Another Thursday Prompt submission.
This week prompt was: Lift
Funnily enough this started as story about people in a lift but something didn't really settle with me on that idea so I mothballed it and made this instead.

The reasoning behind this story, simple: Took the term lift and broke from it the literal concept of giving someone a lift and the figurative one of helping someone...

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//Attention Citizens; due to unforeseen circumstances this bus station is experiencing major delays... We apologise for the inconvenience//

Always when it’s raining! But be there sun or cloud, hot or cold: the days when a walk home from the mine wouldn’t really be that bad were always days the bus would be ready to go. But the minute the rain started, that was when it gave up the ghost and the two hour walk home didn’t seem so bearable.

“So how long are we going to be here?” Milo questioned as he looked over to Dan, the two humans had got quite close after meeting at the mine. Milo found himself attached to Dan due to his older age, a mine veteran; a man full of wisdom and advice if slightly over cautious.
“Shouldn’t be long, should have a new bus before dark”.

Another man jogged his way over to the bus stop, quickly sheltering himself inside. “When’s the next bus coming?” he asked
“Major delays at the minute son; you’re guess is as good as mine” Dan responded and too that the man gave a sigh, walking into a corner of the bus stop pulling out phone likely trying to find someone to give him a lift.

“Don’t you have anyone to call?” Milo questioned, but the old man just snorted.
“I don’t know anyone with car who'd be willing to drive me and I ain’t paying for a taxi... Besides, the bus won’t be that long”

Ten minutes passed and the rain was still to let up.

//Attention Citizens; due to unforeseen circumstances this bus is delayed... We apologise for the inconvenience//

Milo bobbed about trying to keep his legs from going numb while Dan was humming to himself and mystery man in the back just waited quietly.

The moment was broken as a large pick – up drove to the front of the bus stop. It was quite the patch –work of a pick – up. The majority was red, but the door which faced them was blue and the bonnet which seemed questionably attached was yellow. The truck was filled to the brim with Yersin, the majority of them cramped into the back chatting and laughing, quite unbothered by the rain that was saturating their work clothes and waxed ponchos.

The oldest looking amongst the rat seemed to hang out of the passenger side window, staring the two humans out before finally addressing them.
“You two are from block four aren’t yas?” his tone was friendly, though Milo wasn’t sure how to respond and Dan just kept himself to himself. It didn’t stop the rat “yeah I’ve seen guys before, you’re from the mine too, high level though am I right?”
“Those human’s are always high level” someone else comment and somehow that started a rip raw of laughs amongst the rats.

Once they finished he finally put forward a proposal “hey either of you looking for a lift; we can always make room, be happy to share some drink when we get back to the block?”
Milo slightly liked that, it seemed the bus wasn’t going to get around anytime soon and couple free drinks to end the work day felt slightly tempting.

Dan must have not thought so, he placed a hand on Milo’s shoulder and held him in place. “Thanks for the offer; but we’re alright waiting” Dan kept a friendly tone but the old rat couldn’t help but look at him slightly dumbfounded.
“Are you sure?” the old rat put the suggestion forward again, maybe not understanding why either human wouldn’t want a lift in this kind of weather; Milo even looked slightly annoyed.
“Don’t worry am sure” – Dan was seemingly speaking for both of them.

With that the old Yersin just shrugged his shoulder pushing himself from the window as the truck sped away.
“Why did you do that?” Milo questioned as he looked over to Dan.
“Son, you ain’t ready to deal with Yersins”
“Wh-” What the fuck did that mean? Milo didn’t ask he just kept his mouth shut and waited; the bus couldn’t be that far away.

//Attention Citizens; due to unforeseen circumstance this bus has been delayed...//

Nearly half an hour of waiting and now a soft rumble of thunder sounded in the distance and while the rain didn’t seemed to get heavier it also showed no signs of giving up. Maybe he was just going to have to walk through it? Really Milo just wanted to get back before the next day started. Dan remained unfazed, for him the passing time and worsening weather seemed to cause him no harm.

This time around a sleek looking black car slid along to the bus stop. It wasn’t the kind of thing Milo would expect to see rolling up to the plebs. As it stopped the back window came down as vixen slinked herself out of it.
“You boys looking for a lift out of the rain, won’t cost much for a ride” her voice was as slick as her ride and dress. At first Milo was completely dumbfounded to why a Vulpine was stopping outside of bus stop but when he looked at her again the face seemed familiar. He was sure he seen her a few times at the office. Then it clicked, he could remembered her giving him the eye a few times but he didn’t think too much about it then. Right now it just made him feel awkward and slightly out of his depth. Milo put his gaze low but he could feel it doing very little to shake the vixen’s interest.

Milo felt Dan’s hand sit reassuringly on his shoulder, “we ain’t interest in a lift love, we’re happy to wait”.
“In the rain?” the Vixen fired back; not aggressively but she was keeping herself firm. Dan however did not take the bait.
“What about you little man? I’ll make it worth your while” her voice came back, very silky and quite tempting, but Milo was still feeling nervous. He only looked up to her once more but felt himself lock – up when he caught those amber eyes as she slicked her tongue across her sharp teeth.
“He isn’t interested love, he’s with me” Dan spoke up for Milo, though Milo felt slightly conflicted over how much Dan was leading for him.

The Vixen finally snuffed disappointedly, she took one last drag from her cigarette before tossing the stub out from the back window and towards the two humans, after that the slick black car sped away.

“Why are you doing this?” Milo questioned not sure to the reasons for Dan behaviour; they might have stuck together but they were not really friends. At first Dan said the slightly expectable:
“Well firstly son, you ain’t ready to mess around with Vulpines” he didn’t elaborate on that but he gave a slight look about himself. The quiet guy was still keeping himself to himself in the back.
Dan slowly came closer, “I also got to keep you safe, but I can’t say any more than that, as long as it works out..._{God I hope it works out}”
“...” Milo was tempted to ask but put it off, he was pretty sure he could trust what Dan was doing but what on Skerf did he mean by ‘keep you safe’?
Though admittedly Dan did save him from that vixen, he might have been taken by that charm if he didn’t have the old man to help him.


“Attention Citizens; due to unforeseen circumstances this bus has been delayed...” Milo just parroted the intercom and finally let his head droop when it finished. “We’re not getting the bus are we?” Milo finally had to concede to that feeling; it had finally been an hour and a replacement was yet to come around. The rain had also finally started to pick up pace and the rumbles of thunder became louder. That inevitable walk home was now about to get a lot more difficult. Even Dan seemed to shut his eyes and whisper some quiet damnation to himself; it was as if he was slowly coming to the realisation that something which he expected to work had finally fell flat.

“You’re going to tell me what this is all about if whatever is meant to happen doesn’t happen right?” Milo questioned as he looked towards Dan. The old man’s brow furrowed with contemplation as he bobbed his head about for a moment.
“I really can’t say; it’s not my place... Though if this fall’s throw I’ll be after some answers myself”.

The two men settled into a moment of silences but as soon as it started a rip roar broke it. At fist Milo thought it was just thunder; maybe it finally reach their location. Though as he looked to his front Milo was made to realise that the sound was not just from the clouds.
Rather this time around a large olive coloured bike parked outside the bus stop. It was a pretty large bike, almost like a car split in half and fashioned into a bike.
The Lupine rider pulled down her mask and then gave a little grin as she looked about the Bus stop. “Rory! Get your ass out here, I didn’t ride all the way here for nothing”.

At this point Milo and Dan shared a glance before twisting around. The quiet looking fellow from before had this smile on his face as he waltz out of the bus stop and made his way over to the bike. “Took you long enough didn’t it” the little fellow talked with a strangely amused tone as he reached in a small side box and took out a pair of goggles and a little helmet.
“Oh piss off” she fired back “you know you still owe me for this favour”.
Rory just smiled, “Oh don’t you worry valp; I’ll make it up to you”
On that little point the Lupine gave a sly little smile as she revved up the bike and drove away, finally leaving Milo and Dan alone at the bus stop.

//Attention Citizen; Services to this station have been stop due to unforeseen circumstance, apologies for the inconvenience//

Milo finally just drooped his head and shook it side to side; an hour an five minutes and the bus wasn’t even going to show up... Oh what a waste.
“Why didn’t we just get a lift, we had one good opportunity and we just put it to the side” Milo finally had to have a moan.
“Guess we better get walking, still could make it back to the block at a reasonable-ish time if we go now”. Milo looked over to Dan but the old man was twisting his head to side to side as he was trying to spot something.
“Ha – hang on buddy just give it a couple more minutes” Dan protested as he kept a firm hand on Milo’s shoulder.
“Hang on, hang on for what? The com said we haven't got bus coming and I doubt this rain is going to let up”, Milo tried to protest back but he didn’t kick up a fuss to the older man’s still firm grip on his shoulder.
“Just trust me give it a... ah here we go, _{took her long enough}”.

Milo twisted his head to follow Dan’s and this time around he was met with a sight of the little yellow car bumbling its way up the road. It was this very mute yellow, kind of worn like the car was a second hand, second had ... A third hand. It made its way over to the bus stop and stopped with an unhealthy puff...

Dan seemed to look quite happy and for the first time amongst the many times things stopped at the bus stop Dan wasn’t putting a hand on Milo’s shoulder. The driver seemingly tried to roll down the car window, but being a beat up jalopy that didn’t work.
“_{Come on girl, you’ve come this far}” Dan mumbled quietly as Milo looked up to him with that confused face. What the hell have you gotten me into?

Though before Milo could ask, the car door opened as female collie leaned herself out of it. Milo realised her in a heartbeat, Maria Elvin; she worked in the offices at processing a bit more of pencil pusher in comparison to him but they were both of the same level. He felt a little feeling tickle in his throat.
“M – Milo, wh – what you still doing out here?” she asked with a little nervous stutter to her words and a small polite smile to top it off. Milo was at a loss though luckily to his rescue Dan picked him up from his brain stutter.
“Aye, we thought we’d wait for the bus but seems like that’s come for nought, ain’t that right buddy?” Dan looked down to Milo; the little man was bumbling seemingly a little bit shy but he finally spoke up.
“Y – yeah, we’re about to start to wal-”
Maria was quick to jump in; “I’d be happy to give you a lift” she seemed to spill the words out as if for moments before she was debating if she should or if she shouldn’t? Something must have finally given.

Maria and Milo just seemed to watch each other for a minute, a silent bashful feeling as they debated what had been put down. Oh too be young again ~ Dan thought as Milo finally spoke up.
“Yeah I – I’d really appreciate that if it’s no trouble?”
“No – no not at all, come on” Maria finally called with a calm smile on her face though Dan could make out her tail going wild.

Dan however was finally brought up as he was left to stand at the bus stop. “Oh uh... Do you want a lift Dan?” it would rude if she didn’t ask but Dan did not want to disturb.
“Oh no, no; don’t you worry about me, Doc's been recommending I get a bit more walking in; you just get him home safe”, Dan ended on that friendly smile which María reciprocated before closing the car door and drove off.


Well the ball was now in her court... Dan was confident, if she mustered the courage to do that he was sure she’d be able to ask Milo out. She’d been dabbling on it for week; well she told him it was weeks, but Dan was sure it been months.
Milo had also been pretty tempted to the collie too, but telling either of them to just go and be direct was like asking for blood from of a stone...

Dan could hear his phone ring as he reached into his pocket. Oh I should have expected this.
“Hello ~sweetheart, sorry am running late bus was out of action”.
“Danny, you could have called earlier; you always get me concerned when you’re running late”.
“I know am sorry, but hey I help that Maria get with Milo... Well if she plays the opportunity right”.
Cassandra just gave that judgmental silences to that... Oh dear.
“So you’re late because you’re playing match – maker?”
“Now in my defences ~sweet; rain did put the bus out of action and come on I ain’t a match – maker; just gave one a leg – up and the other a reassuring push” Dan couldn’t help but laugh for a moment. “Reminds me of when we first met... Never would have worked if I never got that push off Joey Bart”.
“Ah... So was he the one that advised you contemplate my buns”
“It because it was a bakery; I was far too naive and way too nervous to think about it” Dan would probably never get his face that red again...
“Well look at you now; nearly thirty years, two kids and you don’t look too worn”
“I think am pretty good for my age...”
“Aye darling, now come get yourself home; got some baking to do with you”.
“Right away ma’am”.

Dan always loved moments like this, really got his spirits up and made feel twenty all over again...
Now if only he could run like he was twenty again.