Hawknell Humane Society Shriek

Fairly close to the shelter was a dog park. It had been closed during the crisis, but very recently opened all over again. Which was prettyyyyy cool for, like. People that worked there. And the dogs. And nearby dog owners.

Jamaal was not someone who worked there. Or a dog. Or a dog owner. What he was was a fox, and a fox who was stalking some big fat juicy rats that made the garbage can in the park their home.

He scaled the fence pretty easy, and then hopped down. Big bushy tail straight out, the purple-eyed fox zeroed in on movement.

Only, he didn't realize it wasn't a rat he was stalking.

Grace couldn't have a dog.

This was a financial issue. You didn't get pets you couldn't afford; making them live some sad motherfuckin' life with no other option was shithead stuff. Besides, she was almost never home. And her apartment was small. Just a lot of reasons.

So sometimes she fucked around at dog parks, because it was a way to witness dogs but not actually be financially responsible for them. To celebrate being here, she'd even stopped by a Petsmart and put a bag of milkbones into her backpack. And then walked out. Because she'd heard Petsmart was secretly really shitty to animals so it felt okay to steal from 'em.

Anyway. This was a big fucking long story of her fiddling with two things in her hands: a milkbone which she wasn't sure was okay to give to a stranger's dog, now? And also one of the rings she'd been given, because wearing rings was fucking weird, so might as well take it off and turn it over and over in her hand. (Which now smelled like fucking dog treats.)

Right then was about when she spotted some weird dog that suddenly was very obviously not a dog hightailing it over the fence. Her eyes bulged, and she was intrigued immediately. Probably unsafe to fuck with wild animals, but this one was small?!

Deciding to entice it nearer because feeding a... fox(?) a milkbone couldn't be bad, she flung the pale shitty fake bone into a nearby bush.

And also, accidentally, her goddamn ring, which she realized as she saw it flash into the foliage under the streetlight.

Fuck.

A sound in the bush... sounded. Jamaal turned immediately to face it, unaware of where it had come from.

What happened next was likely... predictable? He stalked towards the bush, fairly sure he could smell something faintly edible, if foreign. Kind of smelled like... bread? Meatbread. Stale meatbread. Sure. Didn't matter. He approached and nosed around for the thing he could smell, pressing his face into the bush for the prize.

And it would be once he got it that a delicate fox paw stepped on the ring, and within a second, he yelped and leapt back.

Burn!

Grace knew a couple things about shifters. Like. As in literally two.

One: they were big, snarly versions of regular animals when they weren't people-looking.

Two: they didn't like silver.

This thing in front of her fell into exactly one of those categories. This put the fox on a solid F on the were rating scale, and it meant Grace didn't even consider it for a moment.

She did hear the yelp, though, and wheeled back a bit.

"Whoa little dude!" she called, voice an exceptionally rare brand of gentle. "It's alright, buddy! Here."

Grace tossed another milkbone further away from herself in his direction because maybe she'd startled him?!

A voice called out, and this was worse. Because as he landed back and then stumbled into rising his burnt paw, he saw her, and freaked with another yelp. But now he was down a leg, which... made it harder to leap out of here and hightail it (literally).

Instead he curled into an arched back, stupid tail making another curve next him.

He did see the thing she threw. What was that. He would not be distracted.

Well, fuck.

He was all kinds of bad body language now, and Grace lifted her arms up like she was under arrest, bag of shitty dog treats crinkling in her hand.

She needed that ring back, but also, had this thing hurt its paw on the way down the fence or something? Fuck.

"Bro you are scary," she said, taking another step back. This did not seem like a native animal. "You a pet someone let go, dude?"

Could people breed toy foxes like they did toy dogs? Humanity fucking would. She squinted around his little neck, trying to spot a collar or some shit.

Jamaal was... let's just say the fox fog was very thick right now. Rather than like, understand much of what she was saying, he eyed the woman and the bag both as threats.

Overlarge ears flipped outwards, then back, and he offered a sound of genuine featherdustertail fox anger.

Kind of a squeaking chatter.

This was one angry little animal. Grace didn't know what she did wrong, except maybe it was rabid? She eyed its mouth for some kind of crazy drool, but didn't seem real frothy. Anyway, she needed that goddamn ring back because she couldn't just yeet Rika's gift to her in the garbage like a week after getting it.

So just. Needed a distraction, eh? Power tricks were an option, but crawling around for a ring at the same time as trying to do something else seemed tricky. So she started with just reaching into the bag and throwing out a fanning of milkbones away from them both. Just.

Over there, pomeranian! Get 'em! Go!

Out went the fan of treats. He flinched, then rose up again. Still, the injured paw hovered, the burn blister fresh and searing even as it touched nothing.

He slid his gaze from her to the nearest one and limped towards it, throwing accusatory glances and pauses her way each time.

It worked, though poor dude seemed busted up? Shouldn't have hopped over a fence. Darwin and all that shit. Still, she felt bad, wondered if she could make a grab and... drag it to a vet or something. But animals were fucking weird, and what if she scared it so bad it had a heart attack or something?

"I didn't do anything, buddy," she frowned at it as she approached the bush he'd come limping out of. Maybe it was thorny? Whatever.

It was a hands and knees effort, looking for the ring while also casting similarly wary glances back at the fox.

Don't start shit, little guy.

She was probably right that she didn't do anything. But Jamaal was dealing with injured fox brain and he'd been totally fine when he'd first popped in here until she happened to exist, so.

He ate the treat thing (food tasted both less intense and therefore less offensive as an animal) and scrounged for another.

But he still wanted to bite her? Because of his paw. That had nothing to do with her.

He crept in a limp towards her, feeling freshly rude and vengeful.

How the fuck could she lose a ring immediately? This was why she didn't jewelry. She glared into the bushes, steadily losing sight of the fox, but comfortable in having heard that shitty treat crunching.

Basically, Grace had done a public service, feeding a maybe starving animal.

Still, she was finding nothing, and she began reaching into her pocket to try to grab her phone for the flashlight, but she was halfway into a bush, so just. Not great.

Closer. Closer. He lapped his nose and crept. It was a good thing he didn't wear a collar or anything, honestly. The jingle of metal would have given away his stupid limping gait.

Anyway. Her back was turned to him. She was looking all over the ground for. Something. And he was a real asshole of an animal.

So. He moved in, stretched his neck forward, and bit her on, uh. The butt. Unkindly.

As animals do.

---

hit

Guess what, she found her goddamn ring! Grace grinned as she swiped it from the dirt, shoving it onto a finger (her middle finger, actually!) and preparing to back out the way she'd come in.

And then a pomeranian fox bit her on the ass. Grace was not well endowed, in this area, which maybe was a good thing because it gave the animal less to hang on to. But that didn't mean she didn't feel it, and Grace was not cool enough to keep from busting out into a shrill scream, launching herself forward more into the bush and rolling onto her back somehow in the process, trying to get away and... mostly just fucking herself up with a plant.

"YOU LITTLE FUCK!" she screeched, but was still trying to get herself out of the shrubbery well enough to properly retaliate.

If a fox could have genuinely laughed, he would have. Jamaal could have laughed for him but, uh. They weren't there yet.

Aaaanyway? He did hobble very quickly away, stumbling over his back paws somewhat as he oriented himself to do this.

A little shit he was.

Inwardly, Jamaal wondered if he'd broken skin, but that was not really the fox's concern!

It took her a second to get up off the ground, arms all stabbed the fuck up from goddamn branch bits. And her fucking ass hurt!

She whirled on the little fox, then took a mean stomp toward it, slamming her shoe against the ground for noise and effect.

"GET."

Pretty much all fucking animals understood that, right?

Yeah yeah, lady. Loud and clear.

Except, as he limp-scurried towards the fence, he was... welp. Still down a leg, so he couldn't figure out how to hop it.

So instead he made a sad murbled sound.

Grace watched it go, feeling all puffy and angry and also proud of herself. Except she saw its dilemma immediately. Stuck in the fence. And while she was really fucking mad that it bit her, she knew that keeping it in a dog park was a long term way for it to end up dead.

So she headed toward the fence, or specifically the exit. And of course it had two goddamn doors because it was specifically made so that animals couldn't get out! (Or in.)

She moved toward the inner fence, lifting the latch to open it, and backing herself into the chained in chamber within. Then she make a little like. Click click, universal calling an animal making a noise with your tongue... noise.

Come over here, you ass-biter.

He watched her as she moved. Flinched from the sound of the door a bit, the soft metal creak of the latch.

Eyed her as she called to him.

Didn't move for like, seven entire seconds, and then took one single step forward.

This was a test of her goodness as a human being. She wasn't sure if she was going to pass.

Grace stared it down, wondering if it would attack her once they were both in the same little space. She sure fucking hoped not.

"C'mon," she murmured, trying to be her best most patient self. For fuck's sake.

Fiiiine. Fine. He took another step. This was aided by Jamaal actually not wanting to be locked in here all night. It would be... bad.

Eventually he was scurrying towards her, awkwardly, tail up and out as if it was some kind of weapon in its own right.

What a weird fucking animal. She didn't kick it, even though it deserved it. She let go of the first gate to go for the second.

"Why's your fuckin' tail up," she groused, then made quick work of getting the next gate open because she did not want to be trapped in here with this thing.

Grace's ass literally hurt. Literal butthurt. Was it bleeding? She didn't fucking know. She'd have to find out when she got home.

FREEDOM.

He didn't care what she asked because he was like ninety six percent fox brain and right now all he wanted was freedom and he GOT IT.

The fox took off, tail still high, not a word of thanks to be offered.