'The Struggle' - Chapter 1
THE STRUGGLE; Chapter 1
By Nikita.
FA:
SOFURRY: https://snow-flake-1.sofurry.com/
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Snow Flake: © Nikita.
The Struggle: © Nikita
Author's Note: This story is really a small thing I had started a while ago due to my interest for WWII. Note that not everything is going to following logical order, if you want to say that. This story is just for fun so don't complain about it too much!
The reason why I chose to write the beginning of the story based in the city of L.A. is because of the amazing game known as L.A. Noire. Being honest, I've never been to L.A. so I'm just going to improvise!
Anyway, enjoy!
"Next!" Shouted the recruitment officer who sat at the table in front of me. The fur who stood ahead of me, scooted aside while shuffling some papers in his paws. Swallowing nervously, I stepped forward and faced the grey and black husky. He looked very annoyed and bored from having done this about a hundred times today. With a sigh, he pulled out a clean form and glanced up at me.
"Name?" He asked with a heavy sigh.
I quickly replied with, "Snow Flake."
I saw his eyebrow raise in amusement at hearing such a name but he shrugged it off and scribbled down my name. It really didn't surprise me as most of my childhood consisted of name calling and insults because my name isn't the most common one in the world.
As I shuffled in place, I took a moment to look around the room. It was a pretty normal sized room that was just a bit larger than an average room as they had made a make-shift recruitment center in a closed down warehouse.
I was pulled away from my thoughts when I heard the husky grunt at me. "Yo kid, didn't you hear me? You're with that nurse." Looking at where he was pointing his finger, I saw a female fox standing near the entrance of a room that was using a curtain as a makeshift door.
Grabbing my half filled out form, I quickly walked over to her and managed a grim smile. Taking it from my paws, she placed it onto her clipboard and scanned the filled out information and nodded. "Alright, I'll be with you in a minute. Please enter and undress down to your undergarments."
Stepping through the curtain that she held open, I pulled off my shirt and set it on the table before moving to my pants.
Right when I finally got down to my boxers, the nurse returned.
"Hello Snow, I'm Mary." She told me while offering me her paw. Shaking it, she continued speaking, "You've probably heard about the procedure. I'm here to check on you and ask some questions, so don't be nervous!"
"Well I'm not going to bite during the questions!" I chuckled nervously before sitting down on the examination table, my tail nervously curled behind me.
Clearing her throat, she picked up her pen, "
"Alright, first things first; are you allergic to anything?" was her first question which I responded with a quick "No."
"Do you have asthma?" which also earned a "No."
This question asking went on for a few more minutes before she moved onto a physical examination. She checked under my arms, in my ears, my eyes and all over my body as if she was on a treasure hunt for sicknesses or anything wrong.
Unlike the questions, the physical checkup conducted by her took longer and when she finished up, she told me to get dressed and wait for her return. When she left, I sighed and muttered to myself, "Damn, I hope I can make it..." On that note, I started to work on putting back on my clothes, whole time being lost in my own thoughts.
While I was fixing my belt, I noticed that I was shivering. I first thought the temperature was low in the building but it was quickly replace by my realization of how nervous I am. Hearing footsteps, I perked my ears up and looked at the curtain in time to see a bobcat enter while holding my form, folded and facing away from me.
"Hello Snow." The bobcat had greeted me as he stretched his paw out to shake my own. Since my right paw was busy holding my pants up, I offered my left paw causing him need to switch to match mine causing this to end up being an awkward pawshake which earned a chuckle from him.
"I got your results" The doctor said as opened the folded paper. "You have passed." He hummed quietly as he looked over the results and what was written on it from the nurse earlier.
As I was buttoning up my shirt, I heard him suddenly mutter, "Interesting" which caught my attention.
"What is?" I asked in curiosity and same time in worry.
"Apparently due to your physical check-up falling within the highest rating, the recruitment officer and the nurse suggested towards having you go into the airborne division." The bobcat extended the paper out for me to see. On the side margin, I saw some scribbling with a small stamp saying, RECOMMENDED FOR AIRBORNE.
I left the center roughly 5 minutes later with a copy of my form in my pocket. Walking down the street, I now had a different step to my walk. This was due to how excited I was at the moment and also happy that I passed. I was hoping that if I made it, I could possibly meet my two friends from high-school who I have known for a long time out in combat or whatever. One of them informed me that they made it into the Navy while the other made it in as a tanker.
I soon got lost in my thoughts of my acceptance while humming quietly to myself all along as I walked on the busy streets of L.A. Arriving at an intersection, I sighed happily before glancing across at the café known as, 'Harry's Café' which was actually my favorite. Fixing my shirt and licking my lips, I decided to create a small celebration for myself there by having some dessert.
When I entered the café, I took seat at a table that was right next to the window which overlooked the street. A young gray and chocolate brown wolf waitress soon came up to me and asked for my order. As I come here often, I didn't need to see the menu she offered me. Asking for some blueberry pie along with hot chocolate, I licked my lips at the thought of the drink. This café was known to be the best in the city, maybe even in the state to serve the best quality hot chocolate.
As she ran off to tell the cook the order and take other orders, I turned my attention to the window. Quickly, I lost interest at the view outside as I was still excited and had seen the world from this position many times so I took the time to rather look around the café.
The café was somewhat small but comfy enough for a bunch of people to get in a booth or sit at the stools at the counter or at the small tables near the window. There was a German Shepard and black and white cat sitting together at the counter. Just because I was a curious snow leopard, I perked my ears up to catch some of their conversation. What I heard was just some snips of them talking about war and politics, the usual stuff at times like this.
However, I think what really grabbed my attention was a figure sitting at the other side of the café, hunched over. Squinting a little, I could make out that the figure was female and an arctic fox, her coat that she was wearing was tightly drawn to her form. She held a cup that probably had coffee and which she was looking down at with a sad expression on her face. I felt myself staring at this point and I couldn't stop for I have seen arctic foxes before but not many and same time, her sadness was bugging me a little for a reason I don't understand
What though did stop me from staring was when I heard a familiar voice and saw a paw from the corner of my eye, holding out a cup. Shaking my head, I looked up at the waitress and smiled, "Thank you." I said softly as I took the cup and sipped some of the hot chocolates as I listened to her explain that the slice of I requested would be out in a little bit.
Nodding in understanding, I watched the wolf leave before returning my attention to the arctic fox. She basically kept her position the same the whole time till she suddenly looked up and glanced around the café. I saw in her eyes sorrow, pain, grief and wetness from crying.
Like how she suddenly looked around, she snapped her attention back in front of her before curling her lips to sip from the coffee.
Sighing softly at the sight, I felt myself falling into one of my phases that I knew and others knew that I fell into at times. I never liked seeing someone hurt and even if they were a stranger. Some people called this my strength and a positive while others call it a weakness and something I should get rid of.
Growling at myself, I took a moment to muster my courage before standing up and walking over to the booth. When I reached it, I patted the seat across from here with my tail.
"Is someone sitting here?" I asked in a soft tone not trying to scare her.
I could tell how sudden my question was because she looked up at me in shock and with wide eyes before shaking her head and responding in the most delicate tone of voice I've heard.
"N-No..."
Managing a soft smile at her, I sat down with my tail curling around my ankles before taking a sip from my cup. Looking up at her from the new position, I saw her staring. Not staring at me or her drink but at the window that I sat next to earlier while biting her lip.
Taking a deep breath, I set down my cup as I mustered the courage to ask her my burning question.
"I saw from my other seat that you were crying and sad and... If I may ask you, what's wrong?"
When I saw her ears perk, I hopped that nothing back would happen but when she turned to me slowly, I grew worried.
When our eyes connected, I saw that she was on the edge of crying.