A warm sunny afternoon just like any other. Only a few kids littered the streets, occupied by their various activities. The only thing out of the ordinary was a moving truck pulled up to a house that had been vacant for several months with a family unloading their possessions. The house had been bought by a male fox, and his wife, a wolf. Among them were their two kids, a male wolf and a female fox, incredibly uncommon for a mixed species relationship like theirs. Movers had already brought most of the furniture inside. All that was left was a truck full of personal possessions.
"C'mon kids! Just one more box!" the adult fox said, standing in the dandelion filled front yard looking toward the back the truck, watching his kids haul the boxes in.
"Why exactly did my stuff have to go on the truck first?" Roxy yelled, pushing the rather large box at the back of the truck towards her brother at the other end.
"Because if we didn't, you'd off run off by now to play video games," said Will, positioning his hands just under the box as she pushed it towards the edge of the truck bed.
"Just don't drop this, ok?" said Roxy, shifting herself to the other side of the box so she could grab it as she pushed it off.
Being as careful as possible, Roxy pushed the box off the truck bed into Will's arms, who nearly fell backwards under the weight. "Woah! What the heck do you have in here?"
"You know what's in here!" said Roxy, sliding off the truck bed herself, getting her arms up underneath the box. "Oof! Maybe I should've split these into two boxes," Roxy groaned as her knees shook once the weight of the box hit her.
"You think?!" Will snapped at her, his own balance swaying a bit as the two tried to navigate towards the porch. They made it to the end of the driveway, but Will had to stop before the porch. "I can't make the stairs!" he shouted as he felt his fingers slipping on the box.
"Will! No! Do not drop my stuff!" Roxy shouted, as she felt her own fingers slipping.
"Going down!" Will shouted as he quickly bent his knees, dropping the box on the ground without managing to jostle it too much.
"Ow! Owowow! My foot! It's on my foot!" Roxy shouted as she lost her grip, sending it crashing to the ground, right onto her toes of her right foot. Will scurried around to try and push it off, but Roxy opted to just yank her foot from her shoe, leaving it wedged under the box.
"Yikes, are you ok?" Will asked, looking at the shoe still pinned under the box.
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Roxy, giving her toes a quick flex to make sure nothing was broken, before turning her attention to the box, ripping open the lid and rummaging through it.
"What are you doing?" said Will, watching her curiously.
"I'll just unpack from here," said Roxy, emerging from the box with a small flat screen TV, a game console, and a handful of game cases, then sprinting for the house.
"Wait, you could've done this from the truck!" Will shouted angrily after her.
Roxy ignored him as she ran inside making a dash for the stairs as her mother stepped out in front of her. "Where do you think you're going young lady?" she said, folding her arms blocking Roxy's path.
"What? I'm just unpacking my things?" Roxy said with an innocent looking grin.
"Oh no, I know exactly what you were up to," said her mother. "You're not going to spend the rest of the day playing video games while your father and I do all the work. If you don't want to help unpack, you and Will can go and get groceries."
"Aww, but mom..." Roxy tried pleading with her.
"No buts," she said, taking the video game equipment out of Roxy's hand and placing it next to several other boxes in the living room. "Here, take the list of what we need with my credit card," she handed the items to Roxy, who groaned as she slipped them into her pocket. "You two better not buy a ton of junk food."
"Fine, we're going," Roxy sulked back outside the house.
"And put your shoe back on!" her mom called after her.
"I'm gonna!" Roxy called back over her shoulder, annoyed that she thought she would forget that. She grumbled to herself as she bent down and wriggled her shoe out from under the heavy box.
"Got busted trying to duck out of helping?" said Will, walking up to her grinning.
"Meh, this beats hauling boxes at least," said Roxy as she pulled her shoe back onto her foot, then quickly making their way to the end of the driveway. "C'mon, we're going shopping."
"Well, at least it's a nice day," said Will, following after her.
It definitely was a nice day to be outside, even just for the 20 minute walk to the supermarket. The town center was rather busy that day with people crowding the park and people running to different shops.
"Hey! Check it out," Will nudged Roxy as they approached the lot towards the supermarket, pointing out a gardener tending to the grounds near the park, who was able to move and rearrange the soil without the use of tools.
"A Gairen?" said Roxy, fixing her gaze on the gardener. "Seems like getting the short end of the stick when it comes to magic."
"Heh, this is nothing," Will laughed. "I've seen videos online of people who can literally move mountains."
Roxy ignored him as she kept looking at the gardener. Neither of them had much magic exposure outside of what their parents could do. They started school in a couple days, and they'd be learning about their own powers, and Roxy wasn't looking forward to it.
Both of them decided to ignore the instruction of not buying junk food, as they loaded their cart with bags of chips and cookies along with the stuff on the list. Roxy noticed another magic user near the vegetables spraying water over them without any kind of spraying device. She was a lot more interested in that than Will, who was attempting to get her to sword fight with an exceptionally large piece of bread with him. He was attracting stares from the other shoppers, so Roxy tried to pretend she didn't know him.
Once their shopping excursion was complete, neither of them were in any rush to go home, since they'd only be put to work unloading boxes again. The park was too nice to ignore on such a nice day, so they found themselves just strolling around the grounds. Will pointed out to Roxy a small child flying a kite, whose father was standing behind him and appeared to be manipulating the wind to make it do tricks in the air.
"That's nothing," Will said to her. "An Aeran can literally learn to fly if they want to."
Roxy just nodded and turned her head away, really wishing she wasn't constantly being reminded of what was coming.
The two spent the next hour just enjoying the fresh air until a trio of street performers caught their attention. A small basin of water sat at their feet, which one of them was manipulating into various shapes, which were then frozen by another, and were given fine details from the third with flames. It was the most impressive magic either Roxy or Will had ever seen.
The group took requests from the crowd that had gathered around them, creating such sculptures as a perfect scale model of a Lumarien dragon, a replica of some forerunner ruins, and a life-sized statue of some famous actor Roxy hadn't heard of. Will pushed Roxy forward when they asked for another volunteer to give them an idea. Roxy hadn't intended to speak up, but after a few moments of awkward silence, asked if they could create a replica of her, but as a fearsome warrior. Within seconds, the water took form into a vaguely anthro shape before freezing as flames danced across it creating fine details, reshaping the water and ice until it became still.
Roxy was rather surprised to see how much it looked like her, but at the same time didn't. It was her height, but a bit more muscular. Her hands and feet were more animalistic than what she had expected, and the fur on her head was shorter. She had on a tanktop and shorts, along with gloves and leggings that didn't cover her fingers or toes, and was wielding two swords emblazoned with dragon heads. Most surprising of all, she still had the bandana. Will managed to take a photo on his phone of her standing next to it before the trio melted it back down.
"Can you believe that? I've never seen dad move flames like that!" Will said as he plopped himself down next to Roxy on the grass. The two had parked themselves near a kids playground, right by a small fountain where small children were splashing around inside. "Then again, I don't think he's ever used his powers for anything besides barbeques."
"I guess..." said Roxy as she just kept staring up at the sky. She had certainly been impressed with the little show, but the nervous feeling in her stomach kept creeping back up on her.
"You think we'll be learning our elements on the first day of school?" said Will excitedly.
Roxy just sighed and closed her eyes. It seemed Will was determined to make her even more nervous. "I can't believe you're actually excited to start school," she finally said, turning to where he had been lying next to her, but now only finding his empty sneakers lying on the ground. Roxy sat up to see Will standing in the fountain with his arms outstretched. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to see if I can do anything to this water," said Will, keeping his attention focused on the statue spraying water lightly in front of him.
"Get out of there," said Roxy. "You don't know what you're doing. Dad said you might hurt yourself if you try to use magic without knowing how."
"Aww c'mon Rox, I take after mom, so I have a good chance at being an Aquaren," Will still wouldn't face her, keeping his arms raised.
"Shut up! You don't know that!" Roxy finally snapped at him, her frustration finally boiling over.
"Alright, what's up with you?" said Will, finally putting his arms down and turning to face her. "You've been acting weird whenever magic gets brought up. Are you afraid of learning it or something?"
"No, it's nothing like that," Roxy said nervously, clutching her knees, "I just... I don't want to be an Ignaren."
"Seriously?" Will said as he stepped out of the fountain, shaking a bit of water off his toes. "Why not? Cause of dad?"
"Not just dad," said Roxy, keeping her gaze lowered to her feet. "Foxes are known for being Ignaren. Dad's one, grandma and grandpa both were, even that guy doing the show was a fox using fire."
"Ok, so what?" Will shrugged. "Being an Ignaren seems cool. Seems way better than being a Gairen."
"I just hate that it feels like my power was decided just cause of how I was born," Roxy muttered.
Will paused for a moment before letting out a sigh as he rolled his eyes. "Rox, nothing about you is predictable. Everything you do is bizarre. They're probably gonna find some new form of magic never before discovered in you, like... I dunno, mind control or something."
Roxy tried to force a smile. She appreciated Will trying to cheer her up, but the apprehension she felt in her stomach wasn't fading.
"C'mon, why not give it a try manipulating the water?" said Will, motioning back towards the fountain.
"I'll pass," said Roxy, who really wasn't a fan of being wet.
"Suit yourself," said Will, turning his attention to his phone. His ears drooped a bit as he opened his messages. "Looks like we're busted." He turned the screen towards her, revealing a message from their mother telling them to stop screwing around and bring the groceries home.
"You can go. I'm gonna keep looking around," said Roxy, seeming unfazed by the message.
"What?! You're gonna make me haul everything home by myself?" Will groaned as he wiped his damp feet off on the grass.
"It's pretty much a one-man job," Roxy said getting to her feet as she wandered off, leaving Will to stuff his feet back into his sneakers and gather up all the bundles himself, grumbling under his breath as he did.
Roxy wasn't really sure what she was doing, but she just didn't feel like going home just yet. She decided to just pick a random street and start wandering. There were still tons of people on the streets to Roxy's dismay. She would love a bit of privacy right now. Her tail swished lazily behind her back and forth as she walked. She eventually stopped right in front of the only store that would catch her attention, a game shop. She peered in through the windows, standing on her tiptoes to see around the posters blocking her vision.
The place was packed with people inside, mostly kids her age. Roxy sighed, wishing she could have the place to herself. Finally deciding she didn't just want to peer in through the window, she slipped inside, but quickly retreated to an unoccupied corner. There was nothing on the shelves near her but books for tabletop games. The stuff she was interested in were the racks at the center of the store which contained tons of video games, but was crowded by a ton of other kids.
"Ow! Quit it!" a voice rang out from the crowd. Roxy looked up and saw two badger children, one much smaller than the other, apparently involved in some kind of argument. The taller one kept poking him and giggling. Roxy looked closely and could see small sparks emitting from the boy's finger with each prod. "If you don't stop, I'm gonna tell mom," the younger kid piped up again, backing away from the older one.
Roxy just groaned as quickly slid back out the door, giving up on trying to get a look at any games. She was starting to feel anxious with all the crowds around her. Just wanting to be alone, she quickly ran across the street to a baseball field that wasn't being used by anyone, just hopping the fence and sitting herself down in one of the dugouts.
This wasn't what she had expected when her parents told her they were moving to a small town. Roxy had been looking forward to a bit of solitude, away from the big city she had grown up in until now. But there were still too many people for her liking.
Roxy buried her head in her hands, the weight of the whole situation finally coming down on her. She'd been thrust into an entirely new life, and had never considered how much it was going to screw up her life. She didn't have any friends from back home, having always been shunned for being different, she had grown to appreciate the solitude, and often felt uncomfortable when surrounded by groups of people. Living in a large city meant always being surrounded by strangers. Despite that, she had found her comfort zone, and was happy that way.
Now that was all gone. She was back to square one with no comfort zone in this strange new town. No quiet spots to retreat to when she needed to be alone. She didn't even have the comfort of her own room yet. And going home to set it up would mean having to help her parents unpack the rest of the house.
Roxy let out a defeated sigh, her head hanging lazily, looking down at her shoes, which were covered in a thin layer of dust thanks to the baseball field, deciding there was no point in delaying any longer. She had felt her phone go off several times, meaning her parents probably weren't happy with her. Slowly she got to her feet and started to head back to the road, but stopped when she heard something behind her. She turned to see nothing, but could still hear whatever it was in the distance, and it sounded like it was getting closer. Soon it was close enough to be recognized as someone screaming. Roxy looked up into the sky and saw a black figure heading towards her.
"A... dragon?" Roxy stared dumbfounded as the figure got closer and closer. She wasn't sure it was a dragon, but it had the silhouette of one, and it was a deep crimson, which meant it would be an Ignaren dragon, and if it was angry, she should probably run. She stayed rooted to the spot, her eyes fixed on the strange black figure shooting towards her. She almost didn't even duck in time as it shot over her head and crashed into the ground.
Slowly standing back up, Roxy glanced over at whatever it was that had crashed. It was far too small to be a dragon. The small black figure was actually a wyvern, but even for that, it was small. Roxy figured it was probably a baby as she slowly approached it. Ordinarily, a wyvern should be about as big as she was, but this one was perhaps maybe just about a foot and a half in length, and maybe two feet total wingspan.
"Are you ok?" said Roxy, unsure if it could even understand speech yet. The small creature quivered, making little squeaking noises as it lay face down in the dirt. Roxy reached a hand out, touching its back. She could feel it tense up under her fingers, but relax just as quickly. Maybe she should just leave it be. If it was part of a pod, the rest of them might be along looking for it. On the other hand, seeing it looked so small and helpless, she felt like it might die if she left it alone.
Finally deciding she couldn't just turn away, Roxy gently slid her arm under the wyvern's chest and picked it up, cradling it in her arms. It seemed frightened of her at first, but seemed to relax after a moment, eventually pushing close to her chest. Roxy could only hope she hadn't accidentally imprinted on the creature.
She hurried home quickly, deciding how she would explain her new friend to her parents, whom she decided to call Corrin. She figured they would at least let her keep him until he got big enough to take care of himself, or if any of his pod came looking for him.
She arrived back home to find the moving van gone, and the remaining boxes having been dumped in the driveway. The box Roxy had been rummaging through earlier had been left exactly where she had and Will had dropped it.
"There you are!" she heard her mother call out as she came out onto the front porch. "We were worried when Will came back alone." She stopped when she noticed Corrin. "What have you got there?"
"This is Corrin," Roxy said as she held him up, the tiny wyvern still trembling in her hands. "I found him in a field. I thought he might be hurt, so I figured I could look after him for a bit."
"Oh Roxanne, we can't take care of a wyvern!" Her mother said as she folded her arms.
"Just until he can leave on his own?" Roxy pleaded. "I think he just needs a bit of food."
Her mother sighed, "We'll speak to your father. I just don't want it making a mess." She led Roxy inside where Will was helping her father unpack various bits of furniture. "Do you see what our daughter has brought home?"
He looked up, seeing Corrin trebling in her arms. "Now where did you find this little guy?" he said.
"He fell out of the sky," said Roxy. I was worried he might be hurt. Can we at least make sure he doesn't die?"
Her father's tail twitched nervously as he seemed to be mulling it over. "Oh alright, just keep him in your room and make sure he doesn't make a mess."
Roxy beamed in gratitude, giving her father a quick hug before running upstairs with Corrin. Her parents had moved most of their own stuff into the main bedroom, and Will had clearly already taken the one with a nice view of the street. Roxy didn't mind, as that left her with the room at the end of the hall in the corner of the house, which suited her fine. The room was completely bare, as none of her stuff had been moved in yet. She set Corrin down, who seemed to be able to stand on his hind legs, but still seemed to tremble as much. Roxy quickly ran downstairs to retrieve a bowl full of water for him, which he seemed all too grateful for.
Now came the difficulty of unpacking her things. Her dad was at least willing to help her get her bed, bookshelf, and desk upstairs, but the rest of her belongings were left to her to haul upstairs. Her computer and video game equipment felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. It took over an hour to get everything upstairs with dozens of runs up and down the stairs. Roxy's legs were killing her, and her feet ached so badly, she had to take her shoes off, which prompted an argument with her mother that she might drop something on her toes. Reluctantly, Roxy swapped out her normal footwear for a pair of soft rubber clogs that wouldn't be as stressful on her legs.
At long last, everything was in her room, but her parents were insistent that she help with the rest of the house. Will seemed to enjoy Roxy's suffering, seeing as he had been at it longer then her, but Roxy had no sympathy for him. She wanted nothing more than to disappear upstairs, take a long shower, and relax with her games, but it felt like there was no end to the stuff they had to unpack. It was getting late, and Roxy was starting to wonder if there was going to be any dinner from those groceries her and Will had brought, but a sudden knock at the door quickly caught everyone's attention.
Roxy's father answered the door, revealing what appeared to be a family who probably lived nearby. They were rabbits, the tall male having patchy brown fur over his face, dressed in a nice-looking sweater vest and slacks and dress shoes. The smaller rabbit standing with him who was probably his wife had pure white fur, wearing a green dress with matching shoes, and was holding something which looked like a tray covered in tin foil. Standing between them was another young-looking rabbit who also had pure white fur, and wore a light blue sun dress with matching sandals.
"Hello there!" Roxy's father said in a friendly tone. "Are you the welcoming committee?"
"I suppose we are," the male rabbit said, extending his hand out to shake Roxy's father's hand. "The name's Dennis Milgran, and this is my wife Janet and daughter Serena."
"A pleasure to meet you," Roxy's dad replied, returning the handshake. "Alan Skysong, and this is my wife Mary, and our kids Roxanne and William."
Roxy nodded at them, but Will but gave a grumpy snort, as he never liked being addressed by his proper name.
"We saw you were unloading boxes all day," said Janet, holding out the tray she was holding, which was emitting a rather delicious smell. "I made this in case you were all feeling hungry."
"Yes! Food!" Will said excitedly, his tail wagging back and forth.
Alan led them inside into the dining room, which had already been unpacked. The adults all quickly hit it off as they sat around the table exchanging banter and stories. Will was mostly silent aside from his devouring of the casserole the Milgran's had brought. Serena kept trying to strike up a conversation with Roxy, who was largely uninterested in speaking with her. This did not seem to discourage Serena from trying over and over again.
"So where exactly did you find this little guy?" Serena said, motioning to Corrin who was splayed in Roxy's lap.
"I dunno, outside?" Roxy shrugged as she slid Corrin a bit of her casserole.
"Roxanne, don't be rude," her mother snapped at her from across the table.
"Oh, it's quite alright," Serena replied. "I've never seen a wyvern up close before." She held her finger out towards Corrin, who gave it a gentle nudge with his snout.
"Yeah, one day in a new town and we have a mythical creature living in our house," said Will sarcastically as he helped himself to his third helping of casserole. The fur on his muzzle was stained with food, which led to Will instinctively bringing his bandana to his mouth to wipe it.
"Will! Use a napkin!" His father said crossly.
"Wha- Oh jeez! Sorry!" Will looked incredibly embarrassed, having seemingly done that reflexively. He frantically grabbed a handful of napkins and tried to wipe his bandana off.
"Don't worry sweetheart, I can throw it in the wash for you," his mother said, trying to ignore Roxy laughing under her breath.
"Actually, I've been meaning to ask," said Dennis. "You're all wearing bandanas. Is there some significance to them?"
"What, these?" said Alan, looking down at his own powder blue bandana around his neck. "Well, it's sort of a family tradition. My parents wore them and gave me this one when I was a kid, and I gave one to Mary when I asked her to marry me."
Mary beamed as she touched her own violet-colored bandana she wore around her neck. "All of Alan's old family photos have people wearing them. I never really questioned it."
Alan laughed a bit. "I'm pretty sure my parents never even knew the origin of the tradition, but I never minded. And the kids don't seem to mind either."
Roxy nodded, touching her own bright pink bandana. She and Will had been given theirs when they were only 5 years old, and she'd worn her's every day since then. The same was true for Will, even though he went through a phase where he liked wearing his over his muzzle and chasing Roxy around with a plastic sword.
"I think it's nice," said Serena with a smile. "It's something that links all of you."
"Yeah, not to mention it brings out my eyes," said Will with a sly sort of smile in Serena's direction. Roxy stared at him curiously. Was he flirting with her? If he was, it didn't seem to register with Serena, and the yellowish stain lingering on his otherwise jet-black bandana wasn't helping matters.
The night eventually winded down. Janet offered to do the dishes, but with Mary being an Aquaren, she had finished before there was much protest. The sun had gone down, so the Milgran's decided to return home. Serena cheerfully pointed out that she would be seeing Roxy and Will again in a couple days' time, as she would be starting school with them. Roxy felt exasperated at first, but she knew she'd have to deal with other people at school, and at least Serena was friendly.
"Were you flirting with her earlier?" said Roxy as she and Will ascended the stairs together. Both of their parents had decided to give unpacking a rest for the night.
"I dunno, so what if I was?" said Will, giving an indifferent shrug.
"Well you just met her," said Roxy. She was still cradling Corrin in her arms, who seemed to be nodding off.
"Good point," said Will, stopping in front of the door to his room. "I'll be meeting dozens of girls in a few days' time." He gave Roxy a grin and then disappeared into his room, shutting the door behind him.
Roxy rolled her eyes and made her way towards her own room. Shutting the door behind her, she placed Corrin down on her desk. The tiny wyvern let out a yawn, a couple small flames flicking from his mouth, as he curled into a ball and nodded off. Roxy had quickly grown fond of him, and would be sad to see him go. Never the less, she opened the window in her room so he'd be able to fly out tomorrow.
A cool breeze was blowing through the trees as Roxy stepped away from the window, kicking her clogs off and unzipping her overall shorts, which she just let fall to the ground lazily. She threw herself onto the bed, which hadn't been properly made up with just a couple pillows and blankets thrown haphazardly on it. It was good enough for Roxy, as she merely dug her laptop out of one of the boxes on the floor. She wanted to unwind with a couple games, but quickly remembered the internet hadn't been hooked up in the house. Feeling a bit discouraged, Roxy quickly shut her laptop, discarding it on the floor, then rolled over in bed, draping some of the blankets over her. She was too tired to set anything else up in her room tonight, but sleep didn't come easy, as the worry of starting school still swam in her head.
