Subtleties Pt. 1 (And I miss you when you're gone...) I wake up to a note near my door. I sluggishly walk over and pick it up, a morning apple in my hand and twirl away, my tails whisking around me. As I open it and read what it says, I slowly place my apple on the table. It was an invitation. From whom, I had absolutely no idea. I was curious as to who it was from, considering it had no sender information. It described an event that was held at a house. A type of live action Clue. I decided to check it out, since it didn't seem very suspicious. The night of date set, I drove up to the hill and parked my car in my usual near perfect position and step out of the car with a large huff, as if an extremely overweight person were struggling to get out of the car. I call this my temporary 'fat-girl' mentality. I look around and see the house and see that there was already a figure reaching the door and going inside. I soon followed. It took me a little while to get there, but I enjoyed the brisk walk in the damp, dark, airy night through the massive estate garden that I led myself through. The shrubbed glory that was guiding me amazed me at how well kept it was! Or perhaps it's because I didn't have a trained eye or the fact that it was a poorly lit late night that it seemed amazing. Never the less, I was surely amazed. Not expecting too much nor too little, I was psyched out to see what was going on. I had never been to one of these gatherings. Despite the invitations anonymity, I was sure to either see my friends or make new ones! I didn't care! I was just happy to be there! My tails showed this excitement, wagging like mad. I was probably more excited than I really should have been... But my current motto of the evening was 'GO BIG OR GO HOME!' Reaching the door and doing an ecstatic fist pump to myself, I extended an arm to the doorknob. To my surprise, someone from behind me quickly opened it for me. I looked around to see who it was quickly. There he was; a rather tall, handsome, firmly built human male. I was amazed on how handsome he was yet attracted to how chivalrous he was. Almost a rarity in this day and age and definitely not common in one as fair of skin as he, which might just be me. To seal the deal, he flashed me an almost irresistible half smile as he motioned me inside politely. How about that? Chivalrous, cute, hot smile. He definitely gets pluses from me. I thank him and he follows me inside, replying "You're quite welcome, darling," with a slight southern accent. Done. He officially has my interest. We exchange smiles as we walk to a small group of others further into the house. I play it cool around my newfound interest. After all, I know all too well that faces are just faces, crushes are just crushes, and that I'm definitely not rushing into any type of attachments. I quickly scouted around the small group. There were a total of six of us. We all glanced at each other, some more nervously at others and more so at my and my propelling tails. It was as if they were trying to launch me into flight, but hey, that's the price of being a canine: You can't hide anything, let alone your excitement. Before I could speculate, a figure appeared from the stairs above, which stood elegantly placed between the large room and between two more door entrances. The figure turned out to be a human, dressed as a butler. Standard issue, I guess. He walked as if he were a snooty board, eyes opening slowly to peer at his guests. As he made his way down, he spoke with a very pronounced yet elegant voice. "Good evening everyone. I'm glad to see that you have all made it on the appropriate hour. I am to be referred to as Butler here and I shall specify the names each of you are to be given." He reached the bottom of the stairs and looked to his right. "I will start from you and go in order," he said to the first guest. "You are to be referred to as Miss Doe," he named the first guest. She was a rather thin built young woman with what I would call a pixie cut hairstyle with pointed ears sticking out of the sides and small antlers peeking over her head. She was definitely adorable with her petite features and dark colored eyes upon her pale skin. Her puffy tail was barely noticeable if you didn't look. Unlike the other guests, she shared my half human and half animal appearance. Her modest nod in compliance exposed her shy nature. Moving on to the next guest, Butler stepped away from Miss Doe to stop in front of the next guest. "You are to be referred to as Miss Cat," he spoke to the next guest, an anthropomorphic calico that stood next to me. She was of a more lean build than that of Miss Doe but she was a bit shorter. Her medium fur length was short enough to show off her build yet too furry to show off her bones. Her forked tail swayed contently behind her and she stood with her weight on one leg. It was then that I noticed that she had miniature demon wings on her lower back, or what I call her 'love handles.' She had a bit of an annoyed expression and she seemed to scowl at everyone with her strikingly beautiful hazel eyes. Even through she was a beautiful creature that my eyes would behold, she seemed as though she didn't want to be here, which made me wonder why she came. Her only confirmation of her name was a grunt of confirmation. Butler moved on. Finally it was my turn. He looked me over with slight confusion. My smile was bright and my tail waggings were brighter. Why fight the excitement? Yet I couldn't tell if it was because of that or because my choice of clothing was less formal than the rest of the guests. That and I'm wearing a wolf jaw around my neck and a butterfly in my hair. Ignoring his suspicions of me, he continued, "You are to be referred to as Miss Wolf." I was a rather short female, with long elflike ears protruding from my side braided black hair. Like Miss Cat, I also had miniature wings, but white angelic wings that came from my shoulder blades that were usually in rest position since I'm usually the clumsy one to knock things over when I open them. It definitely didn't help that at this moment in my #life, I was huskier than normal. I also had twin fluffy tails that often exposed my true feelings to the world, although it's not a secret about how easily excited I get. I nodded happily and thanked him. Butler moved on again to the man besides me. It was none other than the one that held open the door for me. "You are to be referred to as Mister Fox," he said to the tallest of the group. His name perplexed me, as he did not have any indication as to being a fox at all; or even to being anything other than just human. Now that I was given the chance to steal a longer glance at him, I saw that he was definitely a tall man with a strong yet lean body with a strong nose, jawline, and these auburn eyes that stood out to me. His hair was short and dark yet is curled nicely. Not something I assumed a fox would have, so it definitely reinforced my assumptions that he was just an ordinary male and not a fox. I assumed it was just a quirky nickname. "Thank you kindly, sir," he smirked as Butler walked away. He gave me a glance and I returned it with a smile. You might think we're flirting, but I'm not. I'm just really happy to be here. He just happens to be eye candy. Hehehehe. "You are to be referred to as Mister Peacock," he said to an average sized man. Another name conundrum. This man also shared no signs of being of animal origin. He was an average sized man of average weight and height and he even had an average face. It was sad to say, but he was one of those forgettable people that you meet once and never remember his name, whether or not you've talked to him, or even have met him at all. He was just that guy who was always 'one of the crowd' so it was ironic his name was Peacock, an animal that stood out. I think it was this that caught my attention from this particular guest. Despite this, he was the darkest skinned humanoid in the group. It's funny... As soon as Butler moved on to the last guest, I can't recall if Mister Peacock even made any sounds... "You are to be referred to Mister Lizard," he said to the final guest. He was a very stout man, not thick, but definitely not fit. This monitor lizard man stood with a visible hunch and although he was definitely taller than me, it made him the shortest of the males. He was very still and his brown and green skin made him the most colorful of us all, despite being very still all the time, omit his occasional tongue flicks. I definitely got a weird vibe from that last guy. His eyes may have been still but I couldn't shake the feeling that he was watching me. Despite this... I still wanted to hug the shit out of his cute face. Butler walked into the left side of the room in front of a door. "Now that we are all acquainted, shall we dine?" he said as he opened the double doors, revealing a large table with a bountiful amount of food decorating the table. At that point it was either an earthquake or my tails were getting a work out. It could only be one. Of course we all know what it was... Trying not to seem too desperate for food, I tried to wait for someone else to sit down first. They were just too slow. I made my way to the table happily and was, of course, the first to sit down as the others loomed around in a confusion. I had half expected there to be assigned seating but much to my amusement, there wasn't. I placed my napkin on my lap and waited patiently for the others to sit down. Beside me sat the shy Miss Doe, who seemed to follow my lead. I smiled at her. Followed by Miss Cat, who sat across from me, she seemed to have flowed gracefully into her seat and gave me a stern smile as she also placed the napkin onto her lap as if she was seeing me as a rival. I wouldn't know why... Hell, I just wanted to eat... The rest followed and then lastly, Mister Fox. He sat beside me with haste, smiling sheepishly as he entered the room at the last second. I just smiled at him and looked back at Miss Doe before looking for Butler so I could eat. At this point, everything that he said was inaudible for me. It was basically along the lines of 'eat now because you won't have the chance later.' I had no idea whether or not to take that ominously but all I knew was... FOOD. "You may begin," Butler said and, of course, I was the first to chow down. I wasn't particularly starving or anything... But it all looked so good...! The table sat fairly quiet for the first minute before I noticed that most everyone was staring at me. I looked up at them with my mouth full, my intention to strike up a conversation to hold them as I eat my way into becoming a piggy. "Hai!" I smiled at them. I saw Miss Cat give me a grimace at my disgusting table manners. "Hey, hey, now! There was no instructions on how to eat this! So I'ma eat it!" I said playfully to the crowd. Mister Fox gave out a hearty laugh and stabbed his fork into his meal. "She's right! Not much point in acting all civilized and such in front of each other. Especially since we're probably not ever going to see each other again!" He stuffed his handsome face full of the meat and gave me a nod of affirmation. Definitely a keeper. Miss Doe clapped her petite and dainty hands together and somehow managed to still make eating like a barbarian look adorable! In response, the entire table seemed to become just a little more enjoyable, now complete with laughter and a good time guarantee! Well, except for Miss Cat, who sophisticatedly ate like the aristocrat she apparently wanted to be, still giving me a glare from time to time. Good to see I make as many good friends as I do 'best' friends here. As dinner went on, most of the chatter was from Mister Fox, Miss Doe, and Mister Peacock with random remarks made from Miss Cat. Overall, it was definitely enjoyable, however I couldn't shake this odd feeling. It was as if I was being watched... I lifted my head to the conversation as to not draw suspicion and slowly scanned the room. Miss Cat was either glaring at me or laughing at Miss Doe and... Wait... Is she eyeing Mister Fox??? No wonder...! Anyways... Miss Doe was making a subtle mess and giggling, making small talk. Mister Fox was busy being the #life of the party and taking some times out to make sure both Miss Cat and I still felt included. Mister Peacock was making the most of the time and apparently sharpening his mingling skills; he was doing good! Though I still can't remember what he was saying no matter how many times he said it... And then there was Mister Lizard... When our eyes made contact, my heart dropped. Has he been staring at me the entire time? I looked away quickly, but I could tell that he was still looking at me. Had he been staring at me the entire time? For how long? What is he possibly think-- wait, wait. I've been here before. I don't want to know what he's thinking... I wanted to make myself look unavailable, so I turned to either Miss Doe or Mister Fox to chat with. He didn't seem to care much when I spoke with Miss Doe but I did see a noticeable reaction when I interacted with Mister Fox. Bingo. I began to interact more with Mister Fox, seemingly much to his pleasure. I got to know Mister Fox a bit more and he leaned into my ear. "Hey, uh.. Listen.. I want to tell you something," he whispered. "Eh?" I responded, confused yet amused that on how Mister Lizard reacted. "I know we're supposed to be using aliases and stuff.. But I think it would be more in my favor to be a gentleman to you if I told you my real name," he explained with a half smile. That exact one that made my heart melt. I giggled and asked, "Okay. But why would you tell me that?" He laughed and shrugged, "I just feel like we connect. From the moment I met you, there was, uh... Something about you that drew me to you." I laughed at the thought. It was cute and I took it that he was definitely flirting with me. Although, if it meant anything would be a different thing since I knew the curses of unintentional or meaningless flirting all too well from past experiences. "Oh really?" I responded. "Yeah. Do you want to know?" he asked playfully. "Sure!" I smiled. "My name is Jeremy. Jeremy Fox," he introduced. "Oh! Well, that wasn't as silly as I thought it would be! My name is Mimi," I responded, purposely leaving out my last name. I wasn’t every very proud of it and besides, it's none of his business. We shook hands briefly but before I knew it, he was caressing the top of my hand and staring into my eyes. I immediately felt freaked out rather than the flattered and enamored that I assume most girls would feel in this situation. Good thing I'm a wolf and not subject by those types of societal norms. Even if I was, fuck that shit. I do what I want. Before I was able to say anything in protest, Butler butted in, "If all the guests are finished dining, we may carry on to the den. There we shall finally commence our meeting's purpose. Please feel free to take your time, but don't keep us all waiting. I look forward to seeing you all there." He left the room and shut the doors behind him. I just looked back at Mister Fox and then smiled, patting his hand with my other one, signaling for him to let go. "Well! If you'll allow me, I'm done with my food," I smiled at him and got up to leave. "Of course!" he graciously stood and helped me up. He ended up letting go of my hand but he followed me out. Mister Lizard stared daggers.