Lunchtime at Riki's (AaO Universe Side Story)
_ **Lunchtime at Riki's** _ "Things are gonna be okay," I called up to Zoran, backing away from the doorway of our apartment as he stormed in with the morning's mail in paw. "Don't get worked up about it." "Don't get worked up!?" he boomed,...
Escaping the Storm: Part 10
_ **Part 10** _ While that single, solitary week before departure day proved flat and unremarkable, the same certainly couldn't be said of the atmosphere that grew to fill and take over the house. It reached its peak the morning Pieter and his family...
Escaping the Storm: Part 9
_ **Part 9** _ Walking down to the kitchen for breakfast the following morning felt more akin to swimming through molasses; each step reminding Erik of the rough night's sleep he'd endured. Tuesdays, and the prospect of another week of work, were...
Escaping the Storm: Part 8
_ **Part 8** _ "Erik! Thank the gods you're home!" He'd wondered how his mother would react upon his arrival home, almost two hours after escaping the station. Turned out he'd barely be able to set foot inside the front door before being ambushed by...
Escaping the Storm: Part 7
Part 7 As had become par for the course, the start of another week of work-based tedium accompanied Tuesday's arrival. Erik stacked shelf after shelf, day after day with little to no praise for his efforts. By the time he'd fought on through to...
Escaping the Storm: Part 6
Part 6 In the days that followed his discovery of Viktor's opinion on Polcians living in Velika, Erik made a conscious, determined effort to cut all contact with him. Largely, he remained successful; their only subsequent encounters being the...
Escaping the Storm: Part 5
Part 5 As strange as it might have sounded, Erik found his first Wednesday of work required far more getting used to than he'd expected. Sure, it involved stacking those same shelves in that same busy supermarket, but the little things came together...
Escaping the Storm: Part 4
_ **Part 4** _ Following in the trend of most other weeks, Sunday flashed on by in the blink of an eye. This time however, bucking his own trend of relaxing on his day off, Erik had spent a good portion of it trying to make his home as...
Escaping the Storm: Part 3
**_Escaping the Storm: Part 3_** A brisk walk through further into the city centre carried Erik to a nearby department store just minutes before closing. He'd had no intention of heading here upon leaving work, but with a family of Polcians now in...
Escaping the Storm: Part 2
**_Escaping the Storm: Part 2_** "Please, Please." The trembling, brown-furred ferret shuffled back, hazel eyes wide with fear as he slipped deeper into the narrow space. "I... some Velikan speak. I--" "It's okay, I speak Polcian," Erik stated...
Escaping the Storm: Part 1
**_Escaping the Storm_** **_Part 1_** "Come on, what in the gods is taking so long!?" Erik spun to the gap in the dreary warehouse's towering racking, frozen to the spot by the nasally roar of his supervisor rising to the skylights...
Against All Odds: Epilogue
**_Against All Odds: Epilogue_** _(Alexei)_ "I have to say, your work is truly remarkable." "Oh." Alexei shuffled a few steps closer to the raised section of his workshop's compact display area. "Thank you for saying so." He beamed proudly,...