FSE

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"Lily! How is looking out there?" you hear your co-worker ask in broken English.

You raise your head from your hand and look back to answer the bearcat chef. "Still nothing. I told you, I'll let you know when someone comes by," you answer as you wipe your forehead with the back of your hand. He mutters something and then disappears back into the kitchen; he was probably told to ask for an update by the manager. For all the damn cold and wind you could feel through your fur outside, it is absolutely hellish inside the mall. Cranked-up heating paired with the heat of the kitchen is practically cooking you alive right now. You don't know if he and the others have some sort of species resistance to heat, but you can personally confirm that pandas aren't built for this type of shit.

You look at the back of your hand, noting the wet streak of black fur you left from trying to cool off. You would think that with almost everyone working here being covered in fur they'd get a fan, or at least say something about it. Maybe they're all the kind of people who know that bitching will only get management to start bitching about their bitching; you know damn well that you get enough of that at home with your parents. That said, you do sometimes hear the bearcat mutter in what you think is Mandarin, though you'll be damned to know what exactly he's saying. Could be something bad, though you haven't kept up with Chinese in general ever since you were six, only remembering some basic phrases and words in Cantonese from your mother.

Anyway, at the very least the food court isn't too busy today. Most of the orders so far are set for to-go and it doesn't seem like there are many people in the mall today. You take a small breath, wanting to appreciate this moment before it becomes a non-stop rush nightmare once Halloween comes and goes and the Christmas season kicks into high gear. Being hot and bored is certainly a lot better than being hot, tired, and pissed off. Before you can consider grabbing yourself a fountain drink to keep yourself occupied during this customer lull, a familiar and very welcome kangaroo approaches.

"Hey, Lil," Ruby says, smiling ear to ear as she stands on her tiptoes to lean against the counter.

"What's up, Rube?" you greet with a high-pitched voice. "Here for lunch or just saying hi before you go hit up your new boy toy?"

"Hey, c'mon, it's not like that. I'm just going to make sure he doesn't skimp out on going to the gym," she says, brushing a lock of hair past her ear as she looks away. You can see a smile creep along her face as she seems to look toward the direction of the ice cream store.

"Sure, sure," you say, returning her smile with one of your own. "I'm just wondering how soon it'll be before you start smothering him in kisses in public, or start making up lovey-dovey names to call him."

"Oh, shut up. Sayin' shit like 'baby' or 'lollies' is dumb. It's not like you'd be any better, anyway."

"Pff, yeah. Maybe I should just call my future boyfriend by dick length, but, like really lovingly. And in public, too. Like, 'Hey, 8 inches, you want me to grab you something?'"

Your kangaroo friend snorts, forcing back a laugh. "God, would he call you by your bra size, too?"

"I mean, fair's fair. I'll still judge him for it, but, y'know," you respond with a smirk.

"Dad, I want ice 'ream!"

You look over Ruby, seeing a group of five in the distance. You can barely make out their features and return your attention to your friend. "Anyway, things have been all right with you and him? Nothing, like... bad or anything?"

She nods, her expression still a warm smile. "Yeah, it's... It's been good so far."

"Good. Just, uh... You know, wanted to make sure and all." You readjust your glasses, giving yourself a brief moment to collect your thoughts. "So, you got any other plans besides just working out with him?"

"I mean, I guess maybe grab somethin' to eat," she says, looking over her shoulder to the group behind her. You notice her ears twitching slightly and her eyes narrow. A child asks, "Is this the res-taur-aunt?" You look over her again, now able to make out who's approaching. Four rabbit girls follow a lone adult, one brown holding his left hand and one grey holding his right, while the third white daughter follows from the side as the final grey enters a dead sprint.

"Miss Ruby?! You're here too?!" she shouts as she stops in front of Ruby.

Ruby laughs and bends down to greet the little rabbit girl. "Hi, Amanda!" She looks up at the approaching family, you following her eyes to- Oh shit, that's Dave. Ruby stands back up straight and looks at the human as he approaches. "And hi yourself, David. You and the girls doing all right?"

Are they his daughters? You look at the four rabbit children, unsure if they're adopted or not. Oh fuck, did you accidentally hit on a married man? You look at his hands, unable to spot any rings.

"Hi, Ruby. Yeah, things have been... OK." He looks to you, giving another, albeit awkward, greeting. "And, sorry, hi, Lily."

You see Ruby's eyebrows furrow ever so slightly; she's probably surprised he knows you. Small town, you suppose. You shake your head slightly to clear your thoughts. "Hey, Dave- Eh, David," you respond, catching yourself from making the same mistake last time at the bar. You're at a loss for words of what to say. You certainly didn't expect to see him show up with almost half a classroom's worth of kids.

"You, uh, know what you'd like to order? Or do you want the buffet line?" you ask, motioning your thumb off to the side.

"Yeah. I'll just have a plate of fried rice. For them...." he says, trailing off as he looks down at his daughters. The rabbit girls are murmuring among themselves, some talking about Ruby as the others look back in the direction of the ice cream store. "... I'll just have four egg drop soups."

You punch the orders into the cash register, tallying up their total. After asking if that would be all, you confirm the order, quickly swipe your card, and hand him the receipt. "You can take a sit at any of the tables. I'll bring the food out to you all."

David nods, giving a small smile. He quietly motions his hand and guides the little rabbit girls to a table. Amanda, the grey one from before, loudly says bye-bye to Ruby... despite taking a seat only thirty feet away.

You run the back of your arm against your forehead. "Well... Uh, that's the human guy I was telling you about before, Rube," you say, looking back at your kangaroo friend. The slight scowl hasn't left her expression, now starting to worry you. "Is he, like, one of the parents that goes to your school?"

"Yeah," she bluntly answers. She seems to be mulling over something.

"I, uh... I wasn't expecting- I didn't know he had kids," you continue, looking back at the kitchen to try to gauge how long it would take for everything to be ready. "Shit. Does- Does he have a wife or something? I'm kinda afraid I'm-"

"No," Ruby interrupts. She has a dark look on her face, only furthering the anxious feeling welling up in your gut.

"Hey, what's going on? Is something up with him?" you ask, worried that you got yourself into something bad.

Ruby brings her index finger up to her mouth and bites down on the joint, her eyes looking through you rather than at you. After a moment, she speaks. "I... don't know if I can really answer." Her eyes snap back to attention, seeming to now notice your concern. "He's not a bad person, just... Fuck, Lil, I don't know if I should say or not."

You try to piece some context together, though admittedly, you don't have much to go on. Not married, anthro kids, your best friend is holding back something, he looks kinda miserable the times you've seen him at the bar... "Is... his wi- Uh, the mom of those buns dead or something?"

Ruby takes a deep breath through her nose and runs her hand through her hair. "It's... something he'll have to tell you about. Don't get confused, though, they're his daughters."

"No shit?" you ask in surprise. You've heard about cross-species having kids, though you heard it's a fucky kind of thing over whether anything can happen or not. Way too many cases of some cross-species pairs never managing to get a single pregnancy, or worse, health issues immediately from the get-go. Shit, and all four of them look to be the same age too. "Huh... Shit, I- I don't know if I should call this off, then. Just offer to pay for lunch and say that's that."

Ruby's ears twitch as you hear the sound of plates clattering behind you in the kitchen. Seems like the food's almost ready. "I don't know, just- Shit, I'll- I'll try to explain what I can a bit later."

"All right. Thanks, Ruby," you say, finishing just as one of the cooks approaches you with a tray. Before the pangolin puts it down, you say, "Hey, I'm gonna go bring this to him. I'll come back up here if another customer comes up." She nods and hands you the tray before returning inside the kitchen. Ruby gives you a small smile to reassure you, quickly waving as she leaves to go see her boyfriend. You look down at the tray, seeing steam rise from the four bowls and plate which begin to fog up your glasses. You take in a small breath to calm yourself, then bring the food towards the human father and his four daughters.

You set the tray down on the table, allowing David to begin divvying out the bowls to each of the bun girls. As he finishes, you ask, "Mind if I sit?"

"Yeah, uh, sure," he replies, his eyes quickly darting to his four daughters around the table. Each seems more preoccupied with their soup at the moment. You take the lone sixth chair across from David, your mind racing with ways to start a conversation. Thankfully, David engages first: "I'm... sorry I didn't tell you about the girls before at the- Well, you know, bank," he starts, making a small gesture with his hand to emphasize the last word, likely asking you to not mention the bar. "You paid for it all before I could say, but, I'm willing to pay you back if you want."

"Nah, don't worry," you answer, gently dismissing his offer with a wave of your hand. "I would've said something if I wanted to." He lets out a small sigh and gives a small smile in return, his shoulders rising and falling as he breathes. "Anyway, I, uh... never woulda figured. Four kids, I mean," you continue, unsure of how to address the four proverbial elephants at the table.

"Yeah, Ruby said something like that, too," he says, causing Amanda to briefly look up from her soup at Ruby's mention.

"Heh, I'm guessing you know her from being their teacher at school?" you ask David.

"Kind of. She was also in a fitness class at university. Was partnered with her for a bit."

"No sh-" you say in surprise, quickly stopping yourself from cursing upon realizing your current company. "-ssshot? That's kinda crazy, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so," he answers. He's not really giving you a lot to work with, but you don't know what's a good 'jumping off point' to begin with.

"Huh. Well, I'm hoping Ms. Ruby's not being a tyrant to you all, right?" you ask, looking at the bun daughters to include them a little in the conversation.

"What's a tyrant?" the other grey-furred rabbit asks.

Oh, no duh, dumbass. Simple words. "Someone... who's very mean."

"No!" she answers, almost like she's offended at the idea.

You smile at her, trying to avoid putting across the wrong idea. "That's good. And you're all being nice back to Ms. Ruby?"

"Yeah," she answers dutifully, quickly returning her attention to her soup. "Lisa got into a fight because some- some others were making fun of Sally, but Lisa didn't get a mark for it."

Guess she's a bit of a gab, though you can't say you know many kids that don't babble. Or, well, you can't say you know many kids to begin with. It's hard to tell her apart from Amanda outside of her tone of voice and her clothes.

Looking over, the brown rabbit is starting to frown; guess that's Lisa. "Well, that's very nice of her not to give a mark," you respond, trying to think of a different subject to jump to. Your entire plan of pulling a little 'get to know you' with David is completely thrown out of whack, especially with whatever topic landmines Ruby alluded to earlier.

"Well, I hope the food's good," you state, opting to avoid any awkward silence as you pray for an opportunity to present itself.

"Did you make it?" Lisa asks.

"Uh... Well, no, that was probably... Li, maybe?"

"Oh," she says, leaving her spoon in the bowl. "I don't like it."

While you restrain yourself from laughing at her sudden declaration, doubled with her bowl being half empty now, David interjects with a hint of exasperation in his voice, "I thought you liked egg drop soup."

"No," Lisa responds curtly.

"We had it a while ago, you said it was good. Remember, when you were sick?"

"I wasn't sick, Megan and Amanda were."

David rubs his fingers across his eyes as he looks to be fighting back a sigh.

"Hey, I can get her something else if you want. Not really an issue," you whisper to David.

Releasing his breath out through his nose, he looks at you and asks, "You sure? Again, I can-"

"Yeah, it's fine. They got several vats prepped, I can go get a bowl of wonton real quick."

David looks at Lisa and firmly asks, "What should you tell Ms. Lily?"

"Thank you!" she answers, her point-straight ears twitching slightly as she beams a big, albeit slightly forced smile.

You return the smile and stand up, leaving for the kitchen to fetch another bowl. Almost immediately, you start feeling anxious as you walk away from the table. What the fuck can you even talk about, especially with four kids listening in? You could just blabber on about shit you like, but you doubt he's interested in talking about any kind of shows or games; for that matter, you doubt he even has the time of day to get into anything. He could be the kind of parent who's worried about the stuff his kids see. Hell, your mom would whip the shit out of you and leave tiger stripes on your back if she found you watching the stuff you do now as a kid. So, unless you want to talk to him about his favorite Bob the Builder episode, that option is dead in the water.

Letting out a nervous sigh, you enter the kitchen and quickly pour a bowl of wonton for the picky eater. You can hear the murmurs of Chinese past the various clanking of dishes and pans, though none of the chefs seem aware you've arrived. Leaving as quickly as you came in, you bring the bowl back out to David and his daughter. "Here you are. Lisa, right?" you ask, gently placing her soup down in front of her while moving the egg drop aside.

"Yeah," she answers, prompting a look from David.

"Yes, ma'am," he quietly interjects.

"Y-Yes, ma'am," Lisa repeats, her eyes meeting his before turning back down to her new bowl of soup.

You'd insist that she wouldn't need to say that, but you don't want to butt in on what's probably David trying to keep his kids polite. At least he isn't flicking them for saying something out of line. You just give Lisa a polite smile and return to more important thoughts: what the fuck do you talk to him about? Looking to stall to give yourself time, you look to David and ask, "You, uh, usually have problems making something they all like for dinner?"

He chuckles and brushes some hair behind his ear. "Sometimes. It hasn't gotten too bad, but it does make me wonder about what to cook without making someone upset. Like avoiding too much of a strong flavor, spicy stuff, things like that. I'm just thankful none of them are allergic to anything like I am, at least not as far as I can find."

"Huh. I'm guessing your favorite food isn't something all of them like?" you ask.

"Ehh... Maybe, it's been a long while since I've made potato soup. I like to cook that with bacon fat in it, making the bacon first then the rest of the soup with the grease in the pot. Was something my mom made sometimes for me, and I love it. Heh, I even got a bit of a milk allergy, but I can't help but have a few bowls."

Relief washes over you; looks like you have an in. "That sounds really good. I'm kinda lax when it comes to making food, though I guess it doesn't help that I can just take whatever's left over from the kitchen. It all just gets thrown out at the end of the night, anyways."

"Why does it get thrown out?" Amanda asks.

"Uh... Health code stuff, I think. You wouldn't want to get food that's a day or more old."

"B-But we eat lots of food that's old!" she blurts out, her loud voice briefly echoing in the empty food court.

David quickly interjects, "No, no, Amanda. It's not old, it's just kept in the fridge to keep it fresh. Restaurant food is different."

"Oh... Why does rest-taur... Rest... taurant food get older?"

You can't help but crack a genuine smile at her question. "It's just to make sure you buy fresh food."

"Oh. OK!" Amanda cheerfully answers, returning her attention to running her finger along the pattern imprinted on her empty bowl.

David lets out a slight chuckle, though you can hear a tinge of worry in his tone. "Sorry if they're being a bit much."

"No, no, they're fine. I'm, uh... Y'know, guessing you can't really go out anywhere without 'em."

"Yeah," he answers with a small, yet strained smile. "Can't leave them home alone and I'm iffy about having to get a babysitter if I ever wanted to go somewhere."

"I gotcha. They, uh, all seem real well behaved at least. Lot better than the kids Ruby sometimes tells me about."

"Yeah."

Another moment of silence. "Well... You, uh, get up to anything? Hobby stuff I guess, probably something you want to include them in?"

"... Yeah, actually. I was... thinking of trying out gardening."

"Wow. I know how much of a pain in- Eh, pain that can be. My dad mainly kept to flowers. Threw a real fit if he ever caught someone getting close to it."

"I can see that. I was just thinking of seeing what could be grown this time of year, try something simple," he explains, rubbing his chin with his hand as he thinks.

"Thinking of just flowers or anything, like food or other herbs?"

"I suppose just whatever I can make room for. First thing I should probably do is just set up a spot for it all, see if I need to do anything else. Honestly, this is just something I'm just now thinking about; no clue what I'd need to do to prep everything."

"There's probably some guides online. I think it depends on state to state, too, so you gotta check with that."

"Good point," David answers, smiling at you.

You feel... warm.

You return his smile, though not out of politeness. You're enjoying yourself. Somehow, despite this entire thing being a screaming red flag for shit that could go wrong, it all feels... fine. You almost can't believe you're enjoying yourself. You want to do this again sometime. You can't say you want every meeting to be with his kids, but you're not against it either.

You catch yourself from staring blankly into space as you confront your thoughts. You look at the rabbit girls, seeing how they're all finished with their meal. Bringing your thumb to your mouth to gently bite the claw, you find yourself suddenly struck with a small idea. "Hey, David... How up for it are you to... Desert?"

David looks at you, confused. "Desert? What are you- Oh, you mean dess-" he says, catching himself before saying the word and potentially driving his daughters into a frenzy. "I- I mean, you've already done so much, I don't want to-"

You smile and wave your hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. This time, I think our friend can help cover it. Or, our friend's friend, really. I can go on lunch break too since, technically, I'm still 'working' and it's just a slow hour right now." You look at the rabbit girls as a smirk creeps on your face. "You OK with it?" you ask their father.

He nods, turning his attention to the four girls. You think can almost catch a glint in his eye, probably sharing some excitement with you in seeing their reaction.

"Hey, kids," you announce, drawing their attention to you. You look off at the ice cream shop Ruby disappeared into to see her boyfriend. Fully acknowledging your statement will act like a lit match thrown into a pool of gasoline, you confidently ask, "How'd you feel about getting ice cream?"