Fox Life

With a screech of a fennec to hurry her, the vet was a swift one. It took her only a couple minutes to show up in the clinic. She didn't exactly run, but her steps were quick, and the moment she stepped out, her eyes took in everything, searching for the abused animal.

'Here, here!' Iris shouted out, doubling on her screeches. They needed to move away from here right this instant!

The vet waved for Kyro. "Did something happen? You said your pet only needed a check-up."

"Not sure," he answered, looking at Iris through the bars of the carrier with puzzlement on his face. Once she started screeching, he had pulled the carrier up, trying to assuage her, but she ignored him like he wasn't even there. "It just started screaming the moment I came in here."

'No, I did not,' Iris refuted instantly. 'I only started screaming when you thought about getting weird things. Get your facts straight.'

"Maybe she has some bad memories of such a place? Like a child of a doctor's office. Have you brought her before for vaccination?" the vet asked while leading them into a small room with an operating table on it.

The smell didn't betray what this place was, but Iris' eyes couldn't move away from the metal cabinets behind the vet. She couldn't see through them, but beneath them were a number of tablets, some paste, and a few tools she couldn't place.

"Give me a moment to put everything away, I rushed out to see what happened mid-cleaning."

"Yeah, sure. And I'm not certain if she's been to a vet before, actually. You see, I adopted it after finding it wondering around my area," Kyro answered while opening the carrier.

It was a large thing, so Iris had a lot of room to get away from his reaching hand. Her eagerness for the check-up evaporated along with the passing of the threat moments ago. Suddenly, she no longer felt like coming to this room was really an escape. She was on an operating table, for god's sake.

"I see. You should have it vaccinated against rabies, then. Just in case. And you wanted to see me about all the scratches?"

Kyro nodded. "It managed to run away and wandered the park by its own for most of the day. I'm worried it might have caught something."

"Mhm… Take it out then and let's see."

He caught hold of Iris, and she let him drag her out. As much as she wanted to resist it, the act would have been pointless. The travesty of her last escape didn't forget to reassert itself in her mind at any time she thought of running away.

Once she was out, the vet slowly brought her hand closer, near Iris' nose. With a sigh, she sniffed it, pretending like that was her first reaction. It told her nothing though, and she moved to Kyro's side, standing up on two legs against his side, begging him to pick her up. The farther away from the vet she got, the safer she'd be.

"Yeah. Now, Iris, be a good girl and stay still." He pushed her away and maneuvered her to the middle of the table. "Sit." To distract him, Iris did as she was told.

"Oh! What a well-taught kid. This is quite amazing. Have you taught her yourself?" the vet asked, marveling at Iris' actions. It was clearly not usual for baby pets to follow commands to such precision.

Kyro's expression was quite weird, and Iris smirked at him. He clearly had told the command at random, not expecting it to work. It was just supposed to be part of the random stuff he said so the fox could hear his voice and remain calm.

She cooed at him, as if asking for a treat. 'I did well, wouldn't you say?'

After a moment, he patted her head, an awkward smile on his face. "She's very smart. I sometimes wonder if she understands everything I say and mocks me for treating her like someone with a primal mind."