Just like the night before, Reggie did not find himself asleep for long. Unlike the night before the nightmares had come earlier, leaving him with too little sleep and not wanting to completely wear himself out from his workout Reggie decided that picking up a caffeinated beverage. While not a fan of the coffee, preferring to push through the day normally, the lack of sleep from the past two nights would catch up with him.
Reggie found himself standing outside of a Snarlbucks. His phone reading the time at 6:02 AM, and glancing inside Reggie could only one mammal behind the counter. Dressed in a pair of navy blue sweats and a black hoodie, his uniform folded in an old backpack that was across one of his shoulders, Reggie realized a misunderstanding that could happen from his clothing. If he was a betting Weasel, he would put it all on the mammal behind the counter trying to call 911. If Reggie were to be honest, he would consider making the call as well with how shady he felt in his baggie outfit.
"Should have worn something a bit tighter, maybe it would have made me look less sneaky." He contemplated. With a sigh, and shifting on his hind paws, Reggie finally reached for the handle of the door and pulled it open.
He first noticed the music that was playing softly. It was comforting and slow, with what seemed to be only a guitar playing. The atmosphere was also relaxing. Dim lights mixing with the rising sun shining thru the large front windows gave a pleasant glow to the entire store. The smells of coffee, tea leaves and pastries of different varieties assaulted Reggie's nose. Under all of those was a small hint of disinfectant cleaner.
The mammal behind the counter had not noticed Reggie approaching the front, humming some unknown tune while it was using a rag to wipe down the area. The mammal employee seemed to be a raccoon. With grey fur and a black and grey striped tail dragging behind. Wearing what seemed to be a simple pair of black pants and plain black long sleeved shirt, with a beige apron string around with waist and neck, the raccoon seemed to be female. Growing impatient, Reggie cleared his throat to gain the employee's attention.
The employee stiffened, and then quickly turned to face Reggie. Big, dark brown eyes met black, beady eyes. The trademark black "Bandit's Mask" allowing for the brown to stand out even more. Small rounded ears perked towards him, and a broad smile spread across the raccoon's muzzle. Reggie in turned stiffened.
"Yep, definitely female." Reggie mused.
"Hello, welcome to Snarlbucks!" Said the female raccoon, tossing the rag behind her and wiping her small paws on her apron, "how can I help you today!"
"Er…" Reggie started slightly from the raccoon's enthusiasm this early in the morning. The raccoon's expression quickly turned to one of pity as she got a better look at Reggie.
"Oh sweetie it's alright," the raccoon said with a sympathetic smile, "trust me I know how tough it is out there."
"Why don't I give you something nice and warm to drink and maybe an extra pastry and then you can go sleep a bit in the corner. How's that sound?"Reggie was confused by her statement at first, and then became slightly aggravated as she continued.
"Wait no I'm not homeless-"Reggie said, trying to interject.
"Of course not dear, you're just in between jobs. I truly understand." The raccoon folding her paws over her heart.
"No, no, no, no! I actually have a job, and an apartment. I just came in to buy a coffee!" Reggie exclaimed, pulling his wallet out of his pants pocket and opening it as if to prove the point.
The inside of the raccoon's ears turned slightly pink, embarrassed by the turn of events. "I'm so sorry sir! I didn't mean- I mean I shouldn't have assumed…." The raccoon trying her best to recover from her mistake, but Reggie simply waved her off.
"It's fine…well not really, but it's not the worst that I have heard so I'm not going to take offense to it," said Reggie calmly.
"Besides, you were willing to help. Not many mammals can say that." Reggie added with a shrug. It was true that not every mammal went out of their way to help out a Weasel down on their luck. Seeing this raccoon willing to help, even in a small way, gave Reggie a positive feeling.
"I must admit I do need some help though."
The raccoon perked up at his statement, a smile once again returning to her muzzle. "You see…I don't drink coffee normally," began Reggie now moving to lean against the counter, "so I have no idea what to get."
The raccoon smiled became even brighter. "Well sir you came to the right mammal!"
With the flair that only comes with years of customer service experience, the raccoon went through all the drinks, their pro's and con's, did Reggie want something sweet, something hot or cold, did he mind if the drink was bitter? Many more questions than Reggie expected for a simple cup of coffee. After several minutes of the questions being asked, Reggie eventually decided on what the raccoon called a medium "Dirty Chai" with another shot of espresso and a pack of sugar. "And your name sir?" asked the raccoon innocently.
Reggie looked around the store and noted that no other mammal had come in yet. "Why do you need that?"
The raccoon shrugged, "Management says that it's for all orders, no matter what."
Reggie's eyes narrowed at what felt like a blatant lie, but decided to do as asked. "You can put down Reggie."
The raccoon quickly produced a marker from a pocket in her apron and wrote on the cup before heading over to make the drink. Reggie could hear the whirling of machinery and a blast of compressed air. He simply stood next to the counter awkwardly, waiting for his drink and remembering that he hadn't paid yet. Swiftly the raccoon returned with the drink in paw, a smile once again on her muzzle. "Here you go sir! Anything else I can get you?"
"Uh, no. Just need to pay and I'll be out of your fur," Reggie said with a smile.
The raccoon waved off Reggie with a smile of her own, "After earlier, I think its fair you get one on the house today!"
Reggie nodded his head before heading to the door. Taking a quick sip of the hot beverage before exiting, Reggie couldn't help but be impressed with how good the drink actually tasted.
"Wow this is fantastic," Reggie murmured, glimpsing at the cup real quickly he saw something written next to his name. The extra writing read To Reggie from Sheri with a drawn small smiley face with small ears.
"Sheri huh…" Reggie thought with a smirk.
Glancing quickly back he saw Sheri once again wiping down behind the counter.
"Maybe today won't be too bad."
Today was going to be worse. As Reggie opened the front door, he could hear the murmur of conversations and the moving of mammals going about their day. Once he stepped thru the large doors, a deafening silence fell over the building. Several mammals glanced at Reggie before continuing to their destination, others openly stared. Those who stared wore the gambit of expressions between curious to distain. Not willing to stay around too long under the many different eyes on him, Reggie quickly headed in the direction of what he believed was the locker room.
After some difficulty in finding it, Reggie finally entered the locker room and found it thankfully sparse of officers. With only one or two mammals around, and the sound of a few showers, Reggie assumed that this was the night shift coming off. Quickly pacing through the room, he found a set of medium sized lockers and one of them had his name on it. As he reached out to open the locker, he caught a small whiff of rabbit, specifically one Officer Judy Hopps. Confused by the smell, but sensing danger, Reggie stood next to his locker and opened it very slowly.
Once the latch of the locker was tugged, the door suddenly flew open hitting Reggie in the muzzle as a large cloud of white dust shot out. Slightly dazed from the impact, Reggie noticed how the rest of the area was in a fine mist of what he could only assume was kit powder. A howl of laughter came from the other side of the locker room as a grey wolf stepped around the corner dressed except for his shirt still unbuttoned. When Wolford gazed at the Weasel, a slight look of disappointment played over his face.
"Ah guess you figured it out," stated Wolford, the disappointment was obvious in his voice. Seeing Reggie continue to rub the front of his muzzle and nose, the grey wolf's disappointment changed to amusement.
"Couldn't avoid it all I see," he stated, smug grin showing off large canine fangs. Reggie simply shook his head.
"You really are a fool if you didn't expect Wilde to retaliate after what you said." Reggie looked at the grey wolf now. "I'm assuming word of yesterday morning has gotten around."
Wolford gave a chuckle, "Let me give you a piece of advice for next time Weaselton. If you're going to get into a personal spat with two of the most liked cops in the Precinct, don't do it in front of THE most liked officer in the Precinct who happens to feed off of rumors like donuts."
"Clawhauser…"
"Thanks for the advice" Reggie stated dryly, wanting only to focus on getting changed.
"Let me give you another piece of advice Weasel," Wolford said coldly, walking towards Reggie.
"Everyone likes Hopps, she's a good officer. Most mammals tolerate Wilde because he's a good officer and Hopps likes him too. I personally like Wilde. He's quick with a joke, hasn't stuck me with a bill yet and has even bought me a round or two. I consider him a friend."
Wolford towered over Reggie, and was using every inch of height to his advantage. Staring him unblinkingly with amber eyes, a low growl was now emitting from the grey wolf as he spoke.
"If either one of them gets injured because you didn't act fast enough because of your speciest views. I can promise you that this," the wolf's paw motioning to the mess of powder all over the locker room, "will be the least of your concern. Got that!"
Reggie hid behind a blasé look. Trying to act unimpressed by the intimidating wolf's words, he picked at his claws and examined them. Once Wolford was done with his speech, Reggie looked up and stared directly into the wolf's eyes.
"There are so many things wrong with your assumptions about me that I don't have enough time to actually correct them all," Reggie started, his anger starting to bubble, "the only words I have for is this."
" .Badge."
Reggie said each word poking a claw into the wolf's chest, "I haven't forgotten it, and I hope you haven't either."
The two officers stood there staring each other down, neither one willing to break first. Eventually Reggie remembered he was not in uniform and looked away to get ready. He heard a scoff from the grey wolf before the sounds of pawsteps away and out of the locker room.
Reggie let out a heavy sigh and started to take stock on how much messed up.
It was a considerable amount.
"Rutt!"