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The Family Vulpes

Chapter Three:

The Wheels Keep On Turning

Passing through the doors of the Bug Burga, nearly all of the vixen's senses were assaulted by the atmosphere of the restaurant. The halogen lighting was no more forgiving on her sensitive blue eyes than the garish neon treatment outside, and the scent of overcooked bug chips and grease made her recently recovered stomach drop into a nausea relapse. It was the kind of stink she knew that after eight hours of being held hostage by it, would seep into her clothes and happily follow her home. Val held a paw up to the light as she struggled to squint through the glare and get a better view of her surroundings.

The interior of the restaurant was pretty much what she had expected. The familiar orange and red color scheme with faux ferns and jungle themed vegetation adding a splash of green to the rather disgusting visual palette on display. It did little to distract away from the fact that the stump table seating and wood slab tables were obviously fiberglass. Yep, it was definitely a Bug Burga. Granted it wasn't the same chain she had been to a few times as a kit, and the style had changed slightly over the years, but otherwise it was practically like stepping back in time. Why her Mom always preferred this place over Quesodillo's like Val and her father did was beyond her.

"Well, it's about time you showed up." A voice barked, drawing Val's attention away from the cheap decor. The loud, yet grumbly statement had come from a particularly dowdy looking billy goat dressed in a red and yellow striped uniform that blended in with the decor. One of the first things Val noticed about the billy, aside from the minefield of acne spread across the bridge of his muzzle, was the fact he seemed to be a horn short of a pair. On one side of his head, the yellow-eyed goat had a tall, finely curved horn, while on the adjacent side, the billy had what appeared to be a stump covered with a wad of paper towels that were held on with several brightly colored rubber bands.

He was seated at a booth directly within the vixen's line of sight, his brow furrowing slightly as he seemingly appraised her.

"I was afraid that I had another flake on my hooves." The goat chuckled sarcastically. "You wouldn't be the first."

A rather smug smile crawled across the vixen's muzzle. She was going to have a lot of fun with this dork.

"Do I still have the option?" The vixen remarked with a grin. " Maybe those other guys were on to something?"

The goat let out a scoff. "Not unless you're looking to trade up for a stay in Juvie." He replied.

Val lolled her head from side to side, furrowing her brow to make it look as though she were seriously weighing her options. However, the goat didn't seem keen on letting her linger on the idea for too long.

The drab goat gestured her over with a brisk hoof.

"Please, have a seat." The billy gestured to the seat across from him.

With a lame shrug, Val ambled over to the booth, taking a particularly lazy squat on the hard and uncomfortable seating. Val draped an arm across the upper ledge of the booth, lolling her head back slightly as she tried to make herself as comfortable as possible.

"Alright, so you are..." The goat pulled up a clip board, taking a few moments to flip through the pages. "Valerie Vulpes, correct?"

Val lolled her head to one side lazily, her eyes drifting to one of the cut out photos of a Bug Burga and Cicada chips hung from the ceiling with fishing line. The vixen watched as the glossy image of greasy food continued a slow rotation, the cheap cardboard placard carried by the weak current of the restaurant's central air conditioning.

"Am I?" Val asked with a chuckle. "Who wants to know?"

The goat let out a tired grumble. "Look, I just need a confirmation for legal reasons, alright?"

"I am..." The vixen replied dully.

The goat quickly scribbled something on to the page he had flipped to.

"Okay, Valerie Vulpes, Welcome to-"

"Val." The vixen was quick to cut him off. "My Ol' Mam's the only one who is allowed to use my full name. It's weird if anyone else says it."

The goat placed a hoof to his temple, massaging it lightly.

" Okay Val." The goat continued. " Well, let me be the first to extend a warm, Bug Burga family welcome to you."

"Warm eh?" The vixen chuckled. " Reminds me more of one of those _'warm family welcomes'_they give out in the Burrows." Val flashed a rather snarky smirk. "Y'know, the kind said with a forced smile while the barrel of a shotgun is pressed into your back?"

"My name is Gustav Hornsley." The billy continued, seemingly choosing to ignore Val's comment on southern hospitality. "I'm the assistant manager, although at this point I'm basically acting on the Manager'sbehalf for all of our franchisesdecisions."

"Right..." Val nodded absently, the vixen only sort of half listening.

"I take it you've already been given a run down of exactly which days you'll be working and your hours so long as this little arrangement is in place?" Gus asked, quirking a brow.

"Graveyard Shift, Thursday to Sunday." Val stated grimly. "All Summer, or until this place forces my spirit from this mortal coil, whichever comes first."

Gus nodded. "Ten PM to Six AM." The goat uttered. "Of course, if you should decide you'd like to stay on the Bug Burga team after your civil service debt is up, as long as you perform to expectations I will be more than happy to keep this arrangement in place." Gus offered a rather meek, hopeful smirk. " I'd even be willing to discuss adding a few day shifts on if you would like."

Val chuckled, shaking her head dismissively. "No way dude." The vixen replied. "As soon as I'm square with the ZPD, I'm gonesville."

Gus let out a rather tired sounding sigh. "Of course..." The billy lamented. "Again, you wouldn't be the first..."

The vixen grinned. "Well, what kind of mammal in their right mind would willingly want to work the night shift at some fast food joint?" Val replied bluntly. "I figure even most nocturnal mammals would have better things to do with their time."

The billy furrowed his brow, letting out a soft huff. " You know, it's actually relatively easy work compared to the day shift.." Gus replied. "I'm basically paying you to baby sit this place and fill the hoof full of orders that come in."

Val crossed her arms, eyeing the goat suspiciously.

"So why don't you do it?" The vixen asked.

Gus let out a snort. "Because I have...obligations that won't allow me totake on those extra days on top of managing a good chunk of the day shifts."

"Ah, see!" The vixen exclaimed, flashing the billy a wide grin. "Even you have better things to do."

Gus let out an exasperatedsigh. "Look, regardless of what you think, I need this position filled for however long I can keep it filled." The goat muttered. "Corporate says we have to be open twenty-four hours even if barely anyone shows up!" Gus snorted. "Honestly, you should be grateful, if it wasn't for the fact that this position existed you'd be looking at six months in juvie easy." Gus snapped, placing his hoof to his temple once more as his nostrils flared in annoyance. "No amount of pleading from the hounds would have magically made a position available."

Val quirked a curious brow. "Hounds?"

"Your co-worker." The goat replied. "Well he's one of them anyway." Gus continued, stabbing a single finger in the air. "A mammal I'll have you know willingly took the night shift position."

Val let out a slight scoff. "Must be a real _special_kind of mammal..." The vixen replied mockingly.

The goat let out a loud, irritated huff. "Watch what you say about my fr-!"

"Gus?" The vixen's ears perked at the sound of a voice coming from somewhere deeper within the bowels of the restaurant. "Everythin' alright out there?"

Turning his attention in the direction of the counter, the goat placed a hoof aside his muzzle as he yelled a reply. "I'm fine Vern!" Gus replied, his suddenly pleasant tone sounding rather forced. "Just dealing with the new hire!"

The sound of sharp metal clattering caused the vixen to wince as she watched the seemingly vacant kitchen for the source of the rather deep, gravely voice.

"Time fer me to come out there and take the reins?" The voice replied, with a surprisingly thick drawl. It was an accent that did no favors for the mammal Val already pegged as being touched in the head for choosing to work the night shift. _'This goat must have been really desperate to fill this shift.'_The vixen thought to herself.

Gus sighed. "You may as well, I'm about done here..." The goat called back. "In more ways than one." Gus muttered quietly, glaring the vixen's way.

Val offered him a lopsided smile, pleased that she had managed to get under the goat's pelt so quickly.

"I'm just gettin' some more cicada chips outta the back!" The rural sounding dullard called back. "I'll be out in two shakes of alamb'stail!"

Gus let out another sigh, bringing his hooves together and interlocking his fingers as he glanced back at the vixen, his yellow eyes sharpening their gaze on her as he visibly struggled to force a smile to his face.

"So..." The goat spoke, continuing his forced pleasantries. "Before I hand you off to your co-worker for training, do you have any additional questions about the position?" Gus asked.

Val offered the billy a wry smirk, her eyes gleaming as the fixed on the clump of paper towels wrapped around his rather stunted horn.

"So what's with your horn?" The vixen asked bluntly. "You lose a fight or something?"

Gus' forced smile immediately faded, the billy recoiling slightly in surprise.

"W-what?!" The billy spat back.

"I mean I can't see you winning a fight so..." The vixen said with a smug smirk. "Or did you get it stuck in something and it snapped off?"

"It's a congenital condition!" Gus replied with an irritatedhuff.

Val scrunched her muzzle in slight confusion, her ears loping at different angles as she stared blankly back at Gus.

The goat let out a tired sigh. "A birth defect?" The goat continued, flashing the vixen a dull glare. "Surely you know what those are?"

Val let out an irritated huff. "Of course I do." The vixen replied confidently, despite having never heard the word _'congenital'_before. "So...you got like a conjoined twin under there or...?"

The goat let out an annoyed sigh.

"Blood doesn't flow into my horn properly..." Gus explained. "So it can only grow about this high..." the billy continued, gesturing a hoof near the level where his stump of a horn abruptly ended. "Before it gets all flakey and crumbles."

Val nodded dumbly, pretending she fully understood the billy's admission.

"So...what's with the kludge job?" The vixen asked, gesturing to the horn in question.

"The what?" Gus asked.

The vixen rolled her eyes. "The paper towels and rubber bands?" Val replied. "It's not bleeding is it?"

Gus winced slightly as he raised his hooves up to the stump, protectively shielding it as he seemed to shrink in his seat to some degree.

"This_'kludge'_as you called it is..." The billy shifted uncomfortably. "It's to keep the flakes of dead horn from ending up everywhere..." Gus muttered uncomfortably. "And..to keep the..." His voice grew lower in tenor, the billy growing increasingly visibly embarrassed of his affliction. "To keep the bugs out."

Val grinned mischievously at the billy.

"Bugs huh?" the vixen chuckled. "I'd think that'd be a plus working here wouldn't it? I mean, it could probably save some money on ordering bug meat when you could supply it yourself."

Gus huffed in annoyance despite a slight blush forming on his muzzle. It was clear the vixen had found a sore spot that would provide her hours and hours of material over the next few months.

"Do you want to go to juvie or not!?" Gus replied angrily, the goat now cradling his damaged horn. "Because I'm this close to just tearing up your application an-!"

"Woah, easy there Gus..." The drawl laden voice had suddenly returned, louder now. It quickly drew the vixen's attention away from torturing her presumptive boss and back in the direction of the kitchen just in time to watch a rather large, grey form finish hopping over over the counter and begin to make his way toward the pair of mammals.

Val did her best to keep her muzzle from opening slightly as the large canine approached them. It was a wolf, that much was obvious. The vixen could only surmise it had been one of the wolves from her rather hazy hospital memories as she slipped in and out of consciousness. However, she hadn't exactly remembered any of them being as big as this one was. The large, grey and cream colored mammal easily towered over both her and the goat she was seated across from. A rough estimate told her he had to have at least two feet over her, which wasn't far above average for wolves, but something about his body language made him seem far larger than he was. Yet despite his rather large, off putting aura, the wolf bore a wide, goofy grin as he regarded the seated mammals. His deep green eyes gleaming with a sort of naive excitement.

"I'm sure she's just curious is all..." The wolf added in a rather upbeat tone. "Ain't exactly deservin' of issuin' walkin' papers over it."

Gus furrowed his brow, his cheeks puffing slightly.

"You didn't hear the lead up to it." The goat grumbled.

The sudden appearance of the large wolf had thrownthe vixen off for a moment, but it had passed quickly as Val easily shifted back into her previously aloof and mischievous self.

"This guy's my co-worker?" The vixen asked.

"Oh, yes." Gus replied, turning his attention back to the vixen seated across from him. "Val I'd like you to meet Vernon Hunter." The goat said, gesturing casually to the large wolf. "Vernon, I trust you are already familiar with our new hire, Val."

Vernon extended a paw, the large canine maintaining his beaming smile as he did so.

"Nice to actually meet ya under better circumstances Miss Val." The wolf replied.

Val gazed at his outstretched paw for a moment, then back up to the wolf's wide friendly smile, squinting as she did so. To her, it was the kind of smile that told her there was nothing going on between those ears of his. The mark of a rube. And his hick accent only confirmed that her appraisal was that much more grounded in reality.

Val rolled her eyes, letting out a sharp exhale that caused the tuft of hair resting gingerly against her muzzle to bounce slightly. Turning her attention back to Gus, the vixen chose to ignore the wolf's gesture.

"Wait, so if you've got this wolf on staff for the shift, then why do you need me?" Val asked, pointing a thumb in Vernon's direction. "Is he just that bad at doing his job? I mean I know he's a wolf but still..."

Out of the corner of her eye, Val could see the wolf's smile wilt, his ears flattening slightly as he reluctantly withdrew his paw.

"You see what I mean." Gus said to the large wolf, lamely gesturing in Val's direction. However, the billy didn't seem to be looking for a response from Vernon as he quickly turned his gaze back on the vixen.

"Again, it's corporate policy. Not my choice." Gus responded. "They dictate that two mammals are required to work the night shift at minimum." the billy continued, stabbing a finger down into the table as if to emphasize his point.

"If it wasn't for that policy Vern here could more than handle this place himself." The billy continued. "If anything, having you around is going to be a hindrance."

"Aw, now Gus." The wolf objected. "She's just a pup..."

"We're throwing her a boon here and all she does is quip, jab and jeer!: The goat huffed. "She just insulted you, and you're gonna-?" Gus snapped at the large wolf before his rather passive shrug completely muted the end of the billy's statement. With an annoyed sigh, Gus turned his attention back to vixen.

"Look, I'm not happy with this arrangement either, okay?" Gus admitted frankly, his sharp yellow eyes glaring back at Val's with a hint of contempt. "But beggars can't exactly be choosers."

Val rolled her eyes. How many times was she going to hear that phrase tonight?

"Fact of the matter is I need _two_mammals to work the night shift because corporate says I do." Gus stated bluntly, stabbing the table with a hoof-nail once again. "And aside from Vernon I can't keep an employee to fill that position for more than a month without either switching to the day shift or quitting due to boredom!"

Val tried to refrain from wincing at the goat's admission. She figured the job would be boring, but to know that it was so dull it repeatedly drove mammals to quit was a worrying thought.

"Having the position filled for three months guaranteed was too good an opportunity to pass up." The goat added with atired sigh.

"Well that..." The goat continued, throwing a rather irritated looking glare toward the large wolf standing nearby. "And the fact that I could only endure having to listen to not one, but two wolves whine insistently over it until I agreed to take you on for so long beforemy choice was either to listen to them or sow my ears shut." Gus hissed.

Val glanced back at the deformed goat for a moment, the vixen blinking rapidly in confusion before turning her attention back to the large, rural wolf.

Vernon smiled proudly back at the diminutive goat's glare, appearing completely unfazed by the billy's obvious displeasure. "Love y'all too bud." The wolf responded with a lopsided grin of his own.

Val's confusion only deepened as the wolf turned his toothy grin back in her direction. Her ears skewing at slightly different angles, she momentarily questioned her initial assessment. Just what was this wolf's game anyway, and why exactly had he gone to bat for her?

However, those thoughts were quick to dissipate as the wolf continued his broad, seemingly genuine smile. Leaving the vixen to simply shrug, letting out a quiet dull sigh.

_"Mam' , wolves really are dumb..."_The vixen thought to herself.

"Anywho." The goat abruptly clapped his hooves together, snapping Val back to attention. "I think I've said all I needed to say." The goat chuckled as he eased out of his seat.

Rising to stand next to the wolf, Gus seemed barely any larger than he had been sitting down. The goat gestured to his rather large friend, offering Val a rather smugly satisfied smile.

"With that, I leave you in Vernon's capable paws." The goat chuckled, patting Vernon on the arm as he glanced up at thewolf.

"She's your problem now Sheepdog." Gus said with a laugh. "Keep her from burning the kitchen down will ya?"

Vernon gave Gus a brisk nod.

"Y'all got it boss." Vernon replied with a chuckle.

Gus rolled his eyes. "Don't call me that." His response only managed to earn another chuckle from the large canine.

Sidling around the large wolf, it wasn't long before the dowdy billy was making hoof tracks for the exit. Val quickly craned her head around to follow him, one last question urgently rising in her mind.

"Hey bug horn! When do I get paid?" Val shouted.

The goat didn't turn around as he opened the double doors, Gus flicking a lame hoof in her direction.

" Every two weeks Scrapefoot." The goat replied. "On Fridays."

Val raised an eyebrow, a small smirk forming on her muzzle. It was impressive to hear the billy pull out the rather antiquated slang of_'Scrapefoot', a term both synonymous with fox folklore, as well as the public perception of foxes having a lazy demeanor. Essentially, foxes were believed to _'drag their feet' whenever work came calling.

With that, Gus was out the door. The sound of the lock clicking signifying that Val was now alone with her new co-worker.

The vixen glanced up at the large wolf, Vernon, seemingly still rather pleased with himself despite the lingering awkward silence that had been left with the goat's hasty retreat. For a moment Val couldn'thelp but wonder if the wolf's brain had simply stopped working, leaving him smiling blithely at her while the wind whistled between his ears. But much to her surprise, the wolf eventually broke the silence.

"Uh, so...er...you ready to get started?" Vernon asked, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.

Val reflected the wolf's previously air-headed looking smile back at him.

"Gosh golly, y'all mean there's work I'm fixin' to do?" Val fired back, trying her paw at a more insulting sounding version of Vernon's drawl. "I just figured we'd just sit here all night waitin' till that goat fella came back! Hyuck!" Val added, biting her lip to expose her teeth in a lopsided, mocking grin.

Vernon chuckled, shaking his head softly.

"Alright, so lucky fer you we already have some fox size uniforms in the back." The wolf replied, appearing to ignore her carefully crafted impression of him as he pointed a thumb behind the counter.

"I'll get started cleanin' up the tables and gatherin' the trash, and y'all can come out as soon as yer dressed and help." The wolf continued, turning and making his way back to the counter as he spoke. "And don't think y'all can just hide back there till the works done." The wolf chuckled. "It don't take more than five minutes er less to slip the uniform on."

"Y'all gonna come there and get me iffin' I don't sir?" The vixen continued to hem and haw. "That might be grounds fer sexual harassment iffin' you do's!"

The wolf let out another chuckle as he hopped the counter with surprising swiftness.

"After that, I'll run y'all through how to make all the food and stuff. It's real easy." The wolf continued, nonplussed. Now on the opposite side of the counter, the wolf pulled a large cart of cleaning supplies from beyond the vixen's line of sight.

"Well I should trust a wolf to know if something's easy, right?" The vixen replied, her laugh withering in the wake of her failed attempts to get a rise out of the large wolf.

Vernon simply shook his head, pulling an empty trash bag free of the cart.

"Go on now." The wolf added.

Val let out an irritated huff, her large coif of hair dancing across her nose as she slumped in her seat. She knew she had pretty much done everything she could to avoid getting to this point. But now there was nothing left to do but suit up and actually get to work. Eight hours of miserable drudgery lay ahead of her. She could only hope those eight hours would pass quickly, but judging by what Gus had said about just how boring the work was, as well as the wolf's lack of acknowledgement of her jibes providing zero entertainment for her, she imagined it would feel like an eternity before the sun finally rose and signified the end of her shift. With a defeated sigh, the vixen pushed herself out of the booth, and with a downcast muzzle she began to trudge toward the counter.

She wasn't sure whether she should have been thankful her training seemed to pass by quickly. After cleaning the front of the restaurant, and taking the days trash out to the dumpster, the wolf's teachings on how to make the restaurants rather infamous foodstuffs seemed to fly by. Granted, the fact that most of the recipes involved sticking said food item in boiling grease for two minutes certainly simplified things. And while most of it made Val's stomach turn to cook, at the very least it was nearly impossible to screw up. That said, she made sure her new co-worker wasn't spared from a volley of remarks about the ease of Bug Burga food preparation. Everything from how it suddenly made sense to the vixen how the wolf could so easily master such _'complex'_work, to asking him if he had ever tried to pull food out of the fryers with his bare paws because he forgot that oil was _'hot'._But despite her best efforts the wolf continued to laugh off her remarks. Unlike her new manager, it seemed like an impossible task to get under the wolf's pelt. It was disappointing to say the least. After all, if she couldn't entertain herself by tormenting the big dumb wolf who had got her the job, than what was she supposed to do for the rest of her shifts?

As the desire to tease Vernon began to wither due to lack of response, the vixen's mind began to wander to other things about the rather strange wolf. As she watched the rather cheery wolf explain each process with an unflappable sense of optimism, her thoughts increasingly drifted back to what her new manager had said about Vernon in his rather frank breakdown.

"And the fact that I could only endure having to listen to not one, but two wolves whine insistently over it until I agreed to take you on for so long before my choice was either to listen to them or sow my ears shut."

The phrase replayed over and over in her mind, growing increasingly louder as she struggled to deconstruct it on her own. Why had this wolf fought to keep her out of juvenile hall? There had to be a motive. There was no way it was simply out of the goodness of his heart. But what could he have stood to gain by helping her out? He didn't know her after all. And for all of her snark and wisecracks Val had spent the last half hour lobbing his way, the wolf continued to seem unfazed by them. Not even a single comeback despite the wealth of material about foxes he surely had to know about. His chuckling and rather naive looking smile persisting despite the vixen's best efforts to get his hackles up. Either he hadn't heard all the nasty rumors about how foxes behaved, didn't care to throwwhat he had heard back her way, or was simply as dumb as her repitoire of wolf jokes had him pegged to be.

It was a conundrum to say the least, one that gnawed at her more and more as the wolf went over standard procedures until she could no longer resist the urge to touch on the subject.

"And that's how y'all make one of our signature fruit blends." The wolf concluded, gesturing to the large purple colored drink he now held in his paw. " O'course this here's the grape flavor, but the only real difference between all of 'em is the syrup y'all use..." The wolf chuckled as he placed a straw in the cup. "Well that, and grape tastes the best." The large wolf proceeded to sip of the drink, letting out a soft, pleasant sigh.

Val nodded absentmindedly, the vixen now clad in a tacky Bug Burga uniform of her own as she sat on the adjacent stainless steel counter, idly kicking her legs as she half listened to Vernon's instruction. Despite allegedly being sized for foxes, the rather frumpy red and orange attire felt stiff and restrictive against her pelt. Each lazy sway of her legs forced the rather coarse, uncomfortable material to rub up against her fur. It was a mild irritation to be sure, not enough to keep her from moving at all. But the material still managed to make her pelt itch slightly with each movement. They had also somehow managed to make the outfit both too tight in some areas and too loose in others, a remarkable achievement. Had the vixen not read one of the tags on the other spare uniforms to confirm it was made with cotton, she would have been certain they had actually made the things out of burlap. But regardless of what the material actually was, it made the rather garish red and yellow pin striping look more as though it was crudely painted atop the material rather than dyed all the way through.

Of course, the worst part of the uniform was the rather gaudy undersized diner style hat with the Bug Burga logo emblazoned across one side of it. The vixen threw a leery side eye at the wad of material laying neatly to her side before glancing back at the wolf adjacent her as he took another sip of his drink, his own matching hat hooked onto one of his ears as his tail wagged softly behind him. As if he didn't look like enough of a simpleton already, that dorky hat managed to add a whole 'nother layer to his goofy look. But hey, if he was willing to wear it for both their sakes, the vixen certainly wasn't complaining.

Placing his drink on the nearby counter, the wolf clapped his paws together briskly, drawing Val out of her thoughts.

"So..." The wolf rubbed his paws together. "I'm purty sure that's everythin' I've got to teach y'all." The wolf shrugged. "O'course I'll be here anyway to help y'all if you need a refresher on how to make any of that stuff." The wolf chuckled dully. "Ain't like I got anywhere else to be after all."

The vixen watched as the wolf stretched a paw over to the far side of the counter, pulling a dark black satchel closer to him. Giving the bag a ginger pat, the wolf glanced back toward the vixen.

"If I ain't checkin' grease traps er' hosin' down somethin', I'll be sittin' at one of the tables up front doin' college work." The wolf added, gesturing toward the table where Val and Gus had previously been seated at.

The vixen furrowed her brow slightly, a bemused expression crossing her muzzle as her mind struggled with the rather contradictory prospect of a wolf seeking out higher education. She was tempted to comment on it but ultimately decided against it. Considering how well her previous gags had gone over in terms of annoying the wolf, she imagined bringing up his would only serve to get a similar lack of reaction from him.

"And don't worry about pullin' me away from it er' nothin'." The wolf added, with the same irritatingly warm smile he had been sporting for most of the night. "Some of them menu items can be purty tricky and..."Vernon winced slightly, bracing the back of his neck with a paw. " Admittedly, masterin' 'em can take a little longer fer mammals on the night shift."

Val's tail swished idly as she cocked her head at the tall wolf.

"Why's that?" The vixen asked.

Vernon lolled his head uncomfortably.

"Well...As Gus mentioned workin' the night shift is purty..." The wolf gestured his paws up slightly. "Slow."

"Boring." Val corrected, quirking a brow. "Right?"

The wolf sighed. "I prefer to say slow."

The vixen smirked slightly at the thought of ribbing the wolf using the word slow, remarking that it seemed to be his species fixed speed. But once again the vixen bit her tongue, as it was yet another opportunity that would presumably fall flat to annoy Vernon.

"I mean don't get me wrong." The wolf added. "We got some cleanin' ahead of us, and some nights are busier than others in terms of cleanin'." Vernon offered a shrug.

"Thing is, Gus's old Mam'-" The wolf paused, coughing into his paw. "The Manager." The wolf corrected himself. "Has the day shifters clean up most of the stuff on their way out." Vernon continued. "On top o' that, the Manager has a lot of new-fangled, prototype machines back here he don't want us wagers tinkering with their guts." The wolf chuckled. "There's a special crew that comes in every couple o' days from corporate that handles that."

"Nah, The real tough part is more about rememberin' how to make stuff off the menu when customers actually show sincey'all don't get as much practice as the day shifters." The wolf admitted, rubbing his neck uncomfortably."Heavy repetition makes it easier to remember."

Val furrowed her brow. "So what do I do then?" The vixen queried.

Vernon offered a shrug. "Got one of them smartphones?"

Val rolled her eyes at the question, letting out an amused snort. What mammal didn't carry a smartphonein this day and age?

"Of course I do, grandpa." The vixen chuckled.

"Well the wifi's free in this place, so y'all can use the internet and chat services and such." The wolf slipped his own phone out of his pocket, gesturing a paw to it as he turned the face toward himself. "O' course, there's always games too." The wolf chuckled. "Now would be a good time to have a few of 'em on paw y'all have been meaning to play."

Val grimaced. While grateful to have any internet at all in this grease shack, the vixen wasn't sure she'd be able to keep herself entertained on that much alone for seven and a half hours, and that was just for this evening. At this rate, the vixen could scarcely conceive what the rest of her summer was going to be like.

"That's it?" Val asked. "That's all I've got to keep me busy for the rest of the shift?"

The wolf offered a rather nervous smile, raising his paws defensively.

"Well, there's always talkin'." The wolf replied. "Speakin' of..."The wolf scratched the back of his head. "Now that I've been over all this stuff, ya got any questions for me?"

Val looked at her legs for a moment, continuing to idly sway them back and forth as she ruminated on her situation. Stuck in a Bug Burga for eight hours, four days a week, all Summer, with nothing to do but play phone games or talk to some dumb old wolf. In that moment the vixen began to wonder if perhaps she had died in the motorcycle accident, and this Bug Burga was meant to be her purgatory, or maybe even Hades itself. She had once heard her father mention something about the 'banality of evil' when she was younger. It was something she hadn't understood at the time, but now...

The vixen shook her head briskly in an effort to chase away the thought. No, she was most certainly alive. After all, maybe she had deserved purgatory, but her father certainly didn't, so there was no way he would have been here to deliver her unto this place. Also, the mean chafe that was starting to form on her thighs from the fabric continually brushing across her legs felt far too real.

With that mental quandary out of the way, the vixen's mind returned to that question that had been slowly burning in her mind as her attention turned back to the wolf with the friendly smile. Just why had he helped her out? Was he just some bleeding heart? Or was there more to this wolf than his vacant looking eyes seemed to express.

"Alright, I gotta know..." Val uttered with a sigh, her kicking finally ceasing as she squinted at the towering wolf suspiciously. "What's your angle?"

"Huh?" Vernon asked, his ear's skewing in different directions as a confused expression crawled across her muzzle.

"That buggy horned goat said _'you whined at him'_to hire me." The vixen continued, her glare growing sharp and accusatory as Vernon's tail grew still, and began to sag. "You do that for every teenage vixen you come across or..?"

Suddenly it dawned on her, the most obvious answer. It was something Val cursed herself for being as dumb as the wolf in question for not thinking of in the first place. Of course this hick had heard the old fox stereotypes. But not just the bits about foxes being sneaky and shifty on the whole, no. He had also clearly heard about vixen's being an easy lay. With that revelation, the mystery had been solved. This dumb wolf hadn't planned on helping her out without getting a taste of some _'cookie'_in return.

"Ahh...I get it." Val cooed, a wry smirk forming on her muzzle as she eyed the wolf suspiciously. "You were hoping for a reward, is that it?"

The wolf's confusion persisted, his brow furrowing as hescratched his head.

"Reward?" The wolf replied.

Val pressed her paws against the counter, leaning forward slightly as she traced the wolf with her eyes. He may have been dumb, sure. But he wasn't half bad looking.Tall,broad-shoulderedunlike most wolves. The vixen flashed a mischievous smile at the wolf, licking her lip slightly, her blue eyes tracing the crotch of his pin striped pants as she continued her appraisal. Surely a wolf of this size was hiding a roll of quarters in that pair of pants to match.

Val wasn't normally the type of vixen to give in to a pred looking for a quick, cheap rut. In fact, the kind of mammals who felt 'entitled'_to getting aroundwith her based on the stereotype surrounding female foxes usually ended up earning a swift kick in the crotch for their troubles. But the prospect of mating with a wolf, something she had never done before was somewhat intriguing. At least, intriguing enough to see exactly how the wolf planned to play off his _'noble deed'.

"You know..." The vixen bobbed her eyebrows seductively, signaling to the wolf with her shimmering blue eyes as she glanced down to her own hidden nethers. "Reward?" She cooed.

Val watched as the 'v' between Vernon's brow deepened, the wolf looking just as confused as before.

"I...I'm sorry?" Vernon replied, his tone laced with confusion. "I don't under-"

"Boy, you wolves really are dumb." Val cut him off, rolling her eyes as she let out a scoff. Jerking her head in a quick motion in aneffort to swish her coif out of her eyes, the vixen made a slow, deliberate show of spreading her legs suggestively, trying to appear as sexy as she could while basically wearing a clown's uniform.

"Do I need to spell it out for you?" The vixen let out a soft, suggestive moan, batting her eyes at her co-worker seductively.

The wolf blinked rapidly for a moment, his confused expression remaining only for a brief moment before his eyes grew wide in surprise and what appeared to be horror. It appeared the wolf had finally gotten the message, but his reaction was somewhat startling.

"W-WHAT!?" The wolf spat, taking a step back fromthe vixen and banging his lower back into the counter behind him with an audible thunk. Val winced slightly, her ears drooping as the wolf let out a sudden whine, Vernon aggressively rubbing the impact point on his back as he averted his gaze from Val's own.

"S-Sweet Sawgrass, No Ma'am!" The wolf retorted nervously.

Val cocked her head in her own confusion as the wolf continued to cow away from her. Had she gotten it wrong? The big dumb hick dog hadn't been looking to get in her pants?

"Hey dude, like...it's fine." The vixen tried to reassure him, still somewhat bewildered by his reaction. "I'm not mad or anything, I'm actually kinda curious myself so..."

"T-Teeth to tails gal! I'm twenty-eight!" The wolf replied, his muzzle now flaring red in embarrassment. "And what are you, sixteen?"

Val was still somewhat surprised by the wolf's over the top performance. It all seemed genuine, at least as far as she could tell. She imagined most other vixen's in her situation would have been embarrassed by the misunderstanding. But the fact that she had finally found a method to get the wolf's dander up easily buried any semblance of shame or awkwardness under a wash of gleeful impish pleasure. She was going to have fun with this.

"I'll be seventeen in a month and a half." The vixen replied, licking her lips as she smiled back at the flustered wolf. Val leaned forward once again, her tone lowered to that of a husky, seductive whisper. "I won't tell my Dad..." Val cooed. "We can just go in the back and..."

"Ab-Absolutelynot lil' Miss!" The wolf rebuffed, his expression looking almost pained as he did so.

"C'mon, you can't tell me you've never wanted a go at a vixen before." Val continued to tease. Doing her best to stifle her urge to laugh as she watched the wolf continue to stumble over himself.

"I-I'm staunchly a she-wolf kinda male." Vernon stuttered.

The vixen rolled her eyes. "Foxes and wolves are in the same family." The vixen chuckled. "We're both canines. Practically cousins." Val could barely contain her snicker. Again, another jab about the wolf being into mating with his cousins considering his clear rural background. It was starting to look like those months that lay aheadwould be significantly less boring with this card in her paw.

Vernon briskly shook his headin dismissal. "Look, Miss Val..." Vernon seemed to be struggling to compose himself. "Even if you was close to my age...I mean..." The large grey wolf continued. " I'm about as attracted to y'all as...like some sorta inanimate object..." The wolf gestured a trembling paw at nothing in particular. "Like bein' attracted to a woolly sweater er' somethin'."

Val faked a pouting expression, her legs shifting back to idly swinging as she turned her gaze to the floor.

"Ouch." The vixen replied. It was a half-truth. While she was teasing the wolf, being compared to a sweater didn't exactly make her feel all that great.

"And I don't even know anythin' about y'all!" The wolf added, shaking his head dismissively. "I prefer to get to know a gal before...y'know...gettin' intimate." The wolf's tone grew quieter toward the end of his statement, barely a whisper as he spoke the word 'intimate', although he feared being scolded like a pup.

The inadvertent jab, coupled with the wolf's own admission that he barely knew the vixen had drawn Val's mind back to the topic at paw. Now slightly flustered herself, the vixen furrowed her brow in annoyance.

"So then why did you help me!?" The vixen spat in an irritated tone. "Why did you go to bat for someone you don't even know if not for an easy rut!?"

Despite still maintaining a slight blush, and a look of discomfort, the wolf managed a rather calm reply.

"Yer Pa..." Vernon replied, his eyes drifting down toward his feet. "Me and my brother felt bad fer yer Pa alright?"

Val cocked her head in mild confusion. "Your brother?"

Vernon let out a sigh. "He's the other wolf Gus mentioned. My brother Wade." The tall wolf admitted with a shrug. "I...dunno what yer father told y'all...but..."

"Not that much..." Val admitted, rubbing her upper arm uneasily. While not willing to admit to the wolf that she hadn't done much in the way of talking to her father about any of this until just this evening, it was easy to be honest about her lack of knowledge in terms of exactly what went down while she was unconscious.

"My brother is a new recruit fer the ZPD." The wolf continued. " Him and his senior Officer, that rhino fella, were in the area when y'all took that spill off yer bike. And so they were the one's waitin' at the hospital to get in touch with yer family about...well..." Vernon winced uncomfortably. "The charges you were facin'.."

"And where does my Dad come in?" Val asked curiously.

With a soft grunt, Vernon pressed himself up onto the counter behind him, the wolf taking a similar stance to Val's own as he continued to spin his tale.

"Welp, when yer Pa came down to the hospital, and Officer Keras told 'em what ya'll were lookin' at in terms of sentencin', yer Pa just broke down completely." The wolf frowned. "At least that's what my brother said anyway."

The vixen winced. She could vaguely recall some hazy images of her father with the officers, but it all seemed more like a dream than anything else.

"He sobbed and begged, throwin' himself at them officer's mercy fer y'all." The wolf said with a somber sigh. "Tellin' 'em about how difficult everythin' has been fer the both of y'all over the years, what with yer...I mean..." The wolf's voice grew low, his tone sounding increasingly uncomfortable as he continued. "What happened with yer Ma and all..."

Val froze slightly, a tinge of pain squeezing at her chest as she continued to picture her father's pleading for her freedom. Imagining him having to discuss with some degree of detail what happened to Marian to strangers must have gutted the Ol' Mam considering he could barely discuss it with the vixen to this day. Val could feel that familiar ball of guilt starting to form in the pit of her stomach as she continued to listen to Vernon.

"Havin' to raise y'all by himself, and y'all basically goin' through life without a Mama...I..." The wolf shook his head, letting out a soft sniffle. "I can't even imagine..."

"So...my Dad..." Val muttered, trying to keep her emotions steady as she spoke. "He convinced the cops-."

"He convinced my brother." Vernon replied uncomfortably. "Had ol' Wade blubberin' like a pup by the end of it." The wolf offered a weak chuckle. "Not that I was much better when I heard about it myself." The wolf shook his head. "But Officer Keras was...less sympathetic to yer Ol' Mam's plight."

Val tilted her head in confusion.

"Then wh-?" The vixen shook her head. "Then how? I mean how did I-?"

Vernon gestured a paw in the direction of the front of the restaurant, pointed a claw to the outdoor picnic area just outside the main windows.

"Can y'all see that lamp post there?" The wolf asked. "The one flickering?"

Val squinted to make out the object that stood beyond the outdoor patio, the looming lamppost on the edge of the street that seemed to be flickering on and off periodically. A few, brief illuminations quickly made the vixen aware that not only was it faulty, but seemed to be leaning slightly off-center.

"Lucky fer y'all, this Bug Burga happened to be the one y'all crashed into." The wolf continued with a chuckle. "We may have fixed the table purty quickly, but that lamp post you dinged mid-spill is still there markin' the site. It's the only evidence that yer little accident even happened." The wolf shook his head. "Y'all know the city takes it's sweet time to fix things like that."

Val offered the wolf a slightly confused expression, ears loping off to different sides as she eyed him.

"Point bein'." The wolf seemed to take her gesture as a sign to continue."Not only did I have an ear on the inside with Wade, but the fact that y'all had plowed into our restaurant meant that ol' Gus had some say in the charges bein' pressed."

Once again, Vernon flashed the vixen his rather familiar lopsided smile.

"As y'all probably can guess, Ol' Gus was dyin' to fill out this extra slot." The wolf laughed. "Even enrolled in a bunch of government rehabilitation programs just to keep the damn thing filled up."

"So then he...?" The vixen muttered, glancing at the double doors the irritable old billy had ambled through just half anhour earlier.

"Well, not without me and Wade houndin' him to take you on." The wolf continued with a laugh. "It wasn't easy, even with him bein' desperate to fill the space up he was still purty reluctant to take on another...er..." The wolf squirmed uncomfortably, his tone growing low as he spoke. "Fox." The wolf uttered at practically a whisper.

"But you was still a pup, at least that's what I said." The wolf chuckled. "Pups make mistakes." Vernon shrugged. "Don't deserveto have yer life ruined over somethin' like that."

Despite the sincerity, Val couldn't help but roll her eyes. She had been saved by not one, but two dumb wolves. The brother wolves naivety in terms of knowing what Val was actually up to, or capable of, keeping her out of Juvenile hall by the fur's breadth of her tail. For a moment she found herself mentally weighing Vernon and the unseen Wade's wolfish intellect against Ed's, wondering just which of the mammals were dumber before settling on the wolves being just a smidgen more intelligent than that empty-headed hyena. Still, it painted a clearer picture as to why a mammal like Vernon worked at this hole in the wall. And it kept at least one more wolf from being entrusted with any sort of police weaponry, unlike his brother. Why they allowed wolves to be cops Val still couldn't help but question.

Still, the fact that Vernon had brought up _'foxes'_in that hushed, uneasy tone told the vixen it was clear he was well aware of the stigma surrounding them. Of the stereotypes that painted foxes as nothing more than shifty criminals, looking to scam the next sap they stumbled upon. Knowing that, it spurred a final question to the forefront of the vixen's mind.

"So...how do you know my Dad wasn't lying about me huh?" The vixen replied with a scoff, puffing her chest slightly as she flashed the wolf a rather threatening glare. "I mean you know how we foxes are..." Val continued. "We're natural-bornscam artists after all."

The vixen flashed the wolf a smug smile. "I could have been fleeing a petty robbery that night." Val continued. "Or, maybe I vandalized some public property." Val chuckled darkly. "I might of even been in a s-street race and, and..." The vixen tried her best to keep her tone consistent over the little spoonful of truth she had squeezed into her tirade so as to avoid cluing in the rather dim-witted wolf. "I'm probably capable of stealing from the cash register when you'rein the bathroom or whatever." Val concluded, crossing her arms smugly.

Despite her performance, the wolf flashed her his trademark warm, lopsided smile.

"Well first off, we got camera's all over the place." The wolf said with a chuckle, stabbing a claw upward. Following his finger, Val's eyes eventually fell on a small security camera nestled in the ceiling. Panning her gaze along the tiling the vixen easily spotted several more aimed at various parts of the restaurant, appearing to leave no corner unobserved.

"Not that I was worried about that sorta thing anyway..." The wolf continued, drawing Val's attention back to him.

"But even at the time, it was more that me and my brother felt sympathy fer yer ol' Mam." The wolf admitted with a sigh. "And after Wade dragged me out tomeetthe poor fella andhear directly from the source instead of just second paw, I mean..." The wolf sighed. "I could tell he was bein' genuine, and so could my brother."

Val cocked her head curiously. "And how did you manage that?"

The wolf chuckled, pointing a finger to the tip of his snout.

"A Hunter can smell Bullshit from a mile away." Vernon said, tapping his nose. "It's somethin' those of us in the family like to call Hunter's intuition." The wolf chuckled. "And yer ol' man passed our sniffer's test with flyin' colors."

Val let out a scoff, rolling her eyes at the remark.

'On second thought, maybe Ed is smarter than these goons.'_The vixen smirked to herself.'This mook isn't just dumb, but superstitious to boot.'Val sighed. _'Just what have I gotten myself into?'

Vernon seemed to noticed her increasingly bemused expression, however, the wolf seemed nonplussed, instead flashing her a knowing smile.

"He wasn't lyin' then." The wolf continued, crossing his arms. "And neither of y'all were lyin' when y'all shared that little hug out in the parking lot."

Val's eye went wide, her tail fraying up immediately as she gripped the counter.

"W-wait, wh-what?" Val sputtered, the vixen suddenly caught off guard.

Vernon nodded knowingly. " I couldn't exactly hear what ya'll was sayin', but that little moment I caught a glimpse of not only conformed I made the right call with yer Pa, but that yer bite ain't nearly as bad as yer bark Lil' Miss."

"I-I...!" Val stuttered, the vixen growing increasingly flustered as she struggled to find her words. "I di...I mean I-!"

Vernon suddenly held up a paw, stopping the vixen's blithering commentary as he placed a finger against the part of the headset that was pressed into his ear.

"Welcome to Bug Burga, what can I get fer y'all tonight?" The wolf spoke into the microphone hanging from his earpiece. With a grunt, the wolf had pressed himself off the counter, making a casual stride toward the still dumbfounded vixen. Picking up the hat laying at her side, Vernon flicked it open with a paw before gingerly placing it atop her head and gently patting it into place.

"Grapefruitblend? Comin' right up." The wolf continued, flashing the vixen a small smirk as he held a paw over the microphone.

"Well, I just taught y'all that one, so let's see how ya do." The wolf added, before summarily strolling further into the kitchen and leaving the bewildered vixen behind. Finally managing to close her muzzle, the vixen puffed her cheeks in annoyance, her brow furrowing tightly as she glared in the direction the wolf had walked off to. Val gripped the hat on her head with a paw, tossing it sharply to the floor before hopping off the counter herself.

"You didn't see his car too did you!?" The vixen finally managed to bark, her tone a mixture of annoyance and concern as she tromped after the wolf.

Slowly but surely Val began to adjust to the drudgery of working at the Bug Burga, each shift passing just as slowly as the learning curve. However, growingincreasingly acclimated to the environment, and more comfortable with the mammals she worked alongsideof helped to ease the boredom to some degree. Well, as comfortable as she would allow herself to be around her whiny and irritable manager Gus, or her dopey, overly friendly co-worker Vernon. Thankfully, as naive as the wolf seemed most times, he seemed smart enough to never press her too deeply about her father or family after the first night's shift. Not that she would have answered him anyway, of course. But it made the work that much easier to limit conversations to surface interests rather than anything particularly deep. Of course, sometimes Vernon would share stories about his own family, but not in such a way that seemed to invite the vixen to share her own experiences.

To top it off, after completing her first week with admittedly less complaining than both she or her father had expected, the vixen was finally allowed access to the garage, as well as her precious Red. Being reunited with the crumpled machine was bittersweet. On the one paw, Red had certainly seen worse days in his past. But on the other paw, that fact hadn't meant that the accident had been all that merciful to him. While the bike had mostly held together, only losing a few parts in the process, a multitude of the parts still fixed to his frame were too badly damaged to simply try and patch up and hope for the best. They would all require full replacements, and at least several 'stand-in' parts in order to actually use the bike once again when the vixen got her license back. Parts that would allow her to safely use Ol' Red while she returned to hunting and scrounging for the genuine parts to replace over time. It was a somewhat disheartening blow for Val, but not unexpected, and less devastating than she had been imagining while Red's location and state had remained in limbo.

For that first two weeks, the vixen actually managed to develop some semblance of hope that maybe, just maybe, if she scrimped and saved accordingly, maybe even begged her father or Ellie for a loan, she might be able to get Red back on the road in a year, maybe less. But those dreams were utterly dashed with the arrival of her first paycheck, just before her shift.

She hadn't expected a massive paycheck, but what she had received was practically an insult. The paltry sum printed on the scrap of paper was practically mocking her, gleefully dancing on the shattered remains of her slight modicum of optimism that she had struggled to build up over the previous weeks. And that hadn't even accounted for the added salt in the wound provided by the additional _'deductions'_removed from her first weeks pay for her replacement uniform and custom name tag, something that Gus would later apologize for when she angrily confronted the goat at the start of her next shift. Apparently pushing the cost of required workwearon to the employee was also _'corporate policy'._The fact that it fit better than the loaner was little consolation,and to further salt the wound, it wasn'tany more comfortable than the previous ill-fitting temp outfit she had received on her first night.

Needless to say, Val had already been decidedly on edge at the start of that shift. The vixen's emotional core wound tight with a mixture of rage and sorrow. If this is how little she stood to earn enduring working at this little hole in the wall, theneven loans from Cameron or Ellie wouldn't be enough to see Red once again screaming across the back dunes by next summer. Hell, by the next six summers even unless she managed to luck out rooting around through Sandersnout's scrapyard again. But she couldn't exactly count on lightning striking twice. For a brief moment, as the vixen stood tending to a batch of hot cicada chips, Val briefly entertained the idea of simply sticking her face into the fryer. At the very least it would make for an immediate distraction from her current woes, and with the possibility of ending up with a fat stack of workers compensation checks after she got out of the hospital again.

"Y'all alright there Lil' Miss?" Vernon asked, snapping Val out of her rather morbid daydream.

The vixen turned to face her co-worker, flashing the concerned looking wolf a rather dull glare.

"I'm fine Vern." Val muttered. "And would you stop calling me Little Miss already!? Yeesh!"

The wolf let out a soft chuckle, raising his paws defensively as he took a step back from the irate vixen.

"Alright, easy now." The wolf replied, his ears sagging slightly. "Y'all just seemed tense is all." Vernon continued, averting his gaze slightly. "And I think I got my answer on that one." The wolf mumbled quietly.

Val let out a soft huff, her coif of hair dancing against the tip of her snout as her gaze slunk back to the bubbling pit of oil.

"I don't want to talk about it." The vixen grumbled, before throwing the wolf a rather stern glare. "And don't you dare do use that_'Hunter Intuition'_thing on me alright!?" The vixen snapped. "I don't need trying to read me again, it's creepy."

The wolf chuckled softly. "Well, I mean it don't take any kinda fancy sniffin' to tell yer' in a bad mood." Vernon continued. "You've been starin' into the fryer like it was gonna eat y'all fer a good five minutes." The wolf winced. "And about two minutes over the timer fer that matter..."

Val's attention snapped back to the sizzling pit, her nose now suddenly aware of the growing pungent scent of charred cicada chips.

"Damnit!" The vixen hissed, quickly pulling the basket out of the fryer to reveal a clump of dark brown, unrecognizable insect bits. Val turned sharply away from the fryer, placing both paws on her head and glancing up at the ceiling. Running her paws over her face and up into her sprig of head fur, the vixen let out a terse sigh before slumping down the side of the counter.

Now on the floor, the vixen wrapped her paws around her legs, slinking her head into her knees. For a few moments, she sat there in silence, her brain still wracked with the imprinted image of her paltry paycheck as she cursed quietly to herself.

"Hey, no worries now Val." She could hear the dopey wolf interject, his tone laced with concern. "Ain't the first time one of us has burned a batch o' chips." Vernon chuckled softly. "Hell, Gus always managed to burn them despite the timer because he'd always ferget about 'em."

The vixen weakly raised her head, glancing back up at the towering wolf, now hunched slightly as he crouched by her side. The wolf placed a reassuring paw on her shoulder, albeit with some degree of nervous reluctance. The vixen simply rolled her eyes. It looked like there was little she could do short of biting the wolf that would keep him from prying.

"So how'd he make manager?" Val asked dully.

"Well, his Grandpa owns the place." The wolf chuckled.

Val shook her head dismissively. "Right."She had vaguely remembered the wolf mentioning it in their previous conversations, but it still wasn't surprising. Being in any sort of authoritative role in some retail job tended to come with the prerequisite of being related to someone higher up on the ladder. That and being a huge ass-hat, and Gus check marked both of those boxes to a tee.

"Y'all sure y'all don't want to tell me what's eatin' ya?" The wolf pressed, giving Val's shoulder a light squeeze. It was clear the wolf was genuinely concerned for her. Everything in his stance, from his limp, sagging tail to his droopy ears told her as much. But again, a discussion about her personal issues was the last thing she wanted to share with the hick wolf. If she was going to vent, it was to be to Ellie or her father, and she had to endure several more long hours before she'd have the opportunity to do so.

Val let out a tired sigh.

"No. Okay?" The vixen replied, giving the wolf a rather serious stare which only seemed to cause the wolf to deflate further. The vixen rolled her eyes slightly, letting out a soft huff that caused her hair to bounce.

"Just, not now okay?" The vixen added, now having turned to reassuring the large wolf instead of the other way around.

With a sigh, Vernon released his grip on her shoulder and rose to his feet.

"Alright, fair enough." The wolf relented, dusting his paws off. "But if y'all want to talk later, y'all know I've always got an ear up, okay?"

Slowly rising to her feet, the vixen dusted off her own crude uniform, glaring down at it for a moment with complete disdain.

"Sixty dollars my ass..." The vixen thought to herself before turning a forced smile in Vernon's direction.

"I'll...think about it." The vixen replied.

The wolf nodded, seemingly placated by the vixen's response for the moment.

Suddenly the wolf's ears perked up, an expression Val had grown used to meaning that some mammal had ambled up to the drive-through. Val watched as the wolf put a finger to his headset, confirming herassessment.

"Hello, welcome to Bug Burga, what can I get y'all tonight?" The wolf chirped cheerily. Val watched as the wolf nodded softly a few times, with only the vague, indescribable noises weakly escaping from his headset indicating that someone was actually listing off an order.

"Alright, that's a number nine large and a Mango fruit blend?" The wolf replied to the voice on the line.

There was another bit of chatter, which had the wolf nodding affirmatively once again.

"Alright, please drive to the second window." The wolf added, before turning his attention back to the vixen standing in front of him.

"Hey Lil' Mi-" The wolf stopped himself short as the vixen's gaze tightened on him. Vernon coughed awkwardly. "Val, why don't y'all take a bathroom break and I'll fix this order up, alright?"

Val rolled her eyes, letting out a scoff.

"Look, I can work, okay." The vixen said with a snort. "I'm not a kit, I can keep my emotions in check."

The wolf stared at her in silence for a moment. Behind his deep green eyes, the vixen could sense a twinge of reluctance. Vernon braced his neck with a paw, his gaze shifting toward the ceiling as he winced uneasily.

"A-alright. If yer sure." The wolf murmured weakly.

"I-I'll handle the hot food, and y'all can fix the drink." The wolf continued, gesturing a paw to the drink machine. "Then I'll hand the meal off to y'all and you can take it all to the customer." Vernon offered a weak smile. "Sound fair?"

Val rolled her eyes, letting out a soft chuckle.

"Aye, aye mon capitain." The vixen replied dully, offering the wolf a mock salute, before turning on her heels and making tracks for the shake machine.

By now, making the sickeningly sweet, heavily chemically sugared frozen drinks was something the vixen loathed to admit she could practically perform in her sleep. A few pumps of syrup, two or three scoop fulls of questionable clumps of ice, and a few quick pulses of ice crush on the industrial blender and the drink was done in the blink of an eye. Luckily, the large wolf was equally as quick with his part of the equation.

The wolf handed the vixen a brown, lightly grease-stainedbag emblazoned with the familiar Bug Burga Logo on the front, which Val took with a wary claw, the vixen making sure to hold the bag anarm'slength away from her body as she had long grown accustomed to by now.

Making her way toward the window, the vixen could easily tell the mammal on the other side was close to her height. While the vixen wouldn'texactlyconsider herself grateful for such a thing, it did make her work a little bit easier when she didn't have to scale the ladder up to the mega-fauna window, or practically lay prone on the dirty floor to hand off food to mice and other smaller mammals. However, when she opened the window, any brief sense of being pleased immediately evaporated when her eyes fell upon the customer.

Pulled up to the drive-throughwindow was a rather slick-lookingmodern motorcycle. Some neon green and black affair withsharp-lookingedges curved elegantly along its body. It almost looked like one of the light cycles from the movie TROT, right down to the absence of spokes in the tires and the windshield that covered most of the driver's compartment. Val recognized the make and model immediately, A Pandai Aburro, probably only about a year old based on the rather wild, abstract design. But unfortunately, as the windshield began to rise, she quickly recognized the driver as well.

Seated on the bike was a Caracal Cat dressed in a black pleather jacket and faded, ripped blue jeans, his tail idly swaying as he turned his attention her way. Removing his slick black helmet, Val watched as his tapered ears twitched slightly as he squinted at her, his sky blue eyes shimmering with recognition as a grin crawled across his muzzle.

"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" The cat asked, his whiskers twitching slightly as he rested his helmet on the back of his bike.

"Nope, you don't." Val replied bluntly, extending a paw. "That'll be nine forty-eight." The vixen flicked her fingers impatiently, trying to brush the cat off as quickly as possible.

The characal gave a slight shrug as he reached into his coat pocket, pulling his wallet free. As the cat passed his credit card into Val's twitching fingers, he held it preventing Val from retracting as he looked into her eyes.

"Yeah! Yeah I do know you!" The cat blurted out excitedly.

With a sharp tug, Val finally clawed the card free from his grasp. The vixen cursing under her breath as she moved to slide the card.

"From the races right!?" The cat continued, clearly failing to pick up and the vixen's dismissive attitude, or choosing to ignore it. "You're that vixen who always rode that Red jalopy of a bike around!"

Val grit her teeth as she waited for the transaction to process. The vixen staring with an increasingly sharpening, hateful glare as the words 'transaction processing' blinked back at her from the credit card pad. Usually these orders went by like clockwork for the vixen. But suddenly it felt as though it was taking forever to finish.

"Arin? Arin Derwhisker?" The cat grinned broadly, as if he had expected his reputation to precede him somehow.

_'Card read error'._The led screen blinked back at the vixen. Val bit down on her tongue, stabbing the organ with one of her sharp fangs as she swiped the card through the slider once again with more force.

"A-Anyway.." The cat continued, wiping his whiskers with a paw. "Mam' I haven't seen you on the racing scene since the accident! Where you been?" The cat chuckled. "Don't tell me your bike is actually out of commission now?"

Val's vision was starting to tint red as the pad once again flickered_'Card read error'_back at her.

"I mean, no offense but that thing looked like it was already held together with string and duct tape." Arin continued. " I still can't believe you managed to win the Gallup Hill run on that hunk of junk."

Val swiped the card through once more, this time so sharply that the pad pulled loose from it's Velcro harness, nearly clattering off the counter as she seethed.

"Don't tell me you actually work here, do you?" Arin ran a paw over his head fur, a look of amused awe overtakinghis features. The cat let out a snicker. "Wow, how the mighty have fallen to flipping burgers." Arin sighed. "Well if this is where you're spending your nights, I've probably got a better shot at the races with you out of 'em."

'Card. Read. Error.'

"At least the uniform suits you pretty well..." Arin added with a purr.

Val suddenly turned to face the cat, her eyes now wide with unbridled rage as she proceeded to remove the cover from the grapefruitblend sat on the counter. Without a single word, Val reached the cup out over Arin's lap, dumping the frigid contents on it in one, swift movement.

"WHAT THE HE-HE-EL-!" The cat quickly graspedat his lap with his paws, his ears flattening against his head as he began to shudder. However, Val remained unsatisfied as she opened up the brown, greasy bag of food and summarily added to the mess by dumping the contents of the bag out onto Arin's now cowed head. The vixen watching in silent satisfaction as cicada chips spilled down the collar of his pricey looking jacked, and the top half of his bug burga slid down his muzzle.

Arin glanced down at the mess now spilled all over him, blinking in stunned silence for a few moments before glancing back at the vixen, his features contorted in confusion as he stared back at thesmug-lookingfoxin the window. Val simply wiped her paws, looking upon the soaked caracal as though the avalanche of food was nothing short of a job well done on her part.

The vixen expected angry shouts, perhaps more badmouthing slung at herself or her prized bike. And she was well prepared for it. She could feel the fur on her tail begin to stand on end as she readied to tear into the dumb feline. Her mind was a white-hotrage, dulling any and all concerns over being reprimanded or fired in favor of rubbing the smarmy cat's nose into the dirt and messing up those pretty whiskers of his.

What she hadn't been prepared for however, was Arin's actual response.

Once again the cat looked to his lap, the slop of food mixture still oozing into his clothing as he continued his silent appraisal. Val watched as the caracal rantwo fingers down one of his whiskers, extracting a bead of what Val could only guess was some of his burger onto his paw pads before lapping at them with a rather glum expression.

Turning his attention back to the vixen, the feline's ears sagged heavily as he braced his neck with a paw.

"G-Geeze...I mean...I'm sorry lady." The cat muttered awkwardly. "I-I was just playin' a bit of the racing trash talk game with a seasoned vet..." The cat winced. "I-I wasn't really looking to get under your pelt or anything..."

Val's ears stood sharply on end, her brow furrowing slightly as she watched the cat look to his lap once more.

"I guess I did go a little hard..."

"What the heck is goin' on over-!?" Val shrunk into her shoulder's at the sound of Vernon's voice. The wolf had suddenly sidled up alongsideher, visibly wiping his paws from what Val could only assume was a bathroom break as he craned his head over her and out the window.

"Sweet Sawgrass!" The wolf uttered, appraising the drenched feline. "What happened?"

Val could feel herself shrinking as she watched Vernon from the corner of her eyes. There was no way she was going to get out of this one. Sure, she had made a few snide remarks to customers here and there, but this? No, this was definitely going to get her reprimanded, or worse when that old billy goat heard about it. Something like this could have very well seen Gus revoke her position entirely, and have her sent off to Juvenile Hall after all. But to the vixen's continuedsurprise, the caracal offered an embarrassed smirk, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Er, I'm a bit of a butter fingers..." The cat murmured weakly. "Sorry about that."

Vernon quirked a brow. "Y'all...dropped all yer food?" The wolf uttered dubiously. "All of it, on yerself?"

The caracal offered a meek chuckle. "I-I had my paw on the clutch and well...I made the bike kinda buck while trying to handle the food..."

Vernon glanced back at Val, the vixen still cowing into her shoulders and doing a rather poor job of hiding her surprise. Her blue eyes remained wide as she glanced back at her co-worker and struggled to corroborate Arin's story.

"A...A-yeah, what he said." The vixen muttered dumbly, her expressions doing little favor for her in the way of appearing genuine as the wolf squinted at her. Vernon's eyes studied her for a moment, the wolf's expression growing increasing skeptical as it lingered.

"I can remake it iffin' y'all want." Vernon replied, his analyzing gaze still fixed on the vixen as he spoke. "We won't charg-"

"Oh no." The cat quickly cut him off, raising his paws. "Please, Iinsiston paying for both."

His response was enough to break Vern's judgemental gaze for but a moment, the wolf looking somewhat surprised as he eyed the feline with equal skepticism.

The cat shrugged weakly. "It is my fault after all." He added, offering the wolf a waivering smirk.

Vernon glanced back at Val once more, his analytic and peircing gaze returning.

Val offered a nervous smile of her own. "You heard the mammal!" Val exclaimed, trying to avert he gaze from Vernon's own. "You should hop to it, after all, the customer is always right, right?" The vixen forced her grin to widen, despite it more than likely making her look that much more supsicious to the wolf.

Vernon held his gaze on her for a brief moment longer before the wolf simply shook his head. It was written all over his face that he could tell there was some sort of lie being told, but whether he knew just what had actually happened Val couldn't tell. Even so, it was clear the wolf had elected to let it go as he let out another sigh.

"I'll fix up the meal _and_the drink this time." The wolf muttered, reaching a paw over to the counter and ripping a wad of napkins out of one of the dispensers before handing it off to Val. "Y'all can ring up his order and..." The wolf ran a paw through his scalp fur. "Teeth to Tails, just help him get cleaned up."

With that, Vernon's looming shape dissipated from over her shoulder, the wolf shuffling off into the kitchen, and leaving the pair in silence.

Arin returned to his awkward scratching, the feline looking down and away from the vixen as he pawed at the back of his neck uneasily. Not that Val was much better, as the bewildered vixen reached the clump of napkins out to the food covered caracal.

Arin grasped the wad of napkins daintily, the caracal swabbing sharply at his lap in a lame attempt to soak up some of the grease.

"Thanks..." The cat replied.

Val leanedher elbows onto the counter, quirking a brow at the feline as she re-doubled her efforts to analyze him, her rather cool and careless demeanor starting to flood back in now that the situation seemed to be diffused.

"Y'know, there was meant to be some compliments in there...right?" Arin admitted quietly.

"You mean the part where you called my bike a hunk of junk?" The vixen replied, lolling her head from one side to the other as she spoke. "Or the part where you complimented my clown outfit."

Arin offered the vixen a weak, tentative smile.

"W-Well, I kinda meant you made that outfit look better by wearing it..." Arin offered her a rather hopeful smile.

Val rolled her eyes. "Nice try buddy." The vixen chuckled.

"But seriously, I mean, you are like a legend in the racing scene." The caracal continued. "I've heard from a few of the other racers still in the game that you could make anything fly on the streets."

The vixen crossed her arms, quirking a rather dubious brow.

"Oh really now?"

"Yeah!" Arin nodded briskly. "Heard it from some of the best that you really knew your way around a bike."

Val offered a reluctant nod. She wasn't about to argue against her own prowess, even if she felt the caracal was trying to kiss up to her.

"I mean, you won a good chunk of races, and placed pretty damn highly in most of the others I've heard about, and all that on your...er..."

Val glared at the wet feline as he continued to swab at his fur, the caracal shrinking slightly.

"Unique..." Arin muttered warily, seemingly fearful of another stroke of retaliation from the vixen at the window. However, Val simply continued to glare, glancing down at the feline judgmentally.

"Choice in rides, I mean..." The cat stumbled through his statement, raising a paw protectively for a moment as he sped through the rest of the sentence. "That just shows how much you know what you're doing!"

Val turned her head sharply, causing her coif to bounce against her nose as she let out a derisive snort.

"Thanks." The vixen muttered sarcastically.

"I mean it!" The feline protested.

"Uh-huh. Sure." The vixen grumbled. "You say that to all the other racers in the game, or just the ones who pour food on your lap?"

"The fact that you poured food on my lap and I'm still saying that should speak volumes." Arin replied.

Val glared at the caracal for a moment, squinting slightlybefore offering a rather weak shrug.

"That's fair." The vixen replied.

With the wad of tissues seemingly all used up, the caracal handed them back to the vixen sheepishly. From what Val could tell, the napkins had done very little in actually cleaning up the mess. In fact, it looked more like it had merely smeared and caked the greasy food that much deeper into his clothing. Throwing the wad into the nearby trash-bin, the vixen began to pull more out of the dispenser, passing a fresh clump back to the feline.

"Here." Val muttered.

Taking the napkins, the caracal offered her a broad smile.

"Thanks." He replied.

"Whatever." Val huffed in response.

Silence hung in the air for a brief moment, the caracal returning to cleaning himself as Val simply crossed her arms. She was beginning to wonder what was taking Vernon so long with the fresh food, the vixen increasingly eager to step away from this awkward encounter now that she had narrowly avoided a more serious confrontation. However, while Val was more than ready to have ended to the conversation, it seemed Arin was still eager to press his luck. She could tell by his body language that there was still something he wanted to say, and the sooner it was said, the sooner he'd be out of her life.

"Alright, out with it." Val said with a dull huff.

"W-what?" Arin replied, seemingly caught off guard by her bluntness.

"I can tell you got something else you want to say by the way you are fidgeting and twitching." The vixen added with a rather dull gaze." So I'd rather not wait the twenty minutes you'd need to build upthe courage to mention whatever it is." The vixen said snidely. "I don't have that kind of time."

Arin offered an awkward smile, the caracal rubbing the back of his neck as he shifted his gaze away from the vixen.

"Well youer..." Arin muttered, now seemingly second-guessingwhatever he had thought to say. "You wouldn't be willing to do some maintenance work on my ride for me would you?"

The vixen's eyebrows rose sharply, her eyes narrowing on the feline. In response, Arin shrank into his shoulders.

"I-I wanted to make sure it was ready to ride for the next Falicier's Market run." The cat began to sputter. "T-They changed the track a bit after...well...y'know..."

Val's gaze sharpened on the caracal, her glare intensifying as Arin continued to fumble all over himself.

"I can pay you!" The caracal barked.

Val's gaze softened, the phrase almost instantly defusing the growing ire as she raised a rather dubious eyebrow at the feline. The vixen crossed her arms once more, her ear's twitching with inquisitiveness as she leaned forward just a bit.

"You'd..." The vixen muttered. "Pay me?"

Arin chuckled. "Well I wouldn't expect you to do it for free."

Val placed a paw to her chin, the vixen scratching it with her forefinger as she mulled over the caracal's proposition. If there was one thing the vixen needed now more than anything, it was cold hard cash. And working on a bike, even if it wasn't her own was scarcely work at all, at least in her mind. Getting deep into the guts of a machine and making it sing was something the vixen lived for. What's more, considering that the caracal was a fellow racer, and was still actively participating, it meant should the vixen do a good job, that would quickly lead to increased positive word of mouth, which could, in turn,lead to more repair and maintenance jobs. The gears had begun to whir in Val's mind, spinning and clicking as the beginning of a plan formed withinher mind. A plan that could easily fast track the work required to get Red back on the road, and quite possibly back to his former glory. No asking for loans, no scrimping and saving Bug Burgapaychecksfor an eternity, and there was nothing illicit or dangerous about it, the second point being a great relief to her father.

A sly smirk crawled acrossthe vixen's muzzle as she chuckled softly to herself.

Reaching out a paw, the vixen beckoned Arin's own. At first, the cat was rather reluctant to extend a paw, but with Val's increased gesturing, the feline placed his paw in hers. Val shook it rather tersely.

"Alright bud, I'll do it." The vixen chuckled. "But only because your suspension system is all jacked up."

Arin quirked a questioning brow.

"What are you talking about?" The feline muttered dumbly. "This cycle is barely a year old."

Val offered the mammal a dull glare as she released her grip on his paw.

"Look, if you want to take on the Falicier's market run on that machine, there is no way you are gonna be able to do it unless that suspension is rock solid." The vixen replied with a smirk. "And any mammal who knows anything about that type of bike knows they are designed with the whole 'look' taking precedence over performance." The vixen gestured at the bike with a lame paw. "I can make it handle just as tight as it looks."

Arin furrowed his brow. "Really?"

Val chuckled. "Trust me, we're talking about the difference between placing top ten or top three." Val replied, her grin widening as she spoke. "Trust me."

Arin lolled his head, wincing with uncertainty. "Well..." His skepticism held for just a few moments before the feline gave a brisk nod in agreement.

"Alrightfine." The caracal replied. "So how are we doing this?"

"Well..." As Val began to prattle a rather rough shot at a plan for tightening up the feline's superbike, the other plan that had begun to germinate with her mind was taking a deeper, more decisive hold. Her plans for Ol' Red, nearly withered, had begunto blossom once more. The future for her most prized possession was suddenly looking increasingly bright.