{"sf1_id":212374,"sf2_id":"XekWy4Me","title":"Love's Shadow Part 1","author":"Korrado-Xan","words":4667,"posted_at":"2011-01-12T07:58:00.000Z","tags":["Feline","Gay","M/M","Romance","School","Skunk","slice of life"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/212374-love-s-shadow-part-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/XekWy4Me","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/4b/21/4b21b4a6-bfe0-4450-b56a-1e09dd97ca15","description":"#1 of Love's Shadow","content":"\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\n\n- Love's Shadow c. Grey K. 1997\n\n\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; - Love's Shadow -\n\n- part I :\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n* * *\n\\\u003eIt was a bleary, blustery day. Leaden grey clouds\n\nhung like a smothering blanket overhead. A light drizzle had fallen\n\nmost of the late morning and the temperature had dropped to about 5\n\ndegrees C, made worse by the misty rain and the cold breeze. On the\n\nwhole, not unusual for the second week of November or for the\n\nnorthern area of California close to the Oregon border.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace Greene slowly plodded across campus lugging his battered\n\nback-pack. His rear was sore from sitting and he was feeling\n\ngenerally worn out from the exceptionally long and drawn out physics\n\nclass. Jace shook his white haired head slowly as he walked, 'How\n\ncould anyone get into the laws of physics?' he pondered the question\n\nsullenly. \"Ye canna change the laws of physics!\" Jace mocked quietly\n\nas he walked, remembering that was Professor Haverman's favorite\n\nsaying.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace wished that he could. At least that would provide him\n\nwith some entertainment during class time, hopefully at the stuck-up\n\nphysics teachers expense. The young morph wondered if spontaneous\n\nhuman combustion could be incited without being called murder,(or\n\narson at the very least), and whether the class would be canceled for\n\nthe rest of the semester if Haverman went up in flames. Of course the\n\ncampus would probably hold a huge celebration, dancing around the\n\nscorched pocket-protector and handful of burst pens lying atop a\n\nsmall pile of ashes, but then the dean would just call in a\n\nsubstitute. Either way it looked as though Jace would just have to\n\nstick things out for the remaining three weeks of the semester.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; It didn't make him feel any better to think of all that time\n\noff looming if there was a failing grade hanging over his head.\n\nNeedless to say Jace would have preferred the sword of Damocles to\n\nan F(or D at best) in Haverman's class. Everyone the young morph knew\n\nhated Haverman, even other teachers. The man was simply just\n\nunpleasant. With everyone. Except of course those students who\n\nlaughed at all his jokes and played up to him constantly. You could\n\npretty much tell who had their heads so far up the man's ass that\n\nyou couldn't tell where he stopped and they started and who didn't,\n\nthose that did were all passing.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace had tried to make friends with the prickly instructor,\n\nfinding the man cold, distant and having a massive superiority complex\n\nover his students. Jace hated people like that with a passion. Even\n\nwith knowing all that, Jace still couldn't shake the feeling that\n\nHaverman was still viciously gunning for him personally. Jace secretly\n\nthought that the man didn't like anthropomorphs (being a skunk himself,\n\nJace often had trouble making new friends because of species\n\nstereotypes).\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; He felt that it was one of two things; either the man had a\n\nproblem with morphs (which could get the human teacher in major trouble\n\nwith the Inter-Species Protection Board on campus), but generally if\n\nthe I.S.P.B was breathing down your neck you and everyone else on\n\ncampus knew it right away. Jace himself had seen more than one\n\nstudent get booted from the campus for violating anti-intransigency\n\npolicies. It was that or Haverman didn't like him personally. Jace\n\nfigured he knew why if that was the case, gossip had undone several\n\nfriendships Jace'd had in the past. Who knows what the unpleasant\n\nprofessor had heard through the grape-vine.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace turned his thoughts to where he would have rather been\n\nthis morning, either poking around the huge local Botanical Garden\n\nand Greenhouses, or on his favorite bench in front of the big cat\n\nenclosure at the nearby zoo. Plants and animals interested him so\n\nmuch more than mathematics or physics ever could. Flora and fauna\n\nwere alive, moving, there, physically real to Jace's sharp senses.\n\nThe young skunk morph really couldn't care less about matter, inertia,\n\ngravity, friction or Isaac Newton. They were so 2-D, so boring, Jace\n\nknew that they existed, what they were, and what they did in general.\n\nWasn't that enough? About all Jace cared about gravity and friction\n\nwas that they held his feet to the floor and his car to the street.\n\nThat's it, the rest Haverman and his cronies could keep.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; A brisk wind ruffled the fur on Jace's exposed neck and face,\n\ninterrupting his thoughts and making him shrink farther into his coat.\n\nThe depressingly grey sky finally gave in and a light drizzle of cold\n\nrain started to fall just as Jace reached the center of campus, barely\n\nhalf-way to his intended destination. He cursed mildly under his breath\n\nas a particularly big drop of ice cold moisture scored a bulls-eye on\n\nthe tip of his black nose. It had been overcast earlier that morning,\n\nbut Jace hadn't expected rain at all, having left his umbrella at home.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace quickened his pace across the quickly dampening campus,\n\nbeing careful not to slip or collide with other students similarly\n\nfleeing for cover. He exchanged several quick 'Hi/Bye' greetings\n\nwith some familiar faces. The cold drizzle was quickly turning into\n\na steady light rain, soaking his coat and exposed fur. The skunk was\n\nglad that his pack was water proofed as he felt a trickle of water\n\nsneak down the collar of his shirt. The jet black fur on Jace's hands\n\nand face was becoming matted with water and his hair was getting\n\nplastered against his head and fore-head by the cold rain.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Shit,\" he muttered, once again picking up the pace, seeing\n\nthe huge library loom up in front of him as he ran. Finally reaching\n\nthe safety of the covered walk-way outside the main doors to the\n\nlibrary, Jace stopped, having to lean on his knees and panting\n\nslightly at his run. He felt mildly irritated, back in high-school\n\nwhen he was running track a medium sprint like that wouldn't have\n\nworked him over so bad. The young skunk cursed inwardly, thinking\n\nthat he was letting his edge slip here in college by not restarting\n\nhis track career.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; His physique was still as good as it was in high-school, Jace\n\njust assumed his fatigue was from him not having run a sprint in so\n\nlong. Jace had quit running for good his junior year in high-school,\n\nhe had found the competitions boring and bothersome. The skunk had also\n\nfound the awkwardness, embarrassment, distractions and sometimes malice\n\nwith the other athletes and in the locker-room hurtful and tiresome.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; As if in some grand joke while Jace recovered his breath the\n\nrain eased back into the steady grey mist. \"Friggin' figures!, Damn!\"\n\nJace shook his head, tilting it to one side to clear his ear of a\n\ntrickle of rainwater. As the young skunk entered into the warmth of\n\nthe heated library he saw his fur steaming slightly from the sudden\n\nchange in temperature. Jace looked around, seeing that the cavernous\n\nbuilding was almost empty except for a few foreign faces milling\n\nthrough the stacks.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; He saw the librarian seated at her desk as he passed into the\n\nspacious lobby. A portly, congenial black woman, Jace liked the\n\nlibrarian a lot. She had known his older brother, Thomas when he had\n\nattended the college and the two often spoke of him. Jace gave the\n\nlibrarian updates on Tom, who now lived and attended school in\n\nWashington state.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The large librarian looked up as Jace approached, smiling as\n\nshe recognized the young skunk. \"Jace ?, Honey is that you under all\n\nthat wet fur?\" Jace nodded, using the motion to flip a wet strand of\n\nwhite hair out of his eyes, \"Yeah it's me. Hi Mrs. Dewitt.\" Mrs.\n\nDewitt stood, appraising the youth and stating the obvious, \"Goodness,\n\nyour soaked to the skin.\" Jace smirked wryly, \"Yeah, either it's\n\nraining or I have a very serious drinking problem.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The comment went right over the librarian's head, she just\n\nlooked at the skunk oddly for a moment then continued as if he had\n\nnever spoken, \"Well, here, come in back and get dried off a little.\"\n\nThe rotund woman lifted the counter divider, allowing Jace access\n\nbehind the check-out. She took him gently by the arm and led him to\n\nthe staff break room/lounge. Standing the skunk next to a heating\n\ngrate Mrs. Dewitt retrieved a towel from the bathroom, handing it to\n\nJace.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; As the librarian stepped close Jace saw the barely noticeable\n\nwrinkling of the woman's nose and brow. He smiled as she stepped back\n\nquickly, looking slightly embarrassed at the being caught in the\n\nskunk's scrutiny. Jace looked at her, not bothered at all, \"Sorry, I\n\nhardly notice it but I know wet fur bothers some people.\" The\n\nlibrarian sighed, looking relieved, \"That's OK Hon. You just get dry.\n\nOh, you're dripping a little on the linoleum, careful not to slip.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace nodded at the woman, shedding his wet coat, exposing his\n\nbare arms and tail to the warmth in the room. He looked around, seeing\n\nthat only the tip of his bushy black and white tail had gotten wet\n\nwhere it stuck out below the hem of his long coat. Jace flipped his\n\ntail back and forth, shaking it to free it of excess moisture and to\n\nget it to fluff back out more normally.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; He turned at hearing the librarian snort slightly, trying to\n\nstifle a laugh. The large woman caught his eye, \"Sorry. You just\n\nreminded me of a cat I had when I was your age, she used to do the\n\nsame thing when her tail got wet.\" Jace shared the librarian's\n\namusement as he continued to dry his lower arms and neck, finally\n\nfinishing by rubbing at the short fur on his face and the white and\n\nblack streaked hair on his head.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Slinging the towel around his neck, the young morph fished a\n\nsmall brush out of his bag. He used it to smooth the fur on his arms,\n\nneck and face, then brushed his hair back out of his eyes. \"There.\"\n\nHe pronounced, shaking his head slightly to get his white hair to\n\nrelax a little better. Putting the brush back and draping the towel\n\nover the back of a chair to dry, Jace settled himself across from Mrs.\n\nDewitt at the small break-room table.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Feeling better ?\" she asked, seeing Jace nod. Other than being\n\na little cold Jace did feel better. Almost as if reading the skunk's\n\nthoughts the librarian asked, \" You want some coffee or tea, Hon?\" Jace\n\nperked his ears forward at the mention, \"Uh, tea., Please., Thank-you.\"\n\nJace liked coffee well enough, but not the instant stuff they would\n\nmost likely have there.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace was one of those morphs that felt no matter what the\n\nadministration people said he could definitely tell the difference\n\nbetween freshly ground and brewed coffee and what-ever the Hell it\n\nwas that came out of the machines around campus. If given a choice\n\nthe skunk preferred a substance that was meant to be dried and\n\npackaged then brewed, not something that was ground up, treated with\n\na myriad of noxious chemical preservatives and then freeze dried to\n\nbe stored on some shelf for God knew how long. He didn't want to be\n\ninvolved with any type of 'coffee' that required a can-opener, had\n\na screw top lid or included an expiration date or the words 'instant'\n\nor 'vacuum sealed for freshness' anywhere on the packaging.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Mrs. Dewitt stood, venturing over to the coffee maker and\n\nrummaging in a cabinet above, \"Orange Blossom or Ginger ?\" she asked\n\nlooking back at Jace. \"Uh, Ginger I think, please.\" A few moments\n\nlater the woman came back with two mugs of steaming liquid, one fresh\n\ntea for Jace and the other a rather noxious substitute for coffee that\n\nthe skunk was glad he had passed up. He couldn't help but grimace as\n\nthe librarian sipped at her mug, apparently oblivious to the quality\n\nof the beverage that Jace had picked up on. The young skunk often\n\nwondered how humans had survived so long with such poorly developed\n\nsenses of smell and taste. He thought it was a wonder they didn't all\n\ndie of chemical poisoning if they drank things like that which the\n\nlibrarian was drinking.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace dismissed his thoughts as the librarian began to speak,\n\n\"So, how are things with you?\" Something about the tone of the\n\nlibrarian's voice made the fur on the back of Jace's neck itch. He\n\nshrugged slowly, suspicious, \"Oh, you know. Doing the best I can and\n\nall that.\" The librarian nodded slowly and it was all Jace could do\n\nto keep the fur on his tail and arms from standing up, what ever she\n\nwas getting at Jace sensed discomfort ahead for himself.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Uh-Huh. Good, good, but...\" 'Oh shit,' was the only thought\n\nthat sprinted screaming through Jace's brain, \"Here we go.\", he\n\nmuttered without moving his lips. \"Grape-vine says you're not doing\n\nso good in Haverman's class.\" Jace choked slightly on a mouthful of\n\ntea, feeling like he had been round-housed in the gut. He hadn't been\n\nexpecting that one particular topic at all, \"Who's the narc?!!\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Never you mind, you know I'm worse than the FBI around here.\n\nIf something's going on I hear about it.\" As the librarian finished\n\nJace heard a new voice from behind him, \"Actually it was me Jace.\"\n\nJace turned seeing Tracy, an old friend who shared some of his\n\nclasses (including Haverman's) and who often helped out in the\n\nlibrary as part of her work-study.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace stared at the sleek otter morph looking hurt, \"Et Tu.,\n\nTracy? What?, Do I have a target painted on my back, that says\n\n'Place knife here'?\" Tracy shook her stream-lined head, \"No, but we\n\nall know your brother, he would come back down here and kick all our\n\nasses if we let you slip and lose your funding.\" The large librarian\n\nwas nodding, \"I promised Thomas I would look out for you after he\n\nleft. I know facts and figures aren't and haven't been your forte but\n\nyou can't afford to fail a general ed. class so soon.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace stared at the cooling mug of tea in his hands sullenly,\n\n\"I know, it's just that Haverman hates me and he doesn't have any\n\npatience at all for people that aren't physics majors. He just stands\n\nthere and talks like you're supposed to just know exactly what he's\n\nsaying.\" Tracy had disappeared again and the librarian was nodding at\n\nJace, patting his hand amiably, \" I know, it's hard for a Bio buff\n\nlike you to get saddled with all those numbers and equations, things\n\nthat only sit there on the paper. Have you ever thought about a\n\ntutor?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace shook his head, \"No., That's too embarrassing, you look\n\nstupid in front of people who actually know what they're doing.\" Mrs.\n\nDeWitt looked at Jace knowingly, \"I know honey, but sometimes we need\n\nto do things that pride wouldn't normally allow,\" she paused thinking,\n\n\"Now that I think of it, I might know someone. He's new here, 19, the\n\nsame age as you are. He's a Literature major but he's good at math and\n\nphysics. He might be willing to help you.\" \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"But....\" Jace started to protest, closing his mouth when a\n\nglare from the librarian indicated she wasn't finished, \"As, I was\n\nsaying; He's new here, doesn't really know anybody on campus, much\n\nless you. Kind of an odd boy, elusive, hard to pin down and talk to.\n\nKind of jumpy, skittish. I haven't been able to find out why., No one\n\nknows him, and he really seems to keep to himself.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"His name is Patrick. I'll see if I can talk to him and get him\n\nto think about tutoring you in time for the last few weeks of the\n\nsemester. You definitely need the help and he really seems to need a\n\nfriend.\" Jace shrugged, knowing better than to protest, the matter had\n\nbeen settled regardless of his opinion. Still the skunk really didn't\n\nwant to play up to some psycho the congenial librarian had befriended,\n\nand planned on avoiding or slipping out of the arrangement as soon as\n\npossible.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Seeing the young skunk dropping quickly into gloom the large\n\nwoman decided a quick change of topic was in order, \"So, how is\n\nThomas?\" she asked seeing Jace's ears and tail return to a more neutral\n\norientation. \"Oh, he's fine, I talked to him last week. He's really\n\ngetting to like it up there and I guess he started dating someone last\n\nmonth.\" \"Did he?, What has he said about 'them'.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace hated when Mrs. Dewitt did that, \"Thomas said that HER,\n\nwith Tom it's always HER, name is Jenna something-or-other. I forget\n\nwhat her last name is right now, and that she's really nice. I guess he\n\nmet her in school and they've had dinner and such together. Evidently\n\nhe's had dinner at her house more than once., Tom was saying she lives\n\nin a big house with some of her friends. He hasn't said too much about\n\nthem yet.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The rotund woman was nodding her head and smiling, \"Any\n\npictures yet?\" Jace nodded, \"Just this one, so far.\" He reached for\n\nhis wallet, pulling out a small photo of his brother, Jenna and\n\nsomeone he couldn't identify, he assumed one of Jenna's room-mates.\n\n\"I guess they had a bar-b-Que with Jenna's room-mates.\" He handed the\n\npicture to the librarian, who peered at it approvingly. \"You are the\n\nspitting image of your brother. Only thing different besides size and\n\nhair is that little white mark on your brother's fore-head. The girl\n\nlooks nice enough. Calico huh? Very pretty, but who's that other,\n\nuh..., fellow off to the side there?\" Jace assumed that she was\n\ntalking about the as of yet nameless morph he wasn't familiar with.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The librarian's cause for hesitance when discerning whether\n\nor not the morph had been male or female was obvious, Jace himself\n\nhad to look carefully before he was sure that the morph was indeed\n\nmale. The nameless morph was a stunning cheetah, looking about\n\naverage height and size, with a full, slightly muscular build\n\nconcealed beneath his clothes. The only thing more eye-catching than\n\nthe morph himself was his hair. Jace noted from the picture that it\n\nhung down to almost waist level on the cheetah. It was thick, lustrous,\n\nwavy and, to Jace's surprise when he had first seen the picture his\n\nbrother had sent, a light, eye-catching green color, with sharper\n\ngreen highlights. Needless to say not something one sees every day.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The young skunk looked forward to his next visit to his brother\n\nif only to meet his new girlfriend and her alluring green haired friend\n\nup close. \"I really don't know, Tom didn't get real specific with\n\nnames in the note he sent along with the picture.\" Mrs. Dewitt shook\n\nher head still looking at the cheetah, \"Land-sakes, if that hair isn't\n\nthe damnedest thing I've ever seen on someone's head. Funny thing is\n\nthat it doesn't really look that outlandish or silly like it should.\n\nThe boy really seems to be able to make it work for him. Handsome too.\n\nWould look better with normal colored hair but not too bad either way,\n\nHmm?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Jace chuckled dryly, the librarian had been trying to find out\n\nwhat Jace liked for months, trying to set him up with various people.\n\nThus far it hadn't been working too well for either her or the skunk.\n\n\"Yeah, but it seems like he's taken, look there.\" Jace pointed to the\n\nmorph's hand, where a complex looking ring encircled the cheetah's\n\nfinger.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The librarian raised an eye-brow, \"I see what you mean, oh\n\nwell...\" she paused, \"Hmm, that ring looks a lot like the one here on\n\nthis person's hand, who-ever he's talking to off side here.\" Jace\n\nlooked, seeing that the librarian was right. Whoever had done the\n\nphotography had cut most of another individual at the table out of the\n\nphoto. The person was sitting across from the cheetah, it looked as\n\nthough the two were conversing about something. The other person's\n\nhands were gesturing to the cheetah.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; As to what the other individual looked like, however, was of\n\nsome debate. All Jace had to go on were their hands and arms below the\n\nelbow. The fur on their hands was black, slowly shifting to an eye\n\ncatching scarlet on the arms at about mid-forearm. A ring almost\n\nidentical to the one the cheetah wore rested on the person's hand.\n\nThis led the young skunk to believe that the two were either engaged\n\nor married. But with not knowing what species the other person was,\n\nmuch less their gender, Jace didn't want to jump to any conclusions.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Looks like maybe a fox to me, but you're the wildlife\n\nexpert.\" Jace was stirred from his thoughts by the woman's words,\n\n\"What?\" he asked. Mrs. Dewitt gestured to the picture, \"The hands,\n\nthe red and black markings on them look like whoever the cheetah is\n\ntalking to is probably a fox. I don't know of any other species that\n\nhas markings like that and is that size. A wolf would be larger\n\nnormally, and I've never seen a feline with markings like those\n\nbefore.\" Jace nodded, realizing that the librarian was most-likely\n\ncorrect in her assumptions. \"I think you're right, it's probably a\n\nnormal red fox he's talking to.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Mrs. Dewitt nodded and handed the picture back to the young\n\nskunk, \"Your brother sure is meeting some interesting looking people\n\nup there. If they're half as fun to be around as they look we may\n\nnever get him back here for good.\" Jace smiled, looking at the\n\npicture for a moment before putting it away, \" Yeah, I'm looking\n\nforward to visiting Thomas as soon as I can, even if only to meet\n\nthese people face-to-face.\" The librarian laughed softly, \"I know\n\nyou, you're just hoping your brother will introduce you to that\n\ncheetah. Aren't you a little above being such a lecherous, hormone\n\ncrazed adolescent?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;The young skunk's ears reddened above his pained expression,\n\n\"You're the one who's been encouraging me lately.\" Jace tried to\n\nneedle the librarian a little, she didn't take the bait, \"Yes, but\n\nonly because I think it would be in your best interest to find one\n\nperson, settle down and put your attentions toward them.\" The portly\n\nwoman paused, leaning back a bit. Jace was familiar with her body\n\nlanguage, she was getting ready to pull a wicked punch in exchange\n\nfor the needling he had given her.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; She frowned and looked at him seriously, \"Like I was saying\n\nyou, should find one person instead of having a new bed-toy every\n\ncouple of months. If your brother could only hear some of the things\n\nI've heard about you floating around campus. Accepting as he is, he'd\n\ndie.\" It was score one for the librarian, Jace felt his ears getting\n\nhotter, \"Oh come on!, I'm not that bad!, It's not my fault the last\n\nfew people I've seen have been brain-dead jerks. I didn't even make\n\nit a full date with this last one., He was just plain ridiculous.\n\nWhy is it that the ones I pick look perfectly normal till they open\n\ntheir mouths? I got him home and he was re-arranging my furniture\n\nfor Christ's sake!\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"I finally kicked him out when he suggested my living-room\n\ncould use more PASTELS!, For the love of God, you know I'm not like\n\nthat! Who am I, friggin' Martha Stewart?!, I hate that kind of shit!\n\nPeople just make wild assumptions that because of who I am, I'm into\n\ncrap like that. The general public watches too many movies! Not that\n\na lot of them haven't been positive, but I'm nothing like people think\n\nI should be!, Thank-You Hollywood, Aghh!, Christ!\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The librarian was smiling in a resigned manner, letting the\n\nyouth vent his frustrations. She often thought that the skunk didn't\n\nallow himself to vent his feelings often enough. The woman understood\n\nthat under the circumstances he had to be careful about what he said\n\nand who was in ear-shot when he was on campus. Unfortunately not\n\neveryone was tolerant as she about the young skunk's personal life.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"I know, it's tough being your age.\" They both knew that age\n\nhad nothing at all to do with what they were discussing, but it seemed\n\nlike the thing to say at the time. \"And it's even harder without your\n\nbrother around for support. You just need to find someone special.\"\u0026nbsp;\n\nShe tried to maneuver the young skunk into the right topic to get him\n\nout of his frustrated mind-set. She thought she knew what might do the\n\njob, \"Speaking of your brother, when do you think you'll go down for\n\na visit?, Christmas is coming up soon.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; It worked. Jace calmed down, trying valiantly to remember what\n\nday it was, \"Oh..., I don't know. We've got what, like three and a\n\nhalf weeks left on the semester, probably not for ThanksGiving. Maybe\n\nfor a week or so around Christmas.\" The rotund woman nodded, \"That\n\nshould be nice. Will you need someone to watch Cherokee this time?\"\n\nJace blinked, \"Oh, yeah. I probably will, I forgot that Gary watched\n\nCherokee last time I went out of town. If I do go see Tom, do you\n\nthink you could watch her for me? She seems to be a handful with\n\nanyone else but you and Gary, not even William can handle her for\n\ntoo long.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Mrs. Dewitt nodded, \"She's not that much trouble, I'll watch\n\nher for you when you go.\" \"Thanks, I'll let you know.\" The librarian\n\nnodded again leaning back in her chair, \"So, what are you in for\n\ntoday. Last week it was something on the growth patterns of rain-\n\nforest hardwood trees.\" Jace laughed, surprised at the librarian's\n\nrecall, \"Yeah, that one was real exciting. Professor Duran was telling\n\nme about a new book that you just got on inter-tidal eco-systems.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Mrs. Dewitt nodded, fiddling with the cold coffee in her\n\nhands as she recalled the book Jace was referring to, \"Oh, yeah, we\n\njust got that one in last week. I think it went out into the stacks\n\nyesterday. I'm pretty sure no one's checked it out yet. If you hurry\n\nyou might luck out and be first.\" The young skunk stood, stretching\n\nout to his full height of nearly six foot, stifling a yawn as he did\n\nso. He was beginning to feel how long a day it had been.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The large librarian stood as well, patting the youth's arm\n\namiably, \"Well thanks for the chat, you better go and get your book\n\nbefore someone beats you to it.\" Jace nodded, \"Thanks for the dry off\n\nand the tea, I'll see you later.\" \"Bye Honey, and I'll keep my eye out\n\nfor Patrick., His last name is Lauren if you happen to hear of him or\n\nrun into him yourself.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The young morph cringed inwardly as he pasted on a weak smile\n\nand nodded over his shoulder at the rotund woman. Then he collected\n\nhis pack and drying coat, venturing deeper into the cavernous building\n\nheading for the library filing computer........\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n* * *\n\\\u003e end part I  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Love\\'s Shadow","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/212381-love-s-shadow-part-2.json"}}