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The Family Vulpes

Chapter Five:

Happy Anniversary

How much time had passed? How long had Cameron been staring blankly into his monitor without moving his stylus so much as an inch? Five minutes? Ten? Attempting to turn his gaze to the corner of his monitor didn't exactly answer his question. Whatever the clock actually said had become a blinding swirl of black and white cow color print that had etched itself onto his irises, a blurry remnant of the project he had been staring at for far too long. The menu for the "The Whole Cow Creamery" sat half-finished in front of his bleary blue eyes. To the tod's weary and strained mind the name had long since lost any semblance of meaning. The words appeared foreign to him, despite the fact that it was written in plain Animaglish.

Cameron lifted his glasses, lamely swabbing at his eyes with a paw as he let out a withering sigh. The rust-colored vulpine dug his pads deeply into the damp fur under his eyelids in an effort to dry them as quickly as possible.

"I'm not going to do it..." A voice in the back of his mind stated firmly, and in response, the fox tightened his already firm grip around his stylus that much more in an effort to steel himself.

With his reddened, swollen eyes now partially clear, the fox could finally make out the time, albeit just barely.

"One fifteen P.M.?" The middle-aged fox muttered in mild surprise.

Placing his stylus down on his desk, the tod brought his paws up to his face, pushing his square black frames up once more as he slumped into his palms.

Two and a half hours had vanished since the last time he had checked, passing by in a confusing, miserable smear entirely unnoticed. For the third time this week he had forgotten to actually set aside the time to eat lunch, and it was only Thursday. Yet the mild hunger pangs coming from his stomach barely registered above the familiar deep, burning ache that had settled in the core of his chest. It was a sensation that was always there in some capacity, he had been carrying that abyssal torch for more than a decade at this point. It was a feeling that had its annual gulfs and peaks, and unfortunately for the tod, he was rapidly nearing the summit of one said peak.

"Don't look." The voice in his head returned, louder and more desperate now, as his head still sat in his paws.

"Do! Not! Look at it!" His rational mind pleaded, begged him. It was advice a sane mammal would have heeded. After all, why would one willingly subject themselves to such pain again and again, emotional or otherwise? It was counter-intuitive for one, completely self-destructive for another. And considering he had lost nearly three hours wallowing rather than working, his productivity was suffering heavily for it.

Cameron let out a heavy, defeated sigh as he lifted his head from his paws, his glance turning to one of the framed pictures on his desk.

Contained within the tarnished gold frame was a photo of a budding young couple of foxes. A beautiful little family with their first kit in tow. Cameron felt his sky blue eyes grow dewy once more as they fixed on a significantly younger version of himself. While it wasn't a quality easily discernible with the fashion sense the tod had maintained throughout the years, (something his daughter often described as 'dorky' and 'dowdy') it was easy to see the differences in age regarding his fur and muzzle. The lines around his beaming, opened-mouthed smile were shallower, his fiery rust-colored fur was neatly kept and uniform in length. There were no bags hiding beneath his eyes despite being forced to adapt to the demanding Zootopian workday that stood in total defiance of the circadian rhythm of nocturnal mammals such as himself. And his clean and neat pelt showed none of the tell-tale signs of stress-related shedding. Of course, why would there have been back then? Looking into his own face, Cameron saw a mammal who was truly content. Truly happy. His younger sky blue eyes seemed to gleam with hope and optimism. Despite not being as accomplished as he was now, despite not being some millionaire celebrity like Gazelle, the fox looked as though he was at the apex of his life.

Slowly his tearful eyes drifted to the bundle of joy, snuggled close by two sets of arms, her gap-toothed muzzle almost as wide as her young father's. His little Vy-fly...no,_their_little Vy-fly. Her adorable, infectious little giggle replayed in his head as he stared deeply into the little blue irises that matched his own, forcing a soft, brief chuckle from his muzzle as his thoughts drifted deeper into the memory of the day the photo was taken.

A fun day at Sahara shores with the family, Uncle Rowan included. He could still remember watching the larger than average stocky squirrel struggling with the tod's new Polaroid camera, as well as the sensation of mild unease and apprehension that the tod was struggling to keep from crawling across his muzzle as images of the rodent dropping the rather expensive new purchase while trying to take the shot flickered through his mind. For little Val however, the sight was nothing short of hilarious. The young vixen already had issues confusing her dear old Uncle Rowan with a stuffed toy on most days at that age, so watching him comically struggle with a camera that was too large and unwieldy for a mammal of his size had her giggling up a storm. Cameron could still recall the feeling of her tiny tail softly flopping against his forearm as it wagged back and forth excitedly between both parents...

"Stop..." his inner reason croaked quietly from the back of his mind. "You're only making it worse..." It was a weak, pathetic call. A half-hearted attempt to steer the vulpine away from giving in to his baleful impulses. As if it already knew there was no going back for the older tod as his eyes drifted over to the vixen pressed up shyly against his side.

"M-Marian..." Cameron whimpered softly. Slowly the tod reached out, clasping the old framed photograph in a paw as his watery blue eyes remained fixed on the she-fox nestled up against him.

The middle-aged fox ran a paw over the glass as he let out a shuddering sigh.

What she had ever seen in him, the old tod still couldn't grasp. Sure she had told him so many times, so many reasons as to why she loved him. But he had always flippantly dismissed her defense of him, something he deeply regretted now as he struggled to recall even a single reason she had given. Looking into those hauntingly familiar, entrancing kelly green eyes barely hidden behind her large, purple framed glasses. Even after so many years, they still managed to stop his breath. Her eyes never seemed to be looking at the camera when he gazed at the familiar photo as he and Val were, but rather, they always seemed to be looking directly at him. Her gaze exuded pure love and adoration despite her obvious bashfulness as she nuzzled the bridge of her snout into his neck.

'Plop'...'plop','plop'.

One drop, then another. Cameron's tears had returned, and the fox quickly lifted his lenses to swab at his eyes before wiping the droplets off the photo glass with his sleeve. With a sharp sniffle, the fox desperately tried to suck the tears back, to force them down as the painful squeezing sensation in his chest continued to tighten. With a trembling paw, the fox quickly returned the photo to his desk, but his haphazard maneuvering caused it to fall over with a loud clatter as soon as he released his grip.

"Dammit!" He hissed through clenched teeth, running his paws through his long main of brown hair in frustration before frantically struggling to set the photo back up. It took a few moments to calm himself enough to steady his trembling paws, but soon the picture had been restored to its rightful position.

With a weary, defeated sigh, Cameron leaned his head into a paw, the other slithering blindly until it found purchase against his chest. The tod gripped the grass-green fabric of his dress shirt tightly, squeezing the pelt and muscle underneath in an effort to dull the burning sensation in the well of his chest.

"How much more of this can your heart take old mam'?" The voice of reason in the back of his head returned. "How many times did that quack of a therapist of yours tell you stress can kill?" It murmured.

Cameron shook his head weakly, his paw preventing the shake from appearing more pronounced.

"If it means we'll be together again..." The fox muttered quietly. "Death might be a mercy at this point..."

Cameron took a long, slow draw of breath, holding it for a moment before releasing it in a long, somber sigh. It was an effort to ease the tension in his chest, something his therapist had advised him to do in times like this, as well as the only useful advice the old camel had given him. But Cameron knew he was largely wasting his breath, especially on this week of all weeks.

Slowly, reluctantly, his irises trailed back in the direction of the photographs. This time falling on the other picture, the one in the sleek, black modern frame. Like the older photo, it contained three mammals, although a substantial amount of time had passed between when the two were taken.

Cameron had significantly aged since the previous photo, somewhat physically, but more in spirit. His attire was still arguably as 'dorky' as it had been in his younger days as his fashion sense had been the only thing to remain intact over the years. The first signs of wrinkles had begun to show up around his eyes and the edges of his mouth, and the cream color of his fur had begun to bleed further into the cherry-colored portion of his muzzle. But a more in-depth analysis revealed the faintest evidence of the silent war that was still ongoing behind the false veneer he struggled to uphold in his daily life.

A more keen gaze could easily spot the areas where his dead fur had begun to clump together, shedding from stress. And the consistent dark circles under his eyes had become so visible that his glasses could barely obscure them anymore, even from a distance. While his smile was admittedly joyful, there was a subtle sense of strain to it, as though the fox was not as happy as he could be. But nowhere was his age more visible than in his formerly bright blue eyes. Where there was once a sense of vim and vigor that exuded from behind his baby blues, there was now a distinct absence. The light behind his eyes had long faded away to darkness. There was no trace of hope behind his dark and glassy pupils, no optimism gleaming from within as it did in the photo of the family beach trip. It had been snuffed out, robbed from not only him, but the family he had been left to raise without the light Marian brought the both of them.

Cameron let out a withering sigh, raising his head in order to once again lift his lenses and swab at his moist, puffy eyes. Cupping one paw in the other, and leaning his elbows on his desk, the tod leaned his head atop his hands before turning his attention back to the photo, and to the other mammals gripped tightly in his arms.

Val was significantly older, now nearly as tall as Cameron was. The moody teen vixen rolling her eyes while struggling to hide a begrudging smile as the older tod pulled her in for a tight hug. Wrapped up equally as tightly in his other arm was Ellie, Val's childhood friend that over the years had grown to be a part of their family. While Cameron had never officially adopted Eleanor, the shy, sweet opossum had become as much a daughter to him as Val was. Unlike him, however, their smiles were genuine, and their eyes still glimmered with that fire once contained in his own, something the fox couldn't help but smirk at.

Even if his own smile had been slightly forced when the photo was taken, it was still largely genuine. As much as his heart ached over Marian, he could still feel it manage to swell just a bit with both pride and love for his daughters. Raising Val, and eventually becoming a father to Ellie was the only thing that had managed to keep his head above water throughout some of the worst years of his life. And despite some of the grief Val's acting out would often cause their struggling family, Cameron still wouldn't have traded a second of it for anything.

"She still needs you, you know." Cameron's rational inner monologue intruded once more, stating the obvious. "You owe it to her to keep it together, at least until she gets on her feet."

Cameron furrowed his brow, his eyes snapping shut as he drifted deeper into his thoughts.

Eleanor was set, in terms of her future. With a fully paid scholarship to the best art college in all of Animalia, and consistently stellar grades in said institution, Ellie's future was so bright it was practically blinding. But his Val, his little Moto-bug, still seemed to be struggling against the tide. Despite her proficiency with motorcycles and other machinery, the vixen seemed dead set on whittling away her time doing barely anything with her talents. She was wasting the true potential the old tod knew she held by settling for simple retail work and off-the-books repairs. In many ways, Valerie had spread her wings and taken her independence, but for reasons that escaped Cameron, she took that power only to glide rather than soar. And it had left the old tod with very little idea of what to do in order to give her enough of the push she'd need to stand on her own.

"Daaaaaamn Cameron, you look like hell!"

Cameron's internal debate with himself was abruptly halted as the sudden intrusion of a voice other than his own in his little sanctuary pulled him out of his thoughts so quickly it could have given the tod whiplash.

The cherry-furred fox immediately shot straight up, his glasses flipping off of his muzzle and onto the desk in front of him as his now half-blinded eyes shot from point to point of his office in order to locate the intruder.

"I mean, you usually come into work looking a little rough around the edges, but this...this is a whole new level mam'." The familiar voice chuckled.

"S-Son of!" The fox hissed, clumsy snapping his glasses into his paws before slipping them back onto the face. He had quickly recognized the voice now that his attention was back on the world around him. The element of surprise gone, Cameron's snout crinkled in annoyance as his gaze fell on his co-worker Derrick Colton.

"Derrick! Saint Robin's Quiver..." The fox sighed tersely, running a paw through his head fur. "How many times have I told you to knock before coming in here?"

"Woah" The black stallion chuckled, bobbing his head slightly to flip his meticulously maintained swoop of mane out of his eyes as he smirked at the diminutive fox. "Looks like someone's got a case of the Mondays..." The horse's deep green eyes widened as he spoke, his irises bobbing slightly as he teased the fox. "Which is a real ruttin' feat considering it's actually Thursday."

Cameron let out an irritated sigh. "Loo-"

"Were you out partying last night?" Derrick asked in a hushed tone, the dark pelted stallion placing a hoof aside his muzzle as he leaned down to Cameron's level. "Still feelin' the after-effects huh? I know that feeling believe me..."

"Absolutely not!" Cameron rebuffed, placing his paws on his desk as he glared up at the stallion.

Derrick rolled his eyes, letting out a soft chuckle. "C'mon, you can tell old Derrick." The stallion brushed at his tie for a moment, flashing the tod a smirk. " I remember my first hang-over..." The horse raised his hoof to his chin, scratching it thoughtfully.

"Actually, scratch that...If that were true it wouldn't have been a 'real' hangover now would it?" Derrick snickered. "But I promise I won't tell the oversized mouse in charge, hoof to the gods." Derrick feigned a look of innocence as he held up a solemn hoof.

"I'm not hungover!" The tod protested. "You already know I don't drink!"

Derrick let out a sigh of his own, slipping his hooves into his pants pockets.

"Yeah, yeah, I was just hopin' this was your first time breaking that booze celibacy, and it hit you like a buck to the head..." The stallion shook his head disappointingly. "Should have known better than to think the old codger let his head fur down for once..."

Cameron rolled his eyes. "Old? If I recall I'm only a decade or so older than you are Derrick."

"Well you certainly don't act like it..." The stallion replied in a half-whisper.

"Derrick..." Cameron's tone slipped into the same stern demeanor that was usually reserved for his daughters. "I'm really not in the mood for this right now, okay?"

"Alright Cam..." The stallion placed a hoof on his hip as he eyed the fox suspiciously. "What's really going on?" He raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, what's eating you foxy?"

Cameron closed his eyes tightly, letting out a long exhale as he balled one of his fists in frustration.

"It's personal." The vulpine finally replied, un-clenching his fist and tensing his fingers as he did so. "So please, I jus-."

"It won't make you feel any better to keep it buried." Derrick continued, flashing the tod his trademark cheesy smirk. "If you're worried I'm gonna tell someone, I-."

"Derrick! Please!" He shot back, trying his best to give the stallion the dirtiest glare he could muster. However, his voice cracking into a warble undermined the entire effort to appear stoic and resolute in terms of his motives.

Letting out a terse sigh, the fox sank his head into his paws.

"Look...I just..." Cameron murmured weakly, struggling to find his words. "I just, I'm not really in the mood to talk to anyone today, alright?"

Glancing up, the tod could see Derrick's stare had remained pensive and curious, earning another exasperated sigh from the rust-colored canine.

"I just wanna do my job and clock out, okay?" Cameron added, however the stallion's expression remained unchanged.

Cameron watched as Derrick's deep green eyes began to slowly shift around the room as if the horse was trying to be somewhat stealthy about his actions. The tod was about to open his mouth, when the horse leaned over his desk slightly, his eyes now tracing the objects on the vulpines desk with an inquisitive fervor.

"Excuse me!" Cameron finally managed, placing his paws on the stallions muzzle and shoving him backward with as much strength as he could muster. Of course, Derrick's muzzle refused to budge until the horse relented of his own accord, sliding back into his standing stance.

"You still working on that ad for the dairy cow with the sweet tits?" Derrick asked with a sly smirk.

"D-Derrick!" Cameron found himself once again caught off guard by the stallion's brazen decorum, as well as just how deftly he had shifted the subject matter altogether.

"You're supposed to hit that benchmark with the menu by the end of shift today right?" Derrick's smile broadened. "How's it comin' along? I'm really lookin' forward to seein' her again." The horse snickered.

"It's coming al-along fine!" The fox sputtered.

Derrick gave the tod a skeptical glance. "Are you sure about that?"

Cameron quirked an eyebrow of his own for the briefest of moments. That was, before realizing that the stallion's suddenly pointed question had caused Cameron to involuntarily cover his monitor as best as he could with both arms. The middle-aged mammal looked as though he had just been caught surfing for porn on the internet as a teen.

Drawing back from his monitor with a jerk, the fox quickly tried to strike a more casual stance. Clearing his throat, Cameron began the futile task of attempting to straighten his crinkled sliver of a black tie.

"I m-mean we are very much on schedule there..." The fox continued, trying to sound as competent as possible. "I've got plenty of time to-."

It was only then, that his wandering eyes noticed the change in time since he had last checked.

"TWO O' FIVE!?!" Cameron spat, slapping a paw to his forehead in disbelief. Nearly another hour had passed with Cameron lost to the will of his own thoughts.

Derrick had taken a step backward, the stallion now seemingly caught off guard by the sudden, unexpected outburst on Cameron's end. The old tod offered his co-worker a meek, apologetic smile.

"S-Sorry Derrick..." The fox replied, swabbing at his tired eyes as he let out a soft sigh. "Y-yeah, I'll have the menu ready to show her when she comes back tomorrow."

Derrick offered the tod a small, albeit concerned-looking smile of his own.

"Ah...g-good, good." The stallion replied, his voice lacking his usually self-assured tone for just a moment.

His meek reply cut an awkward swath of silence through the room, one that hung there between the two mammals for several moments before Derrick's usual smirk returned.

"I've heard those dairy cow types have four nipples on each breast, can you believe that?" Derrick finally uttered, his mind quickly shifting back to the gutter it had climbed into earlier.

"Derrick!" Cameron covered his muzzle with a paw, doing his best to hide his desire to smirk as he felt his cheeks begin to flush.

"I've heard it's one of those...genetic mutations, or leftover things...y'know?" The horse continued, his expression shifting to that of looking almost awestruck. "Something having to do with how cows used to have these massive udders, and how that sometimes caused cows to be born that produce way more milk than others." The stallion continued, rolling his wrist as he prattled on. "So then a few thousand years ago families started breeding to enhance that trait, and built an industry off it, but the side effect was udder nipples."

Derrick shook his head, still grinning all the while. "Biology is wild ain't it?"

Cameron furrowed his brow slightly. "Er, yes..." He admitted, before flashing his co-worker a skeptical glance of his own. "Sounds to me like someone's been researching..."

Derrick's smile widened as he slipped his hooves back into his pants pockets. "What can I say? I may have glanced at a few Wikipawdia articles after Ol' Bella got my interests piqued." The stallion chuckled.

Cameron nodded knowingly, turning his attention back to the unfinished menu. If he pulled out all the stops now, and did himself the favor of placing the photos on his desk face down, he was sure he could pull off the rest of the design before the end of his shift.

"Shame she's seein' someone or I'd totally be aiming to find out for myself." Derrick added with a smirk.

"Derrick, you're terrible!" Cameron replied, once again trying to hide his smirk. "She's probably somewhat self-conscious about her...condition..." The tod's tone wavered slightly as he realized just what he was saying, his muzzle curling into a wince as his co-worker crinkled his brow.

"Yeah, well that makes two of us." The stallion replied coolly, raising his hooves out of his pockets and flicking them lamely in Cameron's direction. If there was one thing vulpine tried his best to do while working at ACORN Designs inc., it was to avoid doing anything to bring attention to Derrick's own genetic condition. The stallion had been one of the rare instances where a horse was born with singular, solid hooves for his hands and feet similar to the ones that ancient horses had. It made functioning like most mammals a somewhat difficult task, one that the stallion needed various tools and straps to hold everyday items as well as his own stylus for work just to keep up with the rest of Zootopia. But regardless, the stallion's disability had done little to slow him down in terms of spirit. If anything, it seemed to have forced him to amplify his personality to spite it.

"Er...I...I didn't mean..." Cameron shrunk into his shoulders slightly, concerned over inadvertently offending his friend.

Derrick simply shook his head in response, his usual smirk returning to his muzzle as he waived the fox off.

"Relax Cam, I'm just teasing..." The horse replied. "Y'know that stuff doesn't bother me unless someone really goes at it. It's all just flies on my ass."

Cameron chuckled softly.

"We all have our Quivers to bear, isn't that what foxes say?" Derrick asked.

The tod nodded softly.

"I got my hoof thing, you got the whole fox stigma." The horse shook his head dismissively. "This company is just filled with busted mammals."

Cameron frowned slightly, the fox letting out another soft sigh. The whole_'fox stigma'was the reason Cameron preferred to work behind closed doors. The tod was never the one to meet with clients, and if he absolutely had to speak with one, it was over the phone. This was not something Rowan, his boss, had planned to do when he invited him on to the company. It was merely the most economically efficient decision when they noticed the sharp drop-off in clientele that had met with Cameron rather than Derrick or Rowan. A drop-off that seemed to evaporate almost instantly the moment the tod agreed to work as a _'shadow employee', using Derrick and Rowan as his_'face'_. At the very least it saved him having to go out of his way to look presentable in the mornings, especially through the more...emotionally trying portions of his life. But it still surprised the middle-aged tod just how much the mental image of the perpetually duplicitous and sneaky stereotype associated with foxes remained etched in the public's social consciousness, even in a city as progressive as Zootopia. To many mammals, pred and prey alike, all foxes were just _'Honest Johns'_looking to part a mammal from their hard-earned money.

"Some of us more busted than others..." Derrick continued, his tone shifting to one of concern as he suddenly leaned over Cameron's desk, causing the fox to draw back in surprise.

"Derrick!" The fox yelped, once again trying to desperately push the stallion away with his paws. However, the tod already knew his efforts to keep the stallion from prying had utterly failed when he saw Derrick's eyes fixed on the photograph with the tarnished gold frame.

Cameron froze as he watched the horse's eyes slowly shift from the picture, back to the now panic-stricken tod, then back to the picture once more.

"Ahh..." Derrick finally muttered, the stallion slowly drawing back from Cameron's now almost lifeless paws as his gaze shifted into something more sympathetic.

"It's...that time of the year again huh?" The stallion's usually ever-present smirk dropped into a rather uncharacteristic frown. "I always forget how close your ma-..."

Derrick winced slightly, his ears flattening against his head as he averted his gaze. Tucking one of his hooves into the edge of his collar, the horse did his best to tug at it uneasily, clearing his throat sharply as he tried to press on.

" How close _'it'_was to Harvest Feast..." Derrick muttered.

Cameron let out a tired sigh, his previously tense form crumpling as he slumped onto his paws, resting his head atop them as he turned his gaze away from his co-worker and back to his treasured family photos.

"Yes..." He uttered weakly. "It was _'that close'_to the Harvest Feast..." Cameron's tone wavered slightly, forcing the fox to clear his throat.

Pressing his glasses further up his snout, the tod tried his best to straighten up in his chair, running a paw through his head fur in an effort to seem cool and collected.

"Which is why I'd prefer to be left alone today." He added, coughing into a paw. "Understand?"

Cameron glanced up at his partner with some degree of hope in his eyes, praying that the realization and the rather brief exchange confirming it would be enough to satisfy the equine and send him on his way, leaving the tod to hopefully finish his work in peace.

"Please don't do it..." A voice in the back of Cameron's mind began to plead as he watched the stallion's eyebrows furrow. "Don't do the advice thing, please I'm not in the moo-."

"Cameron, it's been what? Fifteen years Mam'?" Derrick interrupted the tod's thoughts, defying and dashing his hopes that the horse would cease his prodding at Cameron's emotional wounds.

"Sixteen!" Cameron's exclamation came out louder than he anticipated, startling both him and Derrick for the briefest of moments. The cherry-red vulpine partially covered his muzzle in embarrassment as he continued. "S-Sixteen...this week..." The tod shook his head somberly.

"Derrick, please, I ca-."

"Cameron, you've been in mourning for too long..." The stallion continued, offering a surprisingly meek smirk for his usually boastful demeanor. "You need to get out, and live a little mam'!"

The middle-aged tod pressed his pawpads into his forehead as he slumped into his paw, letting out a long, tired sigh in the process. Cameron was struggling to keep his emotions in check now, his irritation only further agitating the gnarling, twisting pain in his chest as he tried to think of a way to shut his friend down without snapping at him. But he had little time to mull over his options as he felt a soft impact tremor shudder through his desk and up his arm in the process. Peeking an eye out from behind his paw, the tod could see Derrick was now leaning an elbow on the table, using his hoof to prop up his head as he stared down at the little fox, his expression that of concern, but with an oddly secretive flare about it.

Cameron watched the obsidian equine's deep green eyes flick from corner to corner, even going so far as to glance over his shoulder to look up at the _"Rodent Scaffold"_that had been set-up for Rowan to more easily get around the offices in what looked like an effort to make sure they were well and truly alone before turning his full attention back to the older fox.

"Look, Cameron..." Derrick spoke in a hushed tone, the stallion taking a deep breath. His nostril flared slightly as he exhaled.

"I'm headin' up to Canidean Moose Country this weekend..."

Cameron immediately shook his head in dismissal, already having an inkling as to where the horse was heading with this.

"Oh no, Derrick I-!"

"Listen! Listen though!" The stallion was quick to protest, placing his hooves out defensively. "At least hear a mammal out!"

Cameron closed his eyes, continuing to shake his head as he crossed his arms in adamant refusal of whatever form of 'sexual healing' for his woes the stallion was about to pitch. However, it seemed to do little to deter Derrick from continuing through his overall spiel.

"Up in Moosatoba there's a bunch of those _"Get in touch with nature"_type reservation grounds, y'know?" The stallion pressed forward. "They do all sorts of native traditions, even set up honest to the gods tee-pees for the weekend to camp in so they can keep the party going!"

"Der-."

"They always do up Harvest Feast huge up there!" The stallion persisted, raising his voice in order to drown out Cameron's continued protest. "Ton's of food for all species, traditional ceremonies, and dances, and of course a little bit of free lovin' between the festival-goers, ya get me?"

"Oh gods, Derrick, please ju-"

"I know some guys and gals up there always lookin' for a fun time with ol' Hooves for paws here, and while I know you ain't as...flexible with your sexuality as I am, I can tell you right now I know at least two or three moose cows that are way into smaller preds!" The stallion was practically pleading now. "They would be dying to show a fox like you a wet and wild time!"

"DERRICK!" Cameron's tone was stern, elevated but not full-on shouting as the fox pounded his balled fists against his desk. Maybe it was enough to finally silence the stallion, or perhaps he was just finished with his pitch, but regardless Cameron was going to take his opportunity to speak.

"I'm not interested okay!" Cameron spat, glaring at the towering stallion with as serious a stare as he could muster. The tod wanted to stand firm, to make sure that this line of discussion would be shut down once and for all, but seeing Derrick recoil slightly was enough to quickly deflate the fox's aggressive posturing.

With an exasperated sigh, Cameron's face returned to his palms.

"Look...Derrick..." The fox muttered, lifting his glasses in order to swab his eyes before slumping his face back into his paw pads. " I just...I mean, how many times do we have to have this discussion?"

"Cam, c'mon ma-."

"Foxes mate for LIFE_Derrick." The older tod cut him off, his tone growing stern again as the word _'life'_slipped from his muzzle. "For _LIFE!"

Derrick let out an audible _'tch',_making it more than clear he had heard the rust-furred reynard's refrain before, and was growing weary of it.

"And as appealing as spending the next couple of weeks to months with my pelvis in traction sounds, I'm going to have to lean on my go-to answer, that is to say, a 'hard no'."

The stallion simply rolled his eyes.

"Cim' Mareon..." Derrick muttered, placing a hoof to his temple. "Of all the species traditions you choose to cling to...being married to this whole, post mourning celibacy thing has gotta be the most self-destructive -."

Cameron closed his eyes, raising a single finger as he straightened in his chair.

"You used the correct word there, Marriage," Cameron uttered. "I'm married."

"Were married!" The stallion spat back, clearly annoyed. "Sixteen years ago!" Derrick scoffed. "Haven't you ever heard of 'till death do us part'!?"

Cameron couldn't stop himself from letting out a slight gasp, the fox drawing back a bit in his chair as he felt a fresh film of moisture begin to form over his eyes. The stallion's words had cut deeper than he was prepared for, and based on Derrick's own body language it was clear the horse knew it too. The stallion's trademark smirk had fallen into a deep, apologetic frown as his guilty eyes began to seek out any corner of the room they could find to avoid meeting Cameron's own.

Placing a hoof to the back of his neck, the stallion rubbed his mane awkwardly as he slouched in his stance.

"L-listen Cam...I didn't..." Derrick muttered somberly. "I mean...I-."

"What did you come in here for anyway Derrick!?" Cameron spat bitterly, the searing pain in his chest now seeping pure venom into his tone as he glared back up at the stallion. "It can't have just been about the menu..." The fox grit his teeth in annoyance. "Or your little sex tourism escapades..."

The guilt lacing the horse's features seemed to increase tenfold as he took a wary step away from the fox's desk.

"R-Rowan actually wanted to talk to us..." The stallion admitted sheepishly. "About the whole...dating app campaign thing?"

Cameron let out a terse sigh, the fox slumping back into the palms of his paws as he took a minute to compose himself. It was rare the canine was ever actually angry with anyone, and even at this moment, despite Derrick's thoughtless words, the middle-aged tod was already feeling a wash of guilt pour over him for simply snapping at the stallion. He was trying to help after all, in his own way, and Cameron knew that which only stood to make him feel that much worse about the outburst.

Once again he repeated his ex-therapist's advice. The Cherry furred canine breathed deeply, held it for several seconds, let out a shaky exhale, and repeated the process once more for good measure before pushing himself away from his desk. Slipping off of his office chair, the fox slowly made his way around his desk, his tail and ears slouched the entire time as he came to a stop by Derrick's side.

Glancing up at his co-worker, Cameron frowned deeply, which only seemed to earn an even guiltier expression from the looming stallion.

"Look Cam, I'-."

Cameron held up a paw, stopping Derrick mid-sentence.

"No..." The vulpine sighed. "I should be the one to say sorry, I didn't..." The fox shook his head. "I'm not...I wasn't trying to pass judgment on how you live your life..." The fox crooked his head slightly, ears splaying at differing angles as he tried his best to offer up a smile. "You do you, right?"

It was an idiom the fox had heard so many times from the stallion in question he had come to consider it his catchphrase, and one he knew would more than likely get a smile out of him.

Like a charm, Derrick's frown faded somewhat, slowly but surely giving way to a mild smirk. "Yeah...and you do you..." He chuckled.

Cameron ran a paw through his tousled brown main of head fur.

"Vulki's cunning...It's...It's just been a miserable week..." The fox admitted.

Derrick leaned down slightly, placing a ginger hoof on the middle-aged vulpine's shoulder.

"Hey mam', I get it." The stallion replied, looking slightly puzzled as the words left his muzzle. "I mean I don't get 'it', but I do get...it." Derrick continued, furrowing his brow as he eyed the tod skeptically. "You get it?"

Cameron stared at his co-worker blankly for a moment, dumbly blinking a few times as he tried to translate the stallion's statement into something that made sense to him. However, despite being unable to fully derive Derrick's intended meaning, the fox found himself slowly nodding in agreement.

"And just know, I was-" The equine ran his hoof clumsy over his mane. " That all came from a good place. Or at least, I was trying to make sure it came from a good place..."

The tod nodded briskly, Derrick's second admission being considerably easier to follow than the first. Cameron pat the large stallion's knee, unable to reach Derrick's shoulder due to his significantly shorter stature.

"And I do....appreciate that," Cameron replied, offering his friend as genuine a smile as he could muster in his current state.

Derrick's usual confident smirk returned, the stallion patting the red fox's shoulder roughly before rising to his feet and starting toward the exit. The horse only managed a single step before stopping in his tracks momentarily, glancing over his shoulder at the diminutive fox as his smirk broadened to show off his teeth.

"And hey, think it over about the Moosatoba thing. I'm not leaving till Saturday morning and I'd enjoy the company for the road trip up." The stallion added, his grin taking on a mild air of mischievousness as he spoke. "Plus, Carina and Seline would be dying to meet you." Derrick chuckled

The tod rolled his eyes, managing a weak, albeit strained chuckle as the horse continued toward Cameron's office door. With a sigh, the tod quickly followed after the significantly larger mammal's stride, catching up to him as they left Cameron's workstation behind and made their way toward Rowan's office.

There were many situations in which Derrick using his raw hooves to accomplish a task would be considered a shortcoming. However, when it came to knocking on doors, the stallion rightfully excelled. His strong, solid hooves made for an adequate door knocker that was impossible not to hear regardless of what was happening on the other side of the door. Cameron's own attempts could only ever serve as meek in comparison, which is why the fox left the task of cutting through the noise on Rowan's headphones to the stallion in the first place.

"Boss, you decent?" Derrick said with a snicker. "Not listening to one of those more erotic audiobooks I hope..."

Once again the fox rolled his eyes at Derrick's crassness, crossing his arms as he waited patiently behind the massive stallion.

"Yeff, yeff!" Came a muffled reply, stifled by what sounded like Rowan trying to laugh with food in his mouth. There was a momentary silence before the squirrel continued. "You guys can come in."

Derrick backed away from the door slightly, glancing down at Cameron as he gestured to the rather low set door knob affixed to Rowan's office.

"You know the drill, I knock you open." The stallion chuckled.

Cameron let out a sigh, the fox taking the lead as he placed his paw on the knob and began to twist it.

"Rowan should really invest in some of those lever knobs..." The tod shook his head as he pressed the door inward. "It should be a priority if he ever gets around to that office remodel he promised."

Unlike Cameron's room, Rowan's office was largely bare in the traditional sense. This was because, despite being on the larger end of the spectrum of rodents, Rowan was still significantly smaller than his average mammal-sized office had been built for. As such the outer ring of his office doubled as a storage center for boxes full of old paper contracts and various office holiday décor when it was off-season. It was toward the center of the room where the office took on more of a traditional, professional appearance, the massive oaken desk and large leather chairs giving off an aura of professionalism that the outer fringes lacked significantly.

On top of that massive oaken desk was what Cameron would more accurately describe as "Rowan's Office." His significantly smaller desk sitting atop the center of the larger one, with the rest of the tabletop acting as his actual floor space complete with a miniature, at least by Cameron's standards, versions of everyday office furnishings.

"I see you got Cameron, excellent!" Rowan chattered, the rather pudgy brown Sherman fox squirrel seated at the diminutive desk waving the pair over excitedly as he spoke. The rodent's headset lay half on an ear, half coiled around his neck as he began to frantically dust his dress shirt and tie free of whatever loose crumbs had accumulated there since his last snack.

"Sorry about that..." The squirrel chuckled as the two mammals approached his desk. As Cameron rounded the office chairs, he caught sight of the pudgy mammal pushing a small bowl of acorns to the far end of his small desk.

"Caught me with my mouth full of nuts..." He laughed.

Derrick flashed Cameron a sarcastic smirk as he unceremoniously plopped down into the larger of the two leather chairs.

The middle-aged tod simply shook his head in response as he clambered up onto the smaller of the seats.

Rowan Drey had been Cameron's best friend since he was a kit, and had been his lifeline in terms of actually being able to use his Graphic Degree for a sustainable career instead of being stuck working as a dealer at the black jackal tables in the Palm Hotel for his whole life. The tiny, at least in relative size to Cameron, the squirrel had managed to supply his old friend with a stable career that allowed him to actually support his family while making use of his actual talents. It was something the vulpine would be forever grateful for, despite Rowan's insistence that something so trivial as a job offer was barely paying back all the years the old tod had acted as his living step ladder.

"So... Derrick said you wanted to see us about the...dating app thing?" Cameron asked, quirking a brow. "I thought that project was finished."

Rowan nodded affirmatively.

"Oh, it is! It is!" The squirrel chattered excitedly. "All the prep work on our end is done in terms of 'Hungr's' rebranding." Despite having moments earlier pushed the bowl of acorns aside, Cameron watched as the stocky squirrel's paw began to feel out across his desk for the missing bin of snacks. "Even with the short turnaround time, we absolutely nailed it."

Cameron tilted his head in mild confusion.

"So then, what's the problem?" The fox asked.

Rowan shook his head. "No problems! No problems at all!" The squirrel admitted, now looking to where the bowl had been and finally recalling that he had moved it away. Leaning over his desk, the stocky rodent began drawing the bin closer to himself once more.

"In fact just the opposite! They are over the moon with the designs!" Rowan chittered happily before stuffing a whole acorn into his mouth, his cheek bulging comically as he did. "Off coursth I ttolff youf dazz wffn weef derriverd em..." the squirrel continued, chewing through his words before forcing the remaining crumbles of nut down with a hard swallow.

"Your initial design ideas really nailed the whole new _'image'_they were going for," Rowan added.

"You mean that they are not just some obscure fetish service site?" The cherry-red reynard said with a dull chuckle.

Rowan let out a snorting laugh. "Not obscure anymore I guess...considering the _'numbers'_their CEO just told me they were pulling in."

Derrick chuckled. "That makes sense. With all the hype around that new book, I'm not surprised a few more mammals are looking to take a walk on the wild side..."

Cameron rolled his eyes, letting out a slight scoff at Derrick's comment. The fact that 'Hungr' was previously a service that touted 'pred-prey' hookups as its defining feature wasn't what bothered the tod. He had gotten a good look at their old interface before devising the new designs, his eyes glossing over at the sheer volume of lurid descriptions of dripping fangs and smooth hooves meant to titillate those with _'crossing'_fixations. Still, it was nothing he hadn't seen before. What bothered him was the callous rush to rebrand as anything other than a hookup site in the wake of the release of that Bellwether book. While Cameron couldn't be sure of the actual intentions behind the book, It was clear the CEO of Hungr smelled money in the same way a shark could smell blood in the water. It reeked of a desperate cash grab, and from a moral standpoint that sort of thing brushed the tod's fur the wrong way. Like a parasite the company had latched on to the hype of the ewe's book, there to siphon off any and all overflow value they could grab. But at the end of the day, a job is a job, and so the tod gave it his all in terms of an earnest attempt at dialing back the sleaze in order to allow the site to appeal to simply curious mammals rather than just those fixated on the diet of others above all else.

"More than just a few!" Rowan continued, closing his eyes as a satisfied smirk crossed his lips. "It's the talk of Zootopia right now! Well, behind that Bellwether book anyway." The rodent chuckled.

Cameron's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"You can't be serious." The vulpine muttered. "Really?"

Rowan nodded once more, the continued brisk nodding from the squirrel starting to concern Cameron that the diminutive rodent was liable to shake his head off at this rate.

"That's what he told me, and I don't think he has any reason to lie about this!" The fox squirrel replied.

"Maybe if he's trying to impress us in order to get us to sign on for more cheap upkeep work..." Cameron muttered, his comment earning a chuckle from Derrick.

"Not likely." Rowan smiled knowingly, bringing his paws together and intertwining his fingers as his beady little eyes stared up at the mammals shrewdly.

"Do you remember when the CEO touched base with me about that_'prospective tip'_part of the contract?" the squirrel asked. "The royalties clause?"

Cameron crossed his arms, throwing the tiny mammal an accusative glare. "You mean the one you took on our behalf? The one that cut down our final earnings by a third based on a long-shot bet?"

Rowan scoffed. "Bet!? Tell me Cam, how many jobs do we get where we see anything more than the initial investment?" The squirrel replied. " Graphics jobs are usually always one and done, with maybe a little upkeep work if we're lucky! But the prospect of essentially getting paid twice if the designs drew in enough of a crowd was..." The squirrel paused, seemingly struggling to find his words. "I couldn't pass up the chance!"

"Still..." Cameron muttered. "It was a pretty big job to take a pay cut on..."

"That doesn't matter!" Rowan replied, pounding a paw on his desk. It barely made an audible sound to the larger mammals. "What matters is we got it!"

Cameron raised an eyebrow. "Wait....you're telling me we got that bonus?"

"In spades!" The squirrel chattered excitedly. "Don't believe me, check out the corporate bank account!"

With this statement, the chubby squirrel grabbed a small remote from his desk and pointed it at the large monitor mounted on the wall adjacent to them. With a click, the led screen came to life, revealing a duplicate of Rowan's significantly smaller computer monitor. Despite the size increase, the text on the screen was still relatively small, the tod adjusting his spectacles as he squinted to make out the numbers. The monitor indeed showed a deposit made by the 'Hungr' corporation, the number being something to the tune of the initial payment they had been given to take on the project.

The older tod's muzzle slipped open, maw agape as he took in the information.

"Saint Robin's Quiver..." The fox muttered in surprise.

"You're tellin' me they actually rutting delivered!?" Derrick said with a laugh.

Rowan smiled broadly. "Yup!" The rodent chuckled. "Thank the gods for Dawn Bellwether, huh?"

Cameron leaned back in the chair, still left somewhat reeling by the outcome of the whole 'Hungr' affair. When Rowan had taken what was essentially a double or nothing offer for their hard work in helping the rebrand, Cameron had openly called his friend a fool. He had seen that sort of desperation play out at the black jackal tables, and it had almost always ended the exact same way. Yet now, the tod was looking at a substantial payday, one that could easily help him pay Val's way through school regardless of how bad her grades were should she choose to go.

"And that's not all!" Rowan added, his bucked tooth grin seeming to widen further as he spoke. Turning to his monitor once more, the squirrel began clicking his mouse frantically, the arrow on the larger monitor following his erratic movements.

"Where was it...where was...Ah!" The rodent chirped excitedly. With a final click of the mouse, the tiny mammal pulled up what was presumably an email that had also been sent on Hungr's behalf. Before Cameron could even attempt to read it on his own, Rowan began to recite aloud a select portion of it.

"On top of the bonus provision we had discussed, my company is also prepared to offer each of your employees a year-long, premium subscription to our services," Rowan stated.

The silence that hung in the air was brief, the shortest of pregnant pauses. But that was all it took for the tod to get an inkling of just why Rowan had felt the need to mention such a seemingly insignificant addition to the bonus.

Slowly, the chubby squirrel's face leaned out from behind his monitor, wearing a smile that the rust-colored fox recognized as the one reserved for clients. His 'pitch grin', the one that would inevitably build-up to his 'big sell'. But behind his eyes, there seemed to be a flicker of what looked like hopefulness that conflicted decidedly insincere smile.

"Eh?" Rowan chirped happily. "EH?" He added, bobbing his eyebrows for emphasis.

Cameron's frown returned, the tod flashing his diminutive friend a dull, half-lidded gaze. The coldness of it seemed to deflate the russet brown rodent partially, his cheesy smirk starting to falter slightly despite managing to maintain his pointed stare up at the vulpine.

Cameron opened his muzzle, but before he could utter a single syllable, an excitable outburst to his side cut him off.

"OH RUT YESSS!" The stallion practically whinnied, slapping his knee with a hoof with an audible _'fwump'_sound. Watching such an action caused Cameron to quickly shrink into his shoulders. Surely hitting his leg with his hoof that hard had to hurt, and while it hadn't seemed the faze the stallion in the slightest, it was enough to force a quiet sympathy hiss out of the canine.

"Mam' I have been dying, absolutely dy-ing to know what pred girls were like!" The suddenly hyper-charged obsidian equine nickered.

Turning his attention to Cameron, Derrick offered the fox a cheesy smirk that only served to cause Cameron to slink deeper into his chair.

"Dude, do you know how tough it is to find a pred lookin' to saddle up in the wild?" the horse lazily rolled one of his wrists as he continued. "You gotta put your feelers out, and sorta guess and hope a carnivore swings that way, then ask 'em and hope you don't get rejected. Y'know, all that bullshit." The stallion crossed his arms, letting out a derisive snort. "Nine times out of ten, they don't go for it."

The stallion leaned forward, bracing the edge of the desk with his hooves. "And that's not even counting the fact that I'm playing with a handicap here." He continued, "Seriously I can't tell you how many times a date fell through because they got all weird about_'these things'"_The horse raised his hooves, wriggling them to emphasize his point.

Derrick flopped back into his chair for a moment, his ears sagging as he let out a surprisingly mournful sigh. The stallion rolled his eyes dully. "All that coupled with the few times I've actually tried to take a whack at it and well...let's just say they've all fallen into that 'nine' category, y'know?"

Cameron's muzzle curled slightly, his expression a mixture of skepticism and confusion as he let out a rather meek "S-sure...?"

"But a hookup website? That eliminates the middle mammal!" The Stallion continued, his chest swelling with what seemed to be pride as he continued. "Cim' Mareon! No feelers, no bullshit!" Derrick laughed, slapping a hoof on Cameron's shoulder with the same amount of force and energy he had previously belted his own leg with. Cameron grit his teeth, letting out another painful hiss through his fangs as his previous empathy pain transitioned into a purely physical one.

"Y'know I was thinking about signing up when we got hired by these guys, so this just saves me the trouble of having to-."

"Uh-huh that's great Derrick, fantastic." Rowan suddenly interjected. The smile on the squirrel's face at some point replaced with a look of pure disinterest while the fox was distracted. "We're all really happy for you."

Suddenly turning his attention back on the fox, Rowan clapped his paws together excitedly, his _'client smile'_returning in an instant.

"What about you Cam?" Rowan continued, the rodent seemingly forcing his smile wider as he continued, the strain as visible as the spark of hope that had reignited behind his friend's hazel eyes.

Now it was Cameron's turn to don a dull expression. His half-lidded gaze causing the brown squirrel to rapidly wither in response.

The rust-colored tod crossed his arms, his glare growing all the more dour as he eyed the diminutive rodent standing on the desk before him.

"You know, I generally expect getting sleaze pitched to me by Derrick." Cameron muttered. "But you Rowan? By Robin's Quiver, I thought I knew you."

Rowan scoffed, clearly pretending to brush more crumbs off his shirt in order to break eye contact with the irritated fox.

"Y-You know as well as I do th-that Hungr is no longer just a '_hook-up_site!" Rowan replied, the confidence in his tone faltering as he stammered out his defense. "We all worked on it, so I would know!" Rowan crossed his arms. "If anything it's more like a Furbook now, j-just..." The brown Sherman fox squirrel winced slightly, whatever he was going to add seemingly at odds with his true feelings. "...with a gimmick."

"Yeah Cam!" Derrick chimed in, nudging the sour-looking fox with a playful elbow. "Probably just as tame as any other dating site." His grinning only caused the fox to slink further into his seat, Cameron's ears flattened tightly against his head as he eyed both mammals with suspicion and disgust.

"So whose idea was this little gambit anyway?" The vulpine hissed. "Was Derrick's little Moosatoba thing all part of some 'two pronged'_attack to _'help me move on?" Cameron added, a growl rising in his throat.

"What? No!" Rowan responded earnestly, despite looking fairly flustered by this point. "Moosatoba?" The rodent turned his gaze to the horse that towered over the both of them.

Derrick offered a sheepish smirk, raising his hooves in a shrug.

"Hey, nothing improves my mood like a good, hard romp with some moose gals..." The horse chuckled. "Or guys..." He leaned in slightly, placing a hoof aside his muzzle as he began to speak in a secretive tone to the other two mammals. "Upside with the guys, those antlers make some great handlebars when you-."

"No Derrick!" Rowan cut off the rather off-color mental image Derrick was trying to paint, raising his paws defensively. "I did send him in to check on you, and to call you in here, but that was all!" The squirrel continued to protest. "You think I would say 'Hey, I know what would cheer Cameron up! Take him on one of yoursexcapades!?"

"Ooh, I like that," Derrick responded with a smirk before nudging the fox seated next to him again. "That's way better than 'sex tourism', waaay more erotic."

The deep orange fox swatted at the stallion in an effort to get some distance between them, but the effort was ultimately a waste of time. Like before, Cameron didn't have the strength to move the lumbering equine and was ultimately forced to wait for him to back off of his own accord. When he finally withdrew, Cameron crossed his arms once again, glowering at the rodent.

"Cameron." Rowan whimpered. "I've known you for years, you think I don't know something like that is..." The chubby little squirrel struggled to find his words, stammering a bit before seemingly settling on something. "I-It's not you..."

"And offering me a Hungr membership is any different from Derrick's weekend up in the Great White North how exactly?" He snarled.

"It's not like that!" Rowan spat back defensively.

"Yeah Mam', it's just a little social networking," Derrick added with his usual grin.

"Exactly! You do-!"

"Hey boss..." Rowan turned to find the stallion now leaned in fairly close to him, his hoof to the side of his muzzle in a clear attempt to shield his lips from Cameron as he whispered.

"There is still like...a back-pages part right?" The stallion said quietly, his expression oddly serious for the usually jovial, raucous stallion. His large nostrils blew a hot wind that had Rowan squinting slightly with each exhale.

"Cause like I don't want to rut around with like...relationship stuff." Derrick continued. "I just wanna get down to the-"

"Derrick." Rowan cut the stallion off, placing a paw to his face as he let out an exasperated sigh. "I'd like to speak with Cameron alone please."

The dark-furred stallion eyed the diminutive mammal quizzically as he withdrew back into his chair.

"You sure? Cause I cou-."

"Please," Rowan interjected, squeezing the bridge of his snout between his thumb and forefinger. "At this point, you're doing more harm than good."

"O-Oh..." The stallion rose awkwardly to his feet, stumbling over the edge of his chair slightly as he maneuvered around it. "O-okay...s-sure, I get it."

Rowan and Cameron both watched as the stallion quietly receded toward the office door, Derrick facing them all the while as he made his slow, ungainly egress.

"W-Well if you need me...I'll uh..." The horse awkwardly tried to open the door behind him, but his hoof simply slipped off the knob. Turning his body to face the exit, Derrick began to frantically fumble with the knob for a few moments. Each grasp of his hooves caused the brass to ring out as though it were a bumper in a pinball cabinet being assaulted by a myriad of pinballs.

"I'll uh...er..." The horse was glancing back at them as he continued to stammer. There was a particularly loud clang, drawing his gaze back to the handle briefly as he whispered curses under his breath before turning his gaze back to the mammals glaring back at him.

An audible click and Derrick let out a sigh of relief before swiftly slipping out of the office.

"At my desk... if anyone..." Derrick was closing the door as he spoke, his face rapidly disappearing behind the partition until there was little more than a crack left open. A sliver of space allowed the obsidian stallion to slip the mouth of his muzzle back into the room for a brief moment.

"...Needs me."

With that, Cameron and Rowan shared a sigh of relief aloud as the door finally sealed shut. But with those sighs, loud enough to be heard by one another, came the realization that they were still in the same room together. The conversation that remained unfinished, briefly smothered by a sense of comfort was creeping back, filling the room with a renewed wash of tension and discomfort. A sense of unease and stress that only increased as the pair met each other's gazes once more.

Rowan shook his head apologetically. Cam-"

The tod held out a defiant paw, closing his eyes and turning his head away from his friend.

"I know what you are going to say Row." The fox spoke, considerably less vitriol in his voice than before. His weariness had started to seep into his tone, his voice cracking slightly as he spoke. "W-We've had this conversation so many times and I..." The crimson red canid shook his head, letting out a dull, sarcastic chuckle. "Aren't you tired of this by now?"

"Cam." The squirrel's tone was quiet but firm. "What I'm tired of is seeing is you spending every waking minute of your life that's not devoted to putting on a happy face for your daughters, flagellating yourself to near death." The rodent sighed sadly.

"Row.-"

"No Cam. I know what you're_going to say." Rowan interjected, furrowing his brow in mild irritation. "You aren't the only one here who's had this conversation '_so_many'_times before."

The squirrel sighed softly. "I'm not Derrick you know." He chuckled, shaking his head dismissively. " I mean his heart is in the right place but...he doesn't really know 'you'."

Stepping to the edge of his desk, the fox squirrel stood on the balls of his paws, waggling a finger up at the fox in front of him.

"Did you forget we've known each other since we were in middle school?" Rowan eyed his friend sternly, causing the fox to slink deeper into his seat as a feeling of guilt began to rise in his gut. "For the god's sakes, you weren't just my best friend, but my only means of conveyance all the way up till high school."

The two shared a soft, knowing chuckle, weaker on Cameron's part than it was on Rowan's.

"Remember what I used to call you?" The stout rodent asked, flashing the vulpine a sly smile that was broken by his buck teeth.

Cameron rolled his eyes slightly, trying to stifle a smirk of his own.

"Mr. Maple" The fox muttered with a dull laugh.

The auburn squirrel laughed.

"My best friend and mobile tree fort." He smirked. "And your head was hollow enough to store a whole mess of acorns." The rodent snickered.

"Pft..." Cameron uttered, shaking his head. " I wasn't even tall enough to justify that name."

"True." Rowan nodded. "But you were the tallest kit in school that would willingly let me use you as a ladder. Hell, you were the only kit even willing to give me the time of day." The rodent sighed. "Up until high school, you were the only friend I had, mam'."

Cameron's frown deepened slightly at his friend's admission.

"Too big for a micro-sized mammal only school, too small for anything considered to be a 'normal school'." The rodent chuckled dully."And we all know how well school systems outside of Savannah Central handled accommodating multiple sizes of mammals back in the early 90s."

The tod shook his head softly. "Yeah, they didn't."

"Let's face it, in Mesa middle school and Big Dune High, anyone shorter than jack-rabbit height was practically a second class mammal. Everyone at those schools just treated me like vermin." The squirrel spat at his feet as the word 'vermin'_bitterly left his lips. "The larger mammals hated having to watch their steps for smaller folks like me, and they made sure we knew it too. Every damn day." Rowan closed his eyes. "Rodents were an added obstacle to the student body, deemed an unnecessary hazard by most, and..."He winced. " _'A speed bump' to the packs, prides, and herds of bullies there."

Cameron closed his eyes, letting out a rather somber sigh of his own.

"I may not have been short enough to be seen as a _'speed bump'_myself..." Cameron murmured. "But I certainly was vermin." The fox uttered with an acrid tone. "And that view was almost unanimously shared by the rest of the student body."

Rowan shook his head softly.

"You saved my life you know..." The squirrel said matter of factly.

"Row, st-."

"I'm serious!" He interjected. "The day we met, those bullies were going to grind me into a fine paste!"

Cameron scoffed. "You're exaggerating, you know they wouldn't ha-."

Rowan flashed Cameron a rather harsh, serious stare.

"You remember those two rodents that went missing that year right?" He snapped back. "They never found either one of them you know."

Cameron gestured toward his friend lazily with a paw. "I mean, I know...but those guys weren't-."

"Sure looking back, of course, it wasn't anyone at the school, but we all heard the rumors." Rowan glanced at his feet despondently. "All the big bully groups were so laissez-faire about taking credit for those missing students, especially the preds." He let out a derisive snort as he crossed his arms " Talking about how tasty their meat was, how crunchy their bones were..." The squirrel let out a poisonous sounding hiss.

"Well, at least until the police started questioning the Pridemoore pack." Cameron chuckled as he recalled seeing Stephen Pridemoore, with his confident swagger and powerful charisma that all lions seemed to be born with a sense of, collapse into a pitiful heap when a few officers showed up to the school to ask him some simple questions. Sobbing to the point of hyperventilating, with snot bubbles dribbling from his snout as if he were little more than a cub having a tantrum, oh so worried that his folks would find out or that he'd lose out on potential sports Scholarships. Cameron had been the only one to witness that scene, the young, fresh face tod finding himself in the principal's office for an unrelated incident at the perfect time to catch the show. Naturally, Stephen threatened him after, warned him to keep quiet. Should the vulpine had uttered a word about Stephen's moment of weakness, his tail would end up tied up to the back of the lion's longboard. The fox was no fool, he knew better than to mark himself for death like that. But the memory alone was enough to satisfy him until adult life rendered holding such memories close as immature and juvenile.

"That was pretty much the end of talk like that across the board." The tod added.

"Well, it's not like it stopped the general bullying anyway, especially for us small guys." Rowan followed up, raising a finger. " Sure they lightened up on us for a little while, until the heat died down, but by winter recess it was back to the status quo."

The squirrel placed a paw to his forehead. "Granted, I was on the big side for a rodent." Rowan slipped his paw downward until it came to rest gingerly on his sizable spare tire."And I was never exactly....' svelte'." He added with a laugh, patting his belly.

The fox squirrel raised a paw in the air as high as he could, leveling his hand to indicate a height as he stood on the balls of his feet once more.

"But a wolf or lion is still a titan compared to me!" He continued, smiling softly up at the seated vulpine. "To you too."

Cameron let out an uneasy grumble, images of Stephen towering over the diminutive fox, glaring down at him with carnivorous rage behind the tightly slitted pupils of his golden eyes.

"I can still hear the roar of their longboards..." Rowan admitted. bracing his shoulder with his paws as he shuddered.

With the squirrel's simple utterance, the vulpine's mind flashed back to that point in his life in an instant. Walking home from school on another blisteringly hot spring day, his eyes studied the cracks in the concrete as he shuffled back to the Vulpes family den. Then he heard it, the roar of plastic wheels ripping against concrete that always made his hackles stand to attention the instant he heard it.

The fox immediately turned on his heels to catch the familiar sight of Stephen and his two brothers barreling down the sidewalk at him, their looming forms rapidly gaining on the slow-moving tod. But they hadn't noticed him, not yet. Their gleefully hateful glares were fixed on the relatively small mammal struggling to outpace them. A brown and black ball of chubby fur was gasping and panting heavily as he struggled to evade the predators set to pounce on him.

"You remember that day...right Cam?" Rowan asked.

"The day we met?" The fox let out a sharp exhale. "How could I forget?"

Their eyes met for the briefest of moments. Rowan's beady little brown eyes flickered with panic and desperation. They silently pleaded for the tod's help, as his throat was far too choked by his frantic gasping to utter a single word. No sound came in reply from the cherry red-furred vulpine. The only voices that echoed over the sun-drenched strip of road were the hooping and jeering over the lions bearing down on the little rodent. Without saying a word, the fox yanked the rotund rodent out of the road, dragging him onto the sidewalk as they both fell to the ground. Instinctively the rust-colored canid curled his body around the significantly smaller mammal, using himself to shield the small mammal from the wrath of the considerably larger mammals. With Rowan's sudden disappearance, the ire of the lion pride quickly fell on the young fox now balled up on the blistering sidewalk, the lion's electing to kick and spit at the poor vulpine before boredom eventually took hold, sending Pridemoore and his goons seeking more entertaining_'prey'_ to torment.

"If it wasn't for the fact that my backpack was one of those hard plastic-shelled deals, and that it took most of the blows for us, we probably would have both ended up in the hospital." The fox let out a weak half-chuckle. "Still, picked up some bruised ribs and some pavement burns for my trouble..."

"You stuck your neck out for me!" Rowan replied, gesturing a paw at the tod. "I mean, not to diminish you getting hurt but, can you imagine what they could have done to a short guy like me?"

Cameron sighed, pressing his glasses back up his snout with a finger.

"I wasn't going to just leave you at the Pridemore's mercy..." The vulpine admitted.

"Exactly! No one else at that school would have done that for me!" The rotund little squirrel jumped on the foxes trailing sentence. "I told you mam', you saved my life that day."

Again Cameron let out a soft scoff, the tod rolling his eyes at the obvious hyperbole.

Rowan seemed to ignore the vulpine's dismissal, the diminutive rodent offering his friend a small, earnest smile. "Heck, just having you as my friend saved my life in more ways than I probably even know..."

"And what sort of friend would I be if I didn't at least try to do the same for you?" Rowan placed his paws behind his back, glancing up at his friend knowingly.

Cameron's ears skewed at odd angles as he eyed the squirrel skeptically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The vulpine asked bluntly. "We aren't kits anymore Row, it's not like I'm worried about Stephen Pridemoore looking to settle an old score."

Rowan squinted at the large canine, flashing him a rather dull expression.

"You know what I mean Cam." He replied, his judgmental glare remaining firm. "I'm trying to save you from yourself here!"

The dour tod rolled his eyes, letting out another dismissive scoff.

"I don't need saving," Cameron replied sharply. "Nor do I recall ever asking for your help with this in any way." The tod crossed his arms, tipping his head up and away from the small mammal.

Rowan frowned. "I know _you_didn't ask me..."

The diminutive squirrel sighed, turning away from his friend as he began to softly pace around his desk. The rodent raised a single pudgy, clawed finger.

"Earlier..." The squirrel muttered softly, turning on his heel as he began to pace in the other direction. "I said that, unlike Derrick, I knew you." Again the rodent turned, his paws slipping behind his back as he continued to pace.

"But you aren't the only fox I knew..." The black and brown squirrel stopped in his tracks, turning his gaze back on the vulpine that loomed before him.

"I knew Marian too," Rowan uttered softly.

Cameron felt his chest tighten at the sound of her name, his eyelids twitching involuntarily after years of being primed to tear up at the mere utterance of it. The fiery furred vulpine felt his muzzle open slightly, the impulse to speak, to say something. But no words came as his muzzle lowly slipped shut once more, his bottom lip quivering slightly as he watched the fox squirrel intently.

"I'm not an idiot Cameron..." Rowan said, shaking his head slightly. "I mean, we go through this at least two times a year. How could I not remember what day is coming up?"

"I..." the word had come as little more as a wavering squeak. The fox didn't have a planned rebuttal, the stray word had simply slipped out as scattered thoughts struggled to process and prepare for the painful trip down memory lane that was to come. One Cameron knew he couldn't bring himself to stop.

"I didn't want to pressure you, or back you into a corner to get you to talk to me about this..." Rowan frowned. "...but I mean, This is the worst I've ever seen you Cam." The russet-furred squirrel continued. "At least, the worst you've been since...well..." Rowan winced uneasily, clearly unable to finish the thought.

The rodent closed his eyes, bowing his head somberly. "We can hear you in there, you know? Derrick and I?" He continued.

Cameron winced, shrinking into his shoulders at the revelation, feeling simultaneously violated and ashamed.

"This office ain't expensive, so the walls aren't exactly thick." Rowan shook his head slowly. "We can hear your bouts of sobbing and weeping no matter how quiet you think you're being." The rodent gestured a paw up to Cameron, rolling his wrist as he continued. "Not that we need to hear you to know that, your eyes are wet and practically swollen shut when you come out of that office sometimes. " Rowan shook his head dismissively. "Not to mention those bags of yours have practically started to drip down your cheeks."

Cameron weakly raised his paw, the limb struggling to make it halfway up to his eyes in order to hide them before flatly giving up. What was the point of trying to hide what was obvious to the whole office at this point? He could already feel his azure lenses growing dewy.

"But you're so damn stubborn..." the chubby squirrel grimaced, placing his paws on his hips. "You won't let anyone who wants to help you in. Chesnuts, You even stopped going to your therapist for even touching on the idea of trying to move on!" He sighed. "That's why I had to force this conversation, why I had to send Derrick in to get you to talk to me."

"M-Marian..." The tod whimpered.

"Marian." Rowan replied. " Wouldn't want you to be doing this to yourself either."

"B-But-" The fox tried to stammer, stray tears starting to trickle down his muzzle fur.

"She may have been soft-spoken, quiet, and easy to fluster, but she also somehow had the supermammalian ability to keep the attitudes of the world around her from bringing her down even in the slightest." Rowan cut him off, the rotund mammal letting out a tired sigh before continuing. "Whether that was the stigma floating around foxes, getting dealt a bad paw in life, or what used to be the significantly rarer instances of you being a miserable old codger of a fox." He gestured a paw toward the vulpine.

Rowan smiled warmly. "She was the kind of mammal that you couldn't help but be friends with once you really got to know her." The rodent chuckled softly. "And when she gravitated toward you, we became friends too."

Leaning a hand on his desk, the squirrel lowered himself down, allowing his legs to hang off the table. Cupping his palms together, the chubby rodent let out a soft sigh before continuing.

"As if you weren't already like a brother to me, with Marian and eventually Val, I mean..." Rowan smiled warmly. "It was like being part of this really warm, tight knit-family, one that Marian had welcomed me into just as readily as you had."

The rodent offered a slight shrug before continuing. "Obviously I didn't know Marian the same way you did..." He shook his head. "I couldn't."

Rowan lifted his head, glancing up at the vulpine with a sad, but serious expression.

"But I knew enough." He offered a weak, wavering smirk.

"Marian would chat with me, confide things in me, treat me just as much like her flesh and furred brother as you did." The rodent raised a claw, gingerly swabbing at his beady auburn eyes as he appeared to well up. "Heck, she started calling me '_Uncle Rowan'_before you did."

The little mammal shook his head. "Between the two of you, you made sure I was at every birthday, every family trip, everything. You guys always went out of your way to include me. So I mean it when I say I was there."

Rowan raised his voice slightly as he continued. " I was there helping you guys set up for the wedding, The kit shower, I was there to watch Val whenever you needed..."

The fox squirrel's head sank, a deep frown forming on his muzzle. "I was there when...Marian got sick...."

Cameron's palm finally managed to make it to his muzzle, clasping tightly over it as tears streamed steadily down his cheeks.

"I watched over Val while you spent nearly every night in that hospital Cameron." The squirrel whimpered quietly. "I'd see you come in each morning looking a little more nervous and disheveled, trying to stay hopeful despite each increasingly grim diagnosis." Rowan placed a paw to his temple. "I'd visit Marian when I could, and each time... I'd see her grow smaller and frailer than the last."

Cameron tried to stifle a sob, causing it to come out as more of a choke.

"R-Rowan p-ple..." The fox tried to plead. "I-I can't h-handle..."

The rodent glanced back up at his friend, his eyes still watering despite his rather serious gaze.

"But somehow, some way, that light behind her eyes remained bright and beaming despite her condition." The brown and black pelted mammal said, his tone was firm as he spoke. "She didn't change at all no matter how dire things looked..."

Cameron's mind flickered with still images, static frames of memories that winked in and out of existence in rapid succession. A sterile hospital room, doctors, nurses, A somber smear of faces passing in and out of existence. The stench of raw, medical alcohol seemed to fill his nostrils, the memory of the burning scent alone forcing a harsh snort in an effort to chase it away. He could almost hear the steady beeping of a heart monitor as the image of a pale, withering form laid out on a hospital bed, and hooked up to countless machines and wires flashed through his mind, forcing a fresh hot wave of tears to his eyes as it came and went.

"Do you know what she told me?" Rowan murmured quietly, looking to his friend with a solemn stare. " The last time I got to see her?"

Cameron's head sagged, the vulpine starting to sob quietly. Cameron raised a paw to his face, lifting his glasses in order to clasp his palm over his eyes.

"You should, she put it in the will just to be sure you knew it too." Rowan added, with a weak chuckle.

Cameron couldn't speak, despite knowing the answer well. Instead, the fox's head simply hung there, his muzzle remaining fixed towards the floor as let out a soft whimper.

"She asked me not to let you do this to yourself," Rowan answered for him, his tone solemn and sad. "She asked me to look out for you, and Val. To make sure you didn't just curl into a ball and shut the whole world out."

"Make sure he lives, not just for me or Val, but for himself too.." Rowan added, his tone growing stern once more despite the lingering sadness as he repeated Marian's own words. "You know he can be stubborn. He'll never admit when he needs help, and that's when you have to make sure you're there. To keep him from falling down and refusing to get up again."

Cameron winced at his friends words, Marian's words. More or less. The pain in his chest flaring up once more as it felt as though his heart was twisted up in a vice. It was painful enough to once again force his paw back to his chest, the tod digging his fingers into his shirt, trying his best to ease the searing ache that made it even harder to breathe on top of his hushed weeping.

"I didn't fully understand it at the time if I am being honest Cam." The squirrel continued, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I mean you expect a mammal to mourn after the loss of a loved one, it's natural. And I'm sure it's even harder for mammals who mate for life." He shook his head. "But, I was shortsighted." Rowan chuckled weakly. "I wasn't thinking about it long term."

The chubby mammal let out a sigh. "But Marian, she knew you better than I ever could." Rowan admitted. "I kept thinking it was normal..." He continued. "You were always an emotional tod, despite your more...bitter moments. But it all seemed par for the course for what you went through. At least until I realized it never seemed to lessen. Your mourning process never stopped...in fact, it only got worse."

Cameron managed to glance back up at the diminutive rodent, who had now resumed his sitting position on the edge of the desktop. The fox-squirrel offered him a kind smile, his beady brown eyes having an apologetic quality as he continued.

"I guess I didn't notice with work, and with Val and Ellie seemingly keeping you from fully giving into that urge to withdraw from everyone around you..." But now, with them pretty much all grown, it's so glaring and obvious that I'm kicking myself for not realizing what was going on sooner."

The cherry-red vulpine swallowed hard, his bleary, wet azure eyes fixing on the minuscule mammal before him.

"E-even if you realized what she meant sooner..." The vulpine exhaled awkwardly, his breathing interrupted by a stray sob cutting through his throat. "W-What would you have done then?"

Rowan's head sank. "I..." The small yet stocky squirrel uttered quietly. "I-I don't know."

"O-Only Marian could help me." The tod sniffled, straightening up slightly. "But even..." The tod ran a shaking paw through his head fur, dragging it back as he struggled to find his words. "Even if she knew h-how this would be for me...this far along...what else w-would she tell you Row? What else c-could she tell you or me!?" Cameron's voice rose slightly, the canine gripping one of his knees with a paw. He could feel his claws cutting into his pant leg and the skin beneath as his grasp tightened.

"She...she knew she was irreplaceable." The fox said, trying his best to hold back a sob and failing.

Furrowing his brow, the fox began to bare his fangs as the pain inside reached an almost unbearable pitch. "What could anyone do if they knew!?"

"I DON'T KN-" Rowan spat, cutting himself off mid-sentence and recoiling at his sudden outburst. "I don't know..." The stout squirrel murmured quietly. "And I feel like I should." He shook his head sadly.

"I-It's-." Cameron sniffled sharply, the tod pushing his glasses up and out of the way with his palm as he wiped aggressively at his tears. "Th-that's not your-."

"It is! It is my fault Cam!" Rowan spat back, flashing the tod a stern glare. "I've been a bad friend." The stout little squirrel huffed."I didn't keep my promise to Marian..." He continued. "And I let this go on, and now...it's probably beyond my ability to help with."

Cameron shook his head somberly. "Y-you've always been a good friend to me, given me time to grieve." The tod exhaled softly. "No matter how expensive or inconvenient it proved to be."

"That's just common decency Cam." Rowan replied. "And as a friend, I should have given you more than just common decency."

"Row-"

"Let's face it Cam." the Sherman fox squirrel interjected, cutting the vulpine off. "You don't go to me for help. You don't confide in me anymore..." He continued. "The fact that I had to lure you in here under the partially false pretense of work-related business shows how much our friendship has sort of...deteriorated."

"Row, You know you are s-still-."

"And with you having withdrawn from everyone as much as you have...I don't think I can't get through to you anymore." He admitted sadly.

Pulling himself up with a soft groan, Rowan began to toddle back over to his actual desk, the small rodent plopping back into his rolling chair as he gestured a paw over to his computer.

"I was earnestly pitching this Hungr thing to you as like, a last-ditch effort to throw you some sort of life preserver." The rodent tapped a paw on his desk. "Of course Derrick being...well, Derrick didn't exactly help make it seem like I was doing anything but trying to get you laid." Rowan let out an irritated snort, shaking his head dismissively. "As if I believed all you needed to do was get some tail and suddenly you'd be a whole new mammal. While our friendship isn't what it used to be, I still know you better than that."

Chasing the lingering stray tears with a claw, Cameron snorted sharply as he tried to compose himself.

"B-But if you knew th-that, you'd also remember th-"

"Foxes mate for life, I know I know." Rowan cut him off as he clasped his paws together on his desk, intertwining his fingers. "Look, as much as I don't want to tread on that tradition, as archaic as I may find it." The black and brown pelted mammal glanced up at his friend. "Especially in your case. I just..." He trailed off, seemingly struggling to find his words. After a few moments, Rowan offered an exasperated shrug. "I don't know, I just thought maybe if you looked into talking to some mammals outside of your species, things might be easier for you I guess? If they didn't look a thing like...her..." The chubby rodent raised his paws. "At the very least maybe you could make some new friends? Someone you could talk to? Maybe some who know what it's like to lose a loved one? Who understands better than someone like me?"

Rowan brought his paws to his lips, closing his eyes as he exhaled into his paws.

"I just want to see you actually care about your own happiness for once. To actually enjoy things again mam'." He let out a soft huff. "At the very least anything would be better than the way you're currently living."

"R-Rowan."

"I don't just owe it to Marian to try. I owe it to you. Mr. Maple..." Rowan added, offering a slight smile."I owe it to Val and Ellie too."

Despite the lingering tears, the remark offered a slight smile of his own from the vulpine.

There was a pregnant pause as the two mammals stared at each other in silence, a glimmer of some semblance of hope behind the tiny mammal's eyes as he seemingly searched Cameron's own for the same. A hope that he had managed to get through to him finally. After all this time, at his lowest point, maybe the tod would finally reach back out and accept some form of help.

Cameron let out a slow, deliberate sigh as he finished composing himself.

"Rowan."

The fox squirrel's face immediately fell, he could already tell by the tone the answer to his plea he was going to get.

"I know, I know." Rowan replied with a roll of his eyes. "Thanks but no thanks, right?"

Cameron flashed a meek, faltering smile.

"I-It really means the world to me that you are this concerned about me Row, b-but I'll...I'll get through this..."

"Cam."

"You say I go through this twice a year, but I...I mean I do always get through it right?" The tod continued.

The pudgy squirrel failed to suppress an exhausted groan. The walls remained intact, and Cameron had slipped right into his own form of the 'Client Smile', his _'I'm fine'_smile, one that Rowan could tell was just as false and forced as his own public face.

"I-I'll be alright....really..." Cameron continued.

"Could you at least not lie to my face." The squirrel rebutted, crossing his arms. "I'd like to think if our friendship still means anything you'd at least have the decency to really be honest with me, not an Honest John."

Cameron's false smile wavered slightly, the canine guiltily averting his gaze toward the floor.

"R-Rowan I c-can't..." He whined softly. "I-It wouldn't feel right..."

"Look, at least promise me you will consider using Hungr alright?" Rowan said with a heavy sigh, relenting to some degree in his pursuit to make the tod see reason. "Otherwise I'll talk your ear off all day if I have to."

Cameron offered a weak chuckle, adjusting his frames slightly as he turned his gaze back on the rodent.

"A-Alright...alright..." The tod replied. "I...I promise."

It was still a lie, at least that's how it appeared to Rowan, but a shaky enough one that the pudgy mammal believed with a little more prodding he might have a chance of getting him to cave.

"Good, good." Rowan chittered, letting out a long, relieved sigh.

Turning his attention back to his computer, the mammal gestured a paw in Cameron's direction.

"Alright, now get out of here..." Rowan chuckled. "Not back to your office either, I want you to go home."

Cameron raised an eyebrow, his muzzle scrunching up in confusion.

"W-what?" The tod muttered, his tone uncertain.

"You heard me, I want you to take the next few days off." The Sherman fox squirrel continued, his glance remaining fixed on the screen in front of him. "Go do something for yourself, spend some time with Val, whatever you need to do to raise your spirits."

Turning his gaze back on the fox for a moment, the rodent offered him a sarcastic smirk.

"Anything to keep you from haunting the office all day..." He chuckled.

"B-but..." The tod stuttered. " Wh-what about Miss Bella's contract? The Creamery menu? I can't just leave it-."

"I'm sure you've done enough groundwork for me to build off of." Rowan interjected, his attention back on his screen. "And I'll be speaking to her this time around since I figured you were going to ask me to take over anyway." Rowan offered the tod a rather knowing smirk. " So no need to worry about Derrick driving her away with incessant questions about udders." He chuckled.

"Oh c'mon!" Came a muffled reply from outside the room, startling both mammals slightly. "I was only gonna ask like...one!"

Rowan let out a sigh as he rolled his eyes.

"Derrick, what have I told you about eavesdropping?" The rodent said in a raised, firm tone.

"I'm at my desk!" The stallion replied. "I can't help it if the walls are thin as paper!"

The stout rodent let out a groan, placing a paw to his forehead before shooing his friend away with his other paw.

"Just go Cam. We both know you aren't operating at your A-game when you are like this anyway, and if worst comes to worst I'm sure I can get Miss Bella to accept a delay." He shook his head. "Besides, the faster you leave, the less time Derrick has to keep trying to pitch that _'Moosatoba Trip'_to you again."

Like Derrick had before, Cameron began a slow, awkward rise from his seat. The weary fox's gaze was still fixed on the rodent as he began to back out of the room.

"O-okay...I guess..." He replied uneasily, still not entirely sure about giving in to letting go of an unfinished project. "I...Thank you Rowan."

Rowan shook his head, another chuckle slipping free of his muzzle.

"Thank me by using that free membership." The rodent replied. "It'll go to waste if you don't at least check it out, alright?"

Opening the office door, the uncertain-looking fox offered a meek nod.

"A-alright." He replied, before closing the door behind him with an awkward, elongated creak.

It had only taken the fox a few moments to cobble together the few belongings that went to and from his office. His scarf, his bag, a few jump drives, and he was nearly set to depart for the day. Taking a seat at his desk, the vulpine slung the longer end of his green and purple scarf over his shoulder, taking a moment to save and shift the files for his creamery project over to the company's network folder before shutting it down for the day.

With the monitor going dark, the canine could just barely make out his tired face in the dull reflection. His puffy eyes, and weary features glaring a thousand-yard stare back at him. He had already known he wasn't looking all that great but seeing himself after his conversation made it seem so much worse. _'Haunting'_had certainly been the perfect term to use in describing the tod, Cameron letting out a tired sigh as even had to admit he was starting to look positively ghoulish. At that moment, he was all the more grateful his role at the company remained free of direct customer interaction.

Turning his attention to the tarnished golden frame once more, the tod elected to take one last look at his mate. The beautiful vixen that had loved him so deeply, and that had filled his life with meaning. A weak, faltering smile formed on his muzzle as his eyes again grew dewy. Reaching out a paw, the tod gently caressed the photo.

"I miss you Mari..." The fox whimpered softly, closing his eyes for a moment as he held his paw there. "I miss you so much..."

Slowly, reluctantly the fox rose from his seat, making his way toward the door to his office. His stride was a sluggish shuffling as he crossed the floor. Stopping at the entrance, the tod glanced back to his office briefly, letting out another sigh before slipping out.

However, Cameron had barely managed to turn the corner before bumping into a hard mass of mammal, the tod stumbling back slightly as he struggled to stay standing. For a moment he assumed it was Derrick, but as he straightened his glasses the form of a familiar large bull moose became clear, one he immediately recognized as Oscar the janitor.

The moose merely stared back at him, spray bottle in one gloved hoof, and dirty towel in the other. His gaze unnerved the fox as it always did. Hollow, piercing, as if he were not quite looking at him, but through him.

Oscar offered him a slow nod of acknowledgment, which the fox returned reluctantly before quickly making his way to the elevator, giving Derrick as wide a birth as he could on his way out. However, it hadn't stopped the stallion from shouting about 'if the fox suddenly changed his mind about the trip, to call him' before Cameron could slip into the elevator. It was only when the doors of the elevator finally came to a close could the fox finally breathe a true sigh of relief, Cameron pressed his back into the cool steel wall as he slowly slid down it. Coming to rest on the floor, the fiery red fox brought his knees into his chest, closing his eyes as he leaned his head into his knees.

For the moment, he was finally alone again. To let go of his mask despite how poorly it had held up against Rowan's all-out assault. It was okay to be weak now, to give in...

It was only a minute or so after the tod had exited the office when Rowan appeared at the tiny door next to his considerably larger office door. The rather tired-looking rodent let out a sigh as he appraised the office.

"So, how'd it go?" Derrick asked from his desk near the center of the room, a hopeful smile lacing his muzzle.

"Better than your little talk I think," Rowan muttered, looking down at his feet for a moment, frowning. "At least, I hope..."

"Oh c'mon, it wasn't that bad an idea!" Derrick replied with a snort.

"It wasn't?!" The Sherman fox squirrel rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Chestnuts! Even Oscar would probably have a better suggestion than that, and he's just the janitor_._" The rodent continued, gesturing to the large moose wiping down the glass pane of a painting just outside of Cameron's office before using finger 'quotes' around the word janitor.

The large moose turned to face the pair, offering an indifferent shrug.

"Therapy perhaps?" he replied, his voice a low rumble.

"Weren't you listening? He quit that." Derrick added.

The moose shrugged again. "Well, then I don't really know what else I could suggest. Psycho-analysis isn't exactly my forte, I am just a janitor."

"Yeah." Rowan again rolled his eyes. "Sure you are."

The moose raised his hooves again, still clasping the spray bottle and towel as he shook them to emphasize what he was going to say.

"When I am here, I am a janitor, alright?" Oscar snorted derisively, but Rowan hadn't noticed, the chubby black and brown squirrel now scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm...maybe you talking to him isn't the worst idea after all..." The rodent mused.

Oscar shook his head sharply in the negative.

"You could nudge him," Rowan added.

"I could nudge him off a bridge." The moose replied. "I don't have to be an expert to know that mammal is in a bad place, and the situation calls for sensitivity."

Rowan let out a defeated sigh. "I know" he says quietly.

"You are his friends." The brown bull moose motioned to both mammals as he spoke. "If you haven't been able to get through, what chance does a stranger like me have?"

"I know, I know!" Rowan reiterated with a huff. "I'm just-..."

The squirrel slumped slightly in his stance, frowning as he allowed his arms to simply hang forward.

"I'm getting worried..." He continued, placing a paw to his forehead. "He's getting worse and honestly...I don't know how much longer he can go on like this..." The stout squirrel's voice quavered as he spoke. "I...don't know what else I can do..."

"You had a busy day," Oscar replied, going back to spraying and scrubbing the glass behind him. "Sleep on it, maybe you can come up with something with a fresh head." The large brown pelted bovine shrugged as he continued to clean. "If you want, I could supply you with something to help relax, but as much as I want to help, this really isn't in my wheelhouse."

"Goodness no!" Rowan replied with a dull chuckle as he dismissed the bull with a paw. "Didn't you just tell me I needed a 'fresh head'?!"

Plopping a seat on the edge of the shelf that made up his hallway system, Rowan let out another tired sigh of defeat.

"But some headache medicine would do me some real good about now..." He muttered quietly. "And a fresh bowl of acorns..."