Lots of weird stuff going on out here, up in the outskirts. Into the woods. Nico also maybe sort of just wanted to take a peek. It had been a while since that strange burst of killings took place, taking out a lot of the smaller shifters that lived in the area.
Nico's job wasn't to poke into this stuff, of course. He worked for the newspaper, which was a boring old newspaper with boring news about what shitty movies were playing in the tiny old theater, weather reports, traffic, local politics. That sort of thing. Boring, boring, boring.
That was kind of Nico's MO, though. Best to be boring than to be too interesting in this town.
But Nico was snooping into things that he could never write about, like the shifter deaths. His heart dropped as he walked through the woods, barely breathing. He took out his phone to video record what he saw but there were only the barest traces of the tragedy that had happened here. Cracked branches on bushes, a trail through the thick undergrowth. Nothing tangible though. If there had been blood or fur, it had all been long picked apart or washed away in the summer rain storms.
Hearing a shuffling sound further up the trail, Nico turned that way, automatically focusing his phone's camera on whatever it was.
Today was one of the days that Skylar—or Red, as he liked to call himself—needed to go into town. Some places were just impossible to get into without looking like a human, like the store or the pharmacy. With the little money he scavenged—mostly coins, and one five dollar bill—weighing down his pocket, he cautiously emerged from the camp. Red made sure to wipe his prints as much as possible, knowing that there could be hunters about.
It was a bit of a walk into town so he wore shoes and mismatched socks. A faded windbreaker he picked out from the community clothes chest wasn't quite enough to shield him from the winter cold but it had to do. He already wished he could have his warm fur back but sadly he couldn't bring clothes with him if he wanted to dart about as a fox!
Stepping lightly down a well-worn trail leading into town, he kept his ears and eyes open. The recent spate of attacks against smaller shifters had him worried; he hugged himself loosely, uncomfortable being out here alone. Usually Alex came with him but today was one of his 'working' days. Red still didn't like him being so close to the humans but Alex was one of the few in their group who could speak fluent human and had a good chance of blending in with them. On the other hand, Red only knew a few words and spoke even less, preferring to communicate through gestures and—in fox form—yips and barks.
Just as he rounded a bend in the trail, he heard something up ahead. It was already too late to hide, though, as the trail straightened and the trees thinned slightly. Red stopped suddenly. There was a human. And he was pointing something at Red. Terror flooded through him as he gasped. Was... was it a hunter? Red's eyes were wide, terrified; he backed up a small step and held up his hands.
Shit. For two seconds, he thought he was going to catch a hunter out here. Not good news for him, being a shifter and all. But it didn't appear to be a hunter. Just a kid with wide eyes, putting his hands up like he thought Nico's phone was a shotgun. Nico lowered the phone, raising a brow slightly.
Despite having come out into the woods to find out what was really going on, Nico didn't actually expect to find any other people out on the trail. Maybe animals, maybe shifters. Not really, though. If this was really where a massacre took place, he couldn't imagine them staying around. This kid wasn't anybody he remembered from class or anything, though.
"You live out here?"
This was it.
This was the end. Of life.
Red wouldn't have claimed that he'd led a blameless life but he had lived so little of it... There was still so much he had yet to see, like... the other side of town. Like that lake everybody kept talking about, or the sunrise from the top of Pine Bluff. And he'd never even tasted a fresh hamburger. What did hamburgers taste like hot off the grill? Red wouldn't know, and in his mind he never would.
The hunter looked maybe as startled as he was. It was a hunter, wasn't it? He was human, he had a device in his hand aimed at Red's violently beating heart. But weirdly he lowered it and he spoke—asked a question. Red's eyes darted left and right even though his head stayed still. He was frozen, stupidly with his hands held up.
"...no." Was there anywhere he could run to and hide? A bolt hole maybe, left behind by other foxes or dug by rabbits? Red shifted back another step, his dirty shoes scraping the pebbles. "Don't... kill... please?"
No? Was he just looking around for something like Nico was? He didn't seem to be looking for trouble. To be fair, neither was Nico. He wanted to know the truth but he was half afraid of finding it. If there was a massacre out here, it meant hunters. Hunters had been here and they might come back. But the kid in front of him was no hunter. Not that Nico had, like, experience with hunters, not firsthand. He was so boring and ordinary that nobody would ever suspect him of being a super.
Huh...?
Did he just ask him not to kill him? Nico blinked and stared for a long moment, speechless. Nobody ever asked him not to kill them. He was just so... unassuming that he was hardly any threat to anybody. Feeling somewhat self conscious, he wondered what about him seemed so dangerous and aggressive that this kid thought he was about to kill him.
"I'm not going to kill anybody," he said. "I was just..."
He didn't know how much to say so he shrugged and looked down at his phone before turning it off and slipping it into his pocket.
"...hiking," he finished. "And taking pictures."
In fairness the hunter didn't look like a hunter. He was pretty... bland was the word that came to mind. Not stand-out. Red had seen humans with all kinds of distinguishing features but this one, not so much. Brown hair, white skin, not too tall and not too short. His clothing was normal, too. It was the device that Red feared; he remembered other humans with similar devices, ones who had cornered him and put a net over him.
They took him to a place called an 'animal sanctuary' but sanctuary was hardly the word for it!
Although the fight or flight response was strong...ly tilted towards flight, Red made himself stay still. Until he secured a definite route of escape, he was making no sudden moves. No sir, not even with the device in the hunter's pocket.
"Hiking...?" He didn't know that word. It sounded suspicious. But pictures he did understand! Where was the camera though? Red thought pictures were taken with cameras—big black things with a bumpy round bit at the front that flashed a lot. He eyed the hunter. "Camra? Ca—camera? Where?"
"Yeah. Hiking."
He didn't understand the confusion. Hiking was pretty straightforward. And sure, Nico wasn't dressed in flannel and cargo shorts with hiking boots but he could still be hiking through the forest! And taking pictures! Which... well, that part was honest. He was taking videos and photos of the area to look at more closely when he was alone and not feeling all creepy crawly. Like something was watching him. Like there were hunters nearby.
"Where?" Nico furrowed his brow slightly. "What do you mean?"
Pulling his phone back out of his pocket, he held it out.
"I mean, it's not a camera, but I take photos with this. My phone."
"Ca-mer-a?" He said it slowly in case the hunter didn't understand. Red even put his hands up to his face—slowly!—to mimic taking a picture with a camera, depressing an invisible button with his forefinger. Hiking. Hmm. Hiking. He'd have to ask Alex what that word meant, in case another hunter came along and decided to use it on him.
"Huh!" Red didn't know what that noise he made was, but he made it when the hunter took the device out again and then held it out towards him. "NO!" He shouted, cringing as he put both hands over his head to protect himself.
"I know what a camera is."
Why was this guy talking like he didn't understand english fully? Oh. Maybe he was an out of towner. Maybe he was from somewhere else and English wasn't his first language. Nico only knew English; he didn't know where to begin with trying to figure out what this guy's native language might be. He had some kind of accent, but it was like... nothing Nico heard before.
The violent reaction to his phone, again, like Nico had pulled a shotgun on him. Nico looked down at his unoffensive phone curiously. Then back up at the kid.
"It's just a phone," he said. "You can use it like a camera...."
He turned it toward himself and clicked to take a photo of himself and then turned the phone so that the kid could see he had just taken a photo of himself.
"See?"
Camera. That thing was a camera??
Red slowly uncurled, watching like a hawk as the hunter pointed the device at himself! "Nooo!" He shouted again, this time—um. He wasn't sure why his visceral reaction was to be worried for the hunter but nothing happened except his spastic responses. Feeling his cheeks heating up, he finally realized that it was a camera of sorts when he saw the picture.
That thing was a... flat camera, apparently. And Red was a fool.
"Oh." He said, laughing out of sheer relief. It was a quiet laugh, but a laugh was better than him yelling for no reason. "Camera." Red finally relaxed. He stepped towards the other boy, looking sheepish. "S-sorry. Um. What... what is hiking?"
Weird kid. What did he think the phone was going to do to him? Maybe he was one of those super home-schooled kids that heard about how phones caused brain cancer. Did he think just pointing it at somebody caused it? Nico had no idea; he had never seen anybody react so violently over something as innocent as a cell phone before.
"..yeah. It's a camera."
Maybe he just never saw a phone with a camera. There were some smaller groups in the rural parts of Oregon that kept to themselves. Some people called them a cult. Was... the kid from that cult? Looked like he could be. The few of them that Nico saw around dressed the same, like they basically just went dumpster diving for their mismatched outfits and threadbare clothes.
But this was too much. Now he was asking what hiking was? Nico stared at him for a moment, incredulous and half thinking he was being trolled.
"Hiking. You know... walking around the outdoors to be with nature." Honestly, now that he was trying to put the hobby of hiking into words, it did sound a little weird. "It's good to get away from all the people and technology sometimes."
Not that he was huge proponent of hiking or anything but he still didn't want to give away his true reason for being up here.
Being stared at weirdly was not a foreign experience for Red but he shrank a little under the scrutiny nonetheless. There was an awkward silence, during which Red scrambled to remember what normal humans did in situations like these. For foxes, it was easy. They studied one another—check—and then they moved on, pretty much, unless one was intruding into another's marked territory.
Something told him this boy wouldn't have marked his territory in the same way...
His pants were too dry for that, for one thing.
A lot of words came his way, about half of which he understood. Red smiled tentatively. That was what Alex told him to do; smile and play dumb. Pretend to not be from the area. That wasn't hard given his accent and his way of bumbling with simple words. It was his turn to stare at the other person as he tried to piece together what he meant. "Walk... with nature," he said slowly, nodding. Yes, walking. In nature. In the woods. Humans did that a lot; Red usually hid from them and waited until they were gone to snag scraps they left behind. Pieces of sandwiches, wrappers to line his burrow, things like that.
"Walk." Red pointed to himself. "Sky—Red. Red." He jabbed his own chest again. "Walk to town." Sooooo... now he was going to ease forward... and try to get past the other guy... "To town," he repeated.
"Okay..."
He didn't get the Sky part but he was supposing by the way the kid was jabbing himself in the chest that Red was his name. Okay. And he was walking to town. Why... was he telling Nico any of this...? Conversation? Or... the way he was edging forward, it was like he thought he had been taken hostage. Nico stepped aside to give the kid a wide berth.
"Sure. Go to town. Good luck, Red."
Nico just got here so he had no intention of going back into town at this point. But if the kid calling himself Red wanted to go to town, that was his prerogative. It wasn't like Nico was holding him up. Giving the kid one last look, he went in the opposite direction, away from town and further into the forest.
"Thanks. Good... hiking."
A way past! Red darted off down the path, just barely avoiding a headalong sprint. Not to look suspicious or anything, he went off at a speedy half-jog instead, helped by the downward slope of the trail. But before he hit the next bend, he looked over his shoulder at the human boy headed away from him, up into the thicker part of the woods. Idly he wondered what the boy's name was—he never said.
But then he disappeared from view and Red remembered that he had errands to run before he could go see Alex at his new workplace. Red didn't understand much of what Alex described to him, but he knew that Alex helped write in something called a newspaper, and that he worked at a building called the office. The errands took some time while he was in town; he avoided looking at the people he saw and tried to stay out of sight as much as possible. Even though he didn't blend in quite as well as the others, no one bothered him if he kept to himself. It was still almost two hours of being intensely nervous though! Red didn't think he could ever be completely at ease in town.
Afterwards he made his way down to the single-storey building that Alex worked in. Red had been shown the way there once before and knew that he could pretty much walk in. A few people looked up as he entered but Alex saw him from his desk and grinned. Red smiled slightly as Alex bounced over and grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the little cubicle that he worked at.
"Hey! Didn't expect to see you here today, Red," he beamed as he pushed Red into an empty chair beside his own. It looked like the person who shared the space with Alex wasn't there.
"Who?" He asked, gesturing to the space. What if the person who worked here came back?
Alex shook his head. "Oh don't worry. That's Nico's desk. He's out right now. Out—uh, away. Not here." Alex patted his hand gently and reassuringly.
Red smiled, nodded and glanced over the pile of papers littering the desk in front of him. He couldn't read much of what he saw and lost interest eventually. Nico was a funny name, though. Was it short for something? But he and Alex also had short names so it wasn't that uncommon. It was just that humans tended to have two names for some reason, while the animals preferred just one. Easier to remember one name.
While Alex got back to writing, Red contentedly sat beside him and doodled on a notepad, waiting for him to finish working before they went home together. Home was the woods, and their comfortable burrow nestled into the side of a hill. He drew little foxes chasing each other around, some trees, hills, anything that came to mind. Red was pretty good at drawing things; sometimes he used that skill to communicate too. His mind wandered as he drew, however, and when he looked down he was surprised to find that he had drawn the boy from earlier!
Red half-smiled, bemused, and put some finishing touches on the boy's hair. Earlier he thought the boy looked somewhat plain but he started remembering things now like the swoop of his bangs and the shape of his eyes and even the pointiness of his nose.
Good... hiking?
Awkward.
The whole thing was cringe-worthy, he realized as he continued into the woods. He didn't dare look back a second time, pretty sure that the kid thought he was every bit as weird as Nico thought he was. Yeah, well... He looked down at his phone. Right. He was here to look for more evidence.
There really wasn't much to see and he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. Mostly relieved, he found. He didn't want to see his kind, bloody and mutilated. But he heard all about what happened, the whispers rippling throughout the community. Nico's dad said they should leave but Nico was quite attached to the place where he'd grown up, his friends, his family. Besides, they couldn't leave. Nico's grandma would be so devastated.
After a while of walking through the dead wintry forest, Nico took a few more photos and recorded a few more videos before sighing and putting his phone away. It was nearly dead and he had to get back to work. Actual work, not his excuse for work out here in the woods. So far, his work didn't require much venturing into the woods. This week he was supposed to list out the movies playing at their dinky theater and give short summaries of each. Most of it was already written up.
Picking up lunch on the way in, Nico made his way over to his desk. He paused when he saw somebody else there, only expecting one other person in his corner. But he shook it off and continued over, rustling his paper bag of fries and a burger from the local Happy Burger. He looked down at whatever the stranger was working on and a little shock hit him when he realized he was looking at himself.
"Uh..." He looked over at Alex in question.
Hmm... that was a pretty good likeness, actually. Red was pleased with his portrait—in blue pen ink—of the strange boy he'd seen earlier. Oh! Right, he wanted to ask Alex what 'hiking' meant too. A walk in the woods, did the boy say? Was that all it meant? Some words had different meanings, or they sounded the same but were really two different-looking words. English was hard...
Before he could turn to Alex, though, somebody came up. Red turned to look and froze again, just like he did in the woods. It was the boy! His mouth fell open a little bit as Alex stirred beside him.
"Oh shit! Nico, hey! You're back! Uh... Red?" Red felt a tug on his arm. "Sorry, this is my—friend. He's just hanging out for a bit. Red. Red?" Another more insistent tug. "Red, over here. Sit here."
Finally he blinked. Red looked at Alex, who was pulling up another chair for him. He stood and went to sit in the other chair but his eyes were still on the boy... Nico? Was that his name? Nico?
GASP
The picture! Red darted out a quick hand to grab the drawing, giving himself a sharp paper cut in the process. He hissed but held the picture to his chest like a protective shield, probably... probably looking like even more of a spaz than earlier...
Weird. Today was just... weird. Slowly, Nico took his seat and he plugged his phone into his charger. A second later, the picture of himself was whipped away with such ferocity that it didn't surprise Nico at all when the kid hissed. Red, was it. Why was he drawing him? At least... he didn't look threatening in the drawing. Nico got the feeling he scared the living daylights out of the poor kid.
"Want some fries?" Nico asked, trying his best to make things less awkward but struggling. Awkward, next to boring, was probably his middle name. Awkward and Boring Nico Ellison. Nico Awkward Boring Ellison. (His friends would disagree with the boring part but... friends are going to friend.)
"You okay?" Alex saw the spot of blood on his hand and pulled at it to get it off of Red's chest. He was like that, Alex—a little motherly. Sometimes Red wondered if Alex thought he was incapable of taking care of himself, with the way he fussed over him and tried to take care of him. Not that Red didn't appreciate it, but... it was weird dating someone who acted more like a big brother or a mother than like a lover...
"Okay. No hurt." Red shook his head and refused to give his hand over. He didn't want Alex to see the drawing and ask questions! Not that he had anything to hide but Red got flustered when he was nervous or anxious and with his lack of ability to communicate, he was afraid that Alex might get the wrong idea.
"Sure?"
"Yep." Red's gaze skirted past Alex to the boy—Nico. To Nico. And his bag of something that smelled really good! Red didn't take anything, though. He didn't think the offer was meant for him. Plus, he was still mortified by the picture!
Alex took a fry from the bag and nibbled it. "Thanks man. Where'd you go today? Got any hot topics for us to write up?" His smile was playful, teasing.
Nico never saw this guy before but he seemed close with Alex. A weird kid, though. Like really weird. Heh. Maybe his middle name was Weird. Nico turned the bag towards Red, since he didn't immediately take a fry from it. Having food in front of people with no food felt shitty and it wasn't like he couldn't afford to share. As he held out the bag, he looked over at Alex.
"Oh."
Well, he couldn't lie and say he was doing something else because Red caught him out there in the woods. So he shrugged as if it was no big deal.
"I was out in the woods where all those... animals were found a while back. I thought maybe... uh..." He cleared his throat. "Poachers or out of season hunters maybe. I didn't find much though."
When Red didn't immediately take a fry despite being offered, Alex pulled one and handed it to him. Red looked at Alex, then at Nico, then took it and ate it. It was still hot! Crispy and fresh... mmm... He smiled reflexively—eating something delicious, it was impossible not to feel happy!
"Oh yeah? The woods? I was up there myself a couple days ago." For some reason Alex's jaw was a bit tight. Red reached over to touch his hand; it had curled into a fist on top of his thigh. Alex relaxed the hand at his touch and turned his hand over to lightly squeeze Red's fingers. "Probably local trappers or poachers, like you said."
Red didn't understand half of what they were saying but he understood hunters. A shiver of fear slid down his spine. "Hunters... bad," he murmured as he folded his drawing and then stuck it into his windbreaker pocket—for secret disposal later.
"Yeah..."
He looked down at his bag of food and rolled the sides down before sitting it down where everybody could reach in and grab some more fries. His stomach churned slightly at the thought of what happened out there. Nico's grandma was the one who told him about it, warning him to stay away from that part of the woods, lest something happen to him. They can tell what you are even when you're not shifted, she told him. They have instruments.
"I just... I guess I just wanted to see justice for all those poor... animals. But nobody's looking into it." Probably because they were "just" animals. "My grandma lives close by the area. She saved one of them so I guess you could say I'm invested personally."
Jus-tice? Red tried to figure out if he knew that word while Alex nodded grimly. "Justice would be catching those sons of b—" He stopped short and looked at Red, who was mouthing the word "justice" and then pressed his lips together. "I'd like to see them all arrested and thrown in jail."
Red tentatively poked Alex, then pointed at the pile of fries. Alex took another one and handed it to him.
"Is your grandma the lady who lives in the red brick house?" Alex's lips quirked. "The one with the uh. Big porch out front?"
Thrown in jail, huh? That was putting it kindly. But Alex probably didn't know how truly heinous it was. Animals being slaughtered was pretty bad. But knowing those were also people somehow made it so much worse, at least for Nico. But that was because he was the same as them. It was by the grace of... something--the goddess, his grandma would say--that saved him from being a part of that.
"Yep. I guess it's kinda famous, huh?" Nico smiled fondly as he thought of his grandma's old house. It was on a pretty big property out by the woods, connected directly to it, actually. So she was right there where it happened. The actual house was bigger than an older woman like herself needed but it had been passed down to her by her father and his father before him. They used to have a huge family here in Hazleton but it had dwindled down over the decades.
"She's always letting drifters come live with her. It scares the shit outta my mom," Nico confessed. "She's afraid she's going to let the wrong person in, but grandma has a big heart."
Alex thought he was being funny but he wasn't! Red poked him in the thigh under the table and gave him a mild glare from out of the corner of his eyes. Alex knew the significance of the red brick house and it was his favorite pastime to tease Red about it, but Red didn't like it. He was fond of the old lady who lived there; she set out food for him during the winter months, when it was harder to get by. Red was grateful to her for it—and for the big porch that let him store things he couldn't lug to their camp in one go.
"Well most drifters are pretty friendly. Some of them are even downright shy." Alex seemed undeterred by the poking and the glaring. He grinned at Red. "Bet some of them visit her regularly too. Right Red?"
Ooh Alex! Red colored and mumbled nonsensically under his breath. "Nice... lady..."
"Red's been by her place a few times," Alex went on to explain, before an older man with thinning brown hair and horn-rimmed glasses poked a head out from the office nearby.
"Alex? Can I see you for a second?"
Alex rose, nodding. "Sure thing! One sec guys. Red. Stay."
OOH ALEX!
Red snorted, angry but unequipped to express it. He wasn't a pet dog! After Alex disappeared into the office, leaving him and Nico alone, Red turned back. He edged a hand toward the bag and picked out a tiny fry. "...these... are good."
So far, his grandma had held her own with her drifter friends. And they all seemed to treat her nicely in return. A lot of them would help her around the place, with leaky faucets or getting out raking up all the piles of leaves that scattered over the property.
Nico was surprised to hear that Red was one of these so-called drifters, though. His grandma never told him about any young drifters but then, to her, they were all young. It probably wasn't even worth mentioning to her. Nico didn't say anything until after Alex left and Red took another fry. Nico half smiled before grabbing one himself.
"They are. Best in town. Happy Burger sounds cheesy but it's really good." Nico pulled out the burger he ordered and salivated slightly just at the scent. He glanced at Red as he began to unwrap it. He wanted to ask about the thing with his grandma--he was just working his way to it. At glacial speed.
"Want half?" he asked, indicating the burger.
Happy Burger sounded... cheesy? Was it covered in cheese? The meaning of the word escaped Red and he was confused for a little while. Another word to ask Alex about! If he ever stopped being mad at Alex for teasing him in front of Nico. Not that it mattered if Nico was laughing at him—he wasn't—but Red was pretty sensitive. Some of the others around camp called him thin-skinned, which—again—confused him. He didn't think fox skins were particularly thin. If anything they were quite thick!
"Happy Burger." He smiled slowly. It sounded like a nice name. Burgers that made people happy, it was a nice concept. But then Nico took the burger out and Red salivated too. His leg jiggled under the desk. Normally he would have stolen it. He would have created a diversion then darted in and taken it for himself to nibble on underneath Nico's grandma's porch.
Buuut... he couldn't get away with it here! So he looked longingly at the burger and apparently Nico caught some of those brain waves. "Half?" Red asked, stunned at so much generosity. Fries and burger?! He wanted it so badly but... but... He couldn't somehow bring himself to take a whole half of a burger. Not legitimately. It was easier to steal, apparently, than to be offered something.
"No... thank you." His smile was half-hearted and a little glum. Red shook his head a little and looked away. It—it was too tempting and he didn't want to watch Nico eating that delicious burger.
"Really, it's fine. You look hungry."
Which wasn't a lie; the way the kid stared, it was hard not to take his expression as hungry. Probably hungrier than Nico was. There was no knife at the desk to cut it in half, so he gently pried it into two parts. Not elegant or anything but hey, food was food. He handed the part still wrapped in the paper over to Red.
"No point in being polite. Come on. My grandma would want me to share."
The appetizing burger was pulled into two pieces and Red's astonished eyes watched half of it sailing his way. He smelled it. The meat, the sauce, the tang of pickles and the fresh smell of tomatoes. Like any animal who lived out in the wild, he took easily to humans who gave him food. That was why he went around to Nico's grandma's house so often, knowing that if he poked his head above the sill of her kitchen window, she'd see him and come out to give him a tidbit of meat or some kibble.
Red took the burger since Nico had offered it twice. He didn't do anything as dumb as cry but he was touched. "Thanks," he whispered, hardly believing that he was holding a fresh, hot burger in his hands. Not a cold one, or a half-eaten one, but a fresh one all to himself. Red cradled it in both hands as he took a bite. He closed his eyes.
If he died right then and there... he'd happily go.
The burger tasted amazing! A smile of pure bliss spread across his lips and for the first time in a long while, Red remembered what it felt like to be completely happy. And even though he knew his reaction was probably weird to a normal human who had burgers all the time, he couldn't quite find it in him to feel embarrassed. Maybe later he would be, but right now he was lost in his own little world.
"No problem."
Yikes. The kid... was he starving to death? He seemed so grateful that he was almost close to tears when Nico handed him the food. Now he felt guilty, like maybe he should have brought more food. What if Alex was starving, too? Although Alex had money from the job here so... But this guy was a drifter, right? This kid was a drifter? Sounded more like he was homeless. Did he get kicked out? Maybe Alex was helping him out now. They seemed close. At least somebody had his back?
Nico took a bite. Happy Burger was delicious, he had to hand it to them. But he had never eaten there and experienced the kind of euphoria that crossed Red's face. Wow. He was either starving or he really, really loved burgers. Nico felt somewhat guiltier; he could have given him the whole burger if it was going to be a thing. Fries would tide him over until the end of his shift here. As a junior journalist with shit jobs in a sleepy town, he didn't have to stay until the wee hours of the night. In fact, he was usually off by around three or four PM.
So they ate in silence, since Nico didn't want to interrupt Red's experience and they were eating, anyway. Best to eat first before blabbing. When Nico finished, he followed it up with a handful of fries and then wiped his face and hands with a napkin.
"So you live in town?" he asked. "With Alex?"
It was beyond delicious. Red didn't know if there was even a word for how that burger tasted from start to finish. He enjoyed the last bite as much as he enjoyed the first. Soft bun, crisp lettuce, grilled meat and the sweet, tangy pickles—Red loved the pickles the most. When he finally had his last bite, he regretfully folded the wrapper neatly. Half of him wanted to keep it as a souvenir of this amazing experience but he had a feeling that weird as he was, that might be too weird. They told him to blend in while he was in town...
A little sadly he put the wrapper into the waste bin. Well, he'd have the memories of this moment anyway.
"Um." Nico was asking about him and Alex, which made Red uncomfortable. They decided not to say anything about their relationship yet. Well, Alex didn't think it was a good idea; Red didn't understand why. What did it matter? But Alex insisted and Red went along with it. He studied Nico for a beat too long after the question was posed and then nodded very very slightly. Nico gave him half of his burger; he was firmly in Red's good books now.
"Live with Alex. Not in town." Red worried his lower lip, wondering how much he should divulge. Nothing was the answer, but he didn't think Nico would do anything horrible. He was just curious, probably. "Nico... not live with. Um. Grandma?"
"Ah, outskirts, then?"
A lot of people didn't live in the town proper so that wasn't too suspicious. Being as young as he was, Nico still lived with his parents and they did live in the town proper, in a nice enough set of apartments close to the newspaper building. Nico shook his head at Red's question.
"Nah, we don't live with grandma but I visit her a lot and she visits a lot, too. Actually, mom says we moved here to keep her company. She got really lonely after my grandpa passed away and mom got worried about her so she had to come and keep her company and one thing led to another thing and now we're... just here."
He shrugged slightly, face reddening slightly. The thing was, he sometimes babbled uselessly when he didn't know what else to say and the words just sort of tumbled out.
"...Alex said you stayed with her... or something? So you're a drifter...?"
Red nodded. Yes, outskirts. Far far far faaaar away from the town center and from all the people who lived in Hazleton. Most of the humans were harmless, so it wasn't that Red and his commune thought that they posed any danger. It was just that the humans' way of life didn't accord to what they knew. Some barely even shifted out of their animal forms, preferring to live out their lives as naturally as possible.
He sat listening to Nico, barely understanding the gist of what he was saying. He spoke too fast for Red to fully comprehend every word, and Red needed time to digest his meaning. But he liked the sound of Nico's voice. He liked the way he spoke, even if he only caught a few words here and there.
"Drifter?" Red had heard of the word before; it seemed to be a bad word, or at least it garnered a bad reaction from some people. He frowned. "I visit. Only few time. She give food. Grandma nice. Like Nico."
"Yeah, my grandma likes helping everybody. She's lonely, too. Her and my grandpa were really close."
And now without him, his grandma filled her time with charity cases. It wasn't that big a deal. So far, she was fine. But Nico's mom really worried about her. She kept saying they should move in with her so they could monitor her more closely. Or not her, per se, but all the people she was helping.
As for Nico being nice, he only shrugged a little self consciously. Giving up half a burger and some fries wasn't that big a deal! His grandma was way nicer. But it was kinda cool to see one of the people she helped and see that his grandma actually seemed to have a real impact on his life. Maybe his mom could meet Red sometime and she would see his grandma knew what she was doing.
Nico didn't make a big deal out of being nice and only shrugged, but Red already had a good impression of him. It wasn't hard to get into the good graces of starving animals—and people—but Red was more cautious than most (of either group). He took a long time to warm up to people, being naturally cautious and shy and suspicious. After being gypped and pushed around and screwed over so many times, he had a hard time trusting just anyone.
Nico and his grandma, though, were special people. They were gentle and non-threatening. Nico's grandma didn't make a big deal when she first saw Red sneaking out from under her porch, whereas some of the people in town would make a lot of noise and pull out strange devices to point at him. She quietly watched him for a moment, and then went inside to get some food. Afterwards she went back in, letting Red know that it was safe to eat without fear of being caught.
"Grandma... lonely?" Red was a little distraught at the thought of that nice old lady being lonely. She took care of so many people! Red had seen them going in and out. He thought with so many people around... But maybe they didn't stay. He felt a stab of guilt. He didn't stay either; he just took her food and used her porch. Red leaned in, frowning. "Where grandpa?"
"Oh! Yeah... my grandpa died a while ago. My grandma really misses him."
Nico's mom told him they were together practically forever, that they had been childhood friends that grew into boyfriend and girlfriend in high school and then they married after graduation. Not a lot of people loved the same person for so long. Nico thought it was really romantic but also kinda sad. The one person his grandma had been close to for her whole life, basically, and he was gone. So she filled the void inside by helping people, animals, anybody who might need it.
"I think she's sad she couldn't save him," he said, perhaps saying too much. No, no. A lot of people wanted to save the people they loved. But... his grandma, she was a healer, a natural healer at heart, and not even her magic could save her beloved husband. It made Nico's heart hurt every time he thought about it.
"But she's not giving up," Nico said, inordinately proud of his grandma for going forward, not giving up. "And she has a lot of love to give. So... if you ever need help, don't be afraid to ask her. She needs it as much as you do."
Grandpa died?
Red was again distraught. He didn't bawl but he did put a hand to his mouth, remembering how his grandpa was taken. And his grandma, his parents, his older brothers and sisters... One by one they disappeared. Luka's parents had to go out to find food for them, after all; they couldn't stay in their den forever. Then when they didn't come back, Luka's older siblings had to go and... And then it was just him, quivering down in that big empty lonely den. Eventually he had to accept that everybody was gone. He scurried out and hadn't been back to that part of the woods since.
But it didn't sound like Grandpa had been hunted or trapped. There was no horror in Nico's voice as he spoke, only sadness. Red didn't understand much of what he said but he understood enough. Grandpa was gone and Grandma was alone and sad. That made him feel guiltier, taking advantage of her like that when she needed help too! (Or at least it sounded like she needed help, from what little Red understood.)
"Grandma needs help?" He stood up suddenly. Grandma needed help! Right now? Right now! "Red can—"
A hand at the back of his head made him turn suddenly. Alex was there, looking puzzled. "Everything okay, Red?"
"Grandma needs help!" Red said urgently.
"Huh? Grandma? Whose grandma?" Alex looked down at Nico. "What were you guys talking about?"
Whoa! Nico stared in alarm as Red became distraught and shot up, like he was going to march right over to Nico's grandmother's place. Before Red could take off, though, Alex came back and stopped him in his tracks. If Nico knew that bringing up his late grandpa would freak Red out so much, he would have kept it to himself. That's what he got for being stupid and awkward; he always brought up the worst subjects to the wrong people!
"Oh... I was just telling him about how my grandpa passed away and my grandma is lonely..." But thinking he might sound like he was somehow fishing for pity or something, he added quickly, "I was just telling him that my grandma was probably happy to help him! Not... anything weird."
Alex put an arm around Red to stop him from rushing away immediately. Red did struggle a little bit, still under the impression that Grandma needed him. Right now! If she needed somebody, he could help! He took so much from her—it was the least he could do!
"Ahh," Alex said as he forced Red back into his chair. "Um. Red is... kind of sensitive about... family members dying. He lost his family a while back so... maybe take it easy around him."
Red tried to stand again. "Grandma!"
"It's okay Red. Grandma is okay! She's good." Alex gave him a thumbs up. "Grandma's okay. Calm."
"No, no Grandma..." Red looked to Nico for confirmation. "Grandma needs help, Nico?"
"Oh."
That explained the sudden panic. Shit. Nico shouldn't have said anything about dead people, then. He didn't know Red's family had passed on. He put his hands up gently, as if that would somehow help calm Red down and keep him from trying to get up over and over again.
"It's okay. Grandma is okay," he said. "I was just saying that... you can visit her sometime if you like. She would appreciate it. But she's okay. She likes having people come over to talk to and feed and stuff."
"Grandma... okay?" Red breathed a sigh of relief but part of him wasn't convinced and wouldn't be until he saw her again with his own eyes. He looked at Nico and then at Alex, both of whom were trying to reassure him, and nodded. "Grandma okay... Red visit." Maybe later... Maybe tonight he could bring her something from their camp...
Alex sat down beside him but he was smiling at Nico. "It's all good buddy. Grandma's okay. Red, just stay calm."
"...okay." Red glanced at Nico. "Nico... okay?" Did Nico also need help like Grandma? Was Nico lonely too? Since he was so much like her, Red wondered about him too...
"Huh? Me?"
Nico half smiled and shrugged. He was fine. Why would Red even ask him that? Because of his grandpa? Nico shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat before swiveling his computer chair back to his desk and sifting through the paperwork, notes, and half written articles that littered the desk.
"I'm fine. I didn't even know my grandfather."
He only knew him from the stories his grandmother so fondly told. Nico remembered when he first asked about his late grandfather, his mother reached over and pinched him on the arm, trying to be discreet. His grandmother scolded her for it and then told Nico that she wanted to talk about him. It was the only way to keep him alive, now that he was gone. Nico liked the way she thought. He never really thought about it like that; he thought he was more like his mother that way.
His mother didn't want to talk about him. She missed him. Nico saw her crying when she thought nobody else was watching. But she couldn't seem to bring herself to talk about him.
"Anyway... are you working here now?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Red. It didn't seem likely. If his English wasn't very good, they wouldn't hire him on at a newspaper, even a podunk one like theirs.
Nico's just like me!
Red studied his profile as he turned away to shuffle some papers on his desk. Hm. Ordinary though he was from the front, Nico had a nice profile, actually. Quite a handsome one, to be honest—not that Red was checking him out or anything but he did notice it, with a somewhat artist's eye. Besides Alex was right there! He wouldn't ogle another person with Alex right there!
"Grandpa..." he whispered mostly to himself, feeling terrible for Nico's loss. Even if Nico wasn't openly weeping, Red knew that the sadness of losing someone never went away. It was always there. Red understood that better than most and was more sensitive to it than most. Alex, not so much; he seemed to be able to let go more easily than Red.
"He's definitely not working here!" Alex said cheerily, but almost... too cheerfully. Almost a bit forced as though wanting to change the topic quickly. "Red can't write. I think he's just here because he doesn't want to go home alone. Heh..." Reaching out, he gently ruffled the hair at the back of Red's head. Red, embarrassed, tried to push his hand away. "But I won't be home till pretty late. Mr. Meyers gave me a new assignment. Well, us, if you wanna come with, Nico." Alex pursed his lips slightly as he smoothed down Red's hair. "Red, you have to go home alone today."
"What? Alone?" Red shook his head. "No... dark... scary dark." He didn't like going home in the dark. That was how the hunters got his family—after dark, with guns and traps.
"What?"
Nico looked from Alex to Red and back again. An assignment that he could tag along with... Nothing in this town was worth tagging along with anybody. It was all so mundane. Their newspaper never covered anything of substance. Even when things of substance always seemed to be happening. It was like they were some big coverup and he sort of knew why--Mr. Meyers wasn't human, either. A lot of people in Hazleton, he was pretty sure, weren't. But nobody knew who was and who wasn't--not for sure. And so they silently held their secrets and covered things up.
It was ridiculous.
Nico thought maybe Hazleton started with good intentions. A place for their kind to gather safely. But as always, humans found a way. And behind them, hunters. There were a lot of hunters around lately and not just the kind that traveled through the forest with guns, hoping to get some nice fur. No... these ones were much more dangerous and they worked under the veil of being just another human in town.
"...I could walk him home," Nico offered, since the idea of being a tagalong sounded boring anyway. Plus, Red looked terrified at the idea of heading home alone in the dark. "I was going to see my grandma anyway, if it's the same direction."
"Yeah I wouldn't come along either," Alex said with a wry grin. "He wants me to write up about the old library. Pfft. Who even goes there anymore?" Alex sighed as he began to pack up some things into his worn messenger bag. Red hovered anxiously beside him and tried hard not to latch on to him--in case he bolted for the door or something.
But--he perked up. It sounded like Nico was offering to walk him home! Red looked at Nico with relief evident on his face. "Go see grandma?" he asked hopefully, as Alex straightened and slung the bag over his shoulder. "Red see grandma with Nico?"
"Oh. Uh..." Alex had a funny look on his face that Red didn't understand. "Yeah, yeah. That's really nice of you man. Red's all for it. He must like you a lot--he doesn't usually take to people so fast."
Red frowned. What did that mean? He liked Nico? Nico was nice to him and gave him food--of course he liked him! It sounded like Alex meant another kind of like but Red didn't think he acted inappropriately. He touched Alex's hand before it fell away. "See Alex at home?" He smiled and the funny look faded from Alex's face.
"Sure thing! I'd better get going though. Thanks Nico! See you at home Red!"
After he left, Red sidled closer to Nico. "Thanks Nico."
Okay. Well, it seemed that Nico now had a job. Just walk Red home, wherever that was. Or to his grandma's? He wasn't quite sure but he thought they must have been in the same area.
Once he cleaned up his desk a bit and tossed out the now empty bag that used to contain the fries, he got up and swept a few things into his backpack so he could take some of his work home with him. He gestured for Red to follow him. Before leaving, he handed a USB to Susan, who would take his articles and place them in the paper for him. After he said goodbye to everyone, he led Red out of the building.
The conversation was a bit sparse on the walk towards his grandmother's. When he arrived, he stopped and turned toward Red to ask if he wanted to come in or if he wanted Nico to walk him the rest of the way to his home.
Red wanted to visit grandma but along the way, he had a long think about it. Since there wasn't much talking, there was a lot of thinking. If he went as a human... it might be problematic. He usually visited as a fox; grandma didn't know him as a human...
It might be better to come back later.
"Red can find home. Alone." He smiled at Nico and reached out to pat the side of his arm awkwardly. "It... late. Dark. Red see grandma tomorrow! Maybe see Nico again... at office!" It was getting super foggy too; he was anxious to get back to the camp. Turning, he headed off down the path before Nico could stop him. He'd be back at the office, though, now that he knew a nice person who worked there other than Alex.