A fox enjoys life. ---------------------------------------------
Rea leaned back, nose tilted up to catch the earthy scent of thick forest.
The grass swam through her fingers as her toes dallied in the slow-running stream. The heat of the summer day swathed her, as a heavy blanket, while the creek water cut crystal-cool past her paw pads. Dapples of light danced, warm, through the canopy to set a glow upon her closed eyes; the green haze of the moss-draped wood replaced with the red of her own eyelids.
The velvet whisper of cattails padded through her mind. Constable Toskun had frowned her out of a meeting of the village council. Sure, she wasn't grey in the muzzle enough to be on the council, but he acted like her few, very valid questions had caused a disruption to the whole meeting.
Ridiculous, of course. A leaf falling on the wrong side of the road constituted disruption by the old badger's standards. No, no, her disruptions came with cunning and without fanfare.
For example, this morning, when she had gotten up early to visit her cousin. Bakers have so few people to talk to in the dawn hours, so the elder fox became quite distracted by his own yips and tips. Distracted enough, that he failed to notice her slipping a little perk-root extract into the half-batch of bran muffins. After all, why would she? She couldn't know who'd be boring enough to want that number of bran muffins each morning.
And if the constable had been perkier all day, who was to complain? Nice to see the dour badger more chipper, even if his interest in watching his leopardess lieutenant leave seemed more obvious than usual. Otherwise the same old Toskun, munching his boring muffins through the day.
Rea sighed, content. She stroked a paw down her coppery tail, smiling into the warm sunlight, breathing the lusty summer air.
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A quick little story inspired by this amazing fan pic by Slate! Thank you so much. *wagwag*
