It was common knowledge at Rooster Teeth that Barbara always wore a hat. She said it was a gift from her parents. It was an old thing, blue with two fake fox ears poised at the top of it. She never took it off, said it reminded her of home, and was scared she would lose it.
It was Ryan who found out . The cow hybrid was the resident insomniac, so he usually stayed up at the office the longest, editing videos, until he felt ready to leave. Just as he was getting his keys, he heard a noise, like the sound of metal crashing against metal. Ryan spun around. "Hello?" He called out. No response. Cautious, he poked his head around the corner where the noise came from.
Standing in front of a mirror, was Barbara, seemingly inspecting her hat. Ryan was about to step out, maybe open with a joke of skinning her alive for startling him, when slowly, Barbara took off her hat, and Ryan's muscles seemingly froze.
Hiding in plain sight. For the first time Ryan truly understood that phrase. Because where the fox ears should be, two holes had been cut into the hat. So where were the ears? On Barbara's head. She sighed and gave one of her ears, which was really just a stump, a quick tug, before heading back into the office, while Ryan quickly bolted out.
On the car ride, Ryan mulled over what he had just learned. Barbara was a fox hybrid, and a pretty crafty one at that. How smart was she, to be able to trick everyone in the office, by cutting two holes in that hat.
Throwing his memory as far back as he could remember, Ryan realized, that he had never, not once, see Barbara leave the office before him. Weren't foxes nocturnal or something? But, enough of that, right now he had to figure out what to do. Tell Burnie and the others? Keep quiet? And, in the back of Ryan's mind, he was sightly hurt, okay, quite a bit hurt that she had lied to all of them. Or did she? Did others know? Burnie must know, right?
It doesn't matter, Ryan realized. No matter if Burnie knew about Barb, he still had two options, ignore what just happened or confront her.
Ryan had finally figured out part of a plan. The second he steps into the office, he makes a bee-line for the blonde haired woman. "Barb" he says, gesturing towards an empty storage room. "Can we talk?" Barb stepped back slightly. "Woah there, I like you Ryan but not in tha-"
Before she could even finish, Ryan had dragged her away, until they were out of sight, then paused, wondering how he would phrase this. "Barbara," he said at last. "Is there something you would like to tell me?"
The blonde woman paused for a moment. "I accidentally dropped your toothbrush in the toilet, and put it back without washing it, if that's what you mean." Note to self; replace toothbrush immediately. "Um no, Barb, how do you feel about foxes?"
Barbara took a small step back,and her sky blue eyes searched Ryan's brown ones. "I think their okay" a single beat. "Why?" Ryan frowned, and crossed his arms. "I was in the office late last night. " She made a circling motion with her wrist, the universal sign for Hurry The Fuck Up. " Right I was in latter than usual, and I heard this crash, and I go and see what it is, and I find you, standing in front of a mirror and-"
She moved so fast, even Ryan's heightened hybrid reflexes could do anything, but stare up in amazement, as 'the pungeon master' flew across the room, slammed him against a wall, with an arm pressed down on his windpipe, and lips curled back in a snarl. "Who did you tell?" Barbara demanded. Her fox ears were pinned against her hat, and had she had a tail, it would of have been thrashing in aggravation.
"No one" Ryan gasped out, trying to breathe. Barbara's eyes narrowed slightly, but she let him go, and he gently rubbed his throat. "Why don't you want tell anyone,Barb?" He asked, vaguely feeling that maybe Barbara wasn't acting in Ten Little Roosters, and this could end be very badly for him.
Barbara did something so un-Barbara like, that Ryan thought she might of actually been replaced by a strange, fox eared clone. She sobbed. It was small, but it was there.. She closed her eyes, and seemed to pull herself together. Like a shattered glass statue that was trying to put itself back together. "Do you know what I am, Ryan?" Barbara asked, so quiet that he could hardly hear him.
"A hybrid?" Ryan offered, and that got a weak smile from her. "Dumbass. But I'm not just any hybrid, I'm a fox hybrid." She said it like it explained everything. "Riiiiight" Ryan said. Barbara folded her arms. "Many hybrids see foxes as humans see, well, them. They believe that we are sly and tricky and evil."
"And you think that their going to think that too?" Ryan asked of her, and her ears quivered slightly, the one that was basically just a stump moving slightly, giving her answer away. She shrugged, and looked down sheepishly. "If you won't tell them, I will" he warned her.
"Can you at least give me a week to figure it out?" She begged, desperate now. When Ryan nodded, she 'legged it' and vanished. Ryan didn't see her for the rest of the day.
When a meeting was called on Monday, by Barbara, everyone was surprised, well, except Ryan. She sat in one of the spinny chairs, with a picture of a dick on the whiteboard behind her.
"God damn it Barb" Burnie muttered, rubbing two fingers near his temple. "Why did you call this meeting?" Barbara shuffled slightly. "I called us all here because well . . . . take it away Ryan." The cow hybrid gave the woman a glare, who just smiled and swung her legs like a child.
"A few days ago, I found out something about one of our colleagues. I talked to her about it, and she agreed to tell you too. Barb?" She scowled. clearly annoyed at him throwing her back under the bus, before grabbing her hat and pulling it off gently, to not hurt the ear stump.
Burnie's hands dropped, and he took four, calculated, measured steps to the fox-girl, stopping when she flinched. "Barb" he said calmly. "Why didn't you tell us?" Ryan could hear an undercurrent of hurt hidden in his voice.
"I just, I, I didn't want you to hate me" Barb's voice grew smaller, and Burnie had to strain to hear the last two words. But he heard them. "You really are an idiot" he snorted, and she looked up,hurt. "I hired Geoff, even though he's a ram. I hired Michael and Lindsay, even though their cats. I hired Jack, even though he's a lion. Hell, I even hired Gavin, even though he's a bird and not to mention annoying as fuck!"
"Heeeeeeeeeey" Gavin whined, flapping his wings, and gaining a few chuckles from the others. "So why, would I hate you?" Burnie asked, crossing his arms."Because I'm a fox hybrid" Barb looked very confused, eyes wide. "And hybrids hate fox hybrid."
"Okay, where exactly did you hear that?" Lindsay demanded. Barb shook her head. "I didn't hear it" she glanced down. "Then why do you . . ." Ryan's gaze fell on her head. "Oh . ." he breathed out. "What?!" Burnie demanded, looking between them. "Your ear. That's why it's so badly torn."
The ear, which Ryan now realized was actually very cleanly cut, almost like it had been sliced off, twitched. It was twisted slightly, like whoever cut it off had accidentally twisted it beyond repair. "They actually-" Burnie couldn't speak, from the lump in his throat. "Yeah" Barb nodded, flattening both ears, their light golden color blending in perfectly with her hair.
"Holy shit" Michael breathed, his own ears twitching slightly. Ryan cleared his throat, and everyone's eyes turned to him. "So, do we tell our viewers or . . ? It up to you Barb" he added. The fox hybrid shook her head so hard, she almost fell out of her chair. "Not yet. Not until I'm sure" she said. Burnie turned to stare at everyone else. "You assholes hear that? What was just said never leaves this room. You got it?" When everyone had murmured assent, he dismissed them.
Ryan hung back, and waited for Barbara. "You okay?" She smiled at him. "I'm great."