Commander Fox Week 2021 Hope/Forgiveness
"Uh, you okay there, commander?"
Fox bangs his head on the table, and he swears Grizzer's laughing at him as he rolls over to address the issue. The issue being one of his annoying brothers coming by at the most inopportune of moments. "I'm perfect, private. Was there something you needed?"
Unfortunately, that did not send the shiny away, nor was he spilling what he actually walked into the room for. But, Fox will take it as a win that the kid wasn't asking stupid questions like 'what is one of my commanders doing underneath a table?'
Flipping back over, Fox wiggles the rope toy closer to Grizzer's nose. The massiff yawns and rests his head back on his front paws, facing away from Fox. "Come on, Grizzer," Fox whispers. He flicks the end of the toy closer to Grizzer.
"What the commander isn't saying," Fox is going to kill Hound, "is that he upset Grizzer this morning and must now beg his forgiveness."
"An exaggeration," Fox retorts with a sniff. "Grizzer's a drama queen who's moping over nothing."
Somebody- it's Hound, the shiny wouldn't have the guts- nudges Fox's leg and scoffs. "Not what it looks like to me, sir." The table creaks slightly as Hound sits on top of it, and Fox eyes it warily.
"Hound, if you bring this table down on top of me…"
"I'll suddenly be field promoted to replace you and will buried under piles of paperwork and comm calls from whiny senators, yeah, yeah." Fox can just imagine Hound's dismissive hand wave. "Hey, shiny, you have a name yet?"
"I've been trying Yarn, sir. My squad, uh, they called me 'Chatterbox' because I always was bringing them the latest gossip and all, so I wanted to try and spin off that."
Fox tilts his head and thinks it over. "So you spun yarns as a cadet?"
"Yessir."
"Clever." Better than some reasonings he's heard, not that he's going to argue with any of his brothers about names of all things. Fox pulls the toy back and takes a breath before tossing it towards Grizzer again. This time he got an interested eye. "Come on," he mutters. "You wanna play right?"
"Um, commander?"
Fox closes his eyes. He sighs, "Yes, Yarn?"
"What exactly did you do to Grizzer?"
Hound barks a laugh, and Fox drops his forehead to the floor with a groan. "Well, Yarn, you see, our dear Commander Fox was getting his lunchtime refill of caf. And while Grizzer was just minding his own business in the break room like the good massiff he is, Commander Fox kicks him."
Fox whips his head up, banging it against the table again, and raises a finger. "I barely touched him!" Grizzer jerks at the sudden noise and with a loud huff, stands and walks out from under the table. Fox turns back towards the massiff and reaches after him, "No, wait, Grizzer, come back! I'm sorry!"
"Looks like Grizzer's not accepting your apology, Commander," Hound says through his snickers. The table rocks as he stands with a sharp whistle. Grizzer's claws scrap against the floor. Fox pulls himself out from under the table just in time to see Hound give Grizzer a treat and a round of pets. "Next time, sir, might I recommend grabbing some treats? He's always in the mood for them." Hound smirks, then hooks a lead on Grizzer's collar before leaving for his patrol.
Yarn stands in the middle of the room, looking back and forth between Hound's retreating back and Fox's darkening face. His eyes gain a bit of a gleam, and the faintest hint of a smile plays on his lips. "Can I help you, private?" Fox all but snarls.
"No, sir. Have a good day, sir." Yarn snaps off a quick salute and darts off.
It's not until the shiny's long gone that it occurs to Fox that Yarn had admitted to being the gossiper of his squad. He lurches off the floor with a curse, "Force damnit, I knew I shouldn't have gotten up today."