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This story has been written with the purpose of aiding TheAlphaFolf in establishing his character Richard 'Max' Cromwell.

Fiona Black, Heather McDuff, Amanda Lennox and Grant Sellers are © Ghostwolf/Ghosty

Richard Maxwell (Max) Cromwell is © TheAlphaFolf - used with permission.

The University of Aberdurie and the City of Aberdurie are the creation of and © Ghostwolf/Ghosty

The University of Aberdurie and the City of Aberdurie are fictional settings located between the real world towns of Stonehaven and Montrose in Scotland

University Life

Staffroom Meeting

The aroma of coffee, tea, cinnamon rolls and fresh toast filled the University staffroom, here and there in the large lounge, lecturers exchanged the goings on of their classes, events from their weekends and past evenings. Richard stood in the corner gazing out of the window; his thoughts occupied with lesson plans and which students needed more guidance than others. He was a tall half silver fox and half timber wolf mix - often referred to as a folf - with a subtle blend of lively silver and soft greys running through his fur and shoulder length white hair. His golden yellow eyes gazed out onto the university grounds while voices of others blurred around him.

The door opened and a cool breeze washed through the room grabbing Richard's attention. He turned to see the one friend he had really made of the staff around him. A well spoken English bear by the name of Grant Sellers; he was a several years older that the hybrid folf and had been lecturing at the university for three years, specializing in English literature. A smile and a wave between the two marked their daily greeting before Grant retrieved his coffee and joined the folf at the window.

"Good morning Richard, I trust you're in good form this morning?" The bear said with a warming smile.

Richard smiled back and nodded. "Never better, I'm actually really looking forward to class today."

The bear gave him a wistful glance. "Oh, do you have something special up your sleeve today for the freshmen?"

The folf chuckled. "Not really, I just have everything set in my head about what I want to do today for my classes."

"Well young sir, I hope it all goes as planned. It's rare to have such clarity, so I'd capitalize on it while you can." The bear and folf shared a moment of understanding and smiled before taking another sip from their drinks.

Richard was taking part in an international educational exchange as part of the last two years of his master's degree in history. He had taken the position of Junior Lecturer of History at the University of Aberdurie in Scotland and arrived several weeks ago. Fitting in was proving difficult as every lecturer had such busy schedules and staff meetings were as short and to the point as possible. Richard was just thankful that he had made at least one friend among the staff quickly, even though they rarely spoke outside of work.

Once again the door opened but this time it was followed by a chorus of female voices; Richard turned his gaze for a moment to see who the new arrivals were. He recognized Heather; the border collie from the I.T. department, and Amanda; A lynx who like Richard, taught history only a few classes away from him. With them was a badger who he had never seen before and found difficult to take his eyes off. "Who is she?" He asked Grant in a hushed tone.

"The badger?" Grant asked nodding his head towards her. Richard nodded in response, his eyes still fixated on the new arrival. "That's Fiona; she's one of the linguistics lecturers. She's a very interesting lady; she travelled Europe and speaks at least half dozen languages." As Grant spoke Richard began to lose himself staring at her. Fiona was quite tall, he guessed just over five and a half feet but the black heels she wore brought her closer to his height. Her dark slate blue-grey hair cascaded over her shoulders almost to the middle of her back, the tint of colour it provided highlighted her black skirt and jacket perfectly and offered a counter point to her soft pink blouse. Her heart shaped tail was yet another curiosity about her that lead to another; as his eyes trailed lower and followed the line of her legs; they were almost completely white from what he could tell; she did not have a regular pattern of fur for a badger and for a moment he wondered if she was part husky.

"She's uh..." Richard started then trailed off as he tried to find the words.

Grant smiled and put his paw on the young folf's shoulder. "She most certainly is." He said quietly, adding to his unanswered statement. After a moment Grant left Richard to his thoughts and gathered his things for his class.

Slowly but surely the staffroom began to empty until there were only a hand full of individuals left. Richard had just watched Fiona say goodbye to her friend Heather and turned his gaze back to the window, not wanting to be caught staring. Breathing deeply he began easing his mind back to his lesson plans and relaxed; everything froze a moment later when he heard a soft husky voice with a Scottish accent to his left. "Hi there, I don't believe we've been introduced."

Richard turned to face her quickly, startled by her sudden appearance at his side. As their eyes met, he blinked several times to make sure he was seeing correctly; for the briefest moment Richard had mistaken her amber-brown eyes for red and looked close to panic. Fiona smiled at him and giggled quietly. "I get that a lot; it's an unusual eye colour."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare." Richard blurted out quickly.

Once again Fiona giggled and gave the folf a humorous look. "Are you sure? You've been staring at me for about fifteen minutes."

Richard felt his ears fall flat against his head as his muzzle dipped and tail sagged. "Sorry about that."

The badgeress patted his arm softly as she smiled again. "You've said two things to me and they've both been apologies; we need to change that."

Lifting his head and smiling weakly back at her; he offered her his paw which she took in her own and gave a gentle shake. "I'm Richard, Richard Cromwell."

"Fiona Black, nice to meet you Lord Protector." She said calmly before releasing his paw.

Richard was momentarily taken off guard. "Lord Protector?" He said in a moment of confusion.

The grin on Fiona's muzzle spread a little further. "Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, military General in the sixteen-hundreds."

Richard smiled as his senses cleared. "Ah, yes the infamous Cromwell. He was one of the signatories of King Charles the First's death warrant; he set up the commonwealth in sixteen-forty-nine; and forcibly ended the Rump Parliament in sixteen-fifty-three."

"So you do know your history of Britain. I'm impressed." The badgeress said with a nod of acknowledgement to his level of detail and understanding.

Richard gave her a sheepish grin. "I try to learn as much as I can about history as I go; I find it gives me a better understanding of the world."

"It also shows you that in spite of all our technological advances, we still have the same social problems as we did several hundred years ago." The two shared a laugh at Fiona's words then with a gesture from the badgeress, they retired to the couch as the other lecturers left the room. "I hope you're class isn't for a little while yet, I wouldn't want to delay you." She said softly.

"No, no, my class isn't until eleven, so I have plenty of time." The folf replied quickly.

Fiona relaxed back into the couch and crossed her legs while keeping her eyes on the folf. "Good, I still have a few minutes before I have to head off, but I thought it would be nice to get to know each other."

Richard gave the badgeress a curious look and asked "I don't want to seem unfriendly, but why? We don't work in the same department."

Leaning forward slowly; Fiona cupped her paws around her knee and levelled her gaze on Richard. "Why not? I have friends through all walks of life in different professions, and I'm sure you do too."

Richard nodded. "Well yeah, but why me?"

A subtle smile and a playful gaze crossed Fiona's muzzle as she leaned a little closer to the folf and whispered. "You're a big curiosity to me and you seem like good fun."

With a strong degree of surprise Richard sat back with a stunned expression across his face. "A curiosity; what makes you say that?"

Fiona unbuttoned her jacket and sat back taking a deep breath as she did, allowing her heavy bust to part the front of her jacket. Richard's eyes widened a little at the sight and he fought the urge to grin like a twelve year old as Fiona stretched then crossed her legs. "Well for one thing, history is my hobby and I love reading and listening to the different points of view that people have. I know most of the history department staff and I like to pick their brains on different points in history; you're the new guy so I'll have to find out more about you and your opinions."

Blinking several times; Richard considered her statement, but guessed there was something else behind her meaning. "Well is there anything you'd like to know Miss Black?" The words had barely left his mouth when he noticed Fiona's eyes trace over him, as if she were sizing him up or undressing him mentally. He stiffened at the thought as the subtle smile that played across Fiona's muzzle made him realize that she was more than aware of his state of mind.

"Three things actually." She said softly while she sat upright. "First; are you available for a coffee break away from the university this week?"

"I uh..." Was all Richard managed to say before Fiona cut him off with her next line of inquiry.

"Second; are you related to Lord Cromwell?" She asked inquisitively.

Richard shook his head and focused on what she was saying. "Me? No, no, I'm not related to that Cromwell."

Fiona gave a slightly disappointed shrug of her shoulders. "Oh well would have been something interesting to talk about over coffee."

"Oh! Coffee, yes I have Wednesday afternoon free." Richard blurted out as he focused on Fiona's first question.

Fiona smiled and her mood seemed to greatly improve from the slight disappointment from moments ago. "Excellent; I finish at two-thirty. Why don't you give me a call later and we'll arrange it with some more detail?"

"Sounds great!" Richard said with a surprising burst of energy as the badgeress across from him stood and began slowly walking towards the door looking back at him with a sultry smile. "Wait!" He barked quickly. "I don't have your number."

With a smile and a playful glance, Fiona gave a soft giggle then spoke again. "You're a smart guy Richard; I'm sure you already know how to get it." She paused and gave the folf a subtle wink. "Text me when you find it." She turned to open the door when Richard barked at her once more.

"You said three things."

The badgeress gently cocked her head in his direction and spoke slowly and clearly. "What do your friends call you; your close friends?"

Richard stood up slowly keeping one paw on the head rest of the couch for support. "Max."

"Middle name?" Fiona asked softly.

"Yes! How did you know?" The badgeress just winked then left the room without another word; the light click of her heels sounding louder as his heart raced blood into his ears. With a deep breath Richard sat back down and collected his thoughts; the most pressing one was how to get Fiona's phone number. As he puzzled over it for several minutes but something in her words didn't make sense to him. She had told to 'text when he found it.' Not simply when he got it. He looked back over his shoulder to where Fiona had been standing with her friends but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

As he stared at the coffee stand where she had been he felt something had to be out of place even though there was nothing to suggest it. Richard stood quickly and moved to the coffee stand, his eyes searching high and low. Seeing nothing on the surface he opened the cupboard beneath; his eyes grew wide as he looked within and saw nestled between jars of tea bags and instant coffee a single book with one word running down its spine 'Cromwell.' The folf smiled and pulled the book out of the cupboard then opened the front cover. A small card dropped to the floor which he quickly retrieved; on the card was a small message. 'Smarter than I was told Mr Cromwell, text me. Fiona.' Richard flipped the card over to see Fiona's number written on the reverse side. He smiled and without wasting a second pulled out his cell phone and began texting Fiona with a strong sense of adoration for her; she had known he would be in the lounge and was organised enough to prepare her little game. As he finished typing his message and hit send, he wondered what the badgeress might have in store for him.

To be continued...