Vance - Lou Gagliardi

Vance had lived on Chakona, in the town of Marpletown, his entire life. He was born at the local hospital to two loving parents, one of whom sadly passed the year before.  The thirty year old fox was a teacher at the Marpletown High School and currently single. Not that he wasn’t looking, he just saw no reason to rush the process. Despite being a romantic, he decided that love will come when it comes.

His alarm had gone off for the day at the first hour, he proceeded to go get into the shower. He had to use a special soap for a bit. He grabbed and watched as it bubbled along his dark blue fur. That was a genetic thing, passed down from generations upon generations. No one quite knew what happened in his family tree that made them all blue, but Vance did spend showers in thought on it, having never come up with anything. His body was still sore from the workout at the local gym from yesterday, so being in thought is exactly what he needed right now. Going to the gym made him happy though. It was his way of getting through the pressures of teaching ninth and tenth graders, though that depended upon the day. Some were more stressful than others.

As he stepped out of the bathroom and into a pair of gold boxer briefs, Vance took stock of his body. He was well fit though not overly so. It definitely showed that he lifted weights. Vance was pleased with it, and struck a few poses, his muscles flexed as he did. Big, fluffy tail wagged behind him. Vance scrubbed over his black socks, there naturally and contrasted well with his blue fur. He had no hair on the top of his head, which is why it took less time to shower than it should have normally. His brown eyes watched the muscles dance under his cream belly fur. A tent started to form in his boxer briefs, modest but still noticeable. All in all, he was a very handsome chap. He pulled on a yellow tank top and a pair of shorts, knowing that he’d have to get some things done on his two days off.

All smiles, Vance pulled out his sunglasses at the same time his ears went through the holes on his hat, ready to seize the day. The vulpine had a list of places he had to go and people had to see. The last place on the list was simply ‘the gym.’ Thankfully, all the places were within walking distance of each other, so no reason for a PT or any other type of transportation. He double checked his list and his credit amount on his pad as Vance drank his morning tea, raspberry in flavor, and ate some toast.

“Keys...check, pad...check, shoe..oh wait silly me. I typically go barepaw anyway.”

With that, Vance stepped out the door of the apartment building and into the sunlight. He waved at his neighbors sitting on the stoop and whistled as he walked down the street to the market. It was farmer’s market day and he didn’t want to miss out on the action. Vance was a simple man who loved his vegetables as much as his meat. There was also a pretty young chakat that he loved to watch and talk to at the market.

It only took ten minutes for him to get there. The usually empty lot full of carts and ‘kats, people chattering and gossiping. Vance had brought his bag with him, as he went over to a stand and just started to gaze at the tomatoes.

“It’ll be ten credits for a bushel of twelve, five credits for a bushel of 8, and any less than that I charge a credit per tomato.”

Vance looked up to see the big bull morph. He definitely looked like he belonged on a farm. Or in professional wrestling. He nodded to the bovine once and then looked back down at the tomatoes. They were the juicest, ripest looking tomatoes he ever saw. A thumb to the end of his muzzle, tail swept low on the ground as he tried to figure out how many he needed. Vance loved his tomatoes, even just on toasted bread with butter and a little salt. It was something his mother had done before she died and it was something he continued. Especially with some cool tea on a hot summer day.

“I’ll take a bushel of twelve. They’ll go treat in a salad or on a..”

Vance stopped himself, ears drooped. The bull snorted, arms crossed over his arms before a smirk formed on his face. They both knew what Vance was going to say, but the vulpine still felt bad. The bull then let out a laugh.

“No biggie, little man! You’ve got your dietary likes and I’ve got mine. Not the end of the world. That’ll be ten credits.”

The two exchange information, and promise to meet up for drinks later in the week. After Vance paid, he put the push into his bag, thankful that it was big enough to handle it. He looked around, but didn’t see his favorite chakat. So the blue vulpine went about his business as he bought a few heads of lettuce and a couple of carrots.  Ears drooped more and his tail didn’t even wag, until he figured that shi was probably at the actual market.

“Okay, now to the store to get some meat and more tea.”

Vance loved the local market. It looked smaller on the outside yet somehow when you went in, it looked bigger than anyone could have imagined. He went down the aisles, grabbing ketchup and mustard before grabbing a couple of packages of hot dog buns and hot dogs. He got to the tea section and grabbed as much of the tea he could handle a need to stockpile crossed his thoughts. Vance walked back to the butcher section.

“hey there, Shir Redpaw. How fresh is the meat?”

The red colored chakat looked up from hir counting of the packaged sliced ham and smiled. Shi was average sized for a chakat, but one could tell that shi did well at the job of butchering animals. Especially in hir arms. Shi walked behind the counter and took a quick look, then sniff of the meat.

“For you, my vulpine chum? Very fresh. How much you need?”

“Two and a half pounds.”

And the two stood there. They chatted up a storm, Vance silently told himself that the gym could wait till tomorrow.