Natural Affection

[Vixey]

[[September 2nd, early evening; closed to Tod and Vixey. Sorry if this sucks a little; I got really tired half way through XD;;]]

"Tod?"

She wasn't really supposed to be here, Vixey knew. Her blue tie, which sat neatly against her throat, marked her as distinctly out of place, and the vixen had already taken a few odd looks from those around the dormitory. So far, however, no-one had stepped forward to ask her what she was doing in the wrong dorm; and until she found her husband-to-be, Vixey hoped to keep it that way. The red-furred female was still distinctly nervous around humans; and if any did make the attempt to approach her, she would shy away from them in fear.

The only human she had ever encountered up close, after all, had nearly killed her and Tod, and it wasn't an experience she was anxious to relive.

"Tod?"

Again, Vixey called the male's name as she padded deeper into the dungeon. It was nice down here; more pleasant and familiar than the odd human dwelling she had been shown to upon arrival the day before. Given her choice, Vixey would have chosen the earth circle for herself in a heartbeat; for the location less than because it would mean she and Tod had been together.

They hadn't had any real chance to see each other ever since they'd been separated upon arrival. Vixey had discovered right away that Tod wasn't in her circle, but had been too busy making sure she got to all her classes and everywhere else she was suppose to be to have really had the chance to look for him. It wasn't until she'd caught sight of him earlier that day - only from a distance; the crush of students had prevented her from getting closer - that Vixey had recieved her first clue as to where Tod was.

The tie she'd seen around his neck had been green. And so as soon as classes, dinner and homework were over, Vixey had headed down to the earth circle's dorms.

She was still getting odd looks; Vixey wished she'd thought to take her own tie off before coming down here so she didn't stand out as much. She had kept it on, along with the rest of her uniform, simply to try and get used to the thoroughly foreign sensation of wearing clothes. Even after two full days, she was still struggling to adjust to the way the fabric sat about her body. Though her shirt was fully buttoned up right to the throat, her tie sat smartly in its rightful place, and her skirt looked as neat as could be expected, Vixey still felt as though she was doing something wrong with the whole thing.

It was as she tried to smooth at the fur beneath the short sleeve of her shirt that Vixey caught a glimpse of red out the corner of her eye - red of a shade she'd recognise anywhere - that caused her to forget all her difficulties with the uniform. The vixen picked up her pace as she closed in on the spot where she'd seen what she knew had to have been her boyfriend's tail.

"Tod, it's me!"

[Deleted]

Collars were one thing. Actual human clothing, Tod had quickly discovered, was something else entirely. Tod had tried valiantly the day before to keep his uniform as neat as possible, but after the end of classes on the first day he decided to just screw it and forget any and all attempts at looking orderly. Thus, his uniform looked particularly disheveled. His tie was barely tied, his shirt unbuttoned and messy, and even his fur remained as unkempt as ever. He hadn't really bothered with his fur, anyway. That much had always been something he'd taken pride in, especially for its scruffy appearance, and he wasn't about to change that for the world.

Every now and then, as he laid there on the floor, Tod swore he heard Vixey calling to him. He wished he had been able to actually keep track of where Vixey had been throughout the day, but there hadn't been any way for him to do that. He missed her dearly... And realizing that he did was kind of surprising. When he was a kit, he never would have imagined himself missing a girl as much as he was at present. The most he would have missed would have been his adopted mother Big Mama. Vixey, however, was different. He loved her, and he wished more than anything that the two of them could be together. He wanted to lay curled up against her again. He wanted to be in her presence. He...

"Tod! It's me!"

Immediately, Tod perked up when he heard Vixey's voice more clearly. The male glanced around, hoping with all his might that he wasn't hearing things, and soon he caught sight of a familiar red pelt. His heart skipped a beat and Tod hurried to his paws. Vixey! Vixey was there after all! He knew she was in the same school, as the both of them had been invited, but he hadn't expected to see her there in the earth circle dorms. Were he a dog, his tail would have been wagging back and forth as fast as could be. As it was, though, he was just as excited as one could have imagined. He would have tried to sneak into the water circle dorms if he had thought to do so, but that hadn't happened. Just knowing that Vixey was there was enough for him.

"Vixey!" he exclaimed. He finally crossed the gap between the two of them and affectionately rubbed his head against hers. He took care to avoid bumping straight into her, though. The last thing the pair needed after being separated for such a period was for the two to walk away with bumped heads.

"I'm so glad you're here, Vixey. I really missed you."

[Vixey]

"Oh, Tod, me too." Vixey let her eyes slide closed as Tod leant into her, rubbing his head against her own, and the vixen gently nuzzled him in return. Just his presence, his familiar scent drifting through her nostrils, was enough to ease Vixey's concerns some, and she held the position for a good long moment before pulling back to look at him again.

She gave a slight giggle as she caught sight of the state of Tod's own uniform. Where she'd taken great pains to make sure hers looked immaculate, Tod... really didn't seem to have bothered at all. Vixey couldn't honestly fault him for that, given that clothes were so far out of their typical field of expertise; still, she found something amusing about the contrast between the way each of them wore it. But though, all told, she imagined he'd look quite handsome if he had it all fully done up, the female didn't feel inclined to comment on it.

"So, um, say, how have you been finding this place?" She gave a slight shrug, which ruffled the fur beneath her shirt minutely in a way that would never not feel odd, and strove for a casual tone of voice. While for herself, Vixey was starting to regret the decision to come here, to dump out all her concerns about it really wasn't the vixen's way. Rather, she nestled her head in against Tod's exposed chest, her ears folding back slightly as she pressed in against the soft white fur, as she waited patiently for him to speak first.

[Deleted]

He never wanted to leave her side, to be honest. The familiar scent of her fur was just wonderful, and he couldn't really imagine what it would be like to sleep without her by his side again that night. Her question didn't really surprise him, either. He would have wondered the same thing, and in fact had wondered about how Vixey had been holding up at all. He hadn't seen the water dormitories for himself, so he had no idea what the accommodations were like. All he could go by was what he had experienced in the earth circle. That really hadn't been a lot.

"It's been... All right, I suppose," Tod answered. A shrug followed not long after that. "It isn't at all what I expected, though. I don't even really know what it was I thought we'd get here. These clothes sure weren't what I thought we'd get, that's for sure."

But his uniform troubles aside, he supposed it wasn't all bad. ...Except for the fact that he and Vixey were separated, and apparently there were supposed to be fights later down the line. That much was something Tod hated. He didn't want to be pitted against Vixey just because they were in different circles. That much he had to let her know if he got the chance. Until that time, though, the male was a bit curious about how she had been faring. Vixey had never lived in anything beyond the forest, at least to his knowledge, so whether or not she was comfortable was something he couldn't determine just yet. He'd have to ask.

"I can't say I like the arrangement of us being apart, though. What about you?"

[Vixey]

Again, Vixey giggled as Tod drew attention to the clothes being unexpected. She had to agree there; it felt like they were trying to impersonate humans, and that was a really weird idea. Still, aside from the obvious discomfort of the fabric simply not sitting right with her fur, Vixey wasn't sure she could take too much exception, even to having to dress up like this. It was kind of fancy, all things considered. "They're hard to get used to, but I don't really mind them," she voiced, perhaps to Tod's surprise. For an animal not used to human contact at all, that did have to sound odd; but Vixey fancied herself as a fairly adaptable creature. There was something almost funny about doing something so out-of-the-ordinary as wearing human clothes.

"Everyone back in the forest would laugh if they could see us like this, though," she observed. Boomer and Dinky, Tod's bird friends, would be in hysterics at the sight of the two of them in shirts and ties, she was sure; and they were unlikely to be the only ones. In fact, if she hadn't been one of the ones all dressed up like this, Vixey thought she would have been equally hard-pressed to contain her laughter had another animal shown up like this.

"Did you, hm, have some trouble with yours?" she questioned a moment later, a little smile still on her maw. It was hard to miss that the way Tod's uniform was worn was about as far from her own as possible, and Vixey had to confess some curiosity as to whether that was intentional or not.


Her smile faded away, however, as Tod mentioned his dislike of being separated from her. Without raising her head, the vixen gave a nod, feeling her boyfriend's chest fluff brush against her face. "I don't like it either, Tod." And, of course, there were the fights; but Vixey didn't want to be the one to bring them up. It felt, somehow, that for as long as she didn't mention them aloud, they were still some distant concept that couldn't touch her; and that to speak it out would be to make them real.

"I'd feel much better if we could still sleep together. Say, do you think we might, you know, find a place away from the dorms where we could spend the night with each other sometimes?" She knew there was the curfew on students, of course, and Vixey wasn't normally a rebellious individual; but the thought of being separated from Tod indefinitely wasn't one that she liked. Surely none of the teachers could object too much to that, could they?

[Deleted]

"Well, that's good. I'm glad," Tod said. He was genuinely happy that Vixey had adjusted to the uniforms. One would have thought that it would be the other way around, as Tod had lived with humans most of his life, but that was just how it had worked out. Vixey's question about whether or not he'd had trouble with his own uniform was easy to answer. The fact that he'd essentially said 'screw it' and let his uniform look completely messy spoke volumes. So, all Tod really could do was shrug in response.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to it. I never had to wear anything like this back on the farm," Tod said. "And don't I know it. It'd be bad enough if Dinky and Boomer saw us. The whole forest laughing at us, though? No thanks."

Thankfully, Vixey had brought the conversation back to the fact that they had been separated. He certainly didn't see any harm in trying to find a secret spot for the two of them to sleep in. He nodded eagerly, almost in a childish manner, and a goofy sort of smile appeared on his face. There was no way that he could turn down such an offer. If he and Vixey could just be together, even if it was only for a few rare nights, then he would be happy.

"I think we could find something. There has to be some place that no one knows about. We'd just have to sneak out after curfew and find it, then sneak back early enough for no one to have noticed us," Tod said. Rebellious definitely wasn't a word that Tod would use to describe Vixey, or even himself at the moment, but it was matters such as this that brought that much out for all to see. The fox may have been a bit of a rebel in his childhood, but now? Maybe not so much.

"I never would have taken you to be a rebel, Vixey. But if this is what we have to do, then I don't have a problem with it."

[Vixey]

It was odd that the wild animal adapted to clothes faster than the former pet who was used to humans and their things, wasn't it? Then again, she'd been the one who'd spent most of her life learning to adjust to changes in the world around her, while Tod hadn't - his first few days struggling with forest life were proof enough of that - perhaps it stood to reason that she would be more used to coping with odd changes that life saw fit to throw their way.

She covered her mouth with a paw as Tod reacted so vehemently against the idea of anyone back home finding out how they looked at present. She didn't want the male to think that she was laughing at him - because she wasn't, really - but she couldn't deny a little amusement at his response to the idea. "You've got to admit, we must look awfully silly," she pointed out. Though she knew Tod would probably be self-conscious, Vixey wasn't sure she actually minded; she knew how laugh at herself when need be. And if being dressed up like this wasn't a cause to, she didn't know what would be.

It would perhaps seem even more amusing due to how differently they were wearing their uniforms; Vixey wasn't really one to say. Not that she minded at all; she wouldn't have been able to snuggle up against Tod's soft chest-fur if he had worn his shirt buttoned fully, the way hers was. It would have felt odd and uncomfortable; with his shirt open and tie low, however, it was still nice and familiar to nestle in against him like this.


She nodded as Tod spoke up again, agreeing with her thoughts. Spending each night with Tod would surely make this more bearable. While it was true that she'd slept alone plenty before he'd come along, she had grown to depend on his presence to help her sleep; last night, without him, had been an incredibly restless one. Vixey couldn't think of where they might look for something, but the school grounds were a big place. Like Tod said, there had to be somewhere for them. If it hadn't been drawing dangerously near curfew as it was, Vixey would have been all for starting their search right now; but trying then and there would only be inviting trouble down upon them both.

The vixen looked faintly abashed as Tod mentioned how he would never have taken her for a rebel - but only faintly. She wasn't typically rebelious by nature, it was true; but desperate situations, as they said... she'd run any risk of getting into trouble to get to sleep together with Tod once again. She'd felt incomplete, curled up in the decent-sized bed she'd been assigned in the water circle dorm, with nothing but the lap of the waves and the gentle snores of her dorm-mates to keep her company. She would have given anything to have had Tod's presence beside her once again, to feel his sleeping breath touch her neck as they curled up together.

"Well, you know, sometimes it's neccessary," was the only reply she gave, prodding at her tie a little and not quite meeting Tod's eye. She wasn't sure she wanted him to know quite the full extent of how badly she'd come to depend on his presence. Not right this moment, at any rate. Maybe later, she'd confess it to him.

Rather than thinking on that, Vixey quickly turned her attention to the practicalities of what they were planning to do. "If we meet up again during lunch tomorrow, we can look around and find someplace then," she suggested, tilting her head upwards to plant an affectinate nuzzle on Tod's chin as she spoke. Where, exactly, they'd look... that, she supposed, they would have to work out once they got there.

[Deleted]

"That sounds good," Tod said. After all, no one would suspect a couple of students walking about during the lunch period. His tail flicked back and forth with glee at the mere thought of it. Maybe he'd been a sort of good influence on her, after all. But as Vixey had said, sometimes a little rebellion was necessary. If it meant that the two of them would have a place to potentially be with one another at night, he was all for it. It was just a matter of where on earth they would even look for a place. He had a good feeling that they'd end up searching just about every nook and cranny in their brief time together. That much didn't bother Tod in the slightest, though. If it meant that they could look everywhere and find the absolute perfect spot, then so be it.

...Speaking of lunch...

"How are you liking the food here, Vixey? I know it's different from back home, but... You're taking to it, I hope?" Tod asked. He had grown accustomed to having human food every once in a while back on the farm. After all, he was a pet and his owner pretty much spoiled him when she saw fit. He was like her child int hat regard. Still, Tod did have to wonder about how Vixey had taken to eating strange foods. She may have adjusted to wearing a uniform, but what about the meals? He did worry about her in that regard. Not that Tod thought Vixey was particularly picky, but still... It was something he kind of felt necessary to ask.

[Vixey]

"Oh, the food isn't a problem." Vixey's response was a touch too quick; she looked faintly bashful as Tod asked his question, and didn't quite meet the male's eye. It wasn't that she was lying; food was food, and if someone wanted to go to the trouble of cooking and preparing it, then even if it was different from what she'd been used to, the vixen wouldn't be caught complaining. But that wasn't to say she didn't have issues with the dining process here in general.

"I just can't get the hang of all the plates and bowls they expect us to eat from," she confessed after a moment. There had to be an art to carrying the laden plates between the counter where it was collected and the tables they were expected to eat at - but Vixey had yet to master it without much of the food escaping the plate. The bowls, with their sloped edges, were even worse; when she'd tried to take one the day before, she hadn't counted on her manner of holding it - picking it in her mouth by one edge - slopping the contents directly into her face, and she'd spent the afternoon's class trying to lick chicken soup off the bridge of her muzzle. And while Vixey wasn't usually easily embarrassed, she did feel a bit silly for not being able to get the hang of something that seemed like it ought to be rather simple.

"Say, did you have any troubles with carrying them to a table?" she queried momentarily. If he did have similar issues, then she needn't feel like she was the only one to struggle with it; and if he didn't, perhaps he could show her what the secret was when they met for lunch the coming day. And thinking of getting together then, another thought occured to Vixey.

"Maybe we'll have some classes together tomorrow, Tod, do you think?" She hoped that would be the case. So far, they didn't seem to have been put in the same classes, but Vixey was sure that couldn't last. And while the ones she'd been in had been interesting enough in their own right. Vixey was certain she'd find class more enjoyable if she and Tod could sit together for them.

[Deleted]

"Good, good... I thought maybe it might be strange going from eating the food back home to having what we have here," Tod said. Vixey's troubles with the plates and bowls didn't surprise him, though. Tod wasn't exactly sure how some of the other animals were managing to get food from one place to another, but he'd worked out a sort of trick to it... At least with the plates. What he'd ended up doing was balancing the plate of food atop his head and making his way over to a table as slowly as he could manage. It had looked ridiculous, granted, but Tod had somehow managed to avoid humiliating himself in the process.

"Plates I worked out a method for. I kind of... Had to balance one on my head to get it where I needed to go. It was a little awkward, I must admit, but I got it done. ...I have yet to try it with a bowl," Tod answered. He had to admit that he was on the assumption that trying it with a bowl would only end disastrously. He could just imagine the spilt contents splashing down upon him and creating an awful scene in the process. Maybe there was a better trick for getting bowls to where they needed to be...

"Maybe it'd be better to try and have one of the humans help with bowls," he reflected. "or maybe just have the lunch person set the bowl on the ground and eat like that? Not the most graceful way to go about it, but... At least it's something."

[Vixey]

Well, she supposed that was one way of doing it; though the idea of Tod making his way across the dining hall with a plate of food wobbling precariously atop his head was amusing enough that a little chuckle slipped the vixen's maw. Though she knew Tod hated to be laughed at, she could only imagine what a sight he must have looked; still, it sounded like it had been infinitely more successful than her own attempts at carrying a plate.

"Oh, well, that does sound a lot easier," she agreed, once her little bout of laughter had died down. Even if it did look a little silly, it couldn't have been much more ridiculous than the sight of them wearing the uniforms must have been; and if it ultimately worked, Vixey figured it was well worth the risk of being laughed at. It would be a safe assumption that she'd be found trying that particular strategy come the next day.

Though Vixey gave another nod as Tod mentioned the idea of getting human help with the bowls, this one looked a bit more unsure. Though Vixey could certainly tell that trying to balance a bowl that way could only end in an even messier disaster than getting soup slopped in her face had been, the female was still altogether nervous around humans. It was true she'd had to get closer to some of them in the two days she'd been here, and nothing bad had come of that; but after the way the hunter had so nearly killed her and Tod, Vixey was in no great hurry to approach another of the species any more than she had to.

"I'm sure there's some way we can manage it without asking humans," she stated at length, not fully looking at Tod. She understood that he trusted most humans; but Vixey hadn't been raised around them the way he had. Her experience of the species, prior to coming here, was entirely a negative one; and it showed in the way her tail gave a slight twitch of nervousness, and her ears flattened back a little.

[Deleted]

Honestly, Tod could understand Vixey's hesitation to trust the humans around the school. He may have been raised by one and learned that not all of them were cruel hunters like Amos Slade, but Vixey didn't know that. His expression turned sympathetic and he brushed his head gently against her own. Maybe it would be better to avoid the humans for a bit. Just so Vixey could grow more comfortable around them. He'd been thoughtless with that much. Tod didn't want to make Vixey uncomfortable at all, and yet he'd brought up asking humans to help with something. That couldn't have made her feel all that comfortable.

"You're right... I'm sorry I suggested it," Tod said at length. He should have realized sooner that it was a bad idea. He couldn't help it, though. Tod had believed that humans weren't all bad and was comfortable enough to put trust in them. It was clear that he was still going to have to get used to the wild fox mentality that their enemies were humans and their hounds. That much was going to be difficult, though. Tod had grown up under the mentality opposing that, after all... But Vixey knew that. He didn't need to repeat it.

"We'll manage one way or another. Even if we just have to help each other the whole time," he said.

[Vixey]

"Oh, it's alright." The vixen's worry seemed to melt away as Tod apologised and nudged his head against hers, a smile returning to her muzzle at his touch. She understood that Tod's comfort around the strange creatures came from having been raised by one himself, and she didn't begrudge him it; she just wasn't able to share in his confidence. Back before the hunter had come into the forest after Tod, she would have simply been wary; after he had almost killed them, however, she was a lot more nervous than she would otherwise have been. She knew all humans couldn't be like that, of course; but Vixey didn't wholly trust herself to be able to tell which ones were good and which weren't.

"Oh, um, well, they shouldn't be so hard to manage when we're working together," she agreed as the male spoke up again. "I'd rather not have a repeat of yesterday, anyway." Vixey still wasn't entirely sure how they'd work at carrying the bowls between them without risk of spilling anything, but she supposed they'd cross that bridge when they came to it; it seemed a little silly to spend their time together now wondering about how they'd carry their food next lunchtime. For a brief moment, she considered amusing Tod by telling him about her mishap with the bowl the day before - he was sure to laugh at the idea of his typically-graceful girlfriend dousing herself with soup by mistake - but in the end decided against it. He could ask if he wanted her to elaborate; otherwise Vixey wasn't sure the matter was really worthwhile conversation.

"I still wish I knew why we'd been invited here," she voiced instead, withdrawing her head from Tod's chest in order to look at him as they spoke. Not just the two of them specifically; rather, most of the animals in general. Schools were typically for humans; but there seemed to have been no real rhyme or reason to who had been invited here. It wasn't even as though they'd chosen animals who were good fighters; herself, case in point. Vixey really didn't know what to make of it.

[Deleted]

"I don't quite understand it myself. Schools seems like such a... Human thing. Why would they invite animals like us?" he asked. Tod really didn't have an answer to it himself. He supposed he kind of made sense, at least when thinking about how he'd been raised by Widow Tweed, but still... It was beyond strange. Wild animals just didn't belong in a place like this, did they? Not as far as Tod was concerned. Still, he wasn't going to question it much further. He and Vixey were together, and he was positive he had scented Copper about the general earth circle area at some point, so maybe everything would be okay between the three of them. ...And maybe porcupines could fly. Who was he kidding? The whole situation was strange beyond belief.

"Oh well... We can at least see each other and be together while we're here. Even if we are separated by circles," Tod said. His fluffy tail curled a bit closer to Vixey and his smile softened into a warm, comforting one. As long as the both of them didn't get hurt somehow, everything would be fine. The only way that could be proven wrong was if either of them had to fight somebody at some point. He wasn't going to pretend that that wasn't a possibility. Tod knew as well as anyone that the school had some ulterior motives behind bringing all of them together.

He hardly cared about the fights, really. As long as he and Vixey were okay for the moment, nothing else mattered.

[Vixey]

Since there didn't seem much to be gained by simply repeating that she didn't know, Vixey just gave a shrug in response. Just like Tod, she couldn't see the sense in it at all. Here they were, in school and in the uniforms and everything... all for what? Who could have ever thought that they'd belong here? There had to be some purpose behind it, from the perspective of whoever was in charge, but it seemed just as strange to the vixen as it did to Tod.

In spite of her bafflement, however, Tod was right; at least they got to be together here and now. The fact that they wore different tie colours - Vixey absently smoothed at the male's for a moment - wasn't going to keep them apart; they still had each other, and nothing here could change that. As she felt his tail curl itself against her, the female fox gave a smile of her own and nestled back in against Tod. Her face pressed in to the side of his neck, encountring shirt collar first before she nosed a little higher and nudged her muzzle into the familiar russet fur above it. Again, his scent filled her nostrils, and Vixey drank it in without speaking for a long moment; a moment that she didn't want to end.

"You're right. As long as we're together, we'll be fine here," she voiced eventually. Perhaps a naive sentiment, especially if the fights were a truth and not just a rumour, but one that Vixey believed in nonetheless. Nothing would hurt her as long as Tod was around; and while she didn't harbour any illusions that she could protect him similarly, it almost seemed as though their bond was strong enough to keep him from serious harm. After the way he'd fought a dog and a bear, plunged down a waterfall, almost been shot, and got out of it all battered and bruised, but well and truly alive, the vixen almost believed there was something to that.

"Say, maybe we'll have some classes together too," she suggested shortly. "Do you think, Tod?" They hadn't so far, it was true; but with three days of lessons still to go, it seemed fairly inconcievable that they wouldn't share at least one or two classes. And with Tod at her side during it Vixey was sure that, whatever the class in question ended up being, it would be the highlight of her school week.