One hand grabbed hold of the wolf’s wrist, twisting it once to release his grip on the toy; the other hand yanked the toy upwards, forcing the fox to let go of his side. Both boys stopped what they were doing in that moment, going dead silent as they gazed upon the one who intervened. They both had nervous expressions, the fox more so than the wolf, and it wasn’t difficult to see why.

  From the sidelines, Cedric watched, eye widening as he recognized the caretaker- and possible owner- of the daycare. It was the lioness from the other day! Except instead of a white sleeveless shirt and blue shorts, she was now wearing a light green button up shirt and khakis, good for the warm weather. Her hair still hung low, though.

  Right now, she was looking down at the young boys with a stern glare, obviously unhappy with their actions. After taking a quick survey around the area, she turned her gaze back onto them.

  “What. Happened?”

  Neither boy knew what to say at first as they awkwardly looked down at the floor. Then the accusations began…

  “I wanted to play with the toy…” The fox started, pointing at the wolf without hesitation. “But Eikken wouldn’t let me!”

  “That’s not true!” The wolf- Eikken- cried out, pointing back at the fox. “It was my turn to play with it! But Hazard wouldn’t hand it over!”

  “No it’s my turn!”

  “My turn!”

  “MY TURN!!!”

  Both boys carried on with their bickering for a good few seconds before Kenya set the toy aside and grabbed them both by the ears. They both yelped as she tugged on them.

  “I don’t care whose turn or fault it is,” Kenya growled. “I’M ENDING IT!!” She released her hold on their ears. However, the scolding didn’t end there.

  The lioness pointed to Eikken. “Eikken! You know better than to pick fights with the toddlers! You are eight years old! Act like it!”

  Eikken muttered some unsavory things under his breath but didn’t dare to raise his voice against her.

  Kenya then pointed at Hazard. “And Hazard! I have warned you before about taking things from other people! If you want something ask for it and if they say ‘no’, deal with it!”

  Hazard gulped hard, sweat practically clinging to his brow as nervousness built up in his eyes. His muzzle quickly sunk in to his face, fur receding into the skin. The ears and tail remained on his person. The boy looked more like a human wearing an arctic fox costume now than an Animalia.

  Then realization kicked in for Cedric…

  Hazard was a Shifter!

  In the city, Shifters were an uncommon- if not rare- sight to see. There were a lot of laws restricting both humans and Animalia; several were relationship related. While marriage between the two races wasn’t illegal, there was still such prejudice against said bonds- from both sides no less! And Shifters- human-Animalia hybrids- were looked down on the most. In Techno City society’s eyes, they were abominations that didn’t deserve to exist.

  But just by gauging Kenya’s expression and gestures as she scolded Hazard, Cedric could tell that she wasn’t treating him with that kind of prejudice. In fact, just by interacting with the kids as she tended to them, Kenya was very good at handling them. More like a mother than a caretaker.

  Once things had started to calm down, Kenya turned to Abby and Cedric with a somewhat embarrassed smile. “I’m sorry about this,” she said, grabbing firmly onto Eikken’s upper left arm with one hand while lifting Hazard over her shoulder with the other. “I need to take care of these two real quick. Hope you don’t mind waiting?”

  Abby shook her head with a look of understanding. She seemed used to this behavior, which also reflected on her son’s face as the caretaker headed to the back of the daycare, kids in tow. Cedric just watched as Eikken was dragging his feet, more annoyed than anything, and Hazard proceeded to panic, squirming in the lioness’s grip.

  Whatever happened next, Cedric didn’t see. All he knew was that Kenya took the boys into another room. The potential red flags quickly kicked in as the minutes went by. Before he could say anything about it, the flags were swiftly diminished as he saw the boys being ushered out of the room, in pain with sore backsides but not bruised or badly roughed up.

  Cedric hadn’t felt so relieved in his life!

  Kenya came out shortly after them, dusting her hands off. She put her hands on her hips, stern as anything. The boys looked up at her, still in pain.

  “Learned your lesson?” The lioness raised her brow at them.

  “Y-Yes Miss Kenya…” Both Eikken and Hazard hung their heads low, the latter’s face matted with tears while the former was holding back his.

  “Good.”

  Kenya walked past them, satisfied with their response.

  “By the way,” she stopped, turning to them and voice loud enough for all the kids to hear. “The toy turntable is banned for the rest of the day.”

  “WHAT?!” Most of the kids exclaimed, shocked to hear they’d have one less toy to play with.

  Rikki whined as well, “Awww! I wanted to play with it next!”

  “Sorry kids,” Kenya gave an apologetic look. “But I can’t have any more fights breaking out. Someone could’ve gotten seriously hurt!” She left it at that and proceeded to walk up to the counter to greet her customers.

  Kenya once again apologized for the delay, greeting Abby and Rikki with a warm smile. From Cedric’s observation of their conversation, he could tell the two Animalia were quite familiar with each other. This kind of familiarity was an obvious sign of a regular customer but their interaction seemed to go beyond just a customer-employee relationship. No signs of romantic implications either. Whatever friendship they had, it was purely platonic.

  After exchanging pleasant niceties, Kenya opened the door to the play area. Abby set her kid down, allowing him to run inside to play with all the other kids. All the kids had a distinct familiarity with one another already, so there were no concerns of anyone being singled out at least.

  Eikken recovered from his pain long enough for him to greet Rikki, however the name he uttered out sounded nothing like his actual name. In fact, all the kids were referring to him by that name.

  “Bleach?” Cedric muttered, confused. Realizing he was thinking out loud, he turned awkwardly to Abby. “Uh, sorry…! Didn’t mean to-“

  “It’s okay,” Abby smiled, looking out as her son mingled with the children. “Bleach is… a nickname the kids gave him. He seems okay with it, so I have no room to complain.” She seemed a bit squeamish as she said this. It was obvious she didn’t favor the nickname but was too nice to say anything about it.

  But if he was fine with it, then so was she.

  “Anyway,” Abby turned to Kenya. “I have to go right now. Take care of Rikki for me!”

  Kenya smiled, “Don’t I always?”

  The rabbit laughed at that. Before leaving, however, Abby turned to Cedric, giving him a ‘Good luck!’ smile. And then she was gone.

  Cedric took a deep breath, standing straight as his attention focused on the lioness before him. This could very well be his future employer; first impressions always mattered. In turn, Kenya looked over at him as if appraising him.

  “So,” The ice had been broken. “I take it you are the one who called for an interview this morning then?”

  Cedric spared no hesitation, affirming the question with a nod.

  There was silence between them for a good long moment. Kenya eyed him warily, going from the counter to the door. Was she expecting him to do something? Was he even supposed to do something?

  Before he could answer those questions, Kenya’s demeanor quickly changed from wary to welcoming as she greeted him with a smile.

  “Pleased to meet you!” She extended her hand out. “Name’s Kenya.”

  Now it was Cedric’s turn to be wary. Why did she look at him so suspiciously? Why did her expression change so quickly?

  It’s because you’re human.

  He couldn’t exactly deny that possibility as it ran through his head. It made sense considering just the other day his boss had talked down to her, treating her like garbage for being Animalia. Plus, this job involved working with children; most of them Animalia based on his earlier observation. Cedric couldn’t blame the lioness for being wary.

  Regardless, Cedric smiled back, reaching his own hand out to shake hers. “Cedric Heidrich,” he said. “The pleasure’s all mine.” As they shook hands, he couldn’t help but notice just how big her hand was in comparison to his. Wildcat Animalia were definitely bigger than most other feline ones, but now that Kenya was actually standing before him the difference was astounding.

  Their hand sizes nearly matched, hers slightly more slender than his own though it was nothing compared to her strength. Her grip was strong, further emphasized by the toning of her arm muscles as it tightened. Cedric had to hold his breath she was so strong!

  Height wise, they were practically the same height! And he was only 5’ 8”!

  All of this combined with her earlier attitude made her a force to be reckoned with, he figured. No joke, this interview wasn’t going to be an easy one to get through. It was just a feeling…

  Their hands soon released.

  “Well, no point in just standing there,” Kenya opened the door to the playroom. “Come on in!”

  Cedric steeled himself for a moment. This was a test of some sort. He just knew it was. But he didn’t come all this way just to back out last minute. With that in mind, he walked through.

  Kenya’s smile never faltered as she closed the door behind him and proceeded to escort him to the office. No doubt the interview was going to happen there.

  This was going to be interesting.