Kevin looked down at the twitter feed in his hand; it showed a picture of Aditya Anggun. The civet was dressed in his uniform, saluting to the camera. Based on the previous tweets, he intended to take the rest of the day off, to attend the Memorial Day ceremonies as a soldier. Kevin looked up from his phone and around the now empty court. The scrimmage had ended, and he was alone. There were no reporters today, no media, no constant noise, just the few of them who had remained at the combine over Memorial Day.

He looked back at his feed, into the eyes of the civet. Maybe he should visit the memorial himself. He hadn’t even known that today would be a holiday until the day before. The time in the corner of his phone caught his eye. 12:50 PM. He typed out a tweet, using it to debate to himself whether or not to go. He would go, he decided, but he was going to wait on the Ironfur, first.

* * *

The cab pulled up to the memorial as Kevin took in the sight. It was a lot, well, emptier than he expected. But, then again, this was how he remembered it back in Canada as well. People would come in the morning on Remembrance Day, and leave soon after, only a few staying for longer than half an hour, only the soldiers staying the day. He frowned. He wasn’t any better than the rest of them, he’d always done the same.

Kevin stepped out of the cab, looking across the site of the memorial. It was a rather beautiful monument. Around the grounds were the soldiers, standing guard and paying their respects to the fallen. Here and there stood other people, in small groups. Family, he assumed, or just those passing through. With a sigh, Kevin slumped his shoulders. He couldn’t see Adi. But shouldn’t the civet have been there, he said he was going as a soldier.

He rounded the side of the monument and the civet came into view. There he was, standing just off to the side, and he wasn’t alone. The pangolin paused as he took the other two in. From what he could tell, they looked like rabbits, but not quite. A hybrid, maybe? He took a step back. What was he doing here, anyways? Why had he come all this way following the civet when he could be back at the courts, playing basketball?

Kevin fell back against the edge of the monument, covering his eyes with the inside of his arm. He had wanted to come to pay his respects. But maybe that wasn’t all there was too it, he definitely knew that wasn’t the only thing on his mind. At least a little, he envied the civet, serving in the military. He felt his fist clench over his chest. The blasted heart murmur had never effected his ability to play sports, nor had it kept him from being in great shape, but every person he had ever talked to told him not to bother even applying for the armed forces back home. He’d never make it through the medical check with the murmur. Even if he could have, Kevin thought, his mother would have thrown a fit. She didn’t want her little boy endangering himself, even if for a good cause.

He looked down at his phone, the twitter app still open. It looked like someone was trying to get a Canada vs. the US game going, and was tagging people to find interest. He frowned, nobody had tagged him. Either they had read his tweet earlier about going to the memorial, or . . .

Kevin crumpled to the ground, back still against the wall. No, no, he wasn’t going to think that. These people were his friends. They wouldn’t leave him out. They had to know that he was going to be away, that’s why they hadn’t invited him. Not because he was overly friendly and had simply annoyed them all. No, he couldn’t think like that.

He bit back a small sob. But, really, did they even consider him a friend? He’d only met most of these people a few days ago, and even the ones that he’d met before, like Edwin, he’d only played with them a bit. He considered them all friends, but what about them? Did they think of him as a friend, or simply an annoyance that kept trying to butt into their games?

He panicked a little. It’s not as if he had been doing the greatest at the combine. He had no agent; so few teams had even wanted to speak to him. Sure, some media offered to interview him, but it almost seemed they were doing it as more of a courtesy to him, rather than actually wanting to talk to him. There were so many better players here. Edwin Griega, Cassidy Whitelatch, Theodore Rockwell, Jake Turner, Makaylah. He looked over at the civet, even Aditya was far better than him, far more likely to get drafted. And where would that leave him? Undrafted, broken-hearted, and alone back in Canada with nothing to show for all his hard work except a photography degree.

He felt like chucking his phone at the ground, but that would do him no good, and then he’d be without a phone. There was no real point in crying about this now. He could do that later, in the comfort of his hotel room. He had come to the memorial to show his respect for the fallen, and for those who continued to serve. He didn’t want to let his own insecurities ruin that.

Kevin forced himself to stand, using the wall of the monument for balance. His legs felt a little weak, unsure if he was ready. He glanced at the civet, so sure of himself, so strong. Strong enough to defend others and not just himself. Strong enough to be here, standing tribute, to the fallen of a country not his own despite not even sleeping the night before.

He reached up, rubbing the slight tears from his eyes. He would be strong. He could fall apart later. Right now, he owed it to those who had given their lives to show some respect.

He walked slowly towards the civet and his hybrid companions. With a smile, he spoke softly. “Hi. I was, uh, hoping that you wouldn’t mind my joining you, eh. I saw your tweet, and I just wanted to join you, to show my respect.”




______________________________________________________________________


Kevin has an existential crisis of sorts while following Aditya to the Huntsville Veteran's Memorial on Memorial day

THIS STORY NOW HAS A SEQUEL BY THE AMAZING  adaoz!
Check it out here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13589287/

I had originally intended this to be accompanied by a rant of my own, but I think I've worked out my issues. There's a lot more of me in Kevin than I had originally intended, but it does suit him. Characters can surprise you sometimes. I'll summarize it shortly as follows:

I am always a bit envious of those who can bring themselves to join the military. I guess, in short, I'm a coward. I can never bring myself to harm another person, even if I think they deserve it. I don't think i could ever raise a firearm to aim at another person, nor do I think i could ever take a life without it destroying me. Not only that, I'm afraid of pain. I don't like the thought of going out to defend and never coming home again. Even if I could get past those two things, with my asthma and my heart murmur, I'd never get into any military. I'm too much of a health risk.

I am envious of people who can bring themselves to join the military. You do fine work, and you do what's necessary to protect those who need protecting. I commend you for it.


Anyways, this piece was a spur of the moment piece that i decided to start at like 5 AM while watching Ada draw on stream. Some of the things that happen only happened because they popped up on twitter while I was writing the piece this afternoon. Like the Can vs. US game that Kevin didn't get invited to. Originally that was going to be recollection to the fact that nobody ever really invited him out for lunch/dinner/to play a game, and he usually had to do the inviting. He really does want to get along with anyone, but years in the closet and some bullying as a child have left him kinda fragile, as much as he tries to put on a brave face and present his strong scaled body to the world.

Finally:

Kevin belongs to me.
Adi, Ada, and Aida belong to  adaoz
Edwin belongs to  Sturgis
Cassidy belongs to Christaphorac
Theodore belongs to  trivolmckenley
Jake belongs to  wendingo
Mikaylah belongs to JTigerclaw
The FBA and related properties are the creation of  BuckHopper