Hello all! This is a bit different than my normal stuff. I've been working on flexing my writing muscle a bit and some friends submitted requests. I don't usually do requests unless I feel like it so this is kind of rare. But I became kinda fond of some of these oneshots and they're so short that rather than posting them individually, I decided to post them together in one collection. I believe I will be continuing this with all future oneshots that are rather short in nature rather than posting them individually. I've been rethinking how I've been going about my writing lately and I think I will be focusing on longer projects overall rather than shorter projects. This is going to be a longer, indefinite project... so the updating might be a bit random because it is a collection.
I've already got approximately 10 pieces for this done but rather than bombard everyone with all of them at once, I will be posting one a day (ish) until I have posted them all.
2 ALW; The GREAT FOX, SOMEWHERE IN THE LYLAT SYSTEM
Someone had hidden the cork opener. Peppy wasn't sure which of the rascals it was but it was certainly someone with a penchant for being a nuisance. His first guess was Falco. Historically, it was always Falco. Every time he was looking for someone, the absent-minded lad would have stored it in the weirdest place. Never where he had found it of course- Peppy assumed that made too much sense for the avian.
It occurred to him shortly after that Falco didn't drink. Well, not regularly , at least. The avian was known to have a beer every so often but the way he looked at the old hare's alcohol collection, one would've thought he had seen a ghost. Peppy did not pay too much mind to it. They all had their demons after all… Some took the form of bottles. Some took the form of ashes and dust. Inadequacy. A mountain of failures that went on and on…
He was rambling in his head, not focusing. He chided himself silently for that.
"Bahhh!" Peppy scowled as he rummaged about the drawer. The pizza cutter was accounted for. All five of their spatulas were there. The big spoons for cooking were there… But the cork opener? Nope. The one thing he was looking for.
He knew he was way too mad for what the mildly annoying situation called for. But gosh darn it… Peppy just wanted one thing and as usual, it was right outside his grasp. With one of his tired sighs, the rabbit set the bottle of wine down onto the counter. He massaged his nose, careful to move around his spectacles so as to not smudge them.
"I'll teach these boys someday," grumbled Peppy as he reached down to where the baking sheets were.
He opened it up… and there it was. The cork opener. He wanted to scream out of frustration but he couldn't. He had found what he was looking for, after all… even if it was in the most infuriating place. Peppy found the sharper bits of his frustration quickly fade as he popped the cork off of the bottle. The scent of the red wine drifted upwards towards his nostrils- a pleasantly bitter smell he knew and loved. It took him back to days long ago, walking Corneria's vineyards with the woman who would become his wife. Marveling at the way the sun had made her mint fur glisten. Listening to her laughter like bells on a Sunday morning. The bliss in her eyes had made his heart soar. Distant crashing of waves made everything about then feel like a dream. Those had been the days… Days that seemed so purel and weightless. Days that… were gone. Days he wished he could claw his way back to.
Peppy forgoed a typical wine glass, opting for a mug that was twice the size of what he was sure was socially acceptable. He did not care. The Great Fox had never held anything fancy in its existence. Just their old dinged up cups and mugs… and probably way too many pizza boxes.
He checked his phone, scrolling over to the texting app. Lucy had seen his message but hadn't replied. Figures, he mused darkly to himself. The girl had never been good at opening up about her feelings. Peppy felt like he could've pried all he wanted to. She would have just smiled at him. She would have just nodded. And he would have hated himself even more when he had come across her sniffling in a room alone. Everyone dealt with loss in different ways of course. And everyone dealt with the aftermath differently too…
Peppy took a swig of wine, the dark cherry red color staining the fur of his upper lip. Three years to the day since Vivian had passed. He had told himself he would text Lucy to make sure she was okay. It was all he could do- that's what he told himself, at least. No matter if he ran to Fichina right that second, it would do little to soothe the ache they both felt… he told himself that, at least. It made him feel better.
He took another drink.
Everyone had always told him that life never went as planned. There were always things that happened that interfered with what everyone had envisioned for their future. First, it had been the war. A civil war between two factions of Cornerian citizens and the outcome had been bloody. Peppy had been to too many funerals. And he had cried too many tears. And then, Vixy. A senseless death that had shaken him to his core. And then, James. A death that Peppy would never forgive himself for. And not too long after that… Vivian. The wife he had left planetside to go pursue his dreams. What had those dreams amounted to in the end? James had been the one with the dream to see every star in the sky… And he was dead. And now the Great Fox was falling to ruin. Jobs were getting scarcer and scarcer... Peppy asked himself what he had been looking for when he had left Corneria City that day to join Star Fox. Had he bought into James's dreams? Had he seen the light in that fox's eyes and had fallen for an ideal future that could never be realized?
Peppy took another drink.
This wasn't what he wanted. This was never what he wanted.
His phone buzzed and he looked down to see Lucy with her honey-sweet words.
"I love you too, Daddy." Heart emojis. He told himself she wasn't mad. He told himself that today was just an emotional day- all of these thoughts didn't mean anything. That she didn't resent him for leaving her to care for Vivian in her twilight hours. It made him feel better. Just like the wine.
Peppy emptied the mug. He turned away from the counter to walk, feeling the world sway around him. His hand snapped to the nearby handle of the fridge. Watery eyes studied the kitchen exit for a few moments. He tried to take another step but his socks couldn't latch onto the tile floor. He slid to the ground with a small sob. A sob that was followed by another. The hare brought his knees up and he hugged himself, leaning his face into his kneecaps.
"I'm sorry, sweetie," he whispered to the phone. And then, to the stained metallic ceiling of the Great Fox, he whispered, "I'm sorry, love." He hadn't been there. And what had it amounted to? Sometimes, he really did wonder...