Flippy woke again around 2:00 pm ( 14:00 hours, a habit he couldn't ever kick was thinking of time in the 24 hour cycle.) He sat up groggily, feeling sick and sticky. The bottle of whiskey was overturned, and the remains of what was left has spilled onto his face, and had dried a sticky disgustingness, matting his fur, overnight. He had a terrible hangover, his head pounding. He hadn't had a hangover this strong in a long time, and remembered the first time he had drank in the war, and picked up his pen, hoping he would spell right....
"Come on, Flip, can't you do it?"
"Yeah man, don't piss out on us now!"
A few friends' of Flippys were crowded around him, laughing and cutting up. They were still cadets, in boot camp, and had gotten a break for the day. They had decided to celebrate with- what else? Lots and lots of alchohol. (What they didn't know was that this was expected - the men were going to be worked brutally the next day when they awoke with hangover's, and the aim was to teach them the reason they should not drink while in the army, the hard way.
The boys currently were trying to get Flippy to chug a beer, as it had gotten around that he had never drank before. The men were laughing and chanting, and Flippy was more than willing to grab it from them, and pour the acid - tasting liquid down his throat. After he finished it, he began coughing and sputtering, gasping for water, disgusted by the taste of the popular drink. As Flippy got older, he began to depend on the stuff, but he was still young. Unfortunately, he also had no idea what a 'hangover' was. His father, a man called Sniper when he was in the war, had never like drinking, since he himself was a man of God.
The next morning, Flippy had been the last one up, and the last one ready. The other men were sick as dogs as well, but they had more experience, and tried not to show it. Unfortunately for Flippy, he was innocent to these facts - he had never had a hangover, and never had any idea that there were any consequences to drinking, except of course, burning in hell, but he didn't care and wasn't even sure he believed it. So of course, when he woke the next morning vomiting, pale, and sensitive to light, he truly believed there was something wrong with him. He thought he had he flu, or AIDS, or something.
Flippy's current commanding officer came over to a pale green, sweating, shivering Flippy, standing at a lazy attention, bed made badly, and screamed into his face, " WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, CADET? DO YOU WANT TO SCRUB THE TOILETS WITH YOUR GODDAMN TAIL?"
Flippy moaned at the man in his face, and fell straight back on his ass, and turned quickly so that he was facing the ground, and puked. He turned up to the man, crying, " Sir, may I go see the nurse, sir?"
The man suddenly grinned. " What, you fuckin' hungover, maggot?"
Flippy looked confused. " Sir, I don't understand, sir. Am I what?"
The man wrinkled his nose in disgust. " You're gonna clean that vomit up, maggot. Go get your pillow."
Flippy's eyes widened in horror. He hung his head miserably, and mumbled, "Sir, yes sir."
A guy named Red, or Hunter to his commanding officers, the local dickhead, cried, " Aww, hell, I guess he's really sick! Maybe he should call in today, whaddya think, guys?"
The other men in the room were in fits trying to hold back their laughter, all except one man -
Suddenly, Flippy jumped a bit in his seat, nearly flinging his pen. Of course! How could I forget him? Eyeballs!
Except one man, a Jimi Thomas, known to his commanding officers as Thomas, and to his friends as simply Eyes, due to his rather... unusual looks.
He had a striking contrast between his eyes and fur - he was nearly black, with a bright red inner ear, but what was striking about his eyes was that not only was one blue and the other green, it was that they were such bright, stunning shades of cyan and neon green. He had been made fun of as a child, but he got crap about everything as a child.
Flippy started to write what he was, but looking back on it now, he really wasn't sure what kind of animal he was. Perhaps some kind of cat - Flippy wasn't sure, but he remembered distinctly that he had no tail.
But Eyes didn't laugh. He looked rather sympathetic as Flippy reluctantly picked up his pillow, and began to wipe up the vomit. Later that night, Eyes timidly approached Flippy, and offered his own pillow to replace Flippy's. Flippy was very appreciative, but declined, as gracefully as possible, saying that he intended to take his punishment like a man. Flippy, of course, was young and full of bravado.
Eyes saw, though, that this was not a disrespectful move, and smiled at Flippy, and the two became quick friends. Later, when the two of them were shipped to 'Nam, they ended up in the same platoon, and both went into the Green Beret's together.
Also, another man came over to see if he was alright. He went by Thompson, he had never liked nicknames, although somehow everyone knew him on a first name basis. Mike, his name was. He was the picture of stereotypical cigarette-in-hand-beer-in-other-hand good 'ol country boy, hick marine. he had a baby girl at home, just born, maybe two months old, and a wife and three older boys, one of them already moved out. The girl was an after-thought. He was a hardass when he wanted to be, cold, hard and intimidating, but he had a good sense of humor and could get along with most people. He just didn't put up with rebellious kids, druggies, or anyone of the like. He and Ritsuko were mortal enemies, might as well be.
He came over and said in a voice that was hesitantly authoritative, and in a drawling country accent, " Come on, kid, get up." He reached out a hand toward the boy, on hands and knees on the ground. Flippy say that his hand was calloused and rough with years of hard work, and hesitantly took it. The man silently demanded humility from youth, and Flippy had no thoughts of being prideful and rejecting his hand. Besides, it seemed wise to have a man like that on your own side. Mike nodded respectfully, and Flippy realized that this man already had as much respect from himself as he could possibly get. he already respected this man more than his own dad. Mike offered him a cigarrette ( Inadvertently, he was the one who got Flippy addicted) and Flippy took it, and there was a silent understanding between the two. They were now comrades.
Flippy sighed, then remembered that he planned to write about his first mission. This was before Ritsuko's death, so she, Eyes, srgt. Manson, and the rest of his squad, were all there. He sighed, delving into one painful memory after the next.
Flippy, Eyes, Ritsuko, Thompson, Howell, Rodriguez, Slash, and Red all stood at attention, saluting, under srgt. Manson's critical eyes. He stared at them. He just stared, and stared and stared, until sweat began to form on every single one of the private's necks. They each began to wonder if they had done anything wrong, trying to mentally make a checklist of whether they had done everything they needed to have done. They came up with nothing unusual, so they wondered why the hell he was staring them down.
Suddenly, he cried, " AT EASE!"
The eight of them dropped their hands so quickly, they could only be seen as blurs. He walked right up to Ritsuko, looking her in the face. This was before she had kicked her habit, and it was painfully obvious that srgt. manson knew about her vice. Obvious to everyone, that is, except Ritsuko herself. She seemed to think nobody could tell except herself when she was high. Which she currently was. Looking disgusted, he turned away, leaving Ritsuko breathing a silent sigh of relief.
"Alright, kiddies, the day has come for our first operation - Aren't you excited?" He said dryly. " We are going directly into the Veitnam enemy forces - this is an infiltration mission! Not all of you ill be going, some of you will be posted around in certain key places to make sure the operation goes smoothly." He stared over them, and Flippy began to wonder if he was going or not. He didn't have to wait long, as Srgt. Manson suddenly boomed, " Hunter (Red)! Thompson(Mike)! McClane(Flippy)! Ritsuko! Thomas(Eyes)! You are going to infiltrate the Veitnam base. Your mission is to destroy all of their ammunition, and the main force will go in and take over the base. The rest of you will be posted in the trees with radio transmitters. Your mission is to make sure all of you come back alive, get the picture?"
Simultaneously, they all screamed, " SIR, YES SIR!"
Stone cried back, " That's what I wanna hear! Alright, everyone back to your dorms, you'll get your individual instructions in the morning, and we move out at 06:00 hundered hours! Understood?"
" SIR YES SIR!!!" They shrieked at him.
Flippy planned on writing the mission right now, but realized it was 14:00 hundered hours ( 2:00 pm) and that he had his meeting with his psychiatrist in twenty minutes. He quickly pulled on his jacket, tags, and hat, and grabbed his papers, hurrying out the door and popping into his truck. He drove down to the woman's office, arriving at the same time as her.
She smiled cordially at him, and saw him into her office. Twenty minutes later, she was just finishing up reading what he had already written, set the papers down on her desk, not looking at him, and then stared down at her desk. Other than a few winces when she read about him and Ritsuko, her face had not changed. He twitched and figdeted in his chair nervously, waiting impatiently for anything, any comment, just something. Finally, she looked up at him, her face solemn. He went stock still, waiting, almost wanting to scream at her, " WELL!?" But he forced himself to be quiet.
She got up, and walked over next to him, sitting on the chair adjacent to him, and put a hand gingerly on his upper arm, looking with sadness into his eyes. She finally said," You have to keep writing."
He stared at her mingled relief and rage fighting for dominance. He felt like screaming at her, " Thats ALL!?"
And also crying with relief, saying, " Thank god, that's all!"
Before he said anything, she pulled him to his feet, handed him his papers, and pushed him out the door. He stared at the closed door, and sighed, shaking his head. He hurried back out to his truck, and back home. He would continue.
Chapter 2! :D get rid of the spaces if you are curious about seeing the characters :P Or just search their first and last names, and HTF, on deviantart. com
http://aven-cloudchaser. deviantart. com/art/Red-Htf-oc-129599550
http://aven-cloudchaser. deviantart. com/art/Mike-Htf-oc-130646398
http://aven-cloudchaser. deviantart. com/art/Eyes-Htf-129598677
http://aven-cloudchaser. deviantart. com/art/Stone-Htf-oc-2-129597864
http://aven-cloudchaser. deviantart. com/art/Ritsuko-htf-oc-129598942
