Bringing a fox home - Bryn

"Well this is home"

She takes the bag containing the bag and places it on the hall table, and indicates to the fox to leave his bundle on the floor next to it, while she slips off her gloves and jacket. The house is large, with wooden floors and stone clad walls and pillars, in a modern style airy and light, a large open area leading to doors on one side and a flight of wooden stairs, an open plan kitchen to the left and a seating area down a single step, looking out through French windows over a veranda and woodlands. The fox stares around, taking in the scent of floor-polish, clean rugs, ashes, a slight whiff of damp and the mixture from the kitchen area. He feels relaxed by the natural materials, and stares out at the woodlands, seeing himself running between the trees, almost unaware of the firm hand guiding him towards the kitchen area, stopping in front of two large white boxes with round windows in the front. "Clothes off, now." comes the voice bringing him back to the reality. He looks up for a moment and bends to remove his trainer, the neatly knotted, but none too clean, string parts and he slip the blue footwear off not sure what to do with it. "That will have to go fox" she says gently , taking it from his paws.

He nods watching her place it in the rubbish "Yes Miss, I was going to get rid of it." It is true, he thinks, he probably would have stopped wearing it soon, having lost its mate a day or so previously, when jumping from a fire-escape, but he knows it would have stayed hidden in a safe place for possibly a few weeks after that. He pulls his shirt off and hands it to her and starts to unbutton his jeans, watching as she places the top in the washing machine, he steps out of his pants and hands them over.

She empties the jeans pockets and puts adds the jeans to the wash, holding her hand out to the fox. "Underpants?" she says almost like a question and command in one as he stands there, his white belly-fur contrasting with the red silk boxers, a noticeable bulge in the front, and even more noticeable stains adorning the silk. His head turns down, and to the side, his ears flattening as he reaches slowly for the waistband. Her laugh distracts him, as she bends her knees, reaches out and pulls them down in a swift movement. "Embarrassed? Nothing could be more embarrassing than the state of this underwear! " She holds them up and the fox cringes inwardly, seeing and smelling them in her clean white hands for a few seconds before she flips them into the machine, closing the door and clicking it on, not noticing her quick glance down to his fox-hood. "Come fox." she says, walking quickly to the middle pair of doors, the fox follows, bare paws padding on the wood then cooler tile as he enters the most magnificent bathroom he's ever seen, though perhaps he has no seen many, and been in even less.

Despite the bathroom's size, he heads straight for the drinking water, only to be pulled up by the second time that day by her hand on his neck, more gently this time. "Sorry Miss, I should have let you drink first." he says, chastened.

"Well, that would be true but we don't drink from there, it's a toilet." The fox head-tilts taking this in - humans foul the cleanest water in their dens, how strange they are. "You can use it if you want to, sit down."

The fox sits, careful to keep his tail up. "Now what Miss?" he asks a little worried.

"Pee if you need to, fox." she says, amused, watching him bite his lip, uncertain, "Go on, it's OK." The fox nods, not used to doing it sitting and isn't really sure of the mechanics, but certainly it has been some time since he's had a chance to pee - or drink or eat - so he relaxes and lets a fountain of pee loose, it arcs through the air glinting in the sunlight, and splashing over the floor tiles - despite being aware that this is all horribly wrong the he isn't able to stop until he is completely empty. "Well, foxes are obviously slightly different from humans." she says pulling handfuls of toilet paper from the roll and passing them to the fox. "Wipe it up with that, we will have to work on the use of the toilet I can see." He wipes the floor, making a surprisingly good job, and proffers the two handfuls of paper to her. "Put them in the toilet." she says. He does and watches as she pulls the handle jumping back as the device growls at him, but coming closer and watching the mass of water churning, determining to pull the handle himself next time.

The girl opens the small glass cage in the corner of the room, motioning the fox inside, for a moment he thinks she means to keep him there, but then he sees the hose on the wall and, as he enters, recalls watching through a window as a women washed her hair with a similar device attached to a washbasin, although he was paying more attention to her figure than the plumbing. "Hold still fox." she says pointing the shower head at him and turning a control. Instantly a spray of cold water leaps from her hand dousing the creature who retreats to the far corner of the cubicle slipping on the floor and curling in to a ball.

The water plays over him for a few moments before she picks up a bottle and says "Close your eyes." squirting the greenish mint scented liquid into his fur which immediately begins to mat and wet. The water stops and he feels her strong hands rubbing the shampoo all over him lathering up his fur and his ears and his tail and under his tail and there, and the mint smell starts to subside as she rinses him off pulling him to his feet, the water slightly warmer this time, and says "You can open your eyes." handing the bedraggled fox a towel.

"Now get yourself dry, and you can get your bag from the hall and wait for me there by the door while I get changed. We may have a delivery any time"

"What clothes should I wear Miss?" he asks.

"I don't think I mentioned clothes did I?"

"No Miss." he replies blushing.