Chapter Text
Phil woke up that morning in good mood. He ate breakfast, got himself some coffee, and started to walk to the bathroom. When he looked in the mirror however, he sighed.
He was a raccoon hybrid, with big round ears and a striped fluffy tail. Both of which were currently frizzy and tangled. The joys of having fur he guessed. Once he took care of that problem, he finished getting ready and headed off to work.
The ride was nothing out of the ordinary, a trip he’s made ever day for a couple years now. However when he pulled into the facility his mood started to drop.
There were many cars, including a few police cars, parked at the front of building. A new foster must have arrived last night, he thought. That by itself wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.
See Phil worked for a company that specialized in taking down those who caught, sold, and bought hybrids. It was an illegal activity thankfully but that didn’t stop some individuals from taking part in it.
That also meant they helped anybody who was a victim of such act. Most of the time this included finding family members, treating injuries, providing counseling or housing until the person could get back on their feet.
However there were some cases, thankfully few and far between, that required more attention and people on the case. These were the hybrids that came into their facility having spent many years with their captors.
A lot of them had fallen back into their instincts as a way to protect themselves. The ones who fell completely were the hardest to get back. Most of the time they were completely feral.
As Phil walked in and pasted the reception desk he was immediately greeted by a frazzled looking Puffy.
“Good morning Phil.” She said with a tight smile, “Good morning Puffy, did we get a new foster last night?” Phil asked already knowing the answer.
“A few,” she replied, “there was a big raid on a warehouse a few towns from here. Many of the hybrids rescued only needed medical attention for some bruising but-“ she stopped short with a pained look.
“What is it?” Phil his unease growing. We’re there any casualties, did any of the hybrids have horrible injuries? Phil thought as the silence grew.
“There was a hybrid rescued that I’m putting on your case,” Puffy explained grabbing a clip board out of her coat and handing it to him, “you’ll be his foster for however long he spends here, but Phil. This case isn’t pretty.”
As she finished he finally got a look at the report filed by one of their employees on the field. His heart dropped when he saw the age listed on the paper.
8 years old.
Phil was going to throw up. He hadn’t heard of a rescued hybrid younger than 18. The facility itself hadn’t fostered any hybrids younger than 19 years old. But the more Phil read, the more his heart broke for this kid.
His name was Tommy, most of the information coming from one of the hybrid traffickers arrested on the scene, the report said he was found in a cage next to the rest of the hybrids rescued. Phil stopped at the next paragraph.
“He’s a raccoon hybrid too?” Phil asked, his voice wavering just a little. “Yes,” Puffy replied, “he’s only been here for a few hours, we were lucky you were coming in today, you would have come in anyway though.” She tried to joke but it fell flat.
As Phil read more of the report he thought he missed a detail, “Why dose this not say how he reacted to being outside the cage he was in?” He questioned as he looked up. Puffy winced, “We weren’t able to get him out of the cage.”
What
“What?” Phil voiced. “It was attempted,” Puffy said frantically, “but he wasn’t responding to anything we said. We think he’s completely feral, or at least close to it. He got a good scratch on Will and almost bite Techno.” She said with a sad laugh. “He’s a little spitfire I can tell you that.”
Phil- Phil took a deep breath.
“Can I see him?” He asked hopefully. “I was hoping you’d say that,” Puffy said with a small smile, “He’s in room 4, we don’t have anyone in the room right now to give him some space.”
“Alright,” Phil said with a sigh, “I’ll head over there, thank you.” Puffy nodded and with that they parted ways. Puffy to finish up some paperwork, and Phil to meet his new foster.
As he walked down the hallways he made a stop to the kitchen first. He grabbed a small apple and after a seconds hesitation a bowl of water too. The kit needs to wash his fruit too Phil reasoned.
When he got to the room 4 he saw an employee he didn’t immediately recognize standing in front of it. When he saw Phil approaching he let out quiet hello to him that Phil returned.
“Good luck.” He said as he opened the door for Phil. “Thank you.” Phil replied, as he walked into the room he laid eyes on the cage against the far wall for the first time. His heart squeezed when he saw it.
The door was left open in case Tommy wanted to get out on his own, but Phil could still see his form curled up in a corner. There was a blanket laid over the cage, however the front was folded up to allow Tommy to see what was going on.
Phill took a few steps in the room and sat down a few lengths away from the cage, placing down the apple and bowl beside him.
He finally got a good look at Tommy sitting in the back corner of the cage. He was skinny, only wearing something that might have been clothes at some point, but now looked more like rags. His skin was dirty and covered in bruises as well as small cuts. His fur was also matted and tangled. He was glaring at the ground with long hair covering his eyes.
Phil let out a silent sigh, his heart breaking all over again. Here was this kid- this 8 year old kit bruised and broken, looking so small in this cage. Phil took a second to compose himself before greeting the boy.
“Hello mate, how are y-“ he was cut off by a threatening hiss. “I’m not going to hurt yo-“
Another hiss, louder this time. Tommy finally looked up and was now glaring daggers at Phil from his position in the cage.
Phil finally got a look at his eyes, they were a full shade a blue with his pupils in small slits. Dried tear tracks made Phil’s heart hurt again. And no recognition or understanding in them though, just fear hidden by anger.
Phil took another deep breath and let out a friendly chitter. One that said hello-kit-safe- here-no-harm
The reaction was immediate. Tommy’s ears perked up at the sound, and his pupils got a little bigger. His tail also unwrapped from its previous place around his leg. Gods how long had it been since he heard another raccoon hybrid, Phil thought.
He watched as Tommy uncurled just a little bit and then a hesitant hello? greeted him. Phil smiled and replied hello-little-one-can-you-come-out, Tommy looked around confused for a second until he looked back to Phil as he warbled a small not-allowed-will-hurt
Phil let out a hurt warble as he replied with no-hurt-never-hurt-again-come-out-kit-it-is-allowed, Tommy still looked hesitant but slid closer anyway. Phil trilled a good-job-kit-so-proud and tried to get closer as well.
Tommy immediately hissed and pushed himself into the back of the cage while growling out a don’t-touch-me-I’m-big-and-scary-leave-me-alone. Phil froze and chittered an apologetic I’m-sorry-didn’t-mean-to-you’re-safe to the kit but Tommy was having none of it.
He continued to hiss and glare at Phil, not responding to any chitters Phil tried to make at him. It felt like any progress that had been made was destroyed and he was back to square one.
Phil then looked to the apple and water he had brought with him and tried that next. Kit-want-any-food? Phil asked, hoping that would get through to Tommy. It was like Tommy hadn’t realized the apple was there, his eyes widened and he let out an angry yes-give-it-to-me-now!
Phil chuckled at the chitters and rolled the apple over to the kit. He grabbed the water next and was about to slide it over to Tommy so he could wash his snack. To his surprise however Tommy didn’t hesitate to grab it and take a bite. Without washing it first.
Wait-kit-must-wash-it-get-dirt-off-first, Phil chittered trying to hide his panic at the fact a kit didn’t want to wash his food before eating it. Tommy swallowed his bite while look between Phil and the bowl of water in-front of him.
After a few beats of silence Tommy gave in with an accepting chitter and growled out a bring-water-to-me. Knowing that getting up and walking to Tommy probably wasn’t an option, Phil slowly slide the bowl with his foot closer to the cage. It was an awkward position but better than scaring Tommy all over again.
When he got too close for comfort Tommy went back into his corner with a small hiss but didn’t growl at Phil this time. Progress he thought. Once he was done and the bowl was in front of the cage, Phil sat back down (a little bit closer this time) and crossed his legs.
After a few minutes of warning hisses and getting a little closer every time, Tommy finally reached the bowl and dunked his fruit in the water for a second before taking another bite. The apple didn’t last long and soon nothing reminded.
Tommy then looked back to Phil with a questioning chitter. I-have-no-more-kit, Phil said lifting his hands up in surrender. He regretted it immediately when Tommy flinched back with a chitter of I’m-sorry-please-don’t-hurt-me.
Phil put his hands down and replied with a loving no-hurt-kit-I-promise-no-more-hurt. Tommy looked back up with sad eyes and chittered you-promise. Phil nearly cried as he let out a reassuring I-promise-kit-no-more-hurt, then he very slowly opened his arms and tried to make the most loving call yet, come-here-my-kit-let-me-hold-you
For a second Phil didn’t think it would work, thought that maybe he pushed too far. Then Tommy let out a pleading chitter and slowly made his way towards Phil. With every step Phil praised him with a so-proud-my-kit, until Tommy took one last glance at him and fell into his arms.
Phil waited a second before ever so slowly wrapping his arms around Tommy. One hand supporting his back while the other ran through tangled and dirty blonde hair. Letting out a strong purr as he did so. Tommy practically melted into his arms, pressing his nose into Phil’s neck.
So-proud-my-kit-so-proud, he softly chittered when he started to feel Tommy’s tears on his neck. He started to rub his hand down Tommy’s back as the boy shook with the force of his sobs. He rocked them back and forth while Tommy continued to cry, nothing else mattered to Phil in this moment.
He knew the road going forward wasn’t going to be easy. He knew there would be hiccups and set backs. But with his kit in his arms, Tommy letting out a small and stuttering purr, all he could think to say was, “Breath Tommy, just take a breath, I promise you’ll be ok.”