Tortoise and Fox [BL]

1.12 (CYCLE 1 END)

"I understand. I won't run away anymore."

Cedric was right. They did not bring nearly enough towels to dry off Felix. He went through both towels already, each thoroughly soaked and no longer usable. Even after, the fox's coat still remained damp, but nowhere near dripping wet as it was before. When Cedric finished with the towels, he left the fox to dry out in the sun.

Although, Felix did not make this process to a drier coat very easy. Constant squirms and wiggles left Cedric covered in white fur pasted on stubbornly by the granules of sand and saltwater. It was an ongoing process, for whenever the arctic fox maneuvered out of the towel, forcing Cedric to chase him around. Every escape attempt proved a longer and longer span of freedom before Cedric managed wrap the fox up in a burrito, a mussed up head of fur peeking out with a lolling tongue and loopy grin.

When their cat and mouse became too tiring, Cedric no longer humored the energetic animal, and peacefully sat on the picnic blanket, with no intention to follow. He stared out at the crystalline shores, intentionally opposite of where the fox prodded about expectantly. With a low whine, the fox quickly returned, taking the hint. It settled into Cedric's arms in well behaved manner, allowing Cedric to finally finish. It was as if the fox hadn't made a fuss to begin with. Cedric couldn't help but smile at Felix's antics. He didn't feel particularly upset, just amused by the fox's counterintuitive actions.

"Very obedient."

With half an hour lost to towel shenanigans, only then did they finally move on. After they finished, Cedric's stomach growled noisily, causing his face to lightly scrunch up.

"Hungry..."

He absentmindedly remarked. The fox who had long since sneakily moved from the blanket into Cedric arms, stood up and stretched briefly. White fur moved as the animal extended its limbs gracefully, before hopping out of Cedric's lap. In a flash, it had bounded behind some large boulders before Cedric could vocalize a reaction. He stared off for a moment, taking time to process the fox's sudden departure. Before long, he proceeded with his action of retrieving the food within the backpacks. Neatly cut and wrapped ham and cheese sandwiches, chips bags half filled with air, Capri Suns, and most importantly, fruit cake.

In an attempt to tear away his eyes from the fruitcake, Cedric picked out a Capri Sun, slightly damp from the condensation. The youth couldn't resist the small smile growing on his face as he smoothly took the straw and stabbed it into the drink.

The Capri Sun was one of the first experiences he had while Felix was in his innocent fox form. Slowly sipping the juice, Cedric spaced out.

Cedric had a general understanding of the technology and setting was in due to the memories he had gleamed into. But even so, Cedric in this world was rather upperclass, a very sheltered child. During Cedric's childhood, he had never eaten packaged junk food or drained from sugary beverages. As a result, when Camila would stock their fridge and pantry, he had little to no idea how to open several containers of food, let along cook. His System didn't seem to have much of an idea how either. In fact, most of the time Cedric would simply boil vegetables and plainly eat them with rice, alongside a PBJ or two. Even then it was a struggle to figure out different cook equipment. Only with the help of his equally useless but resourceful System did he struggle through those two weeks.

The round fox cub was always observing its favorite human, ensuring he would never leave. As a result, it witnessed the many strange ways Cedric would deal with common place snacks and drinks.

When Cedric opened the box filled with Capri Suns, he took one out and shook it gently at first, confused. An examination of the labels told him it was a drink, but he was clueless how someone could drink out of it without a lid. Cedric came to the conclusion that it was likely that these were the containers that held the drinks before the mansion servants poured them out into a glass. He nodded, satisfied with the conclusion he came up with. Cedric then grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the top of the Capri Sun off, happily pouring the contents into a cup.