Pass It Along February 1-5

Harlow looked a bit like a bastard of a Scarfox. Looks could go a long way in telling someone of the content of the character, considering the All Mother had put each Scarfox together with a very specific idea in mind, and she had gone through many iterations of a design before she would feel comfortable putting a soul into the body and sending it on its way.

Harlow was black and red, but to give such a lackluster description would have been rude. Yes, they were black and red, but it would have been more correct to describe them as a deep gray in color. The lightest grays were around the mouth and ankle joints, and it would go from that light gray to a nice mid tone gray and then taper off into black in a smooth gradient . Their arms were long, just as any Scarfox’s arms were, and they were the darkest color, tipped in a vibrant red with shearing claws sticking from the fabric like an elaborate and well loved series of scalpels. Their arms were lined with a similarly bright red color that reflected the light that lanced across the strips of metal and a crass series of darker red splotches laid across the arms, blood seeped into fabric.

Though it was well known that a Scarfox did not bleed. They could not, for their bodies lacked sacks of meat and organs and were powered by a magical mist that worked similarly enough to the concept of muscles that they were virtually indistinguishable from the meat having types of creatures.

Harlow also sported a black hoodie with no other patterns or icons on it. It ended just above where their elbow would have been if they had one, and it was a similar color to the eyespots they had along their tail and tips of their feets and facial fluff. Accented only by a set of piercings in each of the ears and above the lovingly crafted eyebrows, Harlow was a sight to behold. And they were on their way to have a new addition made to their body.

While they enjoyed their piercings intensely, it was always good to get a breath of fresh air once in a while, and they were about six and a half months past due for making that kind of change.

After checking all their seams and brushing their facial fur into a more presentable point, Harlow took their hood, pulled it on, grabbed their house keys and made their way out the door, telling their pets that they would be back before the day was up so long as they didn’t get any calls to go to work.

Once they had locked their beloved pets in and checked for mai on the way out, Harlow was on their way to their favorite piercing place, a place that wasn’t too too far from where they lived, but still took at least half an hour to walk to even on a good day.

Despite their eagerness, they kind of hoped that they would see something interesting along the way.

---

Harlow was about half way to their final destination when something had caught their attention. Normally, when they were walking from one place to another, they didn’t make a point of stopping to talk to or look at anybody. Living in a big city had a way of tempering down the desire to make friends with complete strangers. Much like they did, these other Scarfoxes had places to go and didn’t want some transplant blocking up the sidewalk when traffic was moving.

The sidewalk was jammed packed with foxes heading in all sorts of directions, and even though Harlow didn’t normally ruminate on it, they did stop and take a step to the side, closer to the side of a huge skyscraper so the flow of traffic would go around them. They were thinking about how the city was particularly alive today. The sun was reaching through small breaks in the clouds, casting a bright light across the city through the overcast before being smothered again.

The whole city was breathing like a huge animal. An animal that Harlow was only a small part of. They pulled a cellphone out and looked down at it. They had plenty of time to get to where they were trying to go, and they were even going to be too early if they kept going at the rate they had been. Perhaps being lost in thought was something that increased their pace, though Harlow suspected it had more to do with being in the flow of traffic rather than any effort on their own part.

They pocketed their phone, and in a stunning spark of spontaneity, they decided to walk in a different direction, crossing across the Scarfox foot traffic to go across the street, keenly aware that they were breaking out of some kind of trance. The city looked and felt so different when one took the time to lift their head up and watch the world around them. It was kind of exciting. Something about grabbing a bull by the horns.

Harlow skipped across the street and walked a handful of blocks out of the way before turning and continuing their trajectory towards the piercing place. They didn;t normally do this, so when they chanced upon a series of stores they had never seen before, there was a natural compulsion to linger and check them out.

The stores themselves were mostly electronic stores and trinket shops. Harlow passed by one of the storefronts and stopped dead in their tracks as they realized that one of the stores they had thought was just a trinket shop was actually a vintage skater culture type of shop. Their motifs of random crap in the windows was just an homage to some kind of band that Harlow had never heard of.

And for the second time, they took to the spark of adventure and wandered inside to peruse the various racks, all overwhelmed with a number of dark hoodies with band graphics and brand names plastered on them. The place smelled a bit musty, but in the storefront in the city kind of way. A smell that went away as soon as the glass door closed.

They wandered through the aisles until they had found a cool new hoodie to wear for later. Harlow paid for it and left.

---

It was time to stop messing around. Harlow wasn’t really messing around just because they were having a little excursion into the city. In fact, the spark of spontaneity had not yet gone away and even though they were still making their way to their original destination, there was still just enough time to try one more thing out.

Harlow could see a little further up the street that there were a couple of food trucks, and beyond that, there were even more stalls where foxes of all shape and size were cooking, grilling, and shilling food from around the Scarfox Realm. Harlow was feeling very adventurous today and decided to go investigate. There was a delicious charred smell coming from a huge grilling station and they wanted to try it out specifically.

Along the way, they saw stands for various fruity flavored lemonades and juices and there was a patisserie with all sorts of very fancy and expensive pastries in neat display cases, protected from the city flies and pigeons. As soon as Harlow saw a big creampuff with a fancy cut strawberry in it, they knew they had to have it and they dropped a few crystals in the vendor’s hand as they handed the creampuff over in a waxy white bag.

“Enjoy.”

Harlow most certainly did. They hadn’t waited for longer than a second after paying to tear that bad boy out and start munching away. The cream puff was deliciously sweet and airy, with thin flaky layers filled with an equally airy and sweet cream. There was a hint of lemon zest and it was accented by the glazed strawberry that sat atop a perfectly preserved dollop of whipped cream and powdered sugar on the top. Delectable. And while they would have liked to buy another one, they had to get to the grilling station.

The grilling station was a massive thing of metal and iron that had a number of grates filled with charring meats. The whole venue was filled with various meat serving paraphernalia, including a whole bunch of skewers that were being stacked with the juiciest cuts of meat in preparation for being thrown onto the grill.

“You want?”

Harlow nodded vigorously as they fished around in their pockets for crystals to pay with, smearing powdered sugar and cream on their hoodie from their last dessert in the process. As soon as they had gotten the money, they spilled it into the other fox’s hands and they were handed a meat skewer, which - also like the cream puff - Harlow had waited all of one second before digging in.

They chanced a look at their phone and had to hurry off with a grunt as they made their way back in the direction of the piercing shop. They were still going to be on time, but this little addendum to their adventure was a very nice break from the norm, though Harlow was going to make every effort to finish their tasty treat before they got to the piercing shop.

---

Uncle Stan’s was the name of a piercing shop in the City of Foxington. Foxington was a bustling place and Uncle Stan’s was well known for their service and selection of various piercing accouterments. It was Harlow’s piercing place of choice, and after a brisk walk, one could make it to the front door of the shop from Harlow’s house in about half an hour. Today had been a particularly busy one for Harlow, but they had still made it back to the shop for their appointment with a few minutes to spare.

Once inside, they took a seat after checking in and thought to grab a magazine while they waited. Because they had already spent all their crystals on food and hoodies from elsewhere in Foxington, Harlow had to resist looking at any of the new stock that Uncle Stan’s had on display, lest they not be able to pay for their new piercings. So they settled with a magazine and began flipping through the pages.

It was a body modification magazine that featured a Scarfox on the front with a new type of exotic pet that apparently came from the north. Some kind of weird prickly lizard thing. There was also a hug op ed about the next trend in body modification, which was controversial for the methods used and the end result.

It was about purposely ripping holes in the body and allowing mist to leak out for stunning effects. Harlow read through the magazine while waiting for a few minutes, but had not reached the controversial op ed piece by the time they heard their name called from a little booth in the back of the store. Harlow got up and tossed the magazine back on the coffee table in the waiting section and made their way to the back of the shop, moving past a number of new incense sticks and bar piercings. They made sure to avert their eyes even though they saw a really cool one that they would have to come back for in the future.

As soon as they got to the back of the shop, they took a seat in front of the owner of Uncle Stan’s. Contrary to popular belief, Uncle Stan was just a funny name that had been selected after a period of intense raving in the owner’s younger years, though they didn’t honestly care what the rumor mill said.

“So long as foxes come in, who cares?” had been the exact wording if Harlow remembered correctly from asking when they had visited first.

The procedure was simple. Harlow’s new piercings were inserted as soon as the old ones were removed in a quick motion, as  to lessen the amount of mist lost in the swap. It was mildly uncomfortable, but Harlow had eaten earlier, so the mist lost was easily regained without much fuss.

There was rummaging and payment and the last of Harlow’s crystals were drained out of their pockets as they left Uncle Stan’s and made their way back home.

---

Harlow had made the trek back home after their excursion into the city and they were, quite frankly, exhausted by the time they had made it to their front door. The half an hour walk was a simple one when they were going directly to Uncle Stan’s and turning right around to come back. But when spontaneity was taking a hold of them, they found that they had used up all their energy exploring and wandering around the city of Foxington to see what sorts of fun things they could come across.

Stuff they normally didn’t encounter when they were going about their business. Mostly because they didn’t frequently break from their routines when going out and about, especially when they were going to get a piercing change. Usually because even with the slight loss of mist, they were spending a lot of time to recover from the loss in magic, and that was also the ample time to cuddle with their pets and veg out with some television or video games.

Harlow was still glad that they had gone out and done the amazing things they had. Skipping across the street against the grain of the Foxington foot traffic, wandering through several city blocks worth of interesting shops, finding and buying a cool new hoodie, and trying new food. Food they never would have even seen if they hadn’t taken a different route to Uncle Stan’s.

As soon as they were in front of their door, Harlow could hear the two little pets they had running around just on the other side. Apparently, they had been bored enough to play around, for when Harlow opened the door to their apartment, they could see the mess the pets had made.

At first, they thought about  walking right back outside to sit on their stoop for a while, but they were too tired, so they scooted in, chastising the pets for the huge mess they had made, though their heart wasn’t entirely in it. They closed the door, hung their bag up, put their keys away and trudged through the house, assessing how much they would have to clean up later. It wasn’t as bad as they had thought when first being surprised.

Just some books strewn across the floor and a couple knocked over pictures and plants. It was a mess, but one that did not need to be cleaned up immediately. They picked the plant up, though, not wanting to invite more dirt into the carpet. However, after that, Harlow lounged on their couch, allowed their pets to clamber up onto their chest, and sighed as they flipped the television on.

They would only watch a little bit of television before cleaning up. They had erroneously convinced themself of this before passing right out on the couch. The pets had also thought they were going to play with their owner when they got home. Though they were also perfectly content to curl up on Harlow and snooze in the soft hoodie.

The house would be cleaned up tomorrow though, for sure.