(BEFORE WE START) (⁠｡⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)

(FANART!!!!)

Dreaming_Reatily
(I LOVE IT!! It looks so good.) (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

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[Months later]

"More coffee, ma'am?" Waitress kindly asked. Holding the hot pot of black coffee. Officer's tail wags slightly behind her once smelling the strong and bitter beverage. Nodding her head. Lifting up her mug to the woman. The satisfying sound of the hot liquid filling up her cup made her ears tingle. The steam rising up into the air made it look like art.
         Officer thought the lady really had good manners. Not to mention she's seen her around often. Lammy, she believes her name was. A beautiful Lamb woman with gorgeous hair and lovely sweater. She noted herself to give her a big tip.

Taking a sip of her coffee. Feeling the hotness travel down into her body. Her once half cold body now changing temperature in seconds. It was still early morning. Meaning the air was crisp and the temperature was still low. Winter was her most/least favorite season. It was so damn cold outside that every time you breathed you looked like a fire breathing dragon.
            Either way.... having something warm in her stomach was perfect enough. 

This diner she was in was nearly 50 years old. She liked the old retro look it had and how nostalgic it made her feel. She both hated and loved the feeling.  The place was called Sully's Diner. It belonged to an old gray Chinchilla. He was a rather sweet old man. Officer had found a cool fact about his diner not too long ago. Way before, this town really only allowed prey/herbivores. Times were much different when she was little. When more of carnivore/predators started to show up here. The town started to make signs of who was allowed in the businesses and who wasn't. What they failed to realize that Sully was secretly dating a Panther, and was ashamed that they wouldn't allow her kind anywhere. "We all have needs. Why does our preferences make those judge us?" Were his famous words. So, with determination, he created this diner. Where anyone can be welcomed. 

That story always cheered her up when she listened to it. It's not a popular story but she liked it. Being a predator herself- she has had problems in the past. Which is why she move here. Lets just say they stand by their name. "Happy Tree Town." She's never seen such nice folks...Sure they have their ups and down...and may not even be the brightest. (May or may not be talking about Lumpy.) But she took an oath to protect these little guys the best she can. She was willing to die for her country. She'd die for her friends.                                                                                                                                                                 She looked out the window of the diner. The booth tables were her favorite. They always had such a comforting feeling when you sit in one. And she liked the window seats. It gave her a great view of the town. And because it was still early the sun was kind of halfway up in the sky. Giving it an orange and pinkish look. With clouds spread out like a beautiful work of art. The sun illumining behind the clouds really giving it an angelic view. She felt like a little puppy again. Wanting to pull on her mother's arm and show her just how beautiful the sky was.

Her coffee cup nearly empty once again. She would be working during this time, but her boss really insisted she took off the morning shift just for this day. She had a knack for overworking herself. Workaholic is what he calls her. 

work·a·hol·ic[ˌwərkəˈhôlik, ˌwərkəˈhälik]nouna person who compulsively spends a great deal of time working at their job:

What he didn't understand was that she loved her job. It was therapy to her. She wasn't good at any other skill. Shes way too scary to do customer service. Her face wasn't exactly the friendliest to look at if you didn't know her personally. Not to mention her communication isn't very great either. Her tone either sounds sarcastic or was to threatening. Wasn't her fault. Cuddles has been trying to help her how to express herself more. That little rabbit was her first friend here after all. He took one good look at her and said "You look lonely. You're my friend now." That is why extroverts have her biggest respect.                                                                                                                                          She was so busy in her state of mind. She let her guard down for a split second. Just to allow herself to relax. Which allowed someone to sit in her booth without her noticing for a minute.  That is until she was hit with a strong familiar scent.... It smelled like peppermints and pine leaves. Quite the holiday smell.

She turned her gaze to her front. Her tail shooting up in shock. Not expecting to see someone sitting in front of her. It was Flippy. He didn't have on his veteran outfit this time.... It was his librarian uniform. It looked a lot comfortable on it. And it was kinda odd seeing him without his beret. He usually is always in his veteran uniform. He looked good. Even his little fluff of hair on his hair was done. 

(All art belongs to Cookiee Lemon.)

The job suited him. It's better for him to be in a quieter location. And he always liked to read during the war. He had a nice narrative voice too- You'd never expect him to be a solider from first glance. Just a pretty beefy Librarian. Speaking of Librarian. Officer guessed that the library hasn't opened yet. Maybe he's just grabbing a coffee to wake himself up. I know I would. Library's make me so sleepy after a great story.                                                                                                                                                    "Sorry, I didn't see you there...Morning Ser-" "Flippy! Just....call me Flippy. No need to be formal." I could hear his slight accent. He spoke Russian and English. Which would explain the accent. It wasn't as rough as most accents. His father on the other hand. He sounded almost like a Russian version of Batman. Nearly impossible to understand.
         She found his accent harmonic to listen to.

[Officer's POV]

"....Can I ask you something." I had been feeling like I was supposed to tell him something... There were so many questions. Yet it never came out into perfect words. HIs facial expression read gleeful and merry. He seemed to be in a good mood. Maybe he can finally tell me more about 'the incident' . I don't like to force my fellow solider... But I hate people who ignore my demands.  "Anything! You can ask me whatever you want! Oh!.... Sorry I didn't mean to raise my voice." Still the same old Flippy.                                                                                                                                                                        "After the ....well more like during it...Do you remember what "happened" that day." Highlighting happened; I raised my finger to my eyepatch. Either the heater had broken last minute.... or the atmosphere just got colder. His face darkened. My body's fur is sticking up. similar to a scared cat. His claws were reacting, and I saw that they were leaving claw impressions on the table. I was to blame for that. I asked again out of selfishness. There were others who experienced misery besides me. "Honestly, I was blacked out. I don't remember anything. As if I hadn't been there. All that I can recall is a lot of smoke, bodies, and then you. All I could hear was the gunshot. That's when I realized you had taken my bullet. The bullet that was meant for....me." Way to go, Officer. You just had to fuck up. I gotta make it up for it.                                                                               "Forget I said anything....It seems we both don't remember well. Don't worry. I'm sorry for say-" "It's okay." Cutting me off, he leans over the table to take my hand. He was very sweet. I should make something up. I gave him my number. That way, he can get help or simply hang out like old times. It's the least I can do after bothering him. He appeared happy with my offer. In fact, he was overjoyed to hear the news. He was so excited that he extended his entire body across the table. And crushed me with a hug... Still a hugger, I suppose

         We chatted and talked for a while. I even bought him some tea; he wasn't a coffee drinker. He seemed sweet, yet a little awkward. His cheeks were always flushed red, and his gaze never left mine. He asked me a number of questions about myself. And always freaking out when he realized how much we had in common. We are both predators, and this town doesn't have many of them. In fact, I'm the only wolf here. At least there are three and a half bears. So, I'm not completely alone. Our conversions were cut short.  It was nearly time for the library to open, and he needed to go.                                     "...I enjoyed this talk. I had so much fun. I love y- I LOVE being around you." He smiles sheepishly. His accent throwing off his English. It was funny but in a cute way. 

He thanked me for the tea and headed to the door. Taking one last look of me. Such an odd man... I left a tip at my table and also left a few minutes after. Because of a random shift twist today. I was kinda free for a bit. I could do some cleaning at home... Maybe do some shopping. There was a lot I can do... I walked down the sidewalk. Trying to make up my mind of what to do. Until that sound of some type of metal made my ears ring. Looking down I noticed a dog tag. A familiar one. It looked identical to mine. Grabbing it, I held it up in the air. It was Flippy's. Which was odd. He never goes anywhere without it. I started to read with was on the tag... His name, branch, blood type and species. As well as a date...Seeing it up close. I was getting Daja vu. Not a fun one at that. My heart dropping into my stomach and it felt like I was being pistol whipped. My head flooded with different pictures. Flashing in my mind. Nearly giving me a seizure. And just like that- they disappeared. I tried to remember what I had seen. But of course, it was gone. 

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