Memoirs of Him - Park Scene 1
#1 of Memories of Him
"Dad?" Rian asked, his legs dangling off the bench. He kicked them back and forth as he sat impatiently, waiting for the ferret to finish tying his shoe so they could continue.
"What's up, kiddo?" Zerrif replied, as he looked over from his hunched position. He loved these walks with his son-- considering he got so little time with him, he felt like he had to make every minute count. He watched those fuzzy, pitch black hands began to fidget, balling up into fists before relaxing over and over. "What's on your mind?"
"You know that guy this morning?" Rian asked, his voice ever-so-innocent. "The one that you made leave as soon as we woke up?"
Zerrif heaved a groan and rolled over, feeling the growing heat and brightness of the sun on his face as it slipped through the cracks of his blinds. He let out a small "Mmph" as he rolled into a solid form, groggily opening his eyes. His bed shouldn't have had--
Oh, right. He nudged the offending body, yawning and sitting up himsef. "Hey... it's morning."
"I know. Hence why I'm trying to sleep." The bulky husky said, rolling over onto his other side.
"Come on. I gotta take Rian to school." Zerrif rolled out of bed and stretched, pulling up the blinds. He heard the disapproving hiss from behind him.
"So? Take him to school, come back, and then maybe I'll be awake enough to punish you." The husky said, as he rolled back over to face the ferret. With the sheets pulled halfway down, Zerrif let his eyes wander over the muscular frame of the canine, feeling his groin stir. "Someone likes that idea."
"Unfortunate then, that someone is making the choice to have you leave." Zerrif said, as he ignored his slowly growing tent. He thought about adding a "please" but felt it was unnecessary.
"Is everything okay?" The husky asked, as he sat up now, too-- the sheets sliding a bit lower. "I mean... maybe my jokes are in poor taste but I thought--"
"You thought wrong, okay?" Zerrif said, holding his forehead. "Just... I'll call you later, okay?"
It didn't seem like it was okay. With how the husky got out of bed, picked up his clothes and hurriedly put them on, Zerrif had a sinking feeling that if he called later, it'd only make things worse.
He let the show himself out-- and sure enough, the ensuing slam had woken Rian up. He looked over to the door to see the ferrepard there, standing in his pajamas and rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Sorry about that bud. But at least yer up. C'mon, time to get ready for school." Zerrif said, as he ushered the boy towards the washroom. "Y'want pancakes?"
Rian nodded silently, and just shut the bathroom door, while Zerrif headed to the kitchen.
The youngster knew to shut the door. He knew that his dad hated it when he heard him cry.
"What about him?" He didn't mind the blunt question-- at least not from Rian. He had a policy in which the only person in the entire world he wouldn't hide anything from would be his son.
"Did... he not like you?" Rian asked. Zerrif paused in his tying, looking up-- then laughed.
"What? Hahaha! No, no-- trust me champ, he liked me a lot."
"Did he... not like me?"
Zerrif stopped again, and just sat back, leaving his near-finished lace to unnravel. "Trust me Rian, if anyone ever told me they didn't like you, they wouldn't get into our home."
"Did you not like them?"
"It's... well I did. I do."
"So... why is it that whenever you tell them to leave, you look so sad? If you like them, why can't they stay?"
Zerrif sighed. "You know that what Daddy does is complicated, yeah? I haven't even told you all about it."
"But you promised. Just not yet. Not until I'm older." Rian said, matter of factly. Zerrif grinned ,and ruffled the ferret-leopard hybrid's hair.
"Exactly. But the thing is-- Daddy can't promise he'll ever tell those people. He wants to... but something stops him. He gets scared. And so, instead of having them find out, he pushes them away. He makes it so that they never know-- so that they never get hurt."
"But..." Rian started. "Don't you think that's hurtful to them?"
Zerrif sighed heavily. "Of course I do. I always do. I feel bad about it for days and days... and sometimes it's the only thing I can think about."
"You okay today, Z?" A voice asked, through a speaker. The ferret was in a training room, dodging high velocity rubber balls, whizzing at him around an obstacle course. He had taken more than enough hits to have been declared enough, but insisted that he go on.
"Yeah! Just getting primed, why?" He said back, not even wincing once another ball flew into his side. It did knock him out of breath though, and he ducked behind an appropriate wall, keeping an eye out for other hidden turrets.
"Boss," a bat said, as he turned around from behind his protective glass, encased in a separate room from the training course the ferret was running.
"I know. He's always like this after the fact." The so-called "Boss" said, crossing large, muscled black arms over each other. "There's nothing we can do about it."
"We can't send him out to the field today. He'll just get himself killed. " The bat said, as he looked up defiantly at the wolf.
"Or, he'll kill himself for not getting sent out. Everything's going to go as planned. No matter how down he gets-- at least he's got a reason to go home."
"But you know what?"
"What's that, Dad?" Rian asked. He let out an involuntary giggle as paws suddenly began to tickle at his sides, squirming in place. He let out a shrill yelp as he was lifted off the bench, onto the ferret's shoulders.
"It doesn't matter. 'Cause there's more important things to me than crying and being all gloomy. Besides, I'm not a gloomy kind of guy, am I?"
Rian giggled. "No way!"
Zerrif smiled, and began to set off along the path through the park. Every moment was crucial. He couldn't spend them all wallowing in regret.