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Thanksgiving Sleepover

The light footsteps of the two felines could barely be heard as they stepped softly up to the house. They giggled to each other as they rang the doorbell. A minute later the door opened, revealing Penny in her pajamas. "Gotcha!" shouted both Maneki and Luck pulling cans of silly string out from behind their backs and giving the shocked female a face-full of string. Penny coughed as she tried to keep the string out of her eyes with her hands against the onslaught of string. The two feline's laughed in triumph as they stopped spraying, high-fiving each other. "Very funny girls." said Penny a little annoyed, but with a smile on her face at the prank as she wiped her face. "I'm sorry Penny. But I couldn't resist when Luck showed me the spray can." said Maneki snickering lightly. "Ha ha. Come on in girls. We have a lot to catch up on." said the vixen waving the two inside.

"Seriously? He made the house a haunted house and challenged you guys to capture him and surge? That's so cool. I wondered what happened to you guys that night after you left." said Penny as they all sat in the living room, in their pajamas. "Yeah it was a pretty wild time. We'd have been sunk if it wasn't for Sakura." said Maneki thinking back to Halloween night. "So what happened after you caught them?" asked Penny curiously. "Nothing! Nothing. We all had fun that night and slept late into the next day. So uh, how've you been Penny? Haven't seen you since your Halloween party." said Luck quickly changing the subject. "I've been alright. Working at the Crescent Club, things are never boring around here for long." said Penny happily. "Where's Melissa tonight?" asked Maneki noticing that she hadn't seen the fennec fox vixen. "Mel is visiting her family for Thanksgiving." explained Penny. "That's right. Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I can't wait to try my hand at cooking turkey." said Maneki excitedly. "You like cooking huh Maneki?" asked Penny amused. "I love it. I'm just glad that Master lets me cook whenever I want, and even helps sometimes with my recipes." said the calico happily. "Where is Sly tonight anyway?" asked Penny curiously. "He said he was going shopping with Sakura for tomorrow." replied Luck. "Hey here's an idea. Since tomorrow is thanksgiving. Why don't we all say something we're thankful for?" said Penny suddenly. "Alright that...sounds like fun." said Maneki. "And you both can't say each other. That's too obvious." said Penny smiling. "Alright." replied Luck. "One...Two...Three...Go!" "That I met Sly." "That I met Sly." "That I met Master." said all three girls at once. Luck and Maneki turned a quick confused look to Penny as she looked back at them amused. "I see we all share thankfulness for having Sly in our lives." she said smiling. "Hey Penny, how did you meet Sly anyway? You've never told us what's your relationship with him." said Luck curiously. "Well, if you guys really want to know. Sly is probably the only reason I'm alive right now. He's definitely the only reason I'm as well off as I am." the vixen replied truthfully. "My story begins on a cold winter night ..." she started, reliving her tale in her mind.

The sky was a bleak gray as the sunset light filtered lightly through the dark clouds. A lone figure walked the street, huddled over. Penny wandered the streets, cold and alone as night began to settle in. She shivered as she hugged her own body, trying to save her body heat and gasped as a cold wind blew past her, bringing new white flakes floating down past her ears. She watched the flakes fall to the ground to join those that came before them and looked to the sky to confirm her fear. It was snowing again. She knew she had to find a place to warm up soon, or risk freezing to death. She wandered the barren streets. "Perhaps It wasn't too smart to do this in the middle of winter...but then...No. I can't think like this. I have to keep moving." She thought to herself as she went. She found herself on a residential street. All of the houses looked pretty much locked down, but two. The two houses were side by side, one looked uninhabited, the other wasn't furnished with anything, but inside stood a gray furred male canine. She looked at the empty house. "If I break in there I will be a little bit warmer than now, but without heat I won't be able to warm up much." She reasoned. "If there's someone living in that house, he must have a way to keep warm." she thought. Slowly she crept to the window and peered inside. The male was moving boxes. "Looks like he's just moving in." she thought. She moved around the back of the house and found the window to the garage was unlocked. She smiled to herself as she let herself in. The garage was instantly warmer and she purred slightly to herself at the warm sensations flowing over her. "I'm going to have to keep quiet if I don't want him to know I'm here." She thought as she moved toward the house. The heat coming from the actual house into the garage was too inviting to ignore. She moved through the house and eventually came to the living room where she'd first seen the male. "Where'd he go?" she asked, perking her ears up to hear better. A flushing toilet from a nearby room alerted her as she then heard water running into the sink. "Gotta hide." she thought quickly, looking for places to hide. Unfortunately for her the room was still almost bare and there wasn't anything to hide behind. She eyed the fireplace, and weighed her options. She sighed and climbed into the chimney, propping herself in place there out of sight. Once there she lowered her head into the fireplace and peered at the male as he came out of the restroom, wiping his hands with a towel before throwing it onto another box. She now saw him clearly. He was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. A black fedora donned his head and a blue notebook sat in the ribbon on it. He looked to be in his early twenties. He had a wolf's build, but lightning shaped black marks on his muzzle not unlike a fox except for the lighting shape. His tail had a white tip like a fox, but a black marking on it that made his tail look like an old fountain pen. Silently he moved to put curtains over the window. "Now that that's covered, I think this has taken long enough. It's already taken a lot longer than I thought to move everything inside. I think it's time to call in some help." he said to himself. Penny groaned to herself lightly. Now he was going to call someone else over and her chances of being found out were only going to get worse, moreso if he invited more than one person. He took the notebook from his hat and smiled as he wrote in it. Penny raised an eyebrow as they words he was writing began to glow slightly. "What's going..." she started before gasping in shock. The male's shadow began to rise from the ground, forming a doppelganger of him. The female did not know what to think. Was she really seeing what she thought she was seeing? Or was the cold finally messing with her and causing her to hallucinate? "I'm tired. You take over for a while." said the male waving his shadow off as he took a seat in a nearby chair. The shadow saluted its owner and went to work moving things around on its own. Penny's grip in the chimney slipped ever so slightly as she struggled to maintain her position. She was very tired herself, and she didn't know how long she could remain in her hiding spot. The male sat in the chair and looked through his notebook. "Everything is inside already. It just needs to be placed." he said to himself looking over his list. "Huh? Why'd I get? Oh I remember now. I wanted to use that on my first night here." he said a few minutes later, tapping his pencil on his forehead and looking at his shadow as it held up three fire logs. "Put them on the rack in the fireplace." He instructed. His shadow followed instructions and placed the logs on the metal rack. Penny froze in fear as the shadowy figure moved below her, but sighed when it didn't notice her. "Hmm...I don't have any...I have an idea." he said lightly as he gazed out of the window and noticed a neighbor had the same idea. He wrote in his book again, Penny could see the glow from the words on his face, but her attention turned to the glowing flake floating past her face now. She looked around in horror as more glowing flakes fluttered in through the chimney top. She looked down and saw that they were gathering on the logs and gasped as they suddenly lit the logs aflame. The heat hit her instantly as she lost her grip and shouted as she tumbled down and out of the fireplace into the living room, in full view of the bewildered male and his shadow. "What in the...Where did you...Miss...Are...okay?" she could hear softly as her fatigue began to overtake her and she slipped into unconsciousness.

Penny awoke late into the next day in a bed she didn't recognize. She looked around the room. There was only a dresser, a mirror, a bicycle, and boxes in the room other than the bed. She groaned and reached behind her head, feeling where she had hit the floor the night before and her memory suddenly kicked into gear. "Where am I? Who... was..." she thought before hearing the door open to the room. "I'm glad to see that you're okay. You gave me quite a scare last night you know." Came the male's voice as he entered the room. Penny began to breathe quicker as she stared at the male now. "I scared you? How do you think I feel? What the heck are you?" she asked quickly. "That's a bit rude. But I am a wolfox, a wolf and fox hybrid." he responded. "Don't play dumb. I saw what you did last night with your shadow, and I don't know how but I know you had something to do with that fire. Normal people can't do those things." she said, staring hard at the male. "Heh. I see I've been caught. Well I suppose it would clear the air a bit between us. I have the ability to change reality around me to what is written. No doubt you saw me write in this notebook before those things happened." he explained, showing her what was written in the book. "Sly's shadow comes to life and helps him move in." "Lit ashes from neighbors chimney float into Sly's and light the logs in the fireplace aflame." "Believe me, if I had known you were in the chimney I would never have written the second one, which brings me to another question. What were you doing in my house to begin with?" he asked suddenly serious. "Penny felt all her fear melt as she recalled her own situation. "I...I'm alone." she replied. "I can see that. But you can't be older than...fifteen? Sixteen? Why aren't you at home?" he asked. "I...I'm not 'home' because I ran away from home okay?" she replied. "Ran away? Why?" he asked, suddenly concerned. "Why should I tell you?" she asked defensively. "Because quite frankly you owe me. I could have called the police last night on the intruder who fell out of my chimney." he said seriously. Penny sighed to herself. He had a point. "Why don't you tell me what happened and I'll see if I can help." He said comfortingly. "I'm not sure how you could help...but whatever. My name is Penelope Lincoln. I lived in a town a few cities away from here with my parents...My parents that neglected me, and abused me both physically and verbally." She started seriously. "I'm sixteen years old now, but I can't stay there another two years waiting to become legal. So I ran away from home." she said. "In the middle of winter?" he asked astonished. "I know. Not the brightest of ideas." she replied a little embarrassed. "No I didn't mean it like that. Things must have been horrible for you to even decide to run away, let alone in the middle of winter. Tell you what. Stay here today. I just moved in so there isn't much to the place yet. I have to go see a publisher and a friend of mine about something she wants me to store here for a few days. I'll be back later." he said comfortingly. "Thank you..." she said bewildered. She did not expect him to be so kind. "Just make yourself comfortable Penny." he smiled as he turned for the door. "Wait. I didn't get your name." she said quickly. "My name is Sly. Nice to meet you Penelope." he said before leaving.

The day went slowly. Penny didn't have much to do other than sleep or look around. It wasn't until the sun set that a truck backed into the driveway. Penny looked curiously at the sheet covered machine they were unloading. Something seemed familiar about its shape. Sly was with them, directing them to the garage. "What's this Sly?" she asked curiously. "This is a turntable. A friend of mine just took out a loan and bought a nightclub downtown and asked me to keep it here a few days until she's ready to put it in place." said Sly signing the invoice for the delivery. "A turntable?" asked Penny, almost mesmerized as she looked over the machine. "Do you know what a turntable is?" asked Sly seeing the almost hypnotized look on the teenager. "Of course. I've used a few before at friend's parties I would sneak out to. I love these machines." she replied. "You've used one before? Why don't you go ahead. Play around with it a bit." he said plugging the machine in to the wall. "I shouldn't. I mean what if I break it by accident?" she said sheepishly. "Don't worry about that. I can use my abilities to fix it if it breaks. Just have a little fun. Everyone deserves a break." he said nudging her toward the machine. "O-okay." she said, running her hands over the sleek edges of the machine. I'll be in the house if you need me. Still a lot of boxes to move and stuff to unpack." he said as he turned to leave. Penny didn't answer. She was too busy familiarizing herself with the turntable.

Sly opened a box and inside sat a miniature couch and easy chair. "About time I found these." he said as he pulled them out and placed them in the living room. He smirked as he wrote in his notebook, the two pieces of furniture growing to full size suddenly. Having these abilities certainly cuts down on moving time and cost." he said satisfied as the beat thrumming through the wall from the garage intensified. "Sounds like she's having fun. he said to himself. He crept back to the garage and took a peek, only to be surprised at what he saw. Penny stood behind the turntable looking like an expert. She had the headphones that came with the machine over one ear and turned the dials and knobs like a pro, looking completely relaxed as she did. This was a far cry from the somber kid he'd met earlier that day. When the song wound down, Penny became aware of a light clapping sound coming from behind her. She turned quickly to see Sly standing in the door. She smiled a little as she saw him. "That was incredible. You told me you had used one before, not that you were good at it. I have to introduce you to my friend." he said. "Wh-What? No. I can't." she said quickly to Sly's surprise. "Why not? You looked as if you were happy while the music played. You're really good." he said truthfully. "I-I'm not good. Doing this has caused me nothing but pain. You wouldn't understand." she said running off past the wolfox. Sly's smile faded as he realized what she meant.

He walked through the house and found her lying face down in the bed he'd let her sleep in the night before. "Your parents didn't support your djing did they?" he asked curiously. She shook her head not looking at him. "They couldn't understand that something I found so fun could be profitable. They said that it was unbecoming of a young girl to play so much. And they didn't want to hear it when I told them that it could be a career. My father has always been abusive, but he took this as more fuel and a new reason to hit me. My mother wouldn't help. There was nothing I could do." she explained. "So you ran away." said Sly finishing the story for her. She nodded slowly in reply, still facing away from him. "Well you have me now." he said comfortingly. "Until you get tired of me. Then you'll send me back to my parents. This isn't my first time running away." she said. "I did say that I'd try to help you didn't I?" he said with a smirk. "Others have said that too." she replied. "That may be true, but did those others have a friend with a nightclub who just happens to be looking for a dj to work the turntable? The very same turntable you were using?" he asked smugly. "What?" she asked. "I'll tell my friend about you. I'm sure that she'll hire you. Then we can go about finding you a place to live. You can call your parents after that." he said comfortingly. Penny choked back tears as she hugged the wolfox happily. "Thank you Sly." she said seriously. "You're welcome Penny." he replied, hugging her back.

The next day Sly brought Penny to a place called the "Crescent Club", and once they went inside he called down his friend. "So this is the kid you wanted me to see Sly?" asked a white rabbit wearing a kimono walking up to Penny. She eyed the girl up and down. Penny was nervous. She felt as if she was being judged like a piece of meat. "Hmm...She doesn't look like much of a dj, but if you say she's good I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and give her a trial night at the booth. I'm having a special premier night next week for the company that loaned me the money to get this place before the club opens. I haven't booked a dj yet and if you're sure she can fill that spot, she gets the chance." said the bunny seriously. "Always so serious about everything Addriene. Yes I am sure you will not regret doing this." replied Sly. "I am serious because this is my business. This club is my child. I have to help it grow and I can't have things impeding that growth. Okay Miss Lincoln. You've got your shot. Don't waste it." said the bunny. "Thank you ma'am." replied the vixen sheepishly.

"She's a bit of a grouch isn't she? I don't get it. You're so laid back. How did you become friends with her?" asked Penny curiously as they exited the club. "Ah she's okay when you get to know her. She's serious right now because she took out a lot of money to try to get this place started and she's worried that it might fail as a lot of businesses do. Give her a little time." replied Sly. "So what do you do?" she asked next. "I'm a writer. I'm just getting started myself. I have to go meet with my publisher again today in fact. I'll see you at the house." he said, waving as he walked off.

A week went by quickly as Penny spent every day in Sly's garage practicing on the turntable. But no matter how much she practiced, there was always a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she was not good enough. She put her hands on the console and groaned in frustration as the beat wound down for her current song. "Why'd you stop? You know your big night is tonight." said Sly walking in. "I know. I...I don't think I'm good enough." she said truthfully. "You are good enough Penny. I have heard you play and I can tell you that you are at your best when you are relaxed and having fun. Let yourself relax and you will do fine. Trust me." he said comfortingly. Penny looked at him and suddenly eyed the blue notebook in his hat. "You can make sure of that." she said quickly. "Hmm?" he asked. "You can write me great dj skills can't you?" she asked . "I um...*Sigh* I can, but that wouldn't be honest. And I know that you can get this job without my help." he replied. "Please Sly. I need help with this." she said, giving him the saddest, biggest eyes she could muster. "*Sigh* Alright. I'll help you." he said. "Thank you thank you Sly!" she said hugging him tightly. "I'll also write myself invisible to all but you so that I can be there and you can know at least one familiar face okay?" he said. She smiled up at him widely. There was no way she could fail.

The big night came and Penny stepped up to the turntable to greet the crowd. "Good evening everyone! Hope you all brought your dancing shoes. Cause I'm about to turn this club upside down!" said Penny into the mic on her headset as the first song began to play. As the night went on she looked around. Sly was there, and as he had told her, he was invisible to everyone present but her. She could feel the confidence and the skills pouring from her as she expertly turned knobs and scratched the records. She was having a lot of fun. And as the night wound down she hoped that it wouldn't end.

Penny breathed a little deeply when the last of the guests waved goodbye to her, leaving the club. "You did it." came a familiar male voice next to her. She turned to see Sly standing there. "Did you have fun?" he asked. "It was amazing." she replied. "I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed yourself." he replied with a smirk. Both of them turned when they heard light clapping coming from behind Penny. Addrienne was standing there with a wide grin on her face. "You did well kid. I'm impressed." she said to Penny's immediate smile. "I'd like to offer you the job of full time dj here." she said holding out her hand. Penny went to shake it before the bunny pulled her hand back and connected it to Sly's stomach suddenly. Sly coughed as he fell to his knees. "That is I'd like to offer you the job, but it depends on how my friend here answers my next question." she said sternly. "How...did you know I was here?" asked Sly as his body became visible again. "Shrimp cocktails kept disappearing. Wasn't hard to figure out Sly. And I know you always stand to the left of the person that can see you when you make yourself invisible to others." she replied. "You know me too well Addrienne." he said standing back up. Penny looked nervous. She already could tell where this conversation was going. "Alright Sly. You already know the question I'm going to ask." said the rabbit a little impatiently. "Indeed I do. And I can honestly say that no. I did not assist Penny with my abilities tonight." he said, to both female's surprise. "What?" asked Penny confused. "That's right. The only thing I did with my abilities tonight was make myself invisible. Everything you did up on the turntable tonight was all you Penny. I told you if you had fun you'd be fine." he said taking the notebook from his hat and showing them the last things he wrote in it. "Well in that case Miss Lincoln. I'd like to extend the job offer to you. Congratulations." said Addrienne offering her hand to Penny again. "Th-Thank you Ma'am!" said Penny excitedly shaking her hand. "Please. You can call me Addrienne. Now I hear you'll also need a place to stay. I'm sure you'll need a more feminine companion than the lazy guy there." said the rabbit snapping her fingers suddenly. "Hey. I'm not that lazy." said Sly. "I really wish you wouldn't snap your fingers to me Addriene." said a fennec fox female coming around the corner. "Oh shush. When the club opens I won't be able to call over the music so you're going to have to listen for snap commands coming through your headset. So get used to it. Anyway Penny, this is Mellissa. She's a little older than you and is currently looking for a place to call her own as well. I think that with both of your paychecks combined you might be able to get a decent place together." said Addrienne smiling. "Are you serious?" asked Penny astonished. "I am looking for a roommate. And you look decent at least." said Mellissa. "Why don't you two go on and get to know one another?" said Sly smiling at Penny. "Thanks Sly. Thanks Addrienne." said Penny hugging them both before walking off to talk with Mellissa.

"So she wanted you to cheat for her didn't she?" asked Addrienne standing with Sly once the two girls had left. "Of course. I just used the deception as a way to boost her confidence." he explained. "I'm glad you did. Cause you knew that not only would she not have gotten the job, but you'd have been in trouble too if you had helped her." she said seriously. "I was in a little trouble for not helping her too it seemed." he said rubbing his stomach. "That was for sneaking in and stealing food. If you wanted in you could have just asked." she said seriously. "I'll keep that in mind." he said.

"A few days later we called my parents. They seemed...happy to be rid of me. They didn't even ask where I was or who I was with." said Penny seriously. "I'm sorry to hear that Penny." said Maneki quickly after hearing that. "It's okay. Sly stepped up and became my guardian and said that I'd always be invited to hang out with him and his family. I met Sakura and Pearl, and later you guys, and I've had fun these past four years." said Penny wiping a tear from her eyes. "And that's my story. A little while later Mellissa and I moved into this house together and this is where we've been since." she finished. The three girls shared a hug together. "Seems Sly has had a big impact on all of our lives." said Luck seriously. "Yeah." they all agreed. "So what foods are you looking forward to eating tomorrow." said Maneki switching the subject. "Candied Yams all the way. Sakura makes the best I've ever had." said Penny quickly. "I'll see your candied yams and raise you Macaroni and Cheese. I bet they would taste good mixed together." said Luck licking her lips. The three girls continue talking late into the night about subjects in the the past and the present. Things fact and fiction, and just enjoy each other's company.

The next day after grace is said, the question once again rises of what each person is thankful for. Maneki, Luck, and Penny all look at one another and point to the wolfox at the same time. "We're thankful to have Sly in our lives." they said in unison, making the male blush a little in embarrassment. "I'm very thankful to have you all in my life too." he said seriously. "Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!" they all said together.

The End

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone