark works on his food as Vivian eats hers with rapt attention on her Human date.

  

After a bit of silence, he continues. “Pirates mostly, fall into two camps, outside the rare nut job carrying a firearm who’s quickly taken care of by his or her comrades. The first, are the ones who just want to be separate from Earth, from the two super-powers dominating space and are preventing most of the rest of the planet access to it.”

  

Mark pauses for a second. ‘Outside the rumors of secret Russian bases on the moon or that Japan is keeping secret a faster FTL drive that allows them to go to places in hours rather than months.’

  

“They just want the equipment and or the resources a ship has on it to help set up a colony. As how you can tell you’re up against them? They’re less trained in hand to hand, and like to use mostly hands off methods of attacking a ship’s crew once they connect to their target. Pumping the ship full of a poisonous or non-poisonous gasses to do the dirty work. Hacking the ship’s systems to shut down life support, only to be turned back on in exchange for the cargo is another favorite tactic. Just the average person who doesn’t have any qualms about stealing from you but doesn’t want to get their hands dirty.”

  

Vivian involuntarily flicks her left ear. ‘Kinda like what I did… I had no qualms stealing from the Mammals I talked into wanting a quick drawing of themselves. Sure it was the same as robbing them at knife point but I didn’t want to do that.’

  

“How many did you run into of the first kind? How many did you kill?” The Vixen’s tail goes still as she starts to regret asking about this part of Mark’s past.

  

The look of pained regret on Mark’s face eases Vivian’s feelings, if only a bit.

  

“We ran into two. The former pumped an anesthetic gas into the ship, but enough of us got our gas-masks on in time to not get knocked out, the rest had a full day’s nap. We sent them back to their colony world with their figurative tail between their legs… The other one, didn’t end up so well for them. They used mustard gas and ended up killing a few of the first years, they never expected chemical warfare. Didn’t do the gas drills. Our captain returned the favor of wiping out their crew, after we made them scrub our ship clean.”

  

“You went from ‘we’ for the first to ‘our captain’ on the second. Why?” Vivian places her fork on the half empty plate.

The look on ‘her’ Human’s face lessens her appetite. ‘Am I any better than them in agreeing to get that tablet of his and now regretting it?’

  

“One of the regrets I have of what I did to earn all that money, so I could buy back my inheritance. Our ship had a vote on what to do with the pirates after we had them all in custody. By one vote, the decision was to kill them by throwing them out of the airlock rather than sending them home. I voted to send them home. Quite a few of them were younger than I was, from them I learned they set their roots mistakenly on a nearby harsh planet. Just on the edge of the habitable zone. They needed the equipment we had to live there, as an ‘unofficial colony’ this was their only recourse besides trying to return to Earth.”

  

Mark flags down the next restaurant staff mammal that passes by, requesting another can of beer from them.

  

“You weren’t the one who shoved them through the airlock, right?” Vivian’s tail moves out of the tail hole and into her lap. ‘Not that I would be mad, just disappointed for some reason when I can easily see myself siding with the pirates in that situation too.’

  

Mark enthusiastically shakes his head no. “No, I wasn’t the one who pressed the button. I just stood by and let it happen when I could’ve stopped him. It’s my worst regret next to the amount of the next group of Pirates I’ve killed.”

  

The requested can of beer, delivered by yet another mammal of the restaurant staff, is placed on the table. Mark opens, then pours it into his glass. With the can empty and the glass full, he takes several gulps of it before placing the glass down gently and continuing.

  

“Technically you can call them ‘Privateers’, but they’re still pirates. Only you know they’re employed by a Chinese rival and funded by the CCP. They’re as well-equipped or more so than you are. They’re fully trained in hand to hand, making them just as dangerous as you should be. In the three boarding attempts I’ve helped repel, including one where I had to go solo onto their ship to stop them. Not a one was an idiot, brining firearms onto a starship like the previous group. That, and they only strike on return trips from colony worlds when you’re loaded down with valuable cargo. The other kind normally strikes on the outgoing trip for the equipment you’re bringing to a colony.”

  

“How ma…”

  

Mark interrupts Vivian politely. “More than Ten, less than Fifty. The non-sociopaths like me regret every one of the people we’ve killed, but not keeping an exact count helps us keep our sleep and our sanity and not get bogged down in the nastiness of it all. It’s a kill or be killed environment, so you’ve got to fight like the QCQ instructor I hired to round out my martial arts training me told me to. You have to fight like you're the third chimp on the ramp to Noah's Ark, and boy is it starting to rain.”

  

He pauses for a moment.

  

“The few who do end up being sociopaths, are ‘strongly’ encouraged not to re-up. They can’t be trusted.”

  

Taking a big gulp of her wine, Vivian stares a bit shocked at the Human she’s in love with. ‘Everything I know of his body language screams his regret in doing any of what he just said, but I’d be lying to myself if the fact that he’s done it doesn’t scare me a bit. Especially that saying, I may not know what a chimp or a Noah’s Ark is, but I get the meaning.’

  

Placing the empty wine glass back down, she tightly grips her tail out of habit with her other hand-paw. ‘One I plan on betraying because I made a mistake. Will he hurt me if I do?… NO! I admit I love him, I know he must love me, so he wouldn’t hurt me over that. He’ll just be disappointed most likely, angry at me at worst…’

  

“It sounds like you were lucky to survive till ending up here.” Vivian lets go of her tail as it starts to throb in pain.

  

Eyeing the froth in his beer glass, Mark sighs. “I’d be lying if I said luck didn’t have anything to do with me surviving up to now. I did what I could to minimize lady luck’s influence, but I can’t discount her favor.”

  

Vivian chuckles a bit as she smiles at Mark. “Guess I’ll have to send a prayer or two to Serendipity at least. For the fact she, or your universe’s version of her, for allowing you to survive till meeting me.” The genuine smile stands in contrast to her own thoughts tormenting her by showing his deep frown upon finding out how their relationship started.

  

‘How did it end up like this? It was just a job, and I wasn’t supposed to fall for him. I need a minute to think without the sight of his face or his scent. I… I have to decide if I want to come clean otherwise I’m a horrible mammal.’

  

Gently wiping her muzzle, Vivian scoots across the bench to the edge of the booth. “Excuse me a minute, I need to use the restroom.” Proving he’s ever the gentleman, Mark’s quickly by her side to help her down onto her foot-paws from the bench.

  

“Go ahead Viv, I’ll be right here.” Returning to his seat, he doesn’t stop himself from watching the vixen sway her hips and tail unconsciously at him as she walks away.

‘She’s a piece of work, I just hope I didn’t scare her off by telling her that. Women love the cowboy stereotype, up until the point they learn they’ve had to extra-legally kill someone else, and then they’re all horrified you did such a thing.’

  

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For those that didn’t get it. The first letters of the company name Mark worked for makes up the name of the company in satisfacotry. Be sure to pet your lizard doggo.

As for the rabbit, yes, it’s who you think it is, and yes the other one will show up too in the next chapter. they're minor characters though, there to flesh out and answer questions like 'where's their three letter agencies and why aren't they keeping track of our little alien?'

Yea that’s the interesting thing. Humans seem to be able to consume, and in large amounts, what’s considered dangerous poisons to other mammals. Alcohol is one of them, so is Theobromine, which is in chocolate. Humans process it out of their systems so fast it’s hard to actually eat enough to reach a toxic level. Other animals, especially canidae’s process it very slowly.

Capsaicin is another, a plant toxin, evolved to prevent those pesky herbivores from eating them. We seem to be able to eat especially large amounts of it.

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/RnoERqoe
Part of the series Starfall
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