Wyld Life

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

At the end of "Heckraisers," Keene started funding research into the "totally scientific method" of metamorphosing between human and animal. A few months later, he received a visitor...

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Chapter 1: Grant Proposal

Doctor Sarah Wyld was a practical woman. Her brunette hair was wrapped into a tight bun; her pantsuit was tan, tight, and neat; her makeup was minimal; and her briefcase was tightly clutched in her right hand. She wore low heels that clacked rhythmically as she followed the butler down the hallway. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure why she’d bothered dressing up for this meeting; this particular investor wasn’t impressed by nice clothes or makeup. Her regular clothes would probably have been fine.
As she followed the butler, she looked around. The house was cleaner than she would have expected. There was no odor from the house’s unusual tenants, no stray pieces of tubing or scattered toys, and no real sign that the residents were anything other than normal, stuffy, high-society people. It must have taken a lot of work on the butler’s part.
The butler took a sudden turn and opened a door out onto a patio. “Right this way, ma’am.” He mumbled, then walked out onto the patio to a poolside and cleared his throat. “Announcing, Doctor Sarah Wyld, Suh.” He bowed, then faded into the background.
Sarah stepped forward to the pool, looking around at it for a moment before a high-pitched clearing of the throat drew her attention to a ferret floating in a ring near the edge. After a moment, she realized that the pool wasn’t filled with water; a closer look revealed it was some variety of blue gelatin. “Oh, hello, Mr. Milton, I didn’t see you at first. It’s.. a lot of pool to check.”
The ferret lowered his sunglasses and looked up at her. “You said over the phone that you had a proposal for me. You have five minutes. I’m listening.”
She cleared her throat, stammering for a moment. How was it a ferret could be intimidating? “W-well, sir, your researchers have had the most success with the… ahem.. ‘Totally scientific’ method of inducing metamorphosis…”
“No.”
She blinked, startled. “... Sir?”
“You want a grant to help research the metamorphosis method, right?”
She hesitated. “Uh… no, sir…”
He stared at her for a few moments. “What did you say your doctorate’s was in?”
“Wildlife Behaviorism, sir.” She looked down at him, and he waved his hand for her to continue. “I’m only looking for access, sir. This is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to really observe wildlife up close without them knowing we’re there. We could get infallible disguises, actually BECOME the wildlife, PARTICIPATE in their society, find out what they do when there are no humans around. I’d just like access to the method and supplies. It’d be pocket change for you, so to speak.”
He stared up at her for a few moments. “What’s in it for my company? What do you hope to accomplish?”
She hesitated. Considering all she’d heard about this whole family, he was taking it rather seriously. “I hope to prove that most of what we think we know about wildlife is wrong. That around humans and cameras, they put on an act to make us think they behave one way, but act completely different when they’re alone. I’d like to document feral culture in detail. How the different species interact, what they hope, what they believe, how they survive together.”
“And the return? What does my company get out of it?”
“Well, as my investor, you’d be entitled to part of any award payouts, your name would be on the papers I would publish, and your company would get credit for any major discoveries.” She fidgeted nervously, watching as the jello jiggled under the ferret. He sat up in his pool floatie and stared at her.
“What kind of materials would you need?”
She blinked. She hadn’t really expected to get this far. “W-well… I’d need a base somewhere in the research area, where I could go and record my findings. Weekly rides in and out of the research area to file my findings, and supplies for living, such as food.”
He was quiet for a few moments, watching her. “Just you? No assistant?”
“With research, it’s essential to have as few variables as possible. The more people I bring with me, the more difficult it’s going to be to keep the research untainted. If it’s just me, I can convince them I came from somewhere else where the culture is different. Maybe even tell them I’m an escaped pet, depending on the species I end up as. That way, they’d just think I picked up any humanlike behavior from the humans.”
What followed was the silliest thing she’d ever seen. She hadn’t expected to see a ferret trying to run across the top of a pool full of jello, his paws sinking in as he scrambled up to the concrete on the poolside. It took everything she had in her not to laugh at how silly he looked.
He stared at her from much closer, and she squatted to get closer to his level. Up close, she could smell a faint, ferrety smell. After a few moments, he nodded. “I like you. I think I’ll fund your research.”
Her eyes lit up, and she took a moment to compose herself before speaking. “Thank you, sir.”
“BUT! I have a few conditions.” He waved for her to follow, then started back into the house, if it could be called that. “You’re not JUST researching feral culture. You’re also going to record your experience trying to adapt. Difficulties, surprises, anything you notice. You’ll get minimal help from us once you’re in. I want you to LIVE like the ferals. The less there is about you that’s unusual, the less chance you’ll be discovered or your cover will be blown. You’ll be carted out one day a week to give your reports, but only if we can verify you weren’t followed. You being seen getting into a car would probably blow your cover, too.”
The ferret paused at an office door to open it, then led her inside. “I think two years ought to be enough for you to get a good idea of the culture, right? Any holidays they celebrate regularly, how they behave differently in the summer versus the winter, any religions they might believe in.” He climbed up to a chair and started writing something out on some stationery on the desk.
“Oh, and you’ll be in the immediate area around the manor, so we can pull you out quickly if something happens. Just stay away from Jessica’s Bungalow. That area’s culture is heavily contaminated because they have electricity and light bulbs. You can visit, just don’t, you know, move in.” He set the stationery he’d been writing on inside a fax machine and typed in a number. “How does five million to start sound?”
“It sounds… amazing, sir. A lot more than I’d expected.” She tried not to sound excited. “Probably more than enough for a two year project.”
“Good, then it’s settled. Give me a few weeks to get your base set up, and I’ll call you back with instructions once we’re ready for your infiltration to begin.” He looked up at her. “Oh, and Doctor? Stop trying to hide that you’re happy with how this meeting went. It’s not working, and it’s making you look weird.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

This does seem like a very riveting start to the next story you are going to write! I can't wait to see where this goes as I have a feeling its gonna be good!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I've been looking forward to sharing this story.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I am sure it like the rest of your stories is gonna be very phenomenal and I can't wait to see where this journey will take us! I definitely am going to like seeing where this story heads!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 2: Metamorphosis

Sarah parked her car and got out, looking up at the research institute. As instructed, she had dressed in something comfortable. She wasn’t sure what to expect; all she had been told was when and where, and to wear something comfortable.
She went inside, and a receptionist looked her over, then gestured to her to sit in the lobby to wait. She picked up a phone and put it to her ear. “She’s here.”
About two minutes later, the ferret appeared at a door. “This way, Doctor Wyld.”
Sarah hesitated, then followed him through the doorway and down a long hallway. “Mr. Milton, what are we doing here?”
“The method to induce metamorphosis is finicky and unreliable. The most reliable procedure we’ve found requires large sonic generators, and as we’ve never tried turning a human into an animal before, we’ve chosen to use the most reliable procedure.”
She blinked. “Wait, you haven’t? I thought your company had been having success with the procedure.”
“Yes, turning the Changed back to their original bodies. We’ve never tried creating NEW Changed.” He looked up at her with a serious expression. “You’ll be the first to go into the machine as a human.” He opened the door to a room with a glass chamber in the middle. It was a big glass box, with huge speakers on each side, and a door on one side to get in. People manned computers all around the rim of the room, monitoring and adjusting various readouts and dials.
The ferret gestured to the chamber. “You’ll be in there. You can disrobe now, or after. For some reason, some humans are shy about disrobing in front of other humans.”
“Disrobe?” She frowned.
“You’re going to be a feral. Ferals don’t wear clothes.” He raised an eyebrow. “Did you not think this through?”
She hesitated. “Well… I hadn’t thought about it. I’ll undress AFTER, I guess…”
“Did you get your affairs in order? Belongings in storage, family informed that you’ll be out of communication? Any boyfriend or girlfriend to be kept informed?”
She nodded. “I followed all your instructions to the letter. I don’t date.”
“Good. Go ahead and get on in there. Oh!” He paused, turning toward her. “We didn’t ask. There’s no guarantees, but is there a species you’re aiming for? Squirrel? Fox?”
She paused. “Well… Raccoons have always been my favorite. With their little masks and fuzzy tails.”
He opened the door to the chamber for her. “All right, we’ll aim for raccoon, then. It might take a few tries, just hang in there with us. We’re learning, too.”
She stepped in, her stomach filled with butterflies. “Is it going to hurt?”
The door closed behind her. “Please stand on the X. We’ve been told it tickles, or that it didn’t feel like anything, but nobody’s told us it hurts yet.”
Sarah looked around, then hesitantly moved onto the X on the floor.
“It’s going to take us a second to calibrate the machine. You might hear some humming.”
A deep thrumming started, and Sarah started to feel even more nervous. She was having second thoughts about this whole thing. After a few moments, she realized she was scared.
The thrumming started changing, getting higher, then lower. It vibrated the whole chamber, rattling the glass, then stopped suddenly. One of the operators mumbled something to the ferret, and he tapped the glass. “Hold still, now, they’re going to try the procedure.”
Sarah gulped. “W-wait, just a second, I need to… uh…” She searched frantically for something she had to do.
“You need a minute?”
“Yeah. I’m a little nervous.”
“Just let us know when you’re ready. We’ve got it tuned in, we can fire at any time.”
She nodded and stared at her reflection in the glass. She looked nervous. “... Okay, I’m ready.”
The ferret nodded to the technicians, and the thrumming returned for just a moment before suddenly ascending out of her range of hearing. She stood, feeling the air around her seem to vibrate. She felt a little dizzy for a moment, and her vision swam.
She felt herself starting to tip, and gasped, putting her hand out to grab something. “Something’s- oof!” She fell backward and landed on her backside.
For a moment, her vision continued swimming, and then the thrumming stopped. She felt dizzy and disoriented. Her shirt felt loose; her ears rang.
“Doctor?” The voice sounded distant as it slowly came into focus. “Doctor Wyld? Disorientation is normal. Can you hear me?”
“I hear you… your voice sounds funny.” She tugged on her shirt. “I feel weird.”
“I imagine so.” There was a pause. “Can you try to stand up for us, Doctor?”
She placed her hands on the ground and started trying to pull herself up. Her head was starting to clear, finally. She blinked as her shirt fell around her ankles, her pants stayed on the ground, and the sleeve of her shirt drooped almost to her elbow. “My clothes don’t fit.” She reached to adjust her shirt, then blinked when she felt fur on her arm.
She reached up to touch her face. A muzzle poked out; she followed it to her nose, leathery and pointed. Her hands went up to her ears, and they wiggled in her grip, trying to jerk free. After a moment, her eyes drifted back to the glass, where her reflection was.
Except, it wasn’t her reflection anymore. A raccoon blinked back at her, standing in a puddle of her clothes. She stepped closer, stepping out of her pants, and placed her hand on the glass, staring at her reflection. “It worked.”
“Congratulations, Doctor Wyld. You’re the first human to intentionally become an animal. How does it feel?”
She stripped off her shirt to look at herself. She was gray, with a cream-colored belly. The cream color faded at her neck to the main gray color, giving way to a brown mask that covered both her eyes but tapered over the bridge of her muzzle to form almost a heart shape as it curled around the outside of her eyes. Her belly was a little chubby, which was cute, but odd, given she wasn’t chubby normally. She turned and looked at her tail; three brown rings, four gray. She felt no shame at being naked, which she found surprising. It just felt normal.
“I feel… fuzzy. Is there a better mirror? I can barely see my reflection in this glass.”
The door to the chamber opened, and she gathered up her clothes. As she exited, one of the operators reached down to take her clothes. She held onto them for a moment, then hesitantly let go of them. The ferret nudged her. “We’ll wash and store those for you, so they’ll be ready for you when you come back to make your reports. That’s why we had you wear something comfortable; it’ll be the only clothes you’ll be wearing for the next two years.”
He led her down another hallway to a locker room. “This is where our test subjects store the clothes they plan on changing into when they resume their original forms. For some reason, some of them come back with clothes on, and some don’t. There’s a mirror over there in the corner.”
She darted over to have a look at herself, turning this way and that. She was delightfully chubby and plump. She leaned in and wiggled her ears, watching the raccoon in the mirror wiggle her ears back at her. “This is so weird!” She watched the raccoon say.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I'm sure that it is weird and I hope that she doesn't suddenly decide NOT to change back like Lois and Marion. We need some people who DO want to go back to being human if they were transformed.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 3: In the Field

“Say it to me one more time, to make sure you’ve got it right.” The ferret looked across the back of the van at Sarah, holding on as it bumped along the road.
She sighed. “All right, fine. From the drop-off point, follow the creek until it meets up with the river. Go upstream until I get to two waterfalls, and find the rock that looks like a face, then head north fifteen paces. My den is under the big old oak tree. The equipment is hidden behind the false wall on the east side.” She rolled her eyes. “You only made me tell you fifty times. I’ve got it.”
“I just want to make sure. If you get lost out there, we might never find you. Once you find the den, activate your emergency beacon for a ten count, so we know you’re there. We’ll be back to pick you up at noon, every Saturday. If you miss your pickup two weeks in a row, we’ll send out a rescue team. If you need help sooner, activate your emergency beacon, and we’ll send someone out right away. Don’t activate your beacon otherwise, because the rescue team will blow your cover and we’ll have to scrap the whole project.”
She rolled her eyes. “You already took photos of me from EVERY angle so you could identify me. Which, thanks, that wasn’t embarrassing at all.”
“This is a dangerous project, we just want to be sure we have everything covered.” He looked at her seriously. “You want to stop for one last real meal before you start living off the land?”
She hesitated. “No, I think I’d better not. It’s gonna be tough to get grease out of fur without any proper soap.”
“Smart. Besides, it’s too late anyway. We’re almost to the dropoff point.”
“Then why did you even ask?” She raised her eyebrow.
He shrugged. “I don’t know, you seemed nervous.”
“I am nervous! I’m a behaviorist, not a survivalist! Two days of survival training isn’t really going to help that much.”
“Well, that’s why your cover story is that you’re an escaped pet, remember? Maybe the locals will help you figure things out. You’re a raccoon, there’s not much out there that you can’t eat. Our scouts found plenty of food sources near the den, that’s why we built it there. There’s nuts, berries, roots, edible leaves and mushrooms, and you can always fish in the river.”
She sighed as the van came to a stop. “All right, all right, I’ll do my best.” She stood on the seat and peeked out. “We’re at the drop-off point. I’ll see you in a week, I guess.”
He opened the door for her. “Good luck getting settled in.”
She climbed out and waved at him. “Thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Milton.”
As she watched the van drive away, she stood on the side of the road, feeling exposed and nervous. After a few moments, she turned and started into the forest, following a little creek as it flowed downhill into a little valley carved by ancient glaciers. She practiced walking quietly on her paws as she followed the creek for about an hour until it reached a small river, only about ten feet across and averaging two feet deep. She paused to watch the creek water mix into the river water for a moment, then turned and started following the river upstream. The sound of the water flowing calmed her nerves a little bit, helping her to relax.
It was another half an hour before she came to the waterfalls, if they could be called that. The river flowed over a pair of five foot slopes, barely making the sound of the flowing louder. On the side of the larger of the two waterfalls, she found the rock that looked like a face and turned to the north, not quite perpendicular to the river’s flow, and looked ahead. She could see the tree she was looking for, but it was more than fifteen paces away. On her legs, it was more like thirty or forty. “Scouts must have been either human, or bigger.” She mumbled, starting toward it.
She found the tree and started circling it, looking for the burrow that was supposed to be at the base of it. She found it several feet out and walked inside, looking around. It wasn’t the nicest place- a hole in the ground, mostly- but it was dry, would stay slightly warmer in the winter and slightly cooler in summer, and was sheltered from the wind and rain, so she supposed it would do. There was nothing inside for now. She walked to the east wall and ran her hand along it until she found a little hole, just big enough for her finger. She stuck her finger inside and tugged at it, and a panel came off, complete with the roots and stones that were part of it. Behind that was a small cache of tools- a tiny computer, just keyboard and screen, only about six inches wide; the emergency beacon, which was just a transmitter that would send out a predetermined signal when turned on; and a book of safe plants to eat, in case she needed a refresher.
She turned on the beacon, counted to ten, then turned it off again, placing it back inside the cache and putting the false panel back on. It clicked to let her know it was locked in place, and she looked around her den.
“Well… first things first… I better get myself something to sleep on, and some food.”
Something to sleep on was easy. She just went outside and got armloads of leaves, carried them in, and laid them out on the floor until it was thick enough to act as a cushion against the cold, hard dirt floor. There was no blanket, but as it was the middle of summer, she figured that wasn’t a problem. Yet. Thinking about it, she wasn’t quite sure how ferals stayed warm in the winter. It had never really been researched.
Something to eat turned out to be more of a problem. She tried fishing in the river, but didn’t have much luck; she’d never tried fishing with her hands before, and it turned out to be much more difficult than she’d expected. Every time she saw a fish swimming past, her hand dipping into the water scared it away. She put her ears back and frowned. “Maybe some berries, then.”
A search of the immediate area found berries- unripe ones, not ready for eating. She tried one anyway, then spat it out. “Mmph… too sour.”
By the time the sun started to set, she slinked back to her new den, still hungry. She was starting to wish she’d asked for that last meal after all. Living off the land in unfamiliar territory was no easy feat, she’d discovered. She slinked off to her nest and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling as the light faded. She was hungry, tired, and nervous; what if she couldn’t find any of the local wildlife? Would she just be out here on her own for two years? Or would Mr. Milton pull the plug after a while if she failed to make any progress?
After a moment, she got up and pulled the computer out of the cache, opening it up. It was plugged in and charging, she guessed from a solar panel hidden somewhere, and started to type on it. “Day zero- arrived at base camp and set up basic bed of leaves. Difficulty finding food- fish too difficult to catch and berries not ripe. Will have to check field guide book for other edible options. For now, it’s getting dark out and I’m tired. I will sleep and try for food again in the morning.” She closed the computer and put it away, fitting the cover back onto the cache and returning to her new bed.
The air grew cooler, and it started to drizzle rain outside. Sarah sighed and rolled to her side, causing her nest of leaves to rustle quietly, and closed her eyes. She listened to the waterfalls, babbling distantly, and curled her tail over her hip as a makeshift blanket, sighing.
She’d asked for this assignment, hadn’t she? So why was she so nervous about it? She put her jitters aside and let herself drift off to sleep.

[Amazee Dayzee]

She might be nervous about it because she really wants to do it justice and worries that if it doesn't turn out the way she wants it to that it will be a disappointment. I can see her getting tense because this is a project that she looked very much forward to.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 4: Nocturnal

“What are you doing asleep at this hour? Planning on sleeping the whole night away?” A voice snapped Sarah out of her sleep, and she snorted drowsily, sitting up and opening her eyes. For a moment, she was disoriented, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
“That was the plan…” She mumbled sleepily, looking around. Right, she was in her new den. Doing research. A pair of yellow eyes appeared in front of her, the head they were attached to tilting left and right. She gave a startled yelp and fumbled backward, scattering leaves all over the floor.
The raccoon laughed, rolling back onto his backside and grabbing his paws as he rolled. “You’re funny. I like you.”
She huffed and looked him over. He was scrawny; his fur was gray with a faintly reddish hue, with the kind of markings one expected with a raccoon: mask over the eyes, three rings on his tail, and a creamy white belly. After a moment, she scowled at him. “What are you doing in my den?”
He sat up again and shrugged. “I smelled you when I was fishing and thought I’d check it out. What’re you doing sleeping in the middle of the night for?”
She rubbed her eyes and yawned. “I was up all day moving in.” Truthfully, she’d momentarily forgotten that raccoons were nocturnal; she was kind of surprised at how well she could see in the dim moonlight filtering into the den.
“Y’know, I wasn’t gonna mention it, but I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. How’d you get here? This is a long way from… anything.” He tilted his head and leaned forward, sticking his legs out straight in a V shape and putting some of his weight on his hands.
She stared at him. It was a weird position to sit in. “I walked from the road.”
“The road’s MILES away from here!” He pulled himself up to all fours with his rump in the air, then stood up. “You walked all that way in the middle of the day? What were you even DOING at the road? Don’t you know that there’s cars on the road?!”
She watched him with fascination. The way he moved was like watching a toddler. “Well, I had to start SOMEWHERE, didn’t I?”
“I guess so.” He frowned at her. “But why were you starting at the road? You get relocated? Normally they drop us off at the reserve fifty miles away, not out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“Well, I don’t really think that’s any of your business. After all, you’re an intruder in my den.” She flicked her ears, scowling at him.
“Naw, I’m no intruder. I’m just visiting.” He looked around. “Don’t got much in here, do ya?”
“Well, I just moved in today, so…” She gestured, a little irritated.
He grinned crookedly at her, tilting his head. “By the way, I’m Bunker.”
“... Sarah.” She huffed.
He frowned. “That’s a human name. What, you a pet or something?” He stared at her for a few moments, and then his eyes widened. “Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t realize, I didn’t mean anything by it. There’s nothing wrong with having been a pet, what’s important is you’re not anymore!” There was a pause. “That didn’t come out right.”
She huffed at him. “So what if I was? Is that a problem?”
His ears went back. “No, no, it’s fine, really! I was just joking around, I didn’t expect, that is, I mean…”
“Oh, settle down, I know you didn’t mean to be mean.” She huffed.
He started circling her. “Honestly, being a pet looks like it was a pretty good gig.” He poked at her belly. “You’re all squishy. I think you might even be chubbier than Truck.”
She blushed, covering her belly and swatting him away. “Wh- hey, no touching!”
He grinned, flicking his ears. “So I bet you don’t know how to do ANYTHING, do you? I bet you’re the one that was splashing around in the river earlier. Trying to fish, huh?”
She blushed again, feeling the tips of her ears get warm. “So what? I’ll figure it out.”
“You want help?” Bunker’s yellow eyes looked at her. He looked sincere. “It’ll be kind of a… welcome to the neighborhood thing. I’ll show you the ropes… including how to mark your territory so people don’t bother you.”
She sighed. After a few moments’ consideration, her stomach made up her mind for her by gurgling insistently. “Ugh… fine. But only because I’m hungry.”
He grinned that goofy, crooked grin at her. She rolled her eyes. He looked so dumb. “Great! But first, you need a new name. Something more… raccoony. Sarah’s a fine name for a human, but you’re a raccoon. You need something better.”
She frowned. “But I like my name. What did you have in mind?”
“Hmm…” He looked her over, walking around her and looking her over. “Brook. Because if you came from the road, it means you must have followed Babbler’s Brook.”
“Hmm… It’s not terrible. I guess I can go by Brook. For now.” She flicked her ears and brushed some leaves out of her fur. “Is that how wild raccoons pick their names? Based on things they do or where they come from?”
“Sometimes.” He grinned. “Now come on, let’s go out to the river.”
“Are we going to fish?” She started to follow him outside.
“Fish? I suppose we could. But I said I’d teach you to mark your territory. That means you’re gonna need to drink lots of water.” He looked back at her.
She gave a little squeak and blushed. “I… um… I can do that LATER.”
He grinned at her. “Then I’m SURE you know how to find your neighbor’s borders so you don’t overlap their territory.”
She put her ears back. “Ugh… fine… But don’t tell anybody.”
He laughed, rolling back on his tail again. “Who would I tell? There’s not many people out here! Most people have moved over toward Jessica’s Hovel so they can take advantage of her heated house during the winter.”
She huffed. “So why do I need to mark at all if nobody’s out here?!”
“I mean most of the raccoons. There’s still plenty of folks out here, rabbits and cougars, a few wolves, squirrels… you know, other people.” He giggled. “You’re funny.” He climbed back to his feet in the same awkward way, butt-first, then put his hand on her back. “Come on, let’s go, to the river.”
She put her ears back and let him lead her. They approached the waterfall. She stopped at the water’s edge and, hoping to stall, she looked at him. “Er… Bunker, was it? Why are you helping me? I’m a random stranger. What’s in it for you?”
He grinned at her playfully. “Well… You’re cute. Really cute. I like you. And…” He paused, looking around at their surroundings for a few moments before grinning. “And I was kind of hoping that, when mating season comes around, you’d remember that I helped you out.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
She blushed heavily and crouched at the river to cup her hands and scoop up some water.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Great job as always writing this chapter as it is still very interesting to me! I can't wait to see what is next from here!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

I loved writing Bunker. He's a real goof. I think I'm already planning a sequel to this one.

[Welsh Halfwit]

You world build in the smarter of ways. By keeping the immediate world small scale and offering glimpses of the outside.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 5: The Ropes

Bunker paused to sniff at the tree, then grinned. “This is it, this is your border with ol’ Three Toes Hopper. Go on, mark it. Let ‘im know you’re living here now.”
Sarah hesitated and squatted against the tree. After a moment, she blushed. “Wh- do you mind turning around? I can’t do it while you watch.”
“Oh, right.” Bunker turned around. “Remember not to let it all loose. Save some for the other markers.”
She reddened and, once she was done, she stood up again, stepping over the spot and putting her ears back. “Er… thanks for… um… teaching me this stuff. I didn’t really get the chance to learn, growing up as a pet.”
He grinned his lopsided grin at her and giggled. “Of course! We’re gonna be neighbors! I need to know where your borders are, too!”
She hesitated. “Okay, let’s go find the next marker…”
He walked with her around the area, showing her the markers. Every now and then, he would point something out. “See that plant? The roots are good eating, if you can’t find anything else.”
“Stay away from that plant, it’ll give you an itchy rash.”
“The squirrel across this border point is named Ziggy. He’s a little crazy.”
By the time they arrived around to the river again, Sarah had a pretty good idea of who her neighbors were. Bunker grinned. “And I’m just across the river. If you go downstream about two hundred yards, you can get to Bunker’s Crossing. You probably saw it on the way past, it’s an area where the river widens and gets nice and calm and shallow. You can use it to cross and come see me, any time you like.” He pointed. “You can almost see my den from here, actually. Just over that little bump, under the fallen log.”
“Still flirting, huh?” She nudged him. “I’m not looking for kits right now, you know. I can barely take care of myself.”
He gave that same crooked grin. “Well, maybe you’ll change your mind by next spring.”
She hesitated. “Y-yes, maybe. I doubt it.”
“Come on, lemme teach you how to fish. Plants and stuff is good, but fish is better.”
“That’s not really grammatically… you know what, sure.” She flicked her ears. “Show me how to fish.”
He grinned and took her by the hand, wading out into the river. “You gotta be careful where you step. If you lose your footing, you’ll be washed downstream. You won’t go far because of Bunker’s Crossing, but you’ll be wet and miserable by the time you get there.”
She followed him, carefully placing her paws where he had placed his. She could feel that he was bracing his steps against underwater rocks, so the river’s flow didn’t knock him down. She would have tried stepping on the rocks. She secretly tried it now, placing her foot on top of a rock and feeling it slip right off. The stones were slimy from algae, giving her paws no purchase; if she’d tried wading into the water without him, she’d have fallen in.
He paused partway into the water and squatted, motioning for her to follow suit. He pointed just ahead of him where the water got deeper. “This middle part of the river is deeper. That’s where all the good fish are gonna be. But we’ve been disturbing the water, so it’s going to be a moment. Just hold still and be quiet, and wait.”
She squatted next to him and stared at the water, listening to the babbling of the river as it ran past them. After a few moments, she saw something move below the surface. Her ears perked, and she looked closer. Moonlight reflected off silvery scales in the water as some fish ascended from the depths. Bunker grinned and pointed, then lifted a hand, wiggling his fingers for her, pointing to his eyes. She understood; he wanted her to watch his hands.
He hovered his hand over the water carefully, lining himself up with a fish, then suddenly tipped his hand forward and darted it into the water fingertips-first, snatching the fish and pulling the fish out of the water quick as a flash, immediately putting the fish into his mouth and biting down on it to maintain his grip before it could squirm away. Putting his hands in fingertips first meant that he caused minimal splash; as a result, only the closest fish darted away, replaced quickly with some that had been further away before.
She stared at him as he put both hands up to grab the fish and remove it from his mouth, holding it. “See? Easy. Now you try.”
She frowned and turned her eyes to the water, watching the fish swim for a little bit. He nudged her after a few moments. “Well, go on.”
“I’m going, don’t rush me…” She mumbled, raising her hand like he had and hovering it over the water. She selected a fish and waited for it to come closer, hovering her hand over it, then dipping her hand in just like Bunker had done. She grasped the fish, tried to jerk it out of the water, and lost her grip on it just on time for the airborne creature to smash into her face and flop back into the water. Bunker burst out laughing, leaning back, but not falling over like he had earlier.
“Hah! That’s hilarious!” He sniggered. “Come on, let’s head back to shore and dry off. I’ll let you have mine, I can catch another later.”
She followed him back, bracing her paws against the rocks like he’d shown her, then accepted the fish he offered her, hesitantly. It had stopped struggling, and she blinked down at it. “I’m… er… do I just eat it as is, or do I… I guess there’s not really a way to cook it out here. Can’t exactly make a fire.”
He nudged her. “Go on, just bite right in. It’s good, I promise.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and took a bite, chewing slowly before forcing herself to swallow. It tasted slightly metallic, fishy, and interesting. It wasn’t BAD, which was good, because it was going to be her main food source for the next two years. She supposed she would probably get used to it. She would definitely demand some real food be brought to her for her rendezvous moving forward.
Bunker watched her eat until all that was left was a few of the fish bones, then grinned and lay back, staring up at the stars through the gaps in the leaves overhead. “It’s good you got here in early spring. It gives me time to teach you everything you need to know. It’s also good you weren’t here ten or fifteen days ago. Place was CRAWLING with humans then. Well, not crawling with them, it was only three, but they gave us a scare. Hung out… actually, right here, in your territory for a few days, then suddenly left. I think they were camping.”
“Oh…” She glanced away. She knew that they had actually been constructing her den, complete with its hidden cache, but she couldn’t exactly tell him that. She decided that the best course of action would be to instead change the subject. “You said that the crossing downstream is called Bunker Crossing. Is it named after you, or are you named after IT?”
His ears perked. “It’s named after me. I’m named after my den. I kind of have a habit of stockpiling food, so they call me Bunker. Actually, that’s how we do things around here. We name landmarks after whoever’s territory they’re in, so we know where they are when we give directions. So, if Three Toes Hopper wanted to know how to get to my den, you’d tell him to head across Hopper’s Thicket to Brook Falls, then head downstream to Bunker’s Crossing and back upstream again.”
“Brook Falls?” She sat up. “Those waterfalls? If you can really call those waterfalls.”
“Sure. Named after Brook, the cute pudgy lady raccoon that lives in that territory.” He grinned at her.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 6: Forager’s Guide

Sarah’s- no, she needed to start thinking of herself as Brook now- belly gurgled a little. She knew she wasn’t really in danger of starving, but after four nights of foraging lessons from Bunker, she still had few ideas which plants in her half-mile plot were edible.
Bunker grinned and entered her den. “Okay, okay, time for a pop quiz. Which of these plants are edible?” He set out three pieces of greenery in front of her, broken off of plants from her area. She looked at them, her tail swishing in concentration.
“Um… This one’s mint…” She wrinkled her nose. The minty scent of the leaves was repulsive. She normally LIKED the smell of mint. “That’s oak, and this one is bittercress. Bittercress is edible, isn’t it?”
Bunker grinned and plucked a leaf off the plant, popping it in his mouth. “Yeah, it’s good. A nice little snack.”
She gathered up the other two plants and tossed them outside, waving her hand in the air to disperse the smell of the mint. “Why’d you bring the mint in here? It’s gonna smell awful for HOURS.”
He sniggered. “Because it’s funny.” He picked another bittercress leaf and grinned at her, holding it up. “Open wide, say aaaahhh.”
“Get that out of my face or I’ll bite you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.
A distant voice called out. “Hello, neighbor! Don’t attack, I’m coming over!”
Brook’s ear flicked at the sound, and she looked up. “Who’s that?” She started toward the exit to her den curiously.
Bunker jumped up. “That’s ol’ Three Toes Hopper.” He darted outside.
Brook paused and lifted her paw up to where she could see it, wiggling the toes. She had three. That was the normal number. “Wait, why is he called Three Toes?” She called after Bunker, running after him.
Bunker was a short distance away, chatting with a wild rabbit. The rabbit wasn’t too remarkable; he had the standard brownish gray fur that any snowshoe hare would have this time of year, with a little patch on his chest that hadn’t quite finished changing back to gray from its white winter color, though it was faded so it wasn’t snowy white anymore. Bunker turned and waved at her. “Hey, Brook! Come over here, say hi to your neighbor to the southeast, where we started marking your territory!”
She put her ears back and jogged over. They were still a good distance from her border; the hare must have been here for a few minutes before they heard him calling. As she approached, the hare grinned at her. “Hi, there, Neighbor! I was just going around, renewing my markings, when I scented that I had a new neighbor and decided to come around and meet her! The name’s Three Toes Hopper.”
She hesitated to see if he would put out his hand to shake. When he didn’t, she didn’t either. That must not be part of the local culture; she made a mental note to add that to her notes. “I’m Sa- er.. I mean, I’m Brook. It’s nice to meet you.” She was itching to ask him why he was called Three Toes, but thought that might be rude. She also resisted the urge to look down at his feet.
He grinned at her, his long ears flicking around to point at her. His amber eyes sparkled in amusement. He was quiet for a few moments, then laughed. “Go ahead, ask. Everybody does. It’s one of my favorite parts of meeting someone new.”
“Why are you called Three Toes? Three is the normal number of toes.” She blurted before she could stop herself.
Bunker gave one of his hearty rolling laughs, rolling onto his butt and grabbing his toes as he rolled around in the underbrush. Three Toes grinned. “It is, but it’s not how many I have. It’s a joke, see. Look.” He lifted his paw and showed her, wiggling his four toes, the fourth looking like someone had glued it onto the outside edge of his foot. “Mama used to say that I was extra special so I got a little something extra to hold it all.”
Brook stared at it. “Interesting… polydactyly isn’t very common in…” she trailed off, realizing she was saying it out loud, and blushed. “I mean… I like your extra toe?”
Bunker sat up and grinned at her. “Nice save, Brook.”
“I like my extra toe, too. It brings me extra luck.” Three Toes grinned. “You can call me Three Toes, or Hopper, or Three Toes Hopper. I live just along the river in Hopper’s Thicket. Lots of good eating over there during berry season, so feel free to pop on over for a snack. Just remember to leave everybody else some.”
There was an awkward pause, and then Three Toes turned to Bunker. “What are you doing on this side of the river, Bunker? I thought you were afraid to cross because of-”
“Teaching the new girl!” Bunker interrupted, standing up abruptly. “She used to be a pet, so she doesn’t know ANYTHING about living out here. I’ve been teaching her how to forage for food.”
Three Toes stared at Bunker for a few moments, then rolled his eyes. “Don’t forget to teach her the other important stuff, like how to hide her den from predators. Just because the wolves and the mountain lions left doesn’t mean we can get complicit. There ARE other predators out here, you know.”
“Technically, we ARE predators.” Brook mentioned absently, examining a plant she’d found that she didn’t recognize and trying to decide if it was food. She hadn’t eaten yet tonight because Bunker had insisted on getting started on today’s lesson as soon as the sun had set.
Bunker noticed she was distracted and stepped closer, trying to see what she was looking at. “That’s purslane. It’s food, but it’s a little sour. I don’t recommend eating it by itself.”
She knelt and popped off one of the rounded leaves. It felt like a flattened cucumber in her hand; when she put it in her mouth, it tasted similar to lemon. She puckered and spat it out.
Bunker laughed loudly, rolling back onto his tail again. “I TOLD you so!”
Three Toes laughed. “I gotta get back to renewing my markers. You two have fun with figuring out what plants are food.” He turned and started back toward the border.
Once he was gone, Bunker grinned up at Brook from where he was still laying in a patch of weeds. “Heh… let’s go find some chicory. I want something sweet.”
She watched him climb to his paws in that odd, naive way of his: Roll to all fours, stick the butt in the air, and then stand up. “Why do you get up that way? You didn’t get up like that a few minutes ago, when Three Toes was asking why you were on this side of the river.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s just the way I’ve always done it.” He started off across her land. “Come on, I saw some chicory this way last year. It looks like dandelions, except the flowers are purple and can sometimes get real tall.”
She followed his ringed tail. “All right… I’ll keep an eye out.” As they walked, she considered. There was something that Bunker didn’t want to talk about, that was obvious. She didn’t want to press him for details; who wouldn’t have stuff they didn’t want to talk about with someone they’d only met a few days ago? Still, she was curious; why didn’t Bunker normally cross the river? He had a crossing named after him, she’d seen it. It would be easy for him to cross at any time.
After a few moment’s searching, Bunker grinned and reached down, plucking up a handful of leaves and holding them over his head victoriously. “I found it! Chicory! The younger leaves are the best, but it’s all edible. Remember where this is, because it keeps growing under the snow in the winter, so it’s good to have around.” He passed her some leaves.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Sorry about the late upload today, I got sidetracked with writing and forgot that I hadn't actually uploaded the chapter.

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Chapter 7: First Pickup

Brook yawned as she crawled out of her nest of dried leaves, squinting up at the sun rising in the sky. She was surprised how quickly her body had adapted to being active at night; she wondered if it was because that was her current body’s natural state. She’d made an excuse to take a nap before the night was over, and accidentally overslept, waking up only once the sun was high beyond the horizon.
She popped open the panel in her wall long enough to grab the detachable drive from the computer, then put it securely back, hanging the drive around her neck. After a moment of standing in her den’s doorway, she started off, following the river past Bunker’s Crossing and down toward the brook. As she walked, the sun got higher and higher into the sky. She started to worry she wasn’t going to make it back to the pickup point on time.
She arrived at the road and looked up and down, frowning. The van wasn’t there; she checked her shadow and found she was a little early. “Oh, thank goodness…” She sat behind the treeline in sight of the road and watched. Right as the shadows reached their smallest and as the sun reached its zenith, the van pulled into view and pulled over to the side of the road, stopping to wait for her.
Her ears perked, and she stood up, rushing to the roadside. The van door opened, and someone reached their hand out for her. “Welcome back, Dr. Wyld.” She reached her hand up and let herself get helped into the van. The door closed, and the van resumed driving, turning around and making its way back toward the institute.
She glanced around. “Where’s Mr. Milton?” Everybody in the van was human. She let the veterinarian lean forward and start his health checkup while the van was still driving. She figured it would save time to cooperate.
“Mr. Milton will only be at every fourth or fifth debriefing. It’s your project, he’s just overseeing it.” The person who had helped her into the car, a female, spoke, checking her watch. “I hope you weren’t waiting long. Looks like we were about five minutes late.”
“About twenty minutes. Not bad considering it’s about a two hour walk.” The rest of the ride was quiet, with the vet giving her a clean bill of health. They arrived at the institute, and she was given a double-sided ID card to wear; one side with her human face, and the other with her raccoon face. She headed inside and met the head scientist in charge of the metamorphosis machine.
“Doctor Wyld, welcome back! We’ve got your clothes ready for you, and an all-female staff in the metamorphosis room, so you can feel comfortable changing back.”
She smiled, laying her ears out flat. “Thank you… Doctor Bund, was it?”
He nodded. “You remembered.” He guided her down the halls to the metamorphosis room, helping her into the chamber before immediately leaving.
The glass chamber shook and thrummed. Brook groaned and shook her head, feeling nauseous and disoriented as the thrumming grew louder and louder until suddenly stopping. She found she was sitting on the floor of the chamber, unfurred and undressed, and started clambering to her feet. One of the ladies running the machine came in and helped her into her clothes; by the time she was dressed, the disorientation had mostly worn off. She noticed that it wore off faster this time.
“Thank you.” She mumbled to the woman helping her dress, then left the room. After a hearty lunch of food- real food, cooked and everything, she reported to her lab, which consisted of a mainframe where she could upload her journals, and a webcam so she could give an oral report.
“This is the first video diary of the Wildlife Research Project, following commencement of the project one week ago today. My name is Doctor Sarah Wyld, and I am the sole researcher on this project. This week, I arrived at the research area and established a territory with the help of a local raccoon named Bunker. Interestingly, he gave me the moniker Brook and made clear that he sees me as a potential mate. I am unsure whether I am comfortable with that, but as he’s made no effort to force himself on me, I suppose I shall tolerate it for now.”
She proceeded to tell the camera everything she could remember that had happened in the past week, from switching to a nocturnal sleeping schedule, to learning to forage, to meeting Three Toes Hopper, her neighbor. Once her video log was done, she started sketching up a rough map of the area and pinned it to the wall behind where she had been sitting. She smiled at her lab; it wasn’t much, but it was everything she’d wanted since she was a little girl: A lab all her own, a project she was heading, and some new research all to herself.
Once she was done, she filed a request to have food brought to her during pickup moving forward, grinning. She was certain it was in the budget, and was looking forward to next week already.
She glanced at a clock, and gasped. She needed to hurry if she was going to get dropped off on time to make it back to her den before sundown. She reported to the metamorphosis chamber and climbed in. The chamber rumbled and rattled and made all sorts of noise until Doctor Sarah Wyld once again disappeared in favor of Brook, the chubby little raccoon. There was almost no disorientation this time, just a few moments of being stunned before she stood up and gathered up her clothes. She was escorted out to the van, and turned in her badge so she could get it back the following week.
Drop off was quick; the van stopped, the door opened, she stepped out, the door closed, and it was gone. She watched it leave, wiggling her toes in the gravel on the side of the road, then turned and started following the creek again, back to the river. There was Bunker’s Crossing. She paused and watched the water babble noisily over the rocks. It was particularly low now, probably because the melting snow upstream had all vanished now. It was crystal clear, and the river rocks at the bottom looked peaceful.
Brook smiled at the river, then turned and followed it up to Brook’s Falls- her very own landmark, named after herself- then turned north and headed straight for her den, placing the computer drive back in the computer before carefully replacing the door and flopping into her nest, exhausted.

“Brook! Hey, Brook, wake up, sleepyhead!” Bunker’s voice sounded. She could feel him poking at her side, and she grumbled crankily and swatted at him.
“Nnngghh… leave me alone, still sleepin’...” She mumbled tiredly. Maybe she should make a request that her pickups be earlier in the morning. Say, six o’clock ish? That way she could get back and actually get some sleep before Bunker came to wake her up.
“Come on, get up! You’re not gonna sleep the whole night away AGAIN, are you? The moon is shining, there’s not a cloud in the sky, and it’s a BEAUTIFUL night!” He poked at her some more, giggling. “Come on, sleepyhead. Wakey, wakey.”
Brook grumbled and sat up, rubbing her eyes as Bunker continued poking at her pudge. “Nnngh… I’m up, I’m up. Stahp-it.” She swatted at his hand, and he danced away, giggling.
“Come on, we’re going to Ponch’s Clearing! It’s a beautiful night!” He grabbed her hand and tugged her to her feet. When she teetered and fell back to her bum, he ran outside, and she lay back again, determined to go back to sleep.
Until Bunker came back and waved a sprig of mint under her nose, and she gagged, sitting up abruptly. “Bunker!” She waved away the smelly herb, scowling.
He grinned. “Oh, good, you’re awake now. Let’s go!”
She grumbled and stood up, following him north through several territories until they abruptly left the trees. There was a clearing of about an acre and a half, and at least a dozen creatures of all types were gathered. Bunker gripped her hand and flopped back into the grass, tugging her down with him. “What are we doing?”
He grinned. “It’s a beautiful night!” He repeated for quite possibly the tenth time, then pointed straight up.
Brook grumbled and looked up, then gasped. They were far enough away from civilization that a good amount of the light pollution had faded, leaving the sky filled with a million sparkling diamonds. She lay back, staring in fascination as falling stars streaked past. “Oh, wow… it’s beautiful.”

[Welsh Halfwit]

If she doesn't watch out, she'll fall for his charms.

[CunningFox]

I'm enjoying this so far. Having Wyld go back to the lab once a week seems like something that could disrupt the flow of the story, so it'll be interesting to see how you handle that. And since we're only a week into her two year study, either we're soon going to be having some time skips or the study is going to be cut short.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Even though I haven't been commenting much I have been reading along and I really like the whole story so far! I am also interested in seeing how you handle her going through her two week study!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 8: Settled In

Brook sat on a fallen log, looking over her territory. She smiled a little bit. She’d never had territory before. It was kind of nice; she could do whatever she wanted. She gnawed on a burdock sprig idly, sucking the flavor out of the leaves. It was bitter and tasted like medicine, but she kind of liked it.
After a month out here, this was the first night that Bunker didn’t come over. He hadn’t said anything; he simply hadn’t shown up tonight. She wondered where he was. She’d refreshed her markings after getting out of bed, using a rock to put a physical mark on the trees she marked so she could see her borders more clearly, now that she wasn’t being watched. She didn’t mind so much using scent markers, but it was nice to have another option. She wondered if anyone would notice if she started getting rid of the inedible plants and subtly planting the edible ones in their place. Not ALL of them, just a few here and there, to give herself more variety and a wider selection of specific plants, so she wouldn’t overharvest any.
A rustle in the bushes behind her caused her ears to perk; it wasn’t unusual to hear some of her neighbors moving around, though few had bothered to introduce themselves, but this particular neighbor sounded big. “Hmm… A new neighbor, huh?” The voice was female. She heard the sound of a marking being placed, and blushed a little, keeping her eyes directly forward. “Hello, neighbor, I’m coming over!”
It was a variation on the same call others usually used before crossing into her territory, but it was odd. Usually, the call was “Hello, neighbor, don’t attack, I’m coming over,” but this one was simply “hello, I’m coming over.” She pondered the implications of this as she heard this particular neighbor wandering into her territory, getting closer. She wondered who she was about to meet. A deer, perhaps? She sounded larger than a squirrel.
“Oh! Hello, little raccoon! You must be my new neighbor.” The voice sounded directly behind her.
Brook grinned, starting to turn around. “Yes, my name is Broo-ah, aaahh-!” Her voice caught in her throat, and she squeaked, finding herself staring directly into the muzzle of a big bear. She spat out her burdock and tumbled backward, scrambling on her back along the ground until her back was to a tree. She felt her heart pounding in terror, and her eyes widened as she stared up at the bear. Even if she had still been human, the bear would have been big; eight feet tall, though she was down on all fours right now, with a dusty brown coat that was darker at the back and reddish around her muzzle and belly. At her current size, she looked ENORMOUS.
The bear looked down at her, looking amused, and flopped back on her tail, grinning. “Oh, relax, if I was going to eat you I wouldn’t have told you I was coming.”
Brook kept herself pressed against the tree, breathing hard for a few moments, then stammered. “M-my name… uh… Brook?”
The bear giggled. “My name, Heather. Like the plant.” She looked around, sniffing the air, then growled. “I smell Bunker. Is he here? The little-”
“He’s been here every night since I moved in, but didn’t come over tonight.” Brook blurted out, faster and louder than she meant to. Her heart was still pounding; she was terrified. She’d known there were predators in these woods, but it was the first she’d seen one; until she’d let the bear get so close to her that she’d almost been able to taste her, she’d thought she could escape any predators she saw; she now thought otherwise.
“I bet he has been, the little flirt. You don’t have to worry about him. He’s a good one, takes rejection fairly well, but he’s terrified to come across the river when I’m here. You might not see him again for a while.” She chortled. “See, I may have taken a few playful nips at him last year, and he’s been telling everybody I tried to eat him. Even convinced himself. That said, I AM still angry at him for that stunt he pulled before hibernation, so if I catch him, the nips might be less than playful.”
“What… did he do?” She frowned nervously. Even though Heather hadn’t done anything to make her think she was going to eat her, she was still terrified of the bear. She’d never seen anything look so massive in her life.
“Oh, he’s a prankster. He caved in part of my den. Two weeks before hibernation season. I had to go into hibernation late because I was repairing my den and didn’t have time to prepare.” She looked her over quietly. “You know, you don’t have to act so scared. I’ve already eaten some stuff, so I’m not mindlessly hungry anymore.”
She shook her head. “Er… Even so, I think I’m gonna stay over here…” She pressed herself against the tree even harder.
Heather laughed. “I’m very nice, you’ll see. I’m pescetarian, I don’t eat land animals. Just plants and fish.” She stood upright. “But all right, I’ll go for now. I’ll go fishing up at the other side of the crossing instead.” She turned to leave. “It was very nice to meet you. I’m sorry I scared you so much. You seem very nice. If you see Bunker, tell him to watch his back. I’m considering making him an exception.”
Brook watched the bear lumber away, only relaxing several minutes after she was out of sight. She gave a heavy sigh. “I need to pay more attention to who’s coming closer. That scared the CARP out of me.”
“Psst. Is she gone?” Bunker’s voice whispered. She paused and looked around.
“Er… yeah, she’s gone. Where ARE you?” She squinted into the underbrush, looking for the telltale gray splotch that would be Bunker’s fur.
“You sure? She’s SO mad at me…” She turned toward the voice and squinted in that direction.
“Yeah, I’m- Bunker, where ARE you?” She frowned and took a step toward the direction he sounded like he was in.
“Ow ow ow, you’re on my tail!”
She gasped and jumped back, looking down. After a moment, some of the plants on the ground shifted and fell away. Bunker sat up out of the pile of freshly uprooted weeds and brushed off his fur. “Sorry I hid here, I was worried she was going to go check my territory for me. I didn’t expect her to come HERE.”
Brook rolled her eyes. “You just wanted to see me meeting her with NO WARNING.” She swatted at him, narrowing her eyes when he snickered.
He backed away, swatting back at her hands. “Ow, ow, okay, I admit it, I was hoping to get a laugh and find out if she was still mad at me at the same time!”
Brook huffed and put her hands on her hips, her tail swishing behind her. “What did you cave in her den for?!”
“It was an accident! I moved a sleeping squirrel into her den while she was out getting ready for the winter, and it went badly. The squirrel panicked and tried to dig out through the other side, broke through the wall, and caved it in.”
She punched him in the arm. “THAT’S for not warning me one of my neighbors was an ENORMOUS BEAR.” She swatted him. “And THAT’S for hiding on my turf from the bear.” She gave a snort and turned to walk away.
“I said I was sorry…” He started to follow her.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Trouble is never fun but those who are often are.

Picks Ginga's lock so he can escape the carrier if he wants.

[Amazee Dayzee]

That was definitely an interesting chapter and it is gonna be entertaining to see how they cope with a bear neighbor. At some point honestly I expect the bear to soften towards them like Bruno softened towards Bino.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 9: Early Summer

Brook sighed and followed Bunker downstream. “Where are we going? This isn’t another excuse to flirt with me, is it?”
Bunker snickered. “Well… not ONLY that. I wanna show you how I hid my den, so you can hide YOURS. You can’t just live in a den with a wide open entrance forever, there ARE predators in these woods. And now that it’s solstice, they’re going to start looking for food. That’s us, we’re food, so you wanna have a safe place to hide if a predator comes around. The wolves and mountain lions are gone, but there’s still coyotes and bobcats and hawks around.” He turned and waded into the water at Bunker’s Crossing, then turned and grinned at her. “Come on, let’s go!”
She sighed and dipped her toe into the water, then pulled back. “It’s freezing! Shouldn’t it be warmer?”
“Nah, it feeds in from the mountains, so it’s always pretty cold. Come on, we wanna get back to your place before it gets light out.”
She grumbled and waded into the water, shivering a little as it soaked her fur almost halfway to the knee. “Ugh… Why can’t you just SHOW me how to hide my den? Why do I have to come over to yours?”
“Because, I wanna show you how it’s gonna look when it’s done FIRST, so you can trust the process. And I wanna see if you can find my den by yourself first.” He finished crossing and turned to watch her. “Ooh, don’t step there, you’ll fall.”
Brook glared at him. “Shut up, I’m trying to focus.” She put her paw down, then immediately slipped and fell over in the water. She sputtered and sat up, shaking the water out of her ears and glaring at Bunker, who was rolling on the ground, laughing so loudly that he had to stop and suck in a loud gasp of air after a moment.
Brook stomped out of the water next to him, scowling, and dropped to all fours. He squeaked. “Wait, Brook, don’t, don’t don’t-!”
She shook herself violently, spraying him with water, then stood up and smirked at him. “You know what you did.” She turned and started walking back upriver again with a snicker.
Bunker huffed and ran after her. “That was so MEAN!” He pressed his hands into his fur and pushed down, throwing droplets of water down onto the floor.
“Yeah, maybe a little, but you DID earn it. For that chubby comment the other day.”
“But you ARE chubby! It’s cute, even!” He spluttered at her.
She huffed and put her hands on her hips. “You do NOT mention a lady’s weight, regardless of how cute you think it is. It’s rude.”
He threw his hands up. “All right, all right! I won’t do it again!” After a moment, he sat on a fallen tree and waved his hand. “My den is somewhere in this general area. See if you can find it.”
She huffed and glanced around. She didn’t see any kind of opening, but then again, she hadn’t expected to find it so easily. She started wandering around, paying close attention to any bumps, along the bottoms of trees, and under fallen objects. Occasionally, Bunker would snicker or shout something like “You’re getting further away,” and she’d know roughly how close she was.
After about half an hour of wandering around, she paused and bounced. The ground felt spongy here. She took a few steps back and bounced. Firm as could be. She kneeled and stared at the spot where she’d been standing, blinking. There was a seam on the ground, almost perfectly blended. She ran her finger along it, and the dirt pack crumbled slightly. As she followed the seam around, she came to a spot that was big enough for her fingers to slip between, and she did so, lifting. A whole section of the ground lifted up, including live plants, revealing a burrow underneath. The backside was made of woven bark. It was surprisingly sturdy; she never would have even noticed the springiness if she hadn’t been looking for something out of place.
Bunker grinned at her and reached over to grab the cover, gently shifting it aside. “Good job. I bet it would have taken even longer if you weren’t so chub- I mean… uh… big-boned?”
She turned and examined the cover, tracing her fingers over the bark. It was from different kinds of trees, not thick enough to do any permanent damage, and was firm now that it was dried. There were spots where the packed mud- she could see that was what it was now- was poking through to the inside. She flipped it back over and looked at the outside. It was planted with the same kind of plants that were surrounding the den, including grasses and even moss.
She flicked her ears in fascination. “You made this?”
Bunker grinned. “I did. I make a new one every year and toss the old one in the river, where it breaks up and washes downstream. This is why they call me Bunker. It’s gotten me out of TONS of scrapes.”
She traced the edges. There were leaf prints on the bottom, where it rested against the ground. “How do you make these? Is it hard?”
He grinned. “I’ll show you tomorrow night. Come on in.” He scurred past her and into his den. She frowned and hesitantly followed him, carefully setting down his den cover first. He grinned at her, sitting up in his bed of leaves. “What do you say? It’s still mating season for another two weeks. It’s a bit late to start, but…”
She huffed. “I told you no, already. I’m not interested in mating right now.”
“Aww.” He gave a disappointed whimper, then jumped up and ran toward her, taking her hand. “Here, here, lemme show you some stuff.” He led her toward the back of his den and pulled aside what looked like an old tarp to show a random assortment of broken junk. “Humans are always leaving really cool stuff lying around. Like this wheeled thingamabob.” He picked up what looked like part of a child’s bike, just the front wheel and handlebars, and held it up for her to see, setting the handlebars on the ground and spinning the wheel. “I don’t know what it’s for, but it’s FUN! And this!” He tossed the bike back into the pile with a clatter and snatched up a cell phone. The screen was shattered and missing pieces. He held it up and used it like a mirror. “It’s shiny!”
She hesitated, looking through the pile. There wasn’t anything here that was functional; there were hairbrushes with no handles, camping stoves missing knobs, radios that were clearly water-damaged, bent tent stakes, and coolers with no tops. “... Bunker, this stuff is all… um…” She wanted to say ‘junk,’ but thought that might come across as mean. “Er… neat? But why is it here? And why are you showing it to me?”
He grinned and set down the broken cell phone gently. “Because I like you! I wanted to show you my stuff!”
She put her ears back and hesitated. “But… why did you pick it up? It’s all… well… broken.”
“So? Just because it’s broken, doesn’t mean you can’t use it for things. Like this thing!” He scooped up a cooler and dumped out the junk that was inside, presenting it to her proudly. “Humans use these things to carry food! It’s missing the top, but I don’t see any reason why I can’t do the same thing! Sometimes, I go out and get enough food for a couple nights and just put it all in here and then I stay home and eat for DAYS. It’s great.”
She hesitantly took the cooler and stared at it. “I mean… I GUESS you could do that…” She frowned. “Where did you even GET this stuff?”
“Oh, it comes down the river sometimes and gets stuck at the crossing. Sometimes I sneak out for a few days and go check out the human city and take stuff out of the garbage. I make a week of it and then drag the stuff back here. It’s a fun little vacation.” He grinned lopsidedly at her.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Yup, he's a bunker that's gonna bust her defences alright. Probably.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 10: Camouflage

“First off, you gotta find a good rock. Sharp and wedge-shaped.” Bunker grinned and pressed a rock into Brook’s hand. “Like this one. Then, you gotta go around to like thirty trees and take a strip of bark about as long as your arm off each of them.”
Brook blinked blearily at him, then let her eyes wander to the entrance to her den, where she could still see fading sunlight streaming in. “Bunker, the sun’s not even down.” She groaned and flopped back into her bed. “Why do you hate it when I sleep?”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her back up to a sitting position. “It’s important! It’s going to take all night to make your den cover! Tonight AND tomorrow! We have to get started early!”
She groaned, then staggered to her paws, rubbing her eyes. “You’re not going to leave me alone until I’m up, are you?”
“Absolutely not.” He grinned.
“Ugh… fine. Give me ten minutes of privacy to get awake.” She started outside.
“Ten minutes? Why?” He paused for a moment, then grinned. “Ohhh… you gotta make dirt!”
Her ears warmed up, and she glared at him. “Stay HERE until I come back.”
He giggled and sat down in her nest. She huffed and went outside to do her morning routine. When she returned, she glared at him. “All right, out of my bed. And I never want to have to tell you that again.”
He tossed her the rock and grinned. “Go on, get collecting bark. We’re already running behind.”
She huffed and looked at the rock in her hand. “So I just… strip off some bark?”
He nodded. “About as wide as your arms are long. Only one strip from each tree.”
She huffed and walked up to the nearest tree, digging the stone in and trying to peel a strip of bark. Instead, she only got a chip.
Bunker snickered. “No, no, no. Get over here.” He took her by the hand and dragged her to the next tree, grabbing her stone hand and reaching up with it. “You gotta go slow. Press in extra hard to make sure you get in, and kinda work it off. You gotta rock the stone, like this.” He started guiding her hand, pressing down just a bit until the bark peeled a bit, then backing off, then pressing again. Slowly but surely, the bark started to peel in a strip. It was tedious, but Brook had to admit that it was working.
It took about fifteen minutes, but eventually the strip came off neatly in Brook’s hand. She stared at it, and Bunker took it from her, laying it out carefully next to her den. “Good, go do that to twenty-nine more trees.”
She huffed and walked over to the next tree, starting to peel the bark. Bunker followed her around for hours, until the moon was high overhead, carefully taking each strip of bark from her and laying it out. Once she’d collected thirty pieces, he grinned and waved her over to where he’d laid out the bark. “Okay, now we have to weave them. This should be plenty to make a cover for your den.” He sat on the ground and took the longest strip. “We have to be careful, though, because they’re still wet and can break.”
She hesitantly sat next to him and watched him starting in the middle, and followed suit, doing one side while he did the other. Together, they made quick work of weaving the strips of bark into a rough square. Once it was put together, Trotter looked around and picked up another rock with a slight cuplike divot in it. “Here, now we go to one of the trees you stripped. Maple or pine is best, and we get some sap.” He glanced around, then ran up to a tree, using his hand to scoop some sap into the divot in the rock and running back, placing the rock between them.
“We have to go through and put sap between the bark, everywhere it touches, so it gets nice and sticky and stays together. Then we have to move this out by the river, so it’ll be in the sun when it comes up in the morning.”
She sighed. “So… we’re just putting sticky stuff on the bark? Why’d we weave it if we’re just going to glue it?”
“Trust the process. My mother taught me this, it’s been passed down for ten generations of my family.” He started taking a dollop of sap and putting it between the pieces of bark anywhere they crossed.
After a moment, she joined in, grunting. “Ugh… this is going to stick in my fur for WEEKS.”
“Yeah, but it’s worth it. See, when we put this out in the sun, it’s going to dry, but the weave will stay exactly where it is, so it’ll crinkle. The crinkle is what makes it such good camouflage, it makes it look like part of the ground when we cover it in mud.”
The moon was on its way down when they set down the bark weave on the side of the river, far enough out that it wouldn’t wash out if the river rose, but it would be out from under the tree cover. Bunker grinned. “All right, it’s looking good so far. Let’s go gather some leaves to lay around the edge of your den.”
She sighed and decided not to even question it. She just followed him as he found the plant with the biggest, easiest to get leaves, and gathered armloads of them, depositing them right next to the edge of her den and starting to lay them out, end to end, all around the opening to her den. “You’ll have to be careful not to disturb these today when you go to bed. We’ll weigh them down with some rocks. They need about a day to dry before we can use them to separate the mud pack from the dirt.”
“Why don’t-”
“Trust the-”
“-Process, right, right. Because it’s the way your mom taught you.” She sighed and helped him lay the leaves. After they got them all the way around, he looked at them, then adjusted them slightly before laying stones on them here or there, just enough that they wouldn’t shift on their own.
“All right, we’re done for the night.” He glanced up at the moon. “And with about two hours to spare.”
She flopped down on the floor and stared at their work. “Okay, so what do we do tomorrow?”
He grinned. “I’m glad you asked. Tomorrow, we go get the weave from the riverbank and place it right here on top of your den, then we cart mud over and pack it on. We use the leaves as a barrier so it doesn’t just become part of the ground, and cover the whole thing. Then, we pull up plants by the roots and put them in it so it looks like part of the ground, and we leave it sit for the rest of the day, up to and maybe even including the night after, to dry.”
She frowned. “Where am I gonna stay while it’s drying?”
He grinned. “With me! We can snuggle in my nest!”
“Never happening.”
“Anyway, once it’s dry, we’ll peel all the leaves off, and then you’ll have yourself a cover. It’ll even self-water whenever it rains, so you won’t have to do anything but make sure it gets a little more mud every now and then.” He grinned. “And there you go, the whole process.”
“I have to admit, it’s pretty smart.” She punched him in the arm playfully. “If you ignore all the flirting.”
“Hey, can’t blame me for trying to get with a pretty girl.”

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 11: Problems

Brook climbed into the van and shut the door behind her, sitting next to the vet and accepting her weekly cheeseburger. The vet took her pulse and blood pressure while she scarfed down the treat hungrily, quickly declaring that she was still in good health. She grabbed her ID card from its hook and hung it around her neck, leaning back.
“How is the project going, Doctor Wyld?” It was small talk; she knew the techs weren’t actually interested.
“I’ve made some fascinating observations this week. I can’t wait to submit my video log.” She shrugged and craned her neck to see out the window. Moments later, the institute came into view, and she prepared to get out.
The metamorphosis chamber, once she arrived at it, vibrated and shook for what seemed like ages before suddenly stopping. She looked down at herself and frowned. “I’m still a raccoon, why’d you stop?”
“We’re going to try to recalibrate and try it again, Doctor Wyld. We think the calibration might have drifted. Please stand by.”
Brook frowned. “It took two tries LAST week, too. Didn’t you JUST recalibrate it?”
“It’s not an exact science. Seemingly random things can affect it. Maybe the calibration changes with the seasons. We don’t know, that’s why we’re researching it.”
It ended up taking two more tries before Brook disappeared in favor of Sarah, and she dressed quickly, frowning. “First it starts taking longer, then it starts taking multiple tries? It’s like it just doesn’t work as well anymore.” She checked her reflection in a mirror, then stalked off. The techs working the metamorphosis machine glanced at each other worriedly and immediately turned to start reviewing the footage.
Sarah went to her lab and plugged in her portable drive, taking a moment to upload the logs from the previous week before turning on the webcam. “Week fifteen. This week, Bunker showed me how to camouflage my den to prevent predators from finding their way in. It’s a surprisingly sophisticated process that took two days to complete, detailed in my text logs. Additionally, I was invited to Three Toes’ Thicket for what the forest creatures all called Solstia, which turned out to be a kind of festival to celebrate the solstice. This implies an understanding of the seasons previously not attributed to ferals before. I’m not yet clear on how they track such things. It may be instinctive.”
She paused to collect her thoughts, then continued. “I’ve been transplanting edible plants into my area to help mitigate the scarcity of food, and to my surprise, Bunker actually helped me. Apparently, it’s not that uncommon. He did, however, insist that I leave some of the weeds and inedible plants there on the grounds that they’re still important to the ecosystem, though he didn’t use the word ecosystem. He called it the Forest’s Life, which seems to be a religious reference pertaining to the whole forest acting as one unified organism rather than as dozens of different organisms operating in tandem. The way he described it sounded similar to the religious beliefs of certain tribes of Native Americans. I wonder if there may be cultural cross-contamination from centuries ago.”
She paused and readjusted herself, leaning forward on the desk. “Now. Onto the more… personal side of the report. Bunker actually propositioned me for the first time this week. He’s made suggestive comments and hinted that he was interested before, but never outright proposed intimacy. I was tempted to accept- imagine, not just WITNESSING the mating rituals of a raccoon in the wild, but actually PARTICIPATING- I would be the envy of two entire communities, both scientific and… otherwise. However, as I’m not interested in having kits, and I don’t know what the metamorphosis process would do to kits if I were carrying them, AND I don’t have any way out there to prevent kits from… er… happening, if I should accept, I had to decline. It did make me feel strangely appreciated, though, to be propositioned that way, in a strange sort of way. Perhaps I’ll ask the veterinarian if there’s a way he can ensure there is no conception, and I can accept next year. For the scientific merit, of course. A chapter on mating rituals would certainly help add some extra interest to my paper.”
She thought for a moment. There wasn’t anything else she thought she wanted to add, so she nodded and sat up straight again. “That’s it for this week. Doctor Brook- er, Doctor Sarah Wyld, signing off.” She turned off the webcam and uploaded a copy of the video file before filing the original away on the computer. She sighed and grabbed her portable drive, draping it around her neck.
As she exited her lab, she heard a voice at her elbow. “Doctor Wyld, a word, please?”
She turned to look down at the ferret standing at her side. “Oh, Mr. Milton! Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
He nodded and waved for her to follow, leading her to an office. “I don’t have an office here, so I borrowed this one. You’re going to want to be sitting down for this one.” He gestured at the chair across the desk and made his way around to the one behind.
She sat down and waited patiently for him to struggle his way into the chair and sit, trying to look dignified after the weird move he had to pull to get in. He closed his hands together and pressed his thumbs together. After a moment, he spoke. “We may have to cancel the project far earlier than expected.”
Sarah blinked. She found herself trying to put her ears back, then remembered that she was human right now, with the inflexible ears that came with it. She cleared her throat and held in the upset rambling she wanted to let out. “May I ask why?”
He stared at her quietly for a moment. “Because of some new information we’ve discovered about the metamorphosis process.”
“New information? When?” She frowned. They hadn’t said anything about it back at the metamorphosis chamber.
“While you were filing your video log. Based on something you said earlier. You apparently said something about the metamorphosis process not working as well anymore, which prompted my scientists to go over the data. We’ve found…” he paused and cleared his throat. “... That the body builds up a resistance to the process after repeated uses. They estimate that in another ten to fifteen weeks, you won’t be able to change back at all. It’s impossible to say if you’ll be human, or a raccoon when that happens. So, I’m considering calling off the project, for your safety.”
Sarah’s mind raced. She didn’t want to call off the project. She was only just getting the trust of the locals. If she left now, the opportunity would be lost forever. “Surely there’s something, some WAY we can continue.”
The ferret sat forward. “There is ONE way. But it’s a big sacrifice, and you may not like it. It’s not the most ideal option.”
“Anything, anything at all!” Sarah blinked at him, leaning forward and placing her palms on the desk. “I’ll do anything to keep this project going for the full two years!”
The ferret watched her quietly for a few moments. “You’d have to stay the raccoon. Full time, until the end of the project. This would be the last time you were human at all until the project’s conclusion. We can’t risk you getting stuck on the wrong end of the metamorphosis, or worse, somewhere in the middle.”
Sarah blinked, then sat back. She had to think about that. It WAS a big sacrifice. She wouldn’t be able to change back at all until the end of the project. That meant no more breaks from being Brook, it would be all Brook, all the time. No more human scientist, just chubby little raccoon.
“I’ll do it. But first, I want to make an addendum to my video log explaining the situation.”

[Welsh Halfwit]

The best scientists put the 'should' before the 'could'. But the most inventive don't.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 12: Play

Brook trudged along the now-familiar path toward her territory and den, watching the brook babble as she walked along it. It felt a bit weird, knowing she wouldn’t be human again for almost two years. It was sad, like an important part of her had been taken away. She supposed that what she was feeling might be a kind of grief.
She paused at the crossing and looked toward Bunker’s territory, momentarily considering going across and waking him up for a little comfort. But she decided against it; after all, what would she tell him? What would she do with her computer drive while she was there? She shook her head and turned toward her own den with a heavy sigh. She’d have to adjust to her new reality on her own.
She pulled the cover down over the entrance to her den, enjoying the darkness it brought inside. She could still see, but only just, like lighting a large room with a single candle. She deposited her computer drive inside the secret cache in the wall, replaced the cover, and crawled into her leaf bed, now enhanced with some fresher leaves for a nice bit of cooling and extra support. Bunker had shown her that.
She rolled to her side and stared at the wall for a while, hugging her knees and curling her tail up over her hip. It felt like hours that she stayed there, awake, just staring into the darkness. She didn’t notice when she slipped into sleep.
She DID, however, notice when Bunker pulled the cover off her den and let himself in loudly. “Up, up, you’re wasting the night!”
Brook grunted and rolled to lay face-down. “Go away, Bunker. I’m not in the mood.”
There was a moment’s quiet, and then Bunker poked at her. “Wake up. No sleeping. It’s the middle of the night.”
Brook snorted and rolled over, snarling and nipping at the air where his hand had been. “I said, GO AWAY. I’ve been having a VERY BAD night so far, and I’d like to just go back to sleep and pretend it didn’t happen.”
He stared at her for a second, and for a few moments she thought he might be serious for once. Then, he reached out and poked her nose. “Boop.”
She swiped her claws at him. “BUNKER!”
He danced away, giggling. “Brook!”
She scowled and grumbled, laying back down and rolling over. “Go away, would ya?”
“Hmm… Nah.” He moved back in to poke at her again. “You’re upset. The last thing you need is to be alone. Upset makes you make bad decisions.”
“I can’t make bad decisions if I’m asleep. So scoot.” She swiped at his poking finger.
“Nope.” He plopped himself down on his backside right next to her. “Staying with you.”
She grumbled and sat up again, glaring at him. “Ugh… FINE. What do you wanna do?”
He beamed, his eyes lighting up excitedly as he stared at her. “Let’s go PLAY!”
She stared at him for a few moments. “You’re a grown adult. Aren’t you a little old to… play?”
“Not sure playing has an age restriction.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her up to her paws. “Come on, surely you know how to PLAY?!”
She huffed. “I haven’t played since I was a little g- er.. A little kit. I got mature and grew out of it.”
He laughed and tugged her out of her den, pulling the cover back over the entrance with his paw. “You’re so silly. Play is normal and healthy, you don’t GROW OUT of it!”
She followed him crankily. “I had more important things to do. I was working on… things. Important life things.”
He grinned his weird, crooked grin at her. “I can tell you used to be a pet. Humans have the weirdest ideas. They spend their whole lives PREPARING for their lives and forget to LIVE them.”
She frowned. “That’s… a weird way to put it.” She thought about that. Everything she’d done her whole life had been to prepare for her future: School, college, doctorates college, her career, all to prepare for a hypothetical future where she had money and fame to enjoy in her twilight years. “I… guess it makes sense.”
“Of course it does. Now come on, we’re gonna go play in the river.” He tugged her in that direction.
“Wait, the river? Aren’t you worried we’ll fall in and get swept downstream?” She followed, stumbling after him as quickly as she could.
“Naw, if we fall in, the furthest we’ll go is the crossing. You’ll be soaked, but fine.” He grinned and paused at the riverside, reaching into the water and flinging a handful at her.
She squealed and reached up to protect her face. “Wh- hey, stop that! No splashing!”
“ONLY splashing!” He grinned and backed up, looking at the river.
“What are you- Bunker, no. No, no no NO!” She shrieked as he took a running jump into the river, curling up into a ball on his way down and making a huge splash. Water rained down on her for a few seconds, and she pouted, shaking her head a little bit and sending droplets everywhere. “BUNKER!”
He grinned and swung his arm through the surface of the water, sending another wave of airborne water her way. She squealed again, putting her hands out to protect her face. “Bunker, knock it off!”
“Come in the water and I’ll quit splashing you!” He called to her, giggling.
She grumbled and stomped to the edge of the water, sticking her paw in and wading in up to her knees. “There. I’m in the water. Now stop splashing me.”
He splashed her again. “No, I mean get IN. Really GET IN there. Get wet! Stop worrying about how you’re going to dry your fur and really get IN there!” He snickered and slowly lowered himself under the water.
She grumbled and walked in further until she was up to her waist. “Ugh… I’m SO not in the mood for- WHOA!”
Something grabbed her ankles and jerked them out from underneath her, causing her to flop backward into the water. She sputtered and struggled for a moment before finding the bottom and sitting up, her head poking out of the top of the water and the rest of her remaining submerged. Bunker grinned at her, his hand still holding her ankle.
“Oh… you… YOU-!” She growled, flinging her arm and splashing him. He laughed and let go, jumping up and wading away with a giggle.
She stood up and ran after him, reaching down for double handfuls of water and flinging them after him. He stopped running and spun around to snicker at her, putting his thumb on his nose and wiggling his fingers at her. “Ha-ha, you can’t catch me!”
She scoffed and started wading after him. “Oh I’m gonna catch you and when I do I’m gonna hold you down until the bubbles stop-”
He giggled and danced away, kicking splashes after her. She snickered and swung a hand down at him in a pendulum motion, spraying him with water before taking off after him again. She had to admit, she DID feel a bit better now. Maybe a little bit of play HAD been exactly what she needed.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 13: Preservation

“You use the grass to tie the bundles of food plants together and dangle them upside-down, like this.” Bunker grinned and showed Brook how to hang bundles of plants using strings made from woven grass from the roots that comprised her ceiling. “And then, by the time winter comes, it’ll be dried out, and you can use it as an emergency source of food in case you can’t find anything.”
Brook watched, her hands paused mid-weave as she worked on making another cord of woven grass. “Oh… They don’t go moldy?”
“Sometimes. You just throw ‘em in the river if that happens.” He sniggered.
“You can’t just throw all your garbage in the river.” She crossed her arms over her chest and flicked her tail irritably.
“Why not? That’s what humans do.”
“I-” She paused. He wasn’t WRONG. “... don’t appreciate your tone.”
He grinned and snatched up another bundle of the plants they’d gathered. “Just do like six or seven of these a night, it should be plenty to get you through winter. When they’re dry, you can stack them up somewhere to make room for more.”
She looked down and struggled to weave her grass, then glanced at him. He managed to weave a whole cord in seconds. “How are you so fast?”
He grinned. “I’ve been practicing for years.” He grabbed another bundle of leaves and started tying them up. “Hurry up and finish yours, we’re almost done and then we can do whatever we want. Play in the river.”
She huffed. “No, we played in the river yesterday. I wanna do something else.”
“Aww, but you’re so CUTE when you’re soaking wet! It really makes your tubby belly show.”
She scowled at him. “I’m gonna bite you one of these days and you’re going to absolutely deserve it.”
He stuck his tongue out at her, then snickered and skittered outside. “I’m gonna go see if I have anything in my den we can play with.”
She rolled her eyes and returned her focus to weaving the grass, struggling to get it to weave tight enough. When she finally managed to get a serviceable cord, she sighed and tied up the last of the plants they’d gathered. After hanging them, she stepped outside and startled at the wall of fur walking past. She squeaked and darted back into her den, snatching the cover and jerking it into place, where it settled with a soft ‘whump.’
She leaned over and peeked through the handle gap of the cover, watching Heather roaming around her territory. She hadn’t heard her call. HAD she called? Was she maybe on the hunt? Her heart pounded at how close the bear had been; she’d been RIGHT outside. If she’d turned around, she would have seen Brook exiting.
After a moment, she heard Bunker’s voice outside. “Oh… Heather. Er… hello… You’re not still upset about that little… accident… last fall, are you? I-I mean, it was QUITE a while ago, and I DID help you patch it up, s-so I mean… bygones?”
There was a loud WHUMP, and a choking sound from Bunker. Brook squeaked and covered her mouth. ‘Oh my god, he’s DEAD!’ She thought to herself. It was going to be lonely out here without him. She missed him already.
“Bygones.” Heather’s voice sounded, snickering. “Where’s that lady coon’s den? I can’t find it anywhere. Feels like your handiwork.”
Bunker’s voice came out strangled. “Left… cover open. Must have… closed it.”
Brook’s ears perked, and she peeked. She couldn’t see much, but she could see Heather sitting a short distance away with her back to her. She hesitantly slipped out from her den, placing the cover back on, and climbed up the big old oak tree to get a better look. It looked like Heather was sitting on something that squirmed and tried to get out from under her. She squinted and saw that it was Bunker. She snickered and called out. “Hey Bunker, you’re looking a little stuck. Need some help?”
Heather looked around for Brook’s voice until she spotted her up in the tree. She grinned. “Oh, hello there, Brook! Lovely night, isn’t it?”
Brook snickered and skittered down the side of the tree, coming closer, but not TOO close. “It is. Do you mind not squashing him? He’s teaching me how to preserve some food for winter right now, and I’d rather not have to figure it out on my own.”
She grinned and stood up. Bunker sucked in a breath of air and scrambled away. After a moment, Heather grinned. “You’re talking to me today. That’s nice.”
“Oh, I’m still scared out of my mind, but I kinda need Bunker. So maybe wait until he’s taught me what I need to know before you eat him?” She took a nervous step back, staring down at the bear.
“Hey!” Bunker sputtered from where he was standing a short distance away. “Maybe don’t eat him at all!”
Heather snickered. “It’s a deal. Sorry I didn’t give you a heads-up I was coming over. I could smell Bunker and I wanted to catch him before he had a chance to hide. I just wanted to scare him a little bit.”
Bunker stuck his tongue out at the bear. “That’s just RUDE. EVERYBODY gives a holler before they enter someone else’s territory unless they were INVITED.”
“You don’t.” Brook pointed out. “I don’t think you EVER have.”
Bunker’s ears turned a little red, and Brook smirked. Bunker stuttered for a moment. “W-well, that’s DIFFERENT.”
Heather smirked at Bunker. “Heh… you got caught in crystal clear waters. She got you GOOD.”
Bunker snorted. “What did you WANT, Heather? You’re trespassing.”
Heather shrugged. “I was just headed to the falls for some fishing. The best fish is in the falls. Also, it’s not YOUR place to tell me I’m trespassing. It’s not YOUR land.”
Bunker’s ears reddened again, and Brook giggled. “You got caught TWICE.”
Heather smirked. “You guys just keep going with your makeout session or whatever you were doing. Pretend I’m not even here. I promise to only look a little bit.”
Now it was Brook’s turn to have her ears turn red. She stammered. “W- bu- We were NOT making out.”
“Not that I would complain if we were.” Bunker grinned, stepping closer to Brook. “Sounds like fun, wanna give it a try? I promise I’m a good kisser.”
Brook swatted him. “I told you, I’m not interested in being your mate!”
“Aw, that’s not mating, that’s just a little kissing. What’s some kissing between friends?” He giggled, jumping away from her reach.
She scowled and started chasing him around her land with an upraised fist.
Heather watched for a second, then giggled and shook her head as she made her way down to the riverbank and waded out to the waterfalls. “Ahh… Young love. It’s so cute to watch.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

It really is so lovely to see people fall in love and want to be together and work at it! I will never have that because I'm not really into romance and am more asexual and aromantic but I am happy to see other people even in stories experiencing it!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 14: Midsummer’s Night

Brook woke up to Bunker poking her in the face quietly. She stared up at him for a few moments, then nipped at his hand. He grinned and jumped away. “Oh, good, you’re awake.”
She sat up and yawned, scrubbing the sleep from her eyes with a hand. “Hard to sleep with someone poking me. What do you want?”
He grinned. “Happy Midsummer’s Night!”
She stared at him for a few moments. “Okay, pretend for a moment that I grew up with humans and don’t know what that is.”
He snickered. “Aww, the humans celebrate it too, with their loud booms and the big lights in the sky. SURE you know what it is.”
She stared at him blankly. “Loud booms and lights in the… you mean FIREWORKS?”
He shrugged. “Is that what they’re called? They make them happen around this time every year, what else COULD they be celebrating? It’s Midsummer’s Night, we have a big party, no predation allowed! Come on, we’re gonna be late! It’s at Pevensie’s Clearing!”
She yawned again and clambered to her paws. “All right, all right, wait here while I go do my evening routine. Don’t peek!”
She staggered outside, still half-asleep, to do what she always needed to when she first woke up. A few minutes later, she returned and gestured to Bunker. “All right, let’s go. You lead the way.”
Bunker grinned and darted out of Brook’s den, pausing while she put the cover back on the entrance, then grabbing her hand. “Come on, this way! Straight north, it’s not far.”
She followed him. “So who is this Pevensie? I don’t think I’ve met a Pevensie.” She frowned. “Actually, I haven’t met very many of the neighbors.”
“Oh, Pevensie’s a daywalker, but all the daywalkers stay up tonight for the party.” He grinned. “Your neighbors to the northeast, north, northwest, northwest high, northeast high, high, and south high are all daywalkers. Pevensie’s a pine marten.”
She stopped walking. “... High? I know the cardinal directions, but… high?”
“You know… up? In the canopy. Mostly birds and squirrels.” He chuckled. “I forgot, humans don’t have neighbors in the high direction, so you wouldn’t know about it.”
She put her ears back. “I never even thought about the fact that there might be animals living in the treetops in my area. I hope I haven’t been disturbing them.”
He snickered. “Naw, you’re fine. Ol’ Treebeak’s a heavy sleeper. Maybe the other day when you were up in the trees yelling, but that happens sometimes.”
She glanced upward, now wondering who was living above them now. “Oh…”
He grinned. “Hey, relax. Nothing’s CHANGED. If they had a problem with you, they would let you know. Trust me, they let me know ALL THE TIME.”
“A problem with YOU?! NEVER.” She poured as much sarcasm as she could into it. “You’re a perfect specimen of being quiet and minding your own business. An absolute delight to live near.”
“I know, right? I’m AMAZING.” He snickered and playfully nudged her.
She huffed, then blinked as they abruptly walked into a wide field with no trees at all in it. There was still underbrush for a short while, and then it was mostly flowers and grasses. “Wow…”
Animals of every type were gathering in the field; deer and bobcats, squirrels and birds, species that shouldn’t have gotten along were all together, chatting and laughing and playing. She glanced around. There were even bears here, with Heather standing nearby and chatting with a male.
Bunker grinned and waved his arms in a ‘tada’ motion. “Welcome to Pevensie’s Clearing! Happy Midsummer’s night!” He pointed at the tops of the trees on the other side of the clearing. “If you look just there, you can see part of the humans’ celebrations with the big lights, but we’re too far away to hear it. If we climb up into the treetops from this side, we can see almost half the light show.”
She blinked. “You can see the fireworks from way out here? I thought we were MILES away from any city.”
“Well, yeah, but they explode pretty high in the sky. You can see them if you have enough visibility. That’s why we have the party here; it’s the widest area with the longest line of sight in that direction.” He tapped his head. “We are SMART.”
“Er… yeah.” She looked around. “What… exactly… are we celebrating?”
He grinned. “Oh, it’s just to celebrate the middle of summer. The spring plants are going to seed, and the summer plants are coming into season. Some of the fruits are beginning to ripen, and it’s getting easier to find food. So, we celebrate! The forest provides, and we give thanks to it!”
“The forest provides!” A happy voice sounded behind them. Brook turned around and blinked at the brown weasel standing behind them.
Bunker grinned. “Brook, this is Pevensie! He’s our host for the night!”
The martin grinned. “It’s good to finally meet the famed Brook! So sorry about your bad luck.”
Brook frowned, flicking her ears. “Bad luck? What bad luck?”
He smirked for a moment, looking from her to Bunker and back again. “That you settled down next to Bunker, of course. He’s kind of energetic and loud. Nobody wants to be his neighbor, that’s why his borders have a good-sized gap on all sides before his other neighbors. Clearly, you didn’t know, or you wouldn’t have settled where you did. Bad luck.”
“Hey!” Bunker pouted a little.
Brook snickered. “Well.. he IS kind of annoying… but he’s been so helpful. I was a pet most of my life, so I didn’t really know how to take care of myself when I got here. He’s been showing me what’s what, teaching me about the local way of life.”
Pevensie grinned. “Well… Welcome to Mother Forest. You treat our mother with respect, she’ll take good care of you. That is, until the humans decide they want some more houses for nobody to live in, and then we’ll all have to find someplace else to live.”
Brook put her ears back. She felt a little guilty about that, despite having never cut down a single tree her whole life. “Well, for now, at least, we still have Mother.”
“That we do. So tonight, we celebrate! I’ve gathered snacks, there’s a little brook over there, and there’s no hunting allowed tonight! Feel free to mingle, meet the neighbors that are usually sleeping while you’re up, meet your predators! As soon as the sun comes up, it’s back to life as usual.” Pevensie grinned. “Oh, look, the humans have started their celebration!” He pointed at some green sparkles just over the treetops.
Brook craned her neck, then turned and scrambled partyway up a tree to get a better look. There, she could see distant fireworks just over a halo from the nearest town, nearly thirty miles away.
Bunker plopped down on the nearest branch to her and grinned. “Heh… I love watching the human lights. They’re so pretty.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I love how much detail you have been putting into these chapters as they make you feel like you are there right along side the characters! That is truly some great work in crafting these chapters!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 15: Bobcat

Brook sighed and wove her grass. Now that she’d been practicing for weeks, weaving cords for her drying was easy and quick work, but very boring. She set aside the last one and looked at her handiwork, then picked herself up off the floor and headed outside.
It was oddly quiet outside; there were no crickets chirping, no other insects buzzing. She could still hear the river babbling away, but for some reason everything else was silent. She shrugged it off and wandered off to the other side of her area, gathering various edible plants. “Ugh.. let’s see, some chickweed… amaranth… wild mustard…” She mumbled to herself as she gathered an armload of edible plants.
Something rustled nearby, and she perked her ears, turning to look in that direction. She leaned this way and that, trying to see if anything was hiding in the brush, but didn’t see anything, so she shrugged and continued gathering her plants.
After about ten minutes, she took her armload of plants and turned toward her den, walking right into a big, toothy grin. She squeaked and took a step back, looking up as the bobcat stood up, his tanish-gray coat shining and smooth in the moonlight.
“Hello, little snack. So nice of you to gather up your own herbs for me. Saves me time on the preparation.” He stepped toward her menacingly.
Brook’s hands shook, her knees knocking. “I… uh… um… b-but… I…” She stammered, willing her legs to step back. Nothing happened. She could feel her heart pounding.
“Shh, shhh, don’t want to wake the neighbors do you?” He grinned, leaning in and putting a finger on her muzzle. “Do come along quietly, I’d hate to have to chase you. It would just be sad watching you run on those chubby little legs.”
She stammered some more, her legs finally coming to life as she stepped back, staring up at the feline eyes watching her. “N-no…”
He looked down at her playfully. “Oohh, you want to try to get away? Okay. I’ll give you a five second head start, my plump little morsel.” He bared his claws and examined them. “Five. Four.”
Brook shrieked and dropped her armload of plants, taking off running. Just a couple seconds later, she heard him coming after her, and cried out in terror. She dodged around trees, this way and that, trying to get some extra space between her and the horror chasing her down.
“Run, run, little snack. Here I come!” The bobcat called after her. She felt like he wasn’t even running at top speed, whereas she was already getting winded. She ran toward the big oak tree, running around it and diving into her den, jerking the cover into place behind her and laying just inside, panting, with her eyes squeezed shut, waiting to die. Her heart pounded so hard she was sure the bobcat could hear it.
“Where’d you go, you little bite?!” The bobcat snuffled around outside, snarling and snapping his teeth.
Brook quivered, putting her ears back and hugging her tail, just waiting for him to find her den and bust in. After a few moments, he snorted. “I’ll get you next time. I don’t know how you disappeared like that, but you’re not gonna do it again!” She heard him run off, but didn’t dare open her den again that night, even after the crickets started chirping again. She closed her eyes and hugged her tail, sobbing in terror.

Bunker sighed and tugged Brook’s arm. “You can’t just keep hiding in here. So you had a little scare, that’s no reason to just lay in your den for THREE DAYS. Come on, we’re going out.”
Brook shrieked and pulled away, scrambling against the back wall. “No! No, no no! Not outside! Not outside!”
“Yes. Outside. Come on, it’s safe, I promise.” He pulled her to her paws and tugged her toward the exit. “You’ve been in here for three days, you need to get over it and get outside.”
She tugged against him. “Nooo, no, he’s out there, he’ll come back!”
Bunker sighed. “Look, Brook… I know, you had a scare. It happens to all of us. But you can’t let it keep you from living your life.” He stared at her, looking at her eyes, then poking her belly. “Come on… Where’s my smiley, happy Brook?”
“She got scared away.” She put her ears back and tried to pull her arm free. “She’s not coming back.”
He poked at her more, moving toward her ticklish spot. “Come on, I know she’s in there somewhere.”
She squeaked and pushed his hand away. “No, not me, she’s gone.”
He smirked and moved in, poking at her ticklish spot. “No, she’s here, and I think she’s hiding right HERE!”
She squealed and swatted at his hands. “Okay, okay, stop stop stop!” She giggled and squirmed away from him. “Okay, I’ll go outside, just STOP tickling me! And you’re going first.”
He grinned. “Of course, Brook. I’ll go out first.” He reached out and took her hand. “Ready?”
She put her ears back and nodded nervously. “Okay… okay…” There was a moment’s pause, then she gulped. “You’re gonna have to pull me, my legs are scared.”
He chuckled and gave her a little tug. She stumbled after him as he led her outside, pushing the cover off her den and leading her outside.
She stood out in the chilly air, shivering nervously as she looked around. Her ears went back, and she turned in place, ready to dart back into her den.
Bunker watched her quietly. “See? Nothing out here. Perfectly safe.” His voice was gentle and quiet. She’d never heard him be serious before. It was kind of unnerving.
She looked around. “Yeah… nothing out here… Thank you.”
He smiled and put the cover back on her den. “I want you to close your eyes and listen.”
She hesitated, then closed her eyes. Her ears perked.
“What do you hear?” He whispered.
“... Bugs. Crickets. Grasshoppers. All kinds of bugs.” She flicked her ears. “The river.”
“It’s the bugs that are important.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “From now on, I want you to pay attention to the bugs. They’ll stop if there’s danger around.”
She hesitantly looked at him. “S-so I’ll know if the bobcat comes back because the bugs will stop chirping.”
“Exactly. As long as the bugs are making noise, there’s nothing to worry about. You just need to pay better attention.” He looked down at her, then hesitantly leaned down and kissed her nose.
She blushed a little, feeling her ears heating up. Why was her heart racing? “O-okay… I think I can do that…” She hesitated, biting her lip. “Er… Thanks for… you know… checking up on me after he left, a-and… for making me come back out, and… well… you know… everything you’ve done for me the last six months. This… uh… This surviving in the wild stuff is harder than I expected…”
He grinned his same old lopsided grin. “Hey, it’s been my pleasure. Besides, this has all been the easy part. Summer’s almost over, and then comes the hard part.” He glanced at her den. “We should probably make a trip into human territory soon. You’re going to need some human stuff for the winter.”
She tilted her head. “What kind of stuff?”

[Amazee Dayzee]

Glad to see that there is more to the story and it won't be ending anytime soon! There definitely seems like there can be a lot more done here with the tale!

[CunningFox]

If I was Brook, I would be ending the study right there.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Glad to see that there is more to the story and it won't be ending anytime soon! There definitely seems like there can be a lot more done here with the tale!

There was so much I could have done that I had to stop myself from making this story a hundred chapters long. There's definitely going to be a sequel.

[Welsh Halfwit]

I look forward to it.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I figured that there was going to be a sequel and I really am gonna be looking forward to that. Just keep on writing because I honestly can't get enough of it!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 16: Into the (Concrete) Jungle

Brook paused and leaned against a tree, grunting. “Ugh… Are we there yet? We’ve been walking almost two nights.”
Bunker snickered. “Yeah, we’re almost there. Look.” He pointed in the distance, where lights were shining brightly. “We walk until dawn, we’ll only be a half hour out of town when we make camp.”
She groaned. “Do we HAVE to? My paws are KILLING me… I must have stepped on every bramble between the crossing and here.”
He snickered. “I’ll give you a paw rub when we make camp. Come on, it’s not too much further to the travel den. Just another two miles.”
She groaned and let him grab her hand, following him. As they walked, she watched the back of his head, watching his ears wiggle. Her eyes wandered downward, and she forced them back up, grunting and shaking her head. What was THAT about?! She frowned and forced herself not to think about it.
“Easy girl, don’t go native. You’re supposed to observe, not get involved.” She mumbled to herself, looking down at her paws. “Get those nasty thoughts out of your head.”
“You say something?” Bunker glanced back at her.
“Er, no, not really. Just… uh… saying that my paws hurt…” She fibbed weakly.
He laughed. “It’s okay, we’re almost there. I can see where the den is from here.”
About ten minutes later, he suddenly veered off the game path they were following and walked up to a tree. “All right, up here.” He started climbing, then turned to look at her. “Come on.”
She looked up at him, feeling her ears warm up as she realized what kind of view she had. “Er… y-yeah…” She started climbing after him, intentionally focusing only on where she was putting her hands. After a few moments, she tumbled into a hollow in the tree, landing on top of him. “Oof-!”
He grinned and scooted aside. “Sorry about the size. It’s really just meant for one. We’ll just have to get cozy.”
She pressed herself against the far wall and stared at him for a few moments. The space was so small, that even on opposite walls, they couldn’t help but cuddle up into each other. Her ears burned a little when she realized she could smell his scent. They burned more when she realized she didn’t mind so much. “... S-so how about that paw massage?”
He chuckled and scooped up her leg. “All right, all right.”

“Hey… Brookie-wookie… wake up.” Bunker poked at Brook’s face, smiling playfully. “The sun’s down, Brook, it’s time for us to go explore the city.”
“Hngh… Five more minutes…” She mumbled, swatting at his arm. She was warm, and it felt kind of nice to have his body pressed against hers.
“Mm.. Okay. But I’m gonna go down and see if I can find some breakfast.” He started climbing over her, then grinned and added in a sing-song voice, “I’ll eat without youuuu.”
She grumbled and rolled over to watch him climb down. “Ugh… give me a couple minutes, I’ll be right down…”
He grinned back up at her, then watched her climb down. “Heh… nice view down here.”
She squeaked and lowered an arm to cover her backside. “Stop looking!”
He laughed, rolling back. “Okay, OKAY, I won’t look. Get down here, go in the bushes to do your ‘morning routine.’ I’ll just go that way and wait.” He scrambled up to his paws and darted off into the underbrush. She rolled her eyes and finished climbing down from the tree.
A few minutes later, they met back under the tree, and Bunker grinned, passing her a tuber he’d dug up. “Here, breakfast. Don’t wanna fill up too much, there’s lots of snacks in the city that we can’t get at home.”
She took the tuber and gnawed on it, considering the implications. “... You wanna eat out of the garbage?”
He grinned toothily. “Sure, why not? Humans leave all kinds of perfectly good food in the garbage. We can just dig it out and eat it for free. They didn’t want it, so nobody gets hurt.”
She sighed. “I guess…” She gagged inwardly at the thought, but shoved the sentiment down. She was a raccoon now, there was no reason she COULDN’T eat out of the garbage. In fact, she SHOULD, lest she make her companion suspicious.
He grinned at her and grabbed her hand. “Come on, it’s only a short walk to the edge of the city, and then we can be city coons for a while.”
“How long?” She put her ears back and followed him. She barely even noticed that she was watching his tail swish back and forth as he walked. “Er.. that is, how long will we be staying?”
He grinned. “Oh, three or four days. Depends how long it takes us to find what you need for your den. Candles, one of those clay flower pots, a couple loose bricks, a lighter… There’s a good hideout in town where we can stay while we gather stuff, and we can… er… ‘borrow’ a shopping cart to get back a bit faster, if we go along the road.”
She put her ears back. That would mean she missed her pickup this week. If for any reason she missed the next one, the whole operation would be down the drain when the rescue squad came in to “save” her. “Oh… Are our dens going to be okay with us gone a whole week?” She felt the texture of the ground change abruptly, and she looked down to realize she was standing on asphalt.
“They’ll be FINE. That’s why we mark our territory. Besides, the forest can take care of itself for a few days.” He grinned, then waved his arms. “Welcome to the city!”
She looked around, blinking. She’d lived here most of her life, but she’d never seen it like THIS. It looked completely different from this angle. Everything seemed to glitter in the light from the streetlamps. “Oh, wow…”
He grinned, tilting his head at her. “Aren’t you FROM here? You’ve probably seen this thousands of times.”
She shrugged. “Not really. I was… er… I was kept inside most of the time, and I was awake during the day, so I’ve never seen it at night.” Her story was running a little thin in her opinion, but Bunker seemed to believe it.
He grinned. “All right, then let me show you how a REAL raccoon plays the city!” He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the nearest building. “Let’s go!”
Brook followed him as he darted into the back alleys, grinning. “Come on, we’ll find the nicest restaurant in town and raid their dumpster. Then we can find a hardware store. They’ll have some of those flower pots, hopefully not TOO cracked.”
She hesitated. “Oh… okay…” She hesitated, then grabbed his hand and tugged him back. “No, wait… Bunker, I… Why are you helping me so much? Are you still expecting that I’ll mate with you?”
He looked back at her, his eyes sparkling in the streetlights, and grinned. “Well… it would be nice, but that’s not why I’m helping you. I’m helping you because we’re friends.” He glanced around, then tugged at her hand. “Come on. Let’s go find some food.”
She hesitated, looking at his hand, then smiled up at him. “It’s a date.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

She may not want to mate with him now but something tells me she is gonna fall for him along the way without meaning too. From there I can see them eventually mating because when someone protests that they don't want a relationship or don't like someone, it usually means that eventually they will change their opinion and want a relationship with them.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 17: Sneaking Off

The den in town turned out to be a little more spacious than the travel den they’d stayed in on the way to town; it was an old doghouse someone had nailed to the side of a building and left to rot what seemed like decades ago. The roof looked like it leaked something horrible, and the walls didn’t look horribly sturdy, but it was shelter and seemed safe, since it was facing back to the road and front to a wall.
Brook sat up and stared at Bunker as he slept, listening to his gentle snoring. It wasn’t a loud snore, more like a gentle rumble whenever he breathed. It was actually rather pleasant to listen to. After a few moments, she carefully stood up and crept outside, blinking in the sunshine and stretching. She put her ears back and glanced back at Bunker, then scurried off and out to the street.
She put her ears back and dodged around legs, weaving around people and down the road, scurrying as fast as her legs could take her. She sighed as her goal came into view- the Institute. She rushed up to the gate and stood on the sidewalk, watching as they opened, and the van that came for her pickups pulled out. It started down the street, then suddenly pulled a u-turn and pulled over next to her. The door opened. “What are you doing standing on the sidewalk?! Get in here.” The ferret squeaked at her in his high-pitched voice. She jumped in, and the van pulled back through the gates as the vet started his checkup.
“Sorry, Mr. Milton, I had no way to let you know, Bunker- er, I mean, my study subject, insisted on walking into town for some supplies he wanted. I was going to miss my pickup, so I snuck out of the… he called it a travel den… to save you the trouble.” She hesitated, then looked up at the vet. “Can you check my heart? It’s been racing lately, and I’m worried about it.”
The vet checked her heart. “Well… sorry, you’re healthy. It’s not a healthy issue.”
Mr. Milton snickered a little behind his hand, then handed her her ID tag. “We’ll have to get your written data later, but you can file your oral report and update your map if you have anything new to add.”
She frowned at him, then hung the lanyard around her neck. “Er… yeah. Have you been reviewing my video logs, Mr. Milton?”
He nodded, putting his hands behind his back. “I have. You’ve gathered some interesting data on the lifestyles of the forest creatures, as well as their beliefs and… other things. I look forward to watching more installments.”
She hesitated, then blushed. “You’ve… not been watching the personal parts, have you? Those parts are just for me.”
He put his hand up. “I stop when you announce the personal part of your log is starting. I’ll wait for you to compile the parts that you’ve decided to share at the end.”
She nodded. “I wanna make it quick, just the video log today, and then I’d like you to drop me off a block or two away from the travel den. If I’m gone too long he won’t believe I was… er… finding a bathroom.”
He opened the door for her. “Be my guest. We’ll wait here.”
She nodded and jumped out of the van, rushing into the Institute via the side door and bustling her way to her lab. She closed the door and quickly booted up the computer, sitting in the new, raised chair and turning on the webcam. “Doctor Sarah Wyld, week twenty-six. This week, Bunker showed me how to weatherproof my den to prevent standing water seeping in through the roof. With the rainy season coming up, it’s going to be very important. At Bunker’s insistence, I took one of the discarded coolers that he collected and started filling it with leaves to save for bedding once it hits winter. It’s hard work, climbing up the trees to collect them, but if he says it’s important, then I’ll continue to do it. The first of the berries in my territory are starting to ripen, and we’re starting to dry them in the sun for winter. I now have a sizable stash of food set aside, and hopefully it’ll last the winter.”
She rubbed her head. “Bunker is here in town today. He wanted us to come into town because he says I need some supplies I can only get from humans: A ceramic flower pot, some bricks, some candles and a lighter, and some food containing preservatives, if we can find it. I suspect he’s going to show me how to build a candle furnace to heat my den. He said he considers me a friend, and I also consider him to be a friend. I’m lucky to have him.”
There was a moment’s pause. “Thus begins the private section of my video.” She leaned forward and rubbed her face with her hands, feeling her fur and her muzzle. “It’s now been about eleven weeks since I was last human, and I can feel the raccoon’s instincts getting stronger. It’s little things; how to climb a tree most efficiently, the urge to wash my food in the river before I eat it, subtle changes in how my body reacts to stimuli, and… I think I’m starting to find Bunker attractive.”
She flicked her ears back, feeling them burn as she admitted it to the camera. “I… um… during the walk to town, it was just the two of us for two days. He led, and I followed, and a few times, my eyes… wandered. I’m not sure what this means for the experiment. I’m trying to keep myself emotionally distant so as not to taint the results, but this raccoon body is starting to alter my tastes and emotions. It’s… scary.”
She sighed and rubbed her face again. “I’m not sure where Sarah ends and Brook begins anymore. I’m not sure the two are as separate as I had hoped to keep them. And… I think there’s more of Brook than there is left of Sarah. I hope, when this experiment ends, I can still separate them. God, I’m only a quarter of the way through this experiment, and I’m already struggling. What’s going to happen to me during the remaining eighteen months?”
She was quiet for a moment, then looked at the camera again. “Doctor Sarah Wyld, signing off.” She turned off the camera and sighed, sending in the video log and shutting down the computer. She sat there for a few moments, staring at the blank screen and her reflection on it, then turned and climbed out of her chair, closing the door behind her and rushing out back to the van.
She climbed in and sat down, nodding to the driver and hanging her ID on its hook. “The corner of Fifth and Pearl is fine. I don’t wanna get out too close or he might see me. I’ll cut through alleys to get back.”
Mr. Milton placed a hand on her knee and looked at her with concern. “You look worried. Is it something we can help with?”
She hesitated. “I want… a psychologist to join the team. Someone who can give me quick pep talks when I come in. I’m worried my mental health might be suffering out there in the woods.”
He nodded. “I can definitely do that. There’s a psychologist on staff on the Wildside program, we can just add you to his roster. It might have to be video calls. He’s… well… you’ll see.”
She nodded. “That’s fine, I just… I’m getting my head all mixed up, and I’m worried that I might be going a little crazy out there.” The van stopped.
“That’s understandable.” Mr. Milton nodded, watching her turn to open the door and disembark the van. “We’ll get him set up. It might not be next pickup, but definitely by the one after that.”
She smiled and closed the door, turning to head back to the travel den and Bunker.