{"sf1_id":607526,"sf2_id":null,"title":"War Stories","author":"assilsasta","words":2660,"posted_at":"2013-10-28T05:21:00.000Z","tags":["Anger issues","Kangaroo Mouse","Liger","Stories","diner"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/607526-war-stories","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/607526","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=607526\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\n(June 10 14:00)\n \nCecily slouched in her seat, bare paws on the dash in front\nof her, sketchbook propped against her thighs. A set of oversized headphones\nsat around her neck playing pop song from a CD in the player loud enough for\nher to hear over the wind coming through the open windows. She looked over at\nLilliana who had been driving and making phone calls for the past four hours.\nCecily had not paid much attention to who or what she was talking about, with\nthe one sided conversations becoming more chaotic and apparently disorganized\nwith each call. More often than not Cecily had no clue what the calls were for,\nand thought that Lilliana may have been speaking in some kind of code trying to\nkeep her in the dark. Finally she slipped the Bluetooth ear bud off and tossed\nit on top of the dash. Looking over at her Lilliana said, \"I don't know about\nyou, but my stomach is starting to talk to me. Any Ideas on what you want to\neat? I was thinking burgers from some greasy spoon truck stop.\" Cecily mumbled\nsome inaudible comment muffled by the high speed air moving through the car.\n\"I'll take that as a yes.\" looking at the mild smile on the mouse's face.\n \n---\n \nThey had pulled off the freeway at a Flying \"J\" with a\nGrandma's Kitchen. Sitting at a table looking over the menu Lilliana quickly\npicked out the burger of the day and set it down. Looking over at the mouse\nthat sat across from her, \"Cecily, you keep saying something that bugs me as\nmuch as it probably bugs you. We really don't know anything about each other.\nWell, I kinda got a rundown of your life from Susan, but those reports don't\nreally tell me about you. The thing is, I plan on going through with all this\nand you seem to be scared. Would it make you feel any better if I gave you free\nreign to learn anything you wanted about me?\" Trying to look at her over the\nmenu \"We can do a quid-pro-quo, you answer one of my questions for each one I\nanswer for you. For each time one of I don't answer a question you get a free\npass to not answer mine. Sound fair?\"\n \nCecily seemed to be hiding behind her menu, motionless and\nsilent for a long time. Lilliana sipped at the complimentary water and just\npatiently waited. The liger had plenty patients, she had spent years building\nthem up. The arrival of the classic greasy spoon waitress in a dress and apron\nfinally broke the standoff, the shorter than average bunny walked up to the\ntable, \"ya'll ready to order?\" Silence continued to emanate from the mouse\nbehind the menu.\n \nAfter a moment Lilliana spoke up, \"I'll have the cheese\nburger, medium well, with the works, and a loaded Baked potato. Squeakers will\ntake the chicken tenders and fries.\"\n \n\"Anything to drink?\" She asked.\n \n\"Rum \u0026 Coke for her, hold the rum and I'll have a\ncoffee.\"\n \nAs the waitress walked away with a slight grin on her face,\nthe cold war of silence continued. Several moments passed before the waitress\nbrought their drinks. Taking a sip of the black coffee, Lilliana finally caved.\n\"Cecily, I am going to give you a freebie here. I am going to tell you about\nthe second most frightening time of my life... When I graduated high school I\ndidn't have the grade to go to college so I joined the army. I scored high\nenough on the ASVAB that I could get any job I wanted, so I decided to go with\nComputer Information Systems Analyst, fancy way of saying computer geek. My\nfirst year was not bad. I learned I really loved to shoot. I spent as much time\nas I could on the range. I fired everything from a 9mm to a Howitzer. God, I\nloved firing that. My second year was my first deployment to Afghanistan, that\nwas not that bad as an IT specialist, but I wanted to see more action. When I\ngot back to the states I volunteered for sniper training. I graduated top of my\nclass and was swiftly assigned to a special task force. Our team was called the\nDark Riders. Our mission was twofold; infiltrate and secure enemy strongholds,\nand gather intelligence from these strongholds. I made the team for two\nreasons; they needed a sniper and Info Tech for intelligence gathering. Both of\nwhich I was highly skilled at. During the next six months they trained me on\nblack hat security practices, hacking for the layman. After that our team was\nsent to Iraq. There were twelve of us when we left. \"\n \nShe paused for a moment, when Cecily finally spoke, \"did you\nhave to kill anyone?\" \n\"Oh yeah, I shot a lot of people. It was part of my job. My\nsniper cell was PFC Heartken and myself. I was a Sergeant by then. One day we\nwere sent into a small village not too far from Kandahar. Getting in was easier\nthan expected, and for good reason too. Once inside and 'secure' we gathered\nwhat we could. I pulled a few drives from some PCs then we readied to move out.\nThat's when they ambushed us.\" Lilliana stopped and took a deep breath. \"We\nwere pinned down in a three story building with no place to go. Hank... PFC\nHeartken and I went up to the roof and lay out. We took one corner with a nice\nlong road. For three hours we sat\npicking them off one at a time. They knew where we were, the rounds kept falling\naround us. There the snipers live by one rule, One Shot One Kill, I had to take\nthat to heart, Hearken and I were not going to leave that place. Our job was to\nclear a path for the others. I stopped counting bodies. Hell, it didn't matter,\nI thought I was one of them. Thank god Hank was a good shot also. Together we\nmanaged to knock out some of the RPGs and a good number of enemy forces. I\nwatched as one by one our team made their way out of the hot zone. A few hours\ninto our standoff I heard an explosion. I don't know what happened but they\ntell me seven of us were killed in it.\"\n \nAfter a long moment of silence, Cecily asked, \"How did you\nget out?\"\n \n\"That's the thing, I don't remember. The last thing I\nremember RPG flying at our location. I don't even know what I did. The next\nthing I remember was waking up in a medic shop in BIOP. The concussion from the\nexplosion knocked me senseless; thankfully the short wall we were using for\ncover shielded me from the brunt of it.\nHank tells me I pulled the trigger and shot the thing. He says he was too\nbusy running to do anything, but got far enough away he didn't get hurt, and\nwas able to drag me out. They say my shot is what saved everyone. I don't buy\nit, but they act like it. Everyone on the team has stayed in touch, all five of\nus that made it anyway. Those are the people I have been calling today. There\nis Susan and General Helfgrad from yesterday also. They are all doing things to\ntry and help out with this custody stuff. You will get to meet Susan and Hank\nwhen we get to Oregon. I think you will like Susan, she is an interesting one.\"\n \nAs Lilliana finished her tale the waitress returned with\ntheir food. Wide eyes Cecily looked at Lilliana, \"If that was only the second\nmost frightening thing, what was the first?\"\n \n\"Hold on there, not so fast Sisy. During my story you asked\ntwo questions, and that makes three.\" Lilliana said with a smile. \"I think its\nmy turn now. What was your most frightening moment?\"\n \nLooking down at the table, \"That's not fair; you said it was\na freebie.\" Cecily said quietly.\n \nLifting her cup of coffee, \"Touché Short stack, I did say\nthat. Ok, most frightened I have ever been is the past three days. And\nhopefully the next three years, if this all works out right.\"\n \n\"What do you mean?\" Cecily asked in an almost normal volume.\n \nPouring ketchup on her burger, \"Nope that's a new question.\nNow it's my turn. But first we eat.\"\n \nLooking over at Lilliana, Cecily starts talking in a low\nvoice. \"It was a long time ago, the first foster parents I can remember.\" She\npaused from a moment as if thinking of what to say. \"They were a nice couple... I\nthink. It's hard to remember. After about a year, things changed. Dad, he made\nme call him dad... well he lost his job and he really changed after that. He got mean. They were arguing all the time.\nSometimes he would hit Momma. I think he\nstarted drinking a lot. I didn't know about that back then.\" She stopped for a\nmoment nibbling on some fries. Taking a deep breath, she went on. \"Soon Momma\nwent to the hospital a few times, that is when the Family Services lady started\ncoming around more. After that, they had a really bad argument, momma said she\nwas going to leave him if he didn't straighten up and get back to work. All I\nreally remember is she was put in the hospital for a long time.\" her voice\nstarted getting quieter with each passing moment, \"He started going to my room\nat night. He brought me drinks and candy. I would fall asleep, the next morning\nI would be sore down there, I didn't know why back then, I do now.. Then one\nnight when he was really angry and mean, I went and hid in my room. I managed\nto get the dresser in front of the door to keep it shut.\" With that she went\ncompletely silent, just looking at the plate before her on the table.\n \nStunned for a moment at the revelation, Lilliana was at a\nloss for words. She sat with her mouth agape and a half eaten burger in her\npaws. After a moment, she sat the food down, \"Look Cecily. None of that was your\nfault. You were so young back then. I saw the case file on the incident. The\nFamily Services people messed up that one. They should have removed you from\nthere long before that stuff happened.\"\nSitting for a moment, trying to put her thoughts together, Liliana\nstared at the tiny mouse. [i]This child\nhas been through so much so young. How can monsters like that be left free to\ndo more harm?[/i] Clenching her fists beneath the table, \"That... That shit\nright there... That is what I HATE. .. Shit like that just make me so...\nAAARRRRR!!!\" looking over a Cecily with new tears forming in her eyes, \"That is\nwhat's fucked up about the system. And they know it's fucked up. And what do\nthey do to fix it.. Make it harder for people that really want to help... do good\nby you kids. I don't care what I have to do, YOU are not going back into that\nsystem... I wouldn't wish shit like that on my worst enemy.. It would be better\nto just shoot the fuckers and put them out of our misery...\" Standing up from the\ntable. \"I'll be right back I got to hit the head.\"\n \n---\n \nSlumped over the porcelain sink attached to the wall,\nLilliana looked her reflection in the eyes. \"Calm down Lilly, you're getting\nworked up over something you can't fix.. The past is set in stone. All you can\ndo is work for the future.\" A snarl worked its way across her muzzle, showing\nher white teeth to the angry reflection. Closing her eyes, she heard the Glass\nmirror shatter as her fist slammed into the cinderblock wall. \"I will fix this\nsomehow. Its just not right.\"\n \nA moment later Lilliana was brought back to reality by a\nknock at the door. \"Is Everything OK in there ma'am? We heard glass breaking.\"\n \nFinally looking back at the wall where her bloodied fist was\npressed, \"It's all right, I will be just a moment... Do you have a broom I could\nborrow to clean up a little mess?\"\n \n\"There is no need for that ma'am, we...\"\n \nLilliana interrupted the person at the door, \"This is my\nfault, and I am going to clean it up. If you have a problem with that, I\nsuggest you keep it to yourself.\" the growl in her voice served to emphasize her stance.\n \nThe slightly humbled voice came back, \"If you must, ma'am,\nplease give me a moment.\"\n \n---\n \nCecily sat in the booth, confusion racing through her\nmind.[i] What was that all about? She\nlooked really angry.[/i] Picking at\nher chicken, she sat and pondered the past three days,  [i]Why was that more frightening\nto her then being shot at? She just does\nnot make any sense. I don't get her. And the look in her eyes just then.[/i] Taking\na bite out of a tender in her paw. [i]And\nher friends, why would they all do stuff for someone they never met.[/i] She\nsat back and looked up at the ceiling. [i]If\nthis is all real, where do people like that come from? [/i]\n \nThe sound of shattering glass brought a deafening silence to\nthe restaurant, as everyone looked to the restrooms. As she looked in the\ndirection of the sound herself Cecily thought,[i] If all of this is real... if she is really like this all the time... So\nconcerned for me. She seems to be trying so hard. Why?[/i]  She turned back around in her seat and pulled\nout her new CD player and sketchbook. She turned on some soothing Celtic music\nand began to draw what flowers she could remember while munching on the cooling fries. [i]Maybe it will work out this time. Maybe she really is different.[/i] She\nthought to herself as she doodled semi-contently.\n \n---\n \nSeveral minutes later Lilliana came out of the restroom, paw\nwrapped in bloody paper towels and broom in paw. She walked over to the\ncounter, \"Excuse me.\" she said trying to get the attention of their waitress,\n\"Here's your broom. And could I get some to-go boxes?\"\n \n\"Here you go, ma'am.\" the waitress said handing her some\nStyrofoam clamshells.\" Oh my god, Is everything OK? Can I get you something for\nyour cut?\"\n \n\"No thank you, it'll be fine. I just had to regain my\ncomposure so I don't scare my little squeaker over there. By the way,\" Handing\nher a $100 bill and a business card \"This should cover the food and mirror. If\nnot, give me a call.\"\n \nShe walked over and flopped down in the booth with a sigh,\n\"Sorry about that Sisy. I didn't scare you did I?\" She asked, looking over at\nthe mouse who now had her headphones on swaying to an invisible band with her nose in her sketchbook. \"I'll take\nthat as a maybe.\" She smiled and leaned back hard against the booth wall, \"I\nreally need to work on this. I can't be doing shit like that all the time.\"\n \n\"Can't keep doing what?\" came from across the table.\n \nOpening her eyes, she looked over a Cecily, \"Hey there Sisy,\nyou about ready to head out? we have six\nor seven more hours before we get to Nashville.\" She asked with a smile.\n \n\"OK\" she said quietly, slipping her book back into the\nB\u0026N bag. She stood up and reached out for Lilliana's hand.\n \n[i]This is new, maybe\nI can do this mother thing.[/i] She thought to herself as they left the\nrestaurant hand-in-hand.\n"}