Sorry it took so long! :(

You guys forgive me?

Anyway here's a blast from the past.

What Once Was Pt. 1

"The object of the game is to ricochet the acorn off of as many surfaces as you can and get it into the cup. Here's a simple demonstration."

Wide eyed, Jason watches as he throws the seed onto the ground, where it bounces to the ceiling and it shoots into the cup.

"Woah!" Jason tries to copy what he did, but he couldn't get the acorn to stay in the cup.

Floor to ceiling to cup was easy enough, but the acorn always rebounds out of the cup "I can't do it, it won't stay in."

"Try to keep the cup as still as you can and try not to hit the center, go for the corners." He pointed inside the cup to where the base curved into the wall.

He threw it one more time and Jason watched for what he pointed out. Jason was able to see as the acorn got caught by the curve and it spun around until it settled at the bottom.

"Oohhh." Armed with this new information, Jason began trying it on his own. Ears folded back, eyes squinted, and sticking his tongue out of the side of his muzzle in concentration, Jason put his full focus on the task he set out to accomplish.

Focus that could be used on other things, like finishing the homework that lays forgotten on his bed. Instead, games, comics, and other miscellaneous items like his whackbat, litter the floor take all the attention away from it.

It's been a year since Jason tried to join pack nine fourteen and a few things had changed since then. He became more manipulative, at least toward Prey. There were also things that didn't change like he was still small for his age, like seven pounds too small. Seven pounds might not seem like much to a Wolf who would weigh an average of a hundred and seventy pounds, but for a Fox who would max out at forty to fifty, it's a lot. Jason still had his baby face where his muzzle was still a bit short and his head was slightly too big for his body but it wasn't as pronounced as last year.

"Jay! Kris! It's Time For Dinner!" The sound of his Mother's voice threw off his aim when his arm jerked as he turned to face the direction where the voice came from, causing him to miss completely.

"Coming!"

"Coming!"

The Kits answered the Vixen in unison, Food erasing any other priorities.

As they start to run toward the dining table, the same voice yelled out "You Better Clean Up In There Before You Even Think Of Eating!"

Meryl smiled and shook her head as she heard the taps of their claws against the floor stop, then head back toward the bedroom. She was just about done setting the table when George and the others walked in the kitchen.

As she placed the last plate, George hugged her from behind and kissed the crook of her neck "Smells delicious my dear."

She smiled as she watched her family and friends gather around the table to eat.

Jason sat to her right and Kris to her left. On the other side of Jason was her Mate, followed by Kylie, Owen, Clive, Jenny, and ending back with Kris. The room was filled with the sounds of a family dinner. Forks and knives scraping against the plate, sipping and chewing and more are clear to their sensitive hearing, and multiple conversions are held at the same time.

"So Jason, I was talking to your Mom about having you help around my office during break. If you're interested, you can get a little spending money for yourself."

Jason nodded so fast that his muzzle was a blur as it went up and down "Yeah, absolutely!"

His first job! All the things he can do now!

Jason makes his excitement known by his goofy smile and wagging tail. But his good mood was ruined by his Mother doing what all Moms do best, embarrass their kits. Pinching both of his cheeks, Meryl coo'd over his small amount of pride.

"Aww! My little baby is growing up! It seemed like it just was yesterday that you wanted the kit's meal from McDonkeys."

"Mmooommmm! Stop it!" He tried with all his might, all in vain to get away from the paws that brings stinging cheeks and a bruised ego. "And that was yesterday!"

*sigh* "They grow up so fast."

Jason's cheeks started to burn, not because of the pinches, but because of the embarrassment in knowing that everyone present is watching in amusement as the Mother coddled the young kit. Once he was free, he scooted as far away in the chair as he could. His left ear flicked in annoyance and he resisted the urge to spit. If he did that while he was inside then cheek pinches will be the least of his problems.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

George shared a look with Meryl and he got up to answer the door. Looking through the peephole, he saw the mammal he was expecting. Opening the door, everyone was greeted by the sight of two Skunks doe's who were both met with warmth and kindness.

The older doe has wide white stripes with a mostly white tail while the young kit has much thinner stripes and a mostly black tail with white highlights. They both wear matching glasses (Skunks generally have poor vision so most do have prescriptions) but where that's where their shared sense of style ends. The older doe wears a white blouse with dark blue jeans with the kit wears a light blue hoodie and gray sweats.

"Mary! How are you? Thank you so much for agreeing to watch the kits tonight. And I see that you brought little Amanda, just look at you! Every time I see you, you look more and more like your mother. Just look how your stripes are coming in, it won't be long until you have all the bucks chasing you."

The young doe's black fur hides her blush well enough but that doesn't hide the other signs of her bashfulness. The shy smile and the constantly shifting stance betray just how happy she is with the praise.

"Foxy, you charmer you! It's been too long!" Mary reaches out and pulls George into a hug. Amanda goes around the adults as they get into their own conversation.

She groups up with the other kits but more specifically, groups up with Jason.

"Hey Jay." She gave him a small wave and smile.

"Hey Mandy."

"Kits.. we're going to be going out now, listen to Mary. We will be back tomorrow morning."

"Bye Mom! Bye Dad!"

"Bye!"

"See you tomorrow."

"Don't worry about the little ones. We're going to have so much fun, aren't we kits?" They all nod enthusiastically.

George, Meryl, Kylie, Owen, Clive, and Jenny leave Kris and Nick to stay behind under the care of Mary. Jason watched from the window as the van left the driveway and off to wherever they were going.

"Ok kits before we do anything, you need to finish your homework."

"Aww."

Turns out that Jason was the only one who needed to finish as he didn't even start.

As he was confined to the kitchen table, Amanda took it upon herself to help Jason with what he didn't understand. He wasn't by any means failing or struggling in any of his classes, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't parts that he needed help with, particularly with science. Mary was watching over then as she cleaned the mess they others had left behind as they didn't have the time to do it before it was time to leave. Kris opted to help her as they waited for Jason to finish.

Amanda held the textbook in front her, quizzing Jason on the chapter's contents as he mindlessly filled out the homework worksheet at the same time"What is the answer for the B question?"

He stopped writing to thumb though his notes "The punnett square is what is typically used to help with determining which traits from which parent is inherited by the offspring."

"Close enough."

The soft scratches of the pencil continued and she searched for something else to question him with.

Mary watched from her peripherals as her daughter aided the todd. The young doe's crush on the todd wasn't lost on both of their parents, it was actually something that Mary encouraged. Both of their families had been close ever since he had driven bullies away from her.

From the way Mandy told it, Jason had provoked the ringleader into attacking him. But unbeknownst to the little posse, a teacher who actually liked Nick had been watching ever since he intervened and before anything could happen, the Lion had broken things up and took the troublemakers to the office.

Ever some then, Mandy had stuck to him in and outside it school. Jason hadn't minded as he didn't have many friends because they believed that he would rob them, which was funny as he only stole from the ones who expected him to. Never would he steal from his friends.

"Finally!" He snapped his notebook shut and packed everything away. "Finished."

"You ready for finals?"

"It'll be a breeze." The self assured smile and half lidded eyes showed confidence.

Mary addressed everyone "since you're all finished, would you rather watch a movie, play board games, or go to the park?"

"Park!" "Park!" "Park!"

It was nearing the end of spring so they still had plenty of time until it got dark, but with all of them being nocturnal it would really matter if not for it being a school night.

The park was nothing special, just a plot of land with tall grass and soft dirt suitable for digging. Kris is spending his time gathering new acorns and the other two are chasing each other in the grass.

A Skunk's nose may not be as good as a Canine's but being a traditionally scavenger animal did make their nose more powerful than normal, so the lack of visual contact encouraged them to rely on scent tracking and audio cues to play.

Jason pops out of the grass only to dive back in using a instinctual pounce which allowed him just a brief glimpse from above before crashing into Amanda.

"AHH!"

"Got you!"

Mandy was more surprised than anything when he had gone airborne. He tucked and rolled, keeping himself in between her and the ground. She ended up laying against his chest once they've stopped moving and their tails were intertwined with each other.

Jason tried to get up, but she kept herself on him as dead weight.

"You're trapped!"

"Not for long!"

Using his forefinger's claws, he poked her rib which extracted a snort and giggle from her.

"Nooo! My only weakness!"

"FOX!"

His eyes snapped open and toward the origin of the shrill, raspy voice. The memories from the night before were chased away by the owner who was an aging Ibex with whitening snout which stretched into a scowl. Her name was Sarah Rockwell and she did not like Jason Fox one bit.

"Yes?" He said in a confused and ask to innocent voice.

He made it his goal to push the limits of her nonexistent patience but to do so in a way that he can't get in trouble for it, just to make things hard for the hateful Goat.

"Surely you must know all about the TAME act of nineteen eighty, because I don't know why else you think it would be okay to sleep during today's lecture."

"Yup, I studied all night long and that's why I'm tired and falling asleep." His reply was immediate, and judging by the narrowed eyes of the ornery nanny she didn't believe him. The kit liked to turn mammal's sarcastic comments against them, it has a nice effect of easily pissing them off.

"Then you wouldn't mind explaining to the class what the TAME act was."

"The TAME act was a bill passed by Congress forcing all predators to wear an electro shock collar when out in public that monitored heart rate to determine whether or not a little 'attitude adjustment' is in order."

If that old Goat thought that any Predator would forget that period, then she might have dementia in her overripe age.

"... Stay awake."

Looking out the window, he watched a bird fly from the sky into the trees, wishing for that kind of freedom.

But he never believed for a second that he will get that freedom.