Welcome to GreenWood
General Disclaimer: This story may contain scenes of a graphic and/or sexual nature. As such it is not suitable for view by persons under the age of eighteen. Please respect the law in your area, it's in place for your own good.
Mission Statement: This story was written and collaborated on by one or more members of TheMishMash. We are a team of like minded friends who strive to bring humor, drama, adventure, and sordid affairs to the masses. Comments and questions are always welcome and we can be contacted through our user page here on SoFurry. Please denote who you're asking for when leaving a message. Sincerely... Ghoti, Bones, and Scratch.
Welcome to GreenWood
Written by: Ghoti
Content: This story contains gossip, feminine conversation, and allusions to promiscuity. It is otherwise free of adult material. No Yiff in other words.
Personal Notes: Ghoti says, "This is actually my third story written under my new code of content. But it became apparent near it's completion that it would be better suited to be posted first. As for the content herein, I've obviously been conned into watching one too many chick flicks. I struggled to keep writing this after it became apparent it wasn't really going to go anywhere, and I had to just make myself finish it and add these notes for posting. It serves as a good guidepost for my stories to come. It also gives outside background on the primary character of myself and my two close friends. For better or worse, please enjoy."
On the Main Street of a small town located firmly, but reluctantly, in the south, there stood a coffee shop. The owner had given it the unlikely name of "Woe be Gone". Inside, they served mainly coffee and breakfast related pastries. Despite their selective menu, business never faltered. They remained prosperous along with the other eight shops on what was sometimes jokingly referred to as "The Strip".
Heather sat in a booth at the coffee shop. The dark furred otter had a cup of joe and a honey glazed donut in front of her and was waiting patiently for her friends to arrive. They met at Woe be Gone once a week to catch up on things and gossip. As she waited, she twisted the wedding band on her finger restlessly. She loved her husband, Peter. But he could never take the place of her girlfriends.
Presently, she saw Becky approach through the glass front of the shop. The young mouse girl worked at the local taco shop five buildings up Main Street and came down to the coffee shop on her noon o'clock lunch breaks. As the timid girl approached the door, Heather saw a brown furred rabbit girl pass by going the other direction. When the unknown bunny crossed paths with the smaller mouse, Becky seemed to shrink away from her. After the silent altercation, Becky opened the door and Heather waved her over to their usual booth.
"Did you know that rabbit?" Heather asked as the mouse took off her jacket and sat across from her.
"I don't think so." Becky replied in her soft voice. "But she seemed... Mean."
Heather flagged the waitress over to take the smaller girl's order and mused over her friend. Becky had a predisposition to shy away from other animals on the assumption that they were "mean" or "wouldn't like her". She was just a timid creature that way. "I doubt she would have hurt you Becky."
"I don't know..." The shy girl settled onto the bench and ordered a hot chocolate and a lemon pastry when the waitress came by. "Cass hasn't made it yet?" She asked.
"She'll be here in a minute." Heather assure her. "So, how have you been?" She queried.
"Okay." The mouse replied in her subtle voice. "Working, studying, the usual."
The otter gave her a smile. "Haven't had any dates or anything then?"
A deep blush swiftly rose in the mouse girl's ears. "N-no." She stuttered.
"C'mon, Becky." Heather said in a friendly tone. "You gotta let me an' Cass fix you up with somebody. You're a great chick. There's no need for you to get cold on these rainy winter nights."
Becky looked out the glass front of the store, where gray skies and chill winds seemed to agree with the otter's sentiments. "Someday, my prince will come." She deadpanned.
Heather stifled a laugh. The girl didn't know it, but she was funny as well as sugary sweet. As she was trying to keep a straight face, she saw Cass come up from the opposite direction. The gray vixen opened the door and hurried inside. Becky waved to her and she joined her friends.
"It's effin' freezing out there, girls." She announced as she took a seat by the mouse. "Coffee over here!" She yelled to the waitress. "Black!"
"How are ya, Cass?" Heather asked.
The gray fox grinned mischievously. "Well, I went a full three rounds with a hunky red fox I met at The Triple Cherries last night. Would have given him another go around or two this morning had he not said something stupid about settling down and me having his puppies." The perky girl's coffee arrived with Becky's order and she knocked back a sizable swallow of the bitter black brew in one gulp. "I kicked his ignorant ass out in the cold instead." She finished.
Heather wasn't surprised to see Becky blushing once more. The mouse thought highly of their foxy friend, but Cass never failed to embarrass the more conservative girl with the tales of her indulgent exploits. "What was his name?" The otter asked.
Cass pulled a contemplative face. "Freddy, Frankie... Something with an F. I just settled for FuckOff when I sent him packing this morning." She drank down another healthy dose of caffeine and signaled the recently departed waitress for one of what might be several refills.
"You think he might like our shy friend here?" Heather asked, indicating Becky, who at the mention of herself in regards to a promiscuous man, appeared to have a deadly fever blazing in her ears.
Cass smiled her winning smile. "You'd love him, Becky. He's not nearly as wild as what I'm used to. Plus there was all that retarded 'family' talk too. He's just your kind."
"I don't think so." Becky managed in a small voice, as she sipped her cocoa.
Cass opened her mouth to probably toss a quip or two at the younger girl and Heather caught her eye. A slight shake of the head was enough to deter the fox. While Becky took their well meaning ribbing very well, Heather made it a point to let go when she felt the mouse had had enough. Heather took a bite of her donut and a sip of her coffee.
"Look who it is." Cass said, drawing the other girls' attention to the walkway out front of the shop.
Heather looked out the window and saw two animals walking steadily toward the shops beyond the one she and her friends were sitting in. It was a bobcat, or lynx as they sometimes called themselves, and an unusually white furred bat, both male. She recognized the bat immediately. "That's Fish, isn't it Becky?" She sought clarification from the mouse.
Becky nodded. "And Scratch with him." She said, in regards to the one eyed cat. Her tone dripped with poorly concealed fear.
"Just cause he's feline doesn't mean he's out to get ya, Becky." Cass spoke up as the two distant figures walked on by. "Is Fish really the bat's name?" She asked Heather.
"Yeah, but he says it's spelled different. G-H-something or another."
The fox tipped back her mug and waved for another refill. "He's an odd duck, isn't he?"
"He's nice." Becky said. The two animals in question often visited the girl's workplace, The Pico Taquito, for lunch with their other roommate. She knew them better than the others. "Just a little weird." She finished.
Cass winked at Heather before speaking. "Could he be the one for you?" She asked the mouse.
For a wonder, the girl didn't blush. Instead, a visible shiver rippled through her fur. "No." She said without a hint of a stutter. "Not him."
Heather and Cass shared a puzzled look. The mouse was acting very strange as compared to usual. "Why do you say that, Becky." The otter asked.
Becky glanced around as if to make sure nobody was eavesdropping on them and then spoke in an almost silent whisper. "He's a bat."
Cass bust out laughing. "Really, Beck? Is that why his ears are so big, do you think?" The gray fox continued to giggle.
"I think I know what you mean." Heather stated in a similar low voice. Cass heard her and regained herself. "You're talking about the blood thing, right?"
Becky nodded somberly. "They're all hema- hemato-"
"Hematophages." Cass surprised the both of them. "That's an old wives tale, Beck. Bats don't drink blood."
"How would you know?" Heather countered. "To the best of my knowledge, that's one species you've yet to conquer." The otter gave the girl a sly smirk.
Cass stuck her tongue out at the other girl. "I'm gonna get one in due time. The boys aren't half as willing as the girls for some reason tho..." The vixen mused. "I might have to change tactics."
Heather cringed inwardly. The vixen's promiscuity was well known, but if she'd ever been with another girl it was a mystery to the two friends present.
"It's a myth anyway." Cass re-stated. "They don't drink it."
"Yes they do." The mouse girl said, twisting her light brown paws restlessly in he lap. "I knew a girl who dated Fish for awhile. He bit her." This last was announced in a whisper of such low volume, the bat in question would have struggled to hear it had he been present in the building.
The otter and the fox gave the mouse girl their rapt attention. "Who?" They asked simultaneously.
"A squirrel girl named Melody that I went to school with."
The other two shook their heads. "Never heard of her." Cass said.
"Me neither." Heather added.
"She really liked him." Becky continued. "But when she tried to 'get to know him better' he bit her on the throat. It scared her real bad and she left him. She left town not long after."
Cass looked skeptical. "I dunno if I can believe you on this one, Beck. I've passed a few words with the guy. He seems like an alright sort. Just a little 'out there'."
"Oh, he's a good guy." Becky agreed. "But it's in him anyway. I could never be around him alone. Thankfully, he's almost always with somebody, or I am."
Heather didn't know about the whole "vampiric" side of the big eared boy, but either way, he seemed a moot proposition to the mouse. "How about his buddy, the cat?" Heather changed the subject, already knowing the answer.
Becky reverted instantly to her timid demeanor. "N-no. He'd hurt me." She gazed into her mug as though she could see hints of an abusive life fueled by feline anger staring back at her.
Cass pulled the subject in a safer direction. "Did you know his sisters deejay at The Triple Cherries?"
Heather and Becky gave the vixen equally unbelieving looks. "Em Cee Special are Scratch's sisters?" Heather asked.
Cass nodded. "I swear it." She placed her paw over her heart in emphasis. "They came down on break one night while I was there and we got to talking. Said their brother lived here in town. Wanted to know if I'd ever seen a one eyed bobcat around."
"He doesn't look anything like them." Heather mused.
"It'd be hard to tell with the scar and the patch." Becky added thoughtfully as she nibbled her pastry.
"They don't see him often." Cass continued. "They say he's a little 'out there' too. Doesn't play well with others. Has a shy streak and social problems."
Heather returned her attention to the mouse. "He's sounding more and more like your dream come true all the time." She said.
Becky shook her head in firm negation. "He's too big for me."
The other girls stared at her in stunned silence, then burst out laughing.
"That's not what I meant and you both know it." She hissed at them as crimson color filled her ears once more.
Cass recovered first. "We've beat around the bush long enough. We all know who holds our little Becky's heart in that house."
The mouse adverted her gaze from her friends and fidgeted uncomfortably
"What do any of us even know about Bones anyway?" Heather asked, referring to the skunk that lived with the bat and bobcat.
"I know he works at Butcher Pete's next door. And that Becky has a crush on him." Cass said with a smile.
Heather grinned at the smaller girl. "He IS cute, Beck. You could do a lot worse."
"H-he's real friendly." Becky managed. "And he always seems happy."
"Tall order, living with Fish and Scratch." Cass said and motioned for the waitress again.
"How old is he?" Heather asked.
"He's the middle one of the three." Becky said. "Fish is the oldest and Scratch is the youngest."
"Em and Cee said Scratch is four years younger than them. That should put him around twenty-three or four." Cass said as the bewildered waitress filled her mug for the third time in fifteen minutes. "And I shared a class with Fish before he dropped out of high school. He's 26 like me and you." She said to Heather.
"That's put Bones around 25." Heather said. "He's got you beat by a few years, Beck."
"Not that many." The young mouse asserted. She was only 22.
"The real problem with any of the three of them is that they're always together." Cass said. "You might catch one by himself if the other two were working. But, you'd never figure out where he was." She was drinking her coffee slowly now, maybe even tasting it. "They only have one car, and what few close friends they have are constantly trying to get together with them."
"You've been to one of their parties, right?" Becky asked the vixen.
"If you could call it that. Just a bunch of freaks and geeks getting their nerd on. I stuck out like a sore thumb." Cass replied.
"Cause you didn't fit in?" The mouse asked.
"Cause I was one of only two girls there." Cass admitted and Heather laughed. "The other one was Fish's cousin Charlotte."
"What was she like?" Heather asked.
Cass shrugged indifferently. "Pleasant enough. All bats are a little 'batty' though. She had her little brother with her. He was a real cutie, although I forget his name."
"But what about Bones?" Heather said. "You think we could get him hooked up with Becky or not?"
The mouse in question continued to fidget nervously. She liked her friends, and she knew they meant well, but they didn't know her as well as they thought they did.
"I don't know enough about the guy." Cass said. "He seems sweet enough though." Her freight train intake of caffeine seemed to be leveling out the impetuous vixen considerably. "But that's really up to her. Tell us how married life's treating you."
"Yeah." Becky seized the opportunity to change the subject.
Heather smiled, turning the band on her finger once more. "It's been heaven." She said. "Of course, it's only been a month." The two girls present had been amongst her bridesmaids at the December wedding. "Mother told me the troubles don't really start until six months in."
Cass scoffed. "Troubles? For you and Mr. Perfect? I'll believe it when it happens."
"Pete's so nice, Heather." Becky added with her signature sweet smile. "You're so lucky to have him."
Heather smiled. "I know." She said. She had met Peter at her companies Christmas party a year ago. They had hit it off almost instantly, and over the course of the next year had gotten to know, and love one another. "I'm just so glad I found another otter to bring home to my mother. She used to go on and on about how unnatural it was for animals to marry outside of their species when I was a kid."
"The only real drawback to it is the difficulty regarding children." Cass said. "And that's just a bonus really."
"Can different species have kids together?" Becky asked in her timid voice.
"It's rare." Cass said, her initial morning high was almost sufficiently drowned under coffee. She signaled the waitress one last time. "But it does happen."
"It takes a lot of trying on the parents' part too." Heather added. "Then there's the stigma attached to the babies. Most of our parents generation is still hard against the interspecies thing."
The three girls sat in comfortable silence for awhile. Cass finished her coffee and didn't request anymore. Becky finished her pastry and sat fidgeting nervously with her ears. Heather sat and enjoyed the company of her friends, thankful that her recent marriage hadn't altered their friendship in any way. Outside, dark clouds loomed in the sky, threatening rain.
Becky checked her watch. "I gotta go." She said softly and dropped a few bills to cover her part of the check. "The lunch rush will pick up in a minute."
"You're boyfriends will probably stop by." Heather teased.
"Tell 'em I said 'hi'." Cass said as the mouse got to her feat and shrugged her jacket back on.
Secretly hoping her otter friend was right. Becky waved goodbye and left.
As Heather watched her go, she caught sight of a large animal standing across the street near the entrance to the park. "Who's that, Cass?" She asked the gray fox.
Cass turned to look. Being the more extroverted and socially adventurous of the three friends, she was often called on to identify people. The animal in question stumped her however. "I don't know him." She admitted. "But I think I like him."
Heather continued to watch the man across the street. He was big. Over six feet tall and with broad shoulders. His mottled gray and brown fur had a silky sheen, and he seemed too comfortable in the cold winter air. "I don't know any coyotes." She said. He appeared to be watching the shops across from him with great interest. He stood with a look of disregard for most of the world, but underneath, Heather thought he looked rather... coiled somehow. Like he could change his demeanor like flipping a coin.
"You think maybe he's new to town?"
"If that's the case, he needs to be properly welcomed." Cass said and dropped a five on the table. "Wish me luck." She winked at the otter and made for the door.
Heather watched the girl leave. Cass slipped out into the cool air and looked both ways before hurrying across the street. Heather watched the silent exchange between her friend and the mysterious coyote. Cass approached him. He continued to stare across the street. Cass seemed to speak to him. The man appeared to mutter one word in response. Cass changed her angle of approach and stood next to him, looking in the same direction. The gray fox continued to speak. The coyote stood motionless. He didn't respond. Although it was hard to tell from this distance, Heather thought she saw a look of frustration pass over the girl's face. Cass spoke again, this time actually reaching up to place a paw on the big man's shoulder. The coyote flexed that shoulder and Cass hastily removed her paw. A look of disquiet overcame her normally agreeable features and she took a step away from the man. Heather watched with interest as Cass spoke to him one last time and turned away. She crossed back to the business side of the street and gave the otter a shrug and a wave as she continued away, presumably back to her home.
Heather waved back. Whoever the coyote was, Cass had struck out with him big time. Heather checked the clock on a nearby wall. Peter would be home in a few hours.
She collected the money her friends had left behind and signaled the waitress for the check. She thought she might do some shopping before she returned home.
As she left Woe be Gone, she noticed the previously discussed trio of animals coming out of Butcher Pete's immediately to her right. The bat led the way and she supposed they were heading to The Pico Taquito after all. None of them noticed her and she failed to notice the mysterious coyote across the street keeping pace with them.
She huddled under her coat as a few sparse raindrops pattered on her head. Being an otter, she didn't mind getting wet. But she hustled up the street to her next stop nonetheless. It was also getting colder.
Ending Time Stamp: Wednesday, January 12, 2011, 1:07 pm