I was out looking for food in a fenced of garden of a human den. The human had left hours ago so I knew it was safe. The garden was nearby my own den so it was a sight I saw often, brown fences, green grass with holes here and there and over grown dying flower beds at the bottom of the fence where frost from the cold wind of the winter had nipped at them. As usual I was washing my food in a small bowl left on the floor filled with rain water from earlier on in the day. I heard rustling in the recycling bin full of old milk bottles and other plastic items , I sniffed at the bin with my tail in the air showing am not afraid to attack whatever was inside.

The bin moved one last time as I caught the scent of banana and chocolate…

My dark brown tail and fur spiked up as I quickly moved back, out of the way of the now falling bin. With a thud the bin landed onto the grass and the lid fell of and rolled away like a wheel of a human's bike. Out came another raccoon which –unlike others- was a silver grey as his patterns and white for his body, he had a silver mask with a grey heart shape on his forehead, his tail had only three stripes and his back legs, front toes and chest were white. He closed his emerald green eyes with a cheesy grin as a banana peel slowly slipped if of his head revealing his grey tipped ears.

'Hello..?' I spoke with a confused tone in my voice. What is he doing in hear? I've marked this place as my territory and he's a runt! He should know better than to wander into another's territory.

'Hi!' he said giddily jumping up to his feet and shaking his coat, getting the bits of chocolate he'd been nomming on off of his mucky pelt.

'What are you doing here?' I looked up and down at his almost brown pelt covered in mud as I spoke.

'I um…. oh yeah! I'm looking or food.' He'd grin trying to hide his fear and embarrassment.

'heh don't worry I won't hurt you, as long as you're here for a good reason!' I gave him a calm smile trying to calm him down. 'Come! Let's get that mucky pelt cleaned up and I'll give you proper food!' I said as I stood up onto my feet and headed to a bucket and a tap'

'Oh? ok' he'd say following me to the bucket at a skip like trot.

'the humans always forget to turn the hot water off so it should be nice and warm for you!' id happily say pushing the bucket under the tap and turning the top of the tap, turning it on. The other raccoon would just stare at me and not say a word, after what seemed like a minuet –witch was only a few seconds- he'd tilt his head with a confused look on his face. 'You're going to bathe in it… you're too mucky for a tongue bath!' I explained to him and he'd finally speak

'Oh! ok, sounds… great!' he'd sit down rubbing his head with his paw while we waited for the large bucket to fill with water.

'So what's your name?' I'd ask 'mines fai!' id smile warmly at him waiting for him to reply. He'd mess with his hands before he spoke

'Ares… it's an unsuitable name for a runt!' he'd say looking at his hands that had chocolate on them. The bucket started to overflow with warm water. I'd jump back up to the tap and push it until the water stopped flowing out of it. I jumped down and started to walk away slowly back to my food.

'There you go nice and warm! I'll leave you alone then we can have food when you're done! Oh and… I like your name! It suits you.' I'd smile at him over my shoulder as I walked away

After a few minutes Ares would come around the corner back to the bins and were I was sitting up against the fence. It was starting to get dark and I knew the human would be back soon to let their dog out for a while and if it saw us it would chase us. Although I knew I was too fast for the dog and always out run it I was still a bit worried. I was concerned about how Ares would escape. What if he was to slow because of his stubby legs or what if he can't jump onto the fence out of the way because of his small stature? I whipped out the horrible thought and images out of my head as I spotted Ares coming closer towards me.

'Hi!' I said to him as I sat up properly grabbing the food from beside me and holding it out for him to take. 'So… how did you get in here? Did you jump over the fence?' I asked him after he grabbed the food from my clutch and sat down next to me and started to eat.

'Oh um yeah… why you asking?' he'd say his mouth full of food. It looked as If he hadn't eaten in days and this was his first time having proper food that wasn't chocolate or crisps.

'Oh just asking… you know this is part of my territory, don't you?' id ask sitting up a little

'Well I do now! I never caught your cent and didn't know. I'm sorry for intruding though!' he'd apologise as he carried on eating his food as the sun started to set over the roof of the house.