A Fur-midable Encounter [Feral]

Whatever it was that had worried the other student, it was no longer an issue, it seemed. Her face had cleared and her hands had returned to pleasing Crow, who also ceased to be concerned. But. There was almost something off about how concerned she had looked, for it to be resolved by so little information.

Of course, Feral had zero idea of what to do with her suspicion, or how to confirm it without just making a big mess of anything, So.

A name! Sigrid. She did not recognize this name. But there was slightly more information! A confirmation of nearby-ness. Which explained Crow. Okay. Sigrid. She should remember that. She could remember that! Sigrid. Sig-rid or Sih-grid?


Maybe she just wouldn’t have to ever say it out loud. That would deal with that. Right now, certainly, she was talking to Sigrid and so she didn’t have to say the name and possibly not say it quite like Sigrid had. Her ears also pricked at the question, and the tip of her blonde tail waved behind her briefly. ”Quick and Kai are also here!”. She gave a short whistle, almost a chirp, and a large, furry, black snout immediately protruded between Feral’s hip and the door. From further in the room, a soft huff emerged, followed by the unhurried clicking of nails against the bare floor. The second dog was substantially shorter than the first, leaner and silkier, with grey splashed across her otherwise white face, and she plopped down again behind Feral, sleepily watching the stranger and the cat.

Feral leaned into the door and the too-hopeful brat casually trying to shoulder his way past. ”This is Kai, and this is Quick,” she explained, indicating the black and then the white dog in turn. “Blue Weaver is also pack, but she isn’t an animal, and she doesn’t live here.”. This seemed to be good sharing and trading. ”If you are also on this floor... then you are in 1-B?”. Her ears wavered a little bit. She didn’t like being in class, although she liked learning the things.

Kai had not met this person before, and she showed no sign of being afraid of him. In fact, she was already asking for something that was probably going to be excellent. The black dog leaned further into Feral’s side and snorted wetly up at her, earning a sigh and a moderately restrained eye-roll before she pushed the door open enough for him to bound forward into Sigga’s outstretched hands. Crow fluffed up, half-heartedly, at the theft of attention and sauntered into the forbidden depths of Feral’s bedroom.

Feral herself was not quite so sure how proceed with all of this. Sigrid was patting Kai, which wasn’t entirely new. She knew how to wait while people paid attention to the dogs. This, though, was in the midst of an unscripted conversation, and now it was crossing over a conflicting script even more than while she had been patting Crow. It was growing harder and harder to keep her tail relaxed and not twitching, and she wanted to shift her balance but didn’t want to look like she was about to attack or run away, even if human-people almost never noticed those things, except now she was starting to get stiff from standing so carefully still for so long.

And then Sigrid’s casual but so very pointed question-sentence sent blood rushing through Feral’s entire face, flushing so hard that even the insides of her ears darkened a bit if anyone were looking closely enough. She had asked for Sigrid’s name and that was normal and good, but names were supposed to be a trade thing, and she hadn’t done that. Right now. She had to fix it right now. Before it got even more delayed and wrong and awkward. ”I’m-“

Wait. Was Sigrid expecting it to be her legal name or her real name? How would she react to her real name? What if she gave Sigrid her legal name, and then Sigrid called it out in class or something and she didn’t realize it because the name was so foreign that it didn’t even usually register when someone said it out loud? She didn’t usually care what people thought of the name Feral, but this was a classmate and a person who lived almost concerningly close by, and who obviously really liked animals and would probably want to see her pack again. So now it mattered.

Feral made herself take a breath, and then a second. She tried not to fidget as the bulk of the anxiety eased, just a bit, like Kai rolling off her chest in his sleep. She tried again. ”My name is... Feral. To the school, though, it’s Akiko.”. She couldn’t stop her fingers from twisting the stretchy fabric at her waist. ”I don’t like Akiko.”

Not all, but a substantial amount of the tension faded from its outposts in Feral’s shoulders and ears and tail and throat and gut. Sigrid had not only not reacted negatively to Feral’s name but had also agreed to use it. One more person who wouldn’t end up calling her by her old name. It wasn’t that it was bad or anything, it just didn’t.... fit. It wasn’t her, whatever the paperwork said.

But she didn’t need to deal with any of that right now. Sigrid would call her Feral, and the whole pack liked her so far. Kai especially; he didn’t want her to stop patting him, and was trying to reinsert his head into her rapidly ascending hands. The moment he reared up, though, still following Sigrid’s movement, Feral clicked her tongue at him, sharp and firm but brief. Kai huffed and twisted to the side before his paws could make contact.

Feral offered a hesitant smile, not quite showing the edge of her teeth. ”He likes you. He usually tries to pretend he’s mean and scary, but all he really ever wants is to get his face rubbed.”. Her smile faltered as she ran out of things to say, and then was replaced by a small crinkle between her eyebrows as she tried to decipher Sigrid’s words. Was this sort of encountered called stopping by? But Sigrid had just followed Crow when she called him back after he wandered off and got into a place he shouldn’t have. So if this was reversed to take place at Sigrid’s room, when Sigrid didn’t appear to have a cat who would sneak into Feral’s room...

”Do you want them to visit you?” she asked, gesturing briefly to Kai (still hanging close and hoping for more attention) and Crow (somewhere out of sight in the room, so the gesture included Quick). She wasn’t sure what she would have to do with the interaction. ”You can ask, whenever we’re inside. And awake. Except for Crow, he sleeps all the time so it’s okay to wake him up.”

Sigrid leaned backward, comfortable in her own support, and watched Feral as Feral continued to watch Sigrid, still not entirely relaxed and definitely not anywhere near as chill as Sigrid was now. The assurance that she wanted visits from Feral’s pack helped, of course, and the simple fact that the conversation had gone on for a few minutes without anything especially stressful actually happening. A couple of confusing things, sure, but Feral chalked that up to her own inexperience with people society stuff.

At least, nothing especially stressful until Sigrid went and mentioned homework. Feral did not let her gaze slide into the room, or her memory supply what was left to do; there was always more to do. Always. Not all of it for UA itself, but still, there was always more things to write and struggle with and think about. So much paper. Nope. Not thinking about it -

Never mind that she had clearly been thinking about it for a while, since her ears noted a lull in the general noise level and conversation status, but then Sigrid went and directly asked about it.

Feral couldn’t hide her flinch, then, eyes sliding down and to the side as if not making eye contact would somehow make it easier to hide the fact that no, she had not finished her homework. Yet. Yet! She would get it done. There was just so much, and it never stopped...

Her hands slid behind her back to tangle in the long ponytail hiding beneath her tank until it met her tail. ”Mostly...” she reluctantly admitted. ”I thought there’d be more doing stuff...”