Riley was awake. She had no idea why she was awake, the sun had only just barely started climbing up the horizon, it would be at least a couple hours before it could wake her up with an ocular assault.
She tried listening for some sort of noise, maybe there was yet another knock on her door which she didn't hear, or breakfast was called early, or-
Ow.
Her internal questioning was brought to a halt as the pain from her shoulder made her wince loudly. While every small movement of the well-shot limb was painful enough to grunt, she was unsure whether this was the culprit either, she would have felt something from it earlier-
Mhnn.
Why did she even think it was anything else.
Of course it is the obvious, as she realized immediately afterwards with an exasperated groan and a fling of her covers to the side, stumbling half blind into the bathroom and slamming the door behind herself.
A minute later she was done with it, walking back into her room with a shake of her wrists to get all the water off of them, too tired to bother searching for the towels in the dark.
She was about ready to hop back into her bed and forget any of this had even happened... and then she tripped on something on the floor, the resulting fall resulting in nothing dangerous only because she was too out of it to even tense up, landing on the rug in a rough heap.
Still, a heap that made touchdown with her left arm, so it still hurt like a motherfucker.
A loud wince and a couple of tears later, she started stumbling back on her feet, desperate to see what she even tripped on so that she could murder whatever it was-
A pile of clothes. Dirty clothes. Her clothes.
After deciding that murdering herself wouldn't be the best response, she crouched to pick up the messy bundle of clothes. Thankfully they didn't reek or anything, but she still felt like taking another shower afterwards.
As she made her way downstairs, every step a tiresome session of probing with her foot until she'd found the next one, she realized she didn't really have much of an idea of what to do with all those. There was a washing room, at least from what she remembered, but what to do with those afterwards? Stick them directly into the washer and hope it decides to turn on?
With her exhausted thought process moving at a solid nothing per second, it wasn't done even by the time she was actually standing in front of the washing room, body waiting for the mind to catch up to her and open the gray door in front of her.
With a bit of fumbling, she finally made her way in, the utter dark of the small room making her feel up any walls she could reach for the light switch.
A half minute of not making any real progress later, a sudden flooding of light made her groan as her hands subconsciously flew to cover her eyes. The impulse ignored even the clothes in her arms however, now splashed on her head, arms, and all over the small room, the realization making Riley groan in exasperation before being cut off-
"Sweetie?"
The exhausted girl answered with a groan, slowly opening her eyes to find a concerned looking Ella looking at her through the open door, expression mixed with surprise at finding her daughter here in only her underwear at not even six AM.
"Did something happen Riley?"
"Ugh... tripped on them and got angry enough to want to just get them out of my room, before I realized I've no idea how does washing clothes work here."
"Oh, just dump them in the red basket here and we'll sort them out later today. A-are you sure everything's alright sweetie?"
"Arm hurts after the shots and I'm about ready to fall asleep standing up. What hour is it even- a-and why are you awake?"
"H-heh, lemme help you with these then-" Ella crouched with a slightly pained grunt and started picking up all the dirty clothes in her reach, Riley joining her subconsciously soon after, the two girls quickly tossing everything into the massive red basket, barely making a dent in filling it up.
"O-oh, as for me-" Ella had only now parsed the rest of the question, fumbling a bit with words as they made their way out of the room- "Guess I just wake up at five AM on my own now, too many years of having to check in at five thirty because of the timezone differences for it to not corrupt my own sleep rhythm. And right now it's... about five forty-ish."
Riley nodded absentmindedly, her legs carrying her back towards the stairs as the few still awake neurons conjured another question-
"Why not go back to sleep then..." She remarked, Ella's voice following her in response as she stayed downstairs, fixing herself some coffee judging by the sounds-
"Ha. I wish I could anymore..."
Riley didn't have much luck processing her response, only managing to get back to her room by the virtue of the biological autopilot in her legs, dozing off the moment her head landed in the vicinity of her pillow.
***
*knock knock*
"Riley, breakfast!"
No rest for the wicked.
Feeling just a bit less horribly tired, she managed to lift herself off her bed, realizing she wasn't even aware enough to pull some covers on herself before she dropped from exhaustion a few hours ago.
After taking a moment to flip herself around, she gradually slid out of her bed, her hand looking around on the floor for her pants for a solid few moments before her eyes realized there weren't any laying around.
Her groggy mind upped its gear to solve the mystery of her absent clothing... before reminding herself of her anger-inspired cleaning burst, realizing she must have thrown both of her usable pairs of pants into the laundry.
Which left her with...
Fuck.
She reached her hands to her face, fists rubbing the sleepiness away as she considered maybe just wrapping a towel around her waist or some-
What waist she's a stick figure.
With a defeated sigh she reached down to the lowest drawer, digging for a moment before pulling out the old pair of track pants. The shitty fabric barely held itself together after being treated to so many different way-too-cheap brands of cleaning detergents, courtesy of orphanage management.
She closed her eyes and started pulling them up, the quiet tearing sounds with every move only adding to the itchy, uncomfortable feeling against her skin.
She took a look down, relieved to see they at least haven't torn up along the crotch. Knees and thighs however weren't so lucky, the sheer number of holes putting the jeans of the crustiest punks to shame.
After taking a moment to get used to the sheer uncomfortableness of it all, she walked out of her room, every step making her watch out for yet more tearing sounds as she descended down the stairs, realizing she was the last one to get up, cursing herself internally for making everyone else catch a good glance of the abomination on her legs.
"Morning Riley!" Andrew's cheerful greeting lifted her spirits a bit, the girl waving slowly in return, most of the rest of the family joining in on the gentle waving.
Except for Timmy who took a couple extra moments to catch up onto the rest of his family, squeaking happily upon seeing her-
"Hi Riley!"
She couldn't help but giggle at his silliness, muttering back as she walked past him towards her seat-
"Hey Timmy. How'd you sleep?"
He took a moment to chew through his portion as she sat down on her chair and pulled a couple pancakes onto it before smearing a fair portion of peanut butter onto the topmost one and taking a decent chunk into her mouth, to her immediate regret once Timmy spoke up-
"Good! Why did you sleep without pants?"
The impromptu question sent her into an unending coughing fit, the dryness of her throat and meal only adding to its intensity. It took her a couple minutes for it to die down to a point where she could sip on a glass of water graciously provided by Ella, who looked at her with part concern, part amusement, and part understanding.
After her throat stopped torturing her with increasingly wheezing coughs, she finally had an opportunity to respond to the tyke's absurd question-
"Wh-what do you even mean Timmy?"
She was afraid of how he'd answer, a passing glance at the rest of the family calming her down a bit, with them all looking quite amused at what was taking place.
With him taking a long while to compose an answer, Riley assumed, or rather hoped, that maybe he didn't catch her response, and she'd be spared from further embarrassment as she just tried to eat breakf-
"Your door was open and you were laying on your tummy without pants!"
Goddammit Timmy.
Riley took a deep breath as she cut another piece off her pancake, quietly responding-
"Guess I just was too tired." She answered halfheartedly, just wishing he'd stop asking. On the other hand, maybe at least with focus on that nobody would notice her rags-
And just like that, her thought process was derailed when she felt a paw on the back of her head, the unexpected feeling making her freeze for a brief second before she realized whose paw it was. With a deep breath, she leaned her head towards Timmy as he lifted his paw up higher, doing his best to scritch his tired sister's head despite the height difference.
On top of her tension melting away and the feeling just being pleasant in itself, it did feel good to be taller than someone at least.
"Do you feel better now?" He asked after a while with a determined voice, still focused on scritching Riley the best his tiny arms could.
She giggled warmly, prying one of her eyes slightly open as she heard someone get up from the table, catching Andrew's wide smile before he turned way towards kitchen.
"Yeah, I do. Thanks Timmy." She sighed as he slowly pulled his paw back, taking a moment to collect herself before repaying him in kind, a brief but intense scritching session sending the lil' kit into an intense laughing fit before she ruffled his hair and went back to her breakfast, her spirits considerably lifted.
She almost forgot she was wearing these dreadful things, fortunately they were eager to remind her of themselves with a loud tearing noise as she corrected herself on her seat.
Goddammit.
She tried to ignore it and push on with the breakfast, desperately praying to whoever was listening that Timmy wouldn't bring it up and she would just go on with her day.
Fortunately for her, he didn't.
Less fortunately, however, someone else did.
"What was that sound?" Lily asked in surprise, Riley cursing her entire existence for leading up to this point.
"Riley's pants!" Timmy was more than happy to answer, one of his sisters reacting with a tilt of her head, and the other with running an internal cost-benefit analysis of stabbing her hand with a fork to get out of this mess faster.
To Riley's endless gratitude, Lily realized she wasn't too keen on discussing the subject on the breakfast table and didn't push the subject any further, soon wrapping up her portion along with Rick.
Of course, however, the universe wouldn't be satisfied if Riley wasn't subjected to even more embarrassment because of her awful pants.
"What's wrong with your pants sweetie? Noticed them looking... pretty messed up as you walked up to the table."
At least Ella didn't bring it up with literally everyone else around.
Riley took a deep breath, rubbing her temples for a moment before finally speaking up, admitting to her circumstances-
"Must've thrown both other pairs into the laundry bin, had to dig up these awful things since I didn't want to parade around with just underwear on."
Imagining Andrew's reaction if she did decide to do that made her giggle to herself, her amusement interrupted by Ella asking-
"Wanna head to the mall to grab you some more clothes then?"
Riley blinked in confusion, an obvious response forcing itself onto the forefront of her mind-
"But I've already shopped for clothes with Rick on Saturday."
"Well if you have to dig up those things that make you so obviously uncomfortable, just to have something to put on, then it's pretty apparent to me you need at least a few pairs more sweetie."
She mulled through Ella's response, unable to find anything objective to disagree about, but very much not used to being given so much of... well, anything really, but especially care. She fully expected Ella to just tell her to bear with it until her better pairs of pants are clean, having her go beyond like that was...
Appreciated. Definitely appreciated.
So fucking much.
"I-I see. Y-yeah, sounds like a good idea. Thanks Ella..." She added the last part quietly, taking a moment to compose herself so as to not tear up on the spot.
"You're welcome sweetie. Once we're done with breakfast I'll give you a pair of mine so that you have something to put on before we h-"
"Who's Ella?" Timmy interrupted, looking at them both in confusion as they broke into giggling fits, finishing their portions soon after.
With that off Riley's mind, finally, she went upstairs, remembering to recover her phone from Timmy's room. What she didn't anticipate was not being able to find it after stepping inside, looking all over the art supplies and the shelves, the phone refusing to make itself apparent.
A couple minutes of fruitlessly searching later, she decided to take a seat on Timmy's bed in frustration, thinking deeply about where the lil' kit might have put it after she went to bed-
Before laying her hand on it completely on accident as she supported herself on the soft mattress, realizing that the lil' kit used it after she left it behind. She lifted it up, inspecting it with a bit of a panic, hoping it wouldn't be discharged aga-
65%. Thank goodness.
Which in itself made her curious, what did Timmy do with it so that it didn't end up completely drained? With a swipe upwards she had her answer, the phone unlocking into YouTube, and more specifically an episode of some cartoon named "Mimi and Nana", paused at the end.
Guess Timmy figured out how to use her phone just to watch some cartoons before bed. God bless the lil' kit.
She got up, Timmy stepping back into his room just as she was about to leave it, managing to dodge the incoming door with a step backwards.
Won't get bonked again.
"Hi Riley! Why are you in my room?" He asked as he looked up at her, the light purple onesie pajamas making him look even more innocent than usual.
She smiled in amusement, waving her phone in front of him and asking, no anger in her voice-
"Why did you use my phone?"
"I wanted to watch Mimi and Nana!"
Riley chuckled at his straightforward answer, following up-
"Why didn't you give it back to me when you saw I forgot to take it?"
"I didn't want to wake you up!"
As if.
"Right. I'm not mad at you Timmy, but next time please just knock on my door. If I don't respond it's whatever, but I'd rather have my phone close to me. Is that okay?"
Timmy nodded happily, walking up to her and hugging her legs once more, Riley giggling before sitting down and giving the sweet kit a nice long hug, ignoring her pants tearing up some more in protest.
"Riley..." He spoke up, his sister dreading another comment about her pants before being pleasantly surprised-
"Can we watch Mimi and Nana together?"
She ruffled his hair for a bit, smiling at the cute question before answering-
"Sure, after I'm back from the shop with your mom. How's that sound?"
"Okay!" He answered cheerfully, gently nuzzling her before bringing up a question that struck Riley completely out of the left field-
"Is mom not your mom too?"
Oh damn.
"I-I mean, she is I suppose..." She suddenly felt bad about a literal tyke catching that figure of speech, the realization of the self-imposed othering making her feel a bit uneasy.
"I just need a bit to get used to it, okay?"
"Okay!" Thankfully, he didn't catch the change in her expression, hugging her for a bit longer before letting go, running up to his little desk and grabbing some crayons to draw.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
She stood up with a slight smile, heading to the door before the inevitable question came-
"Why do your pants make this sound?"
She took a very deep breath, figuring out an answer that would satisfy them both-
"Because they're broken pants."
And left the room, just about ready to go into her temporary one before she saw Ella walk out of her bedroom, holding a pair of what appeared to be jogging pants, urging Riley towards herself with a gesture of her paw.
"Well these are the best ones I found, unsure what do you think of jogging pants but I doubt anything else of mine won't just slide down. Suppose we could check Lily's stuff if even that's too loose, hopefully some of her stretchier stuff will fit."
Riley nodded in response, wondering a bit as to how would Ella even fit in these jogging pants. Stretch is one thing, but these would have to get so tense they'd-
She shook the train of thought off before it went too far, trying to quell the blush on her cheek as she walked into her room, taking off the half tattered bundle of fabric before sliding the jogging pants on, relief washing over her as they did indeed fit her well with barely any stretching.
Riley noticed something unusual on the small of her back as she took a few steps with the pants on, feeling a slightly padded round hole in the fabric over that area with her hand, apparently held together with a button. Its purpose eluded her for a good moment before the obviousness of the answer made her slap herself at not getting it earlier.
Silly, it's for tails.
With that in mind, she was still a bit confused as to how tail... openings worked in pants for anthros. Was it a one size fits all? Suppose it wouldn't be too bad with a stretchy material like this, but maybe this was just a model made with deliberately larger hole for species like, well, skunks which were certainly gifted in that regard, but what about species with smaller tails like cats? Would that be uncomfortable?
And the biggest question of all, how were they called. No way they were just called "tail holes" or something... suggestive like that.
Whatever, guess she'd ask Ella once they were out shopping.
Much happier at having something that wasn't flaking off at the touch on her legs, she put on her jacket and headed downstairs, the sound of Rick grunting in the storage room catching her attention just as she turned towards the stairs.
Well, Ella wasn't ready yet so might as well check this out.
She took a peek into the musty room, the sounds explaining herself with Rick busy laying out many wooden parts for what appeared to be a dresser. She had as little clue about what kind of wood that was as she had about most other things, but it did look quite a bit lighter than whatever wood constituted her current furniture and floor.
And quite a bit less stuffy.
A soft giggle from behind her made her snap back to reality, Andrew's presence acknowledged with her sticking out her tongue.
"Whattcha spying on?"
Before she could answer Rick cut her off, having walked up to the door frame in the meanwhile-
"Oh, I'm just preparing to put the dresser together. Figures that with the paint dry we can just start assembling the furniture while you're out with Ella, not our first tango with dealing with IKEA stuff. Sound good?"
Riley nodded in response, most of her questions answered aside from one, more so of a curiosity at this point-
"What kind of wood is that?"
She managed to catch him off guard, the skunk dad taking a moment to check if he hadn't remembered that already before leaning into the room and reading the label off the carton box-
"Spruce, it seems. Anything you had in mind?"
"No, just curious. Good luck with this... mess." She added earnestly after taking another look at the multitude of parts splayed out on the floor.
"Oh, don't worry, it's easier than it looks." Andrew chimed in, sounding confident as he walked into the room and took a look at the instruction manual, taking a moment to rotate it around a few times before finally finding the correct side up.
"Ready to head out?" Ella asked from behind her, dressed up in a comfy sweater and well-fitting jeans.
Riley nodded in response, sliding her phone into the pocket together with her switchblade, the oddly sized bulge thankfully looking smaller than it was due to the matte fabric.
After sliding on her sneakers, the realization of how worn they also were making her pause briefly, they went outside only to find Ella's car covered by a hefty layer of snow.
The skunk mom groaned at the sight, quickly walking into the garage and pulling out a worn broom, swiping all the white fluff off the top of her car with a few determined moves, followed up by clearing a bit of the parkway in front of it, Riley a bit confused at the halfheartedness of it before Ella let her in and turned on the engine.
Whatever this car was it definitely wasn't the Rick's puny sedan, the engine rumbling loudly to life as they strapped themselves in, the obvious power under the hood making Riley's eyes go wide in amazement as they drove onto the main road without a single hitch.
"First time riding something with some actual power in it?" Ella chuckled as she drove, the whole experience feeling quite a bit rougher than using Rick's car, but at the same time it was obvious they were driving quite a bit faster.
"Y-yeah, w-what is this thing?" Riley asked with a hint of genuine amazement, pushed deeper into her seat much to Ella's playful smirk.
"Chevrolet Impala. Older than me, gonna be fifty in a year and still kicking with all its power. Dad bought it in college and used it all the time, only passing it onto me after most of us moved out. Not much to use it for when the shitty suspension makes driving painful. Besides, I always loved that thing, just feel this-"
Riley had no chance to even ask what she was supposed to feel before Ella floored on an empty stretch of road, the full power of the chevy making itself apparent. Riley's eyes went wide at the force pushing her backwards, mouth opening out to voice an objection before a push on the brakes brought the old beast down to a more manageable speed as they neared crossroads.
The skunk mom chuckled at Riley's brief shock, slowly taking the turn and keeping her speed low, calming her down with-
"Don't worry sweetie, not gonna pull that on you again, as fun as that is, I know better than to ask for a ticket like that."
Riley nodded in appreciation, relaxing inside the chilly car, seemingly too old to have decent heating.
"Now, what was that with Timmy saying you slept without pants or something? Did he visit you at night or what?"
It never ends.
She groaned before responding, voice exasperated at having to deal with that again and again-
"I've no idea, I think I forgot to close the door to my room before crashing after that thing with laundry at five AM."
"Ah. Teehee, when you get tired you get really tired, don't you sweetie?" Ella asked with a smile, the environment around the car slowly becoming more and more populated.
"Guess I do, heh." Riley chuckled in response, less tense now that she was sure Ella wasn't mad at her.
Ella smiled, keeping her eyes on the road as they quickly approached a massive mall, the parking lot looking almost full despite it being a work day.
At least in theory, Riley adding internally as she realized that both Rick and Ella were on holiday break already, and so was probably the rest of the customers.
Thankfully, while the parking lot certainly looked completely stacked, there were a handful free spots left, Ella managing to find one quite close to the main entrance.
As internally happy as Riley was at the initial offer of going shopping, there was one thing she most definitely didn't anticipicate-
So, many, people.
Riley kept herself as close to Ella as she could short of just directly holding her tail for guidance, the mass of humans and anthros alike making her head spin. She tried to focus on the various store signs to distract herself, any chains she did manage to recognize coming off as insufferably posh once she took a glance inside.
"There we go. We get most of our clothes from here, will just have to ask the attendants for the ones without tail holes."
Tail holes.
Really.
They made their way inside and into the women's section, Riley wasting no time in searching for the smallest sizes they had in anticipation of the inevitable.
As she went through a pair after a pair, she realized that the store's clientèle was almost entirely anthros, making her feel a bit weird about staying in there, but at least she had an alibi in Ella taking her here.
Just in case.
After a couple minutes of searching for stuff that at least looked like it'd be her size, she managed to lay her hands on a pair of dark jeans so slim that for the first time in her life she was concerned that a piece of clothing would be too small for her.
Just in case the impossible would indeed happen, she grabbed a couple other pairs of jeans and some track pants with Ella's help as well, the skunk mom guiding her over to the changing room, Riley facing down a massive pile of pants as she slid her own off.
She felt a bit uneasy as she realized she was completely defenseless in case, despite the door to her changing room having a sturdy looking lock on it. After scrambling a bit, she pulled the switchblade out of Ella's borrowed pants, laying it on the edge of the seat juuuust in case.
With that dealt with, she could start going through the shop finds, most of them just a tad bit too wide in a comfortable way, making her wish she had a belt to try them out with. Thankfully, length wise they reached right up to her ankles, which made most of them viable candidates.
Of course there were a couple ones that were just flat out too large even for comfort, especially the jeans, which were discarded onto a second pile.
And now the moment of truth, the absurdly tiny jeans, would they somehow manage to be too small even for her?
The answer was... disappointing, while they felt a tad bit tight, they still fit well. She still had no idea *why* they existed, but suppose that if she did want to wear something skin tight she had a viable candidate.
But she didn't, and the jeans were discarded onto the "nah" pile, the remainder of the pants she brought with her swiftly taken care of. In the end, Riley was left with a pair of dark jeans, sadly without any lighter details on them, a pair of black cordu-something pants, feeling thick enough for any cold she might have to wade through, and yet another pair of track pants, two white stripes running down the outer sides of the sleeves satisfying her needs.
After swiftly slipping back into the borrowed pants and sliding the switchblade into her right pocket, she walked out of the changing room, a bundle of pants under each arm as she marched towards Ella, stopping as she saw her talking to someone.
The weasel was a couple inches taller than the skunk mom and judging by her shared love for casual sweaters and comfy jeans, a mom herself. Her copper-colored coat was visibly shorter than that of the Ashers, making her appear smaller than Ella despite being taller than her. The fur was white on her front, the small dark nose marking the separating line in an adorable way, the border visible even on her paws.
Riley chose not to interrupt them, instead just putting the good pants into the shopping basket and putting the rest back in roughly their correct places, taking a moment to explore the store some more during the downtime.
While one or two anthros did give her a confused glance as she walked around, most seemed to not mind at all, the girl quickly making her way over to the jackets section, taking a nice look around for a worthy alternative to her current one whenever she had to wash it.
Most of the jackets were very much not her thing, lightly colored and fluffy, some even glistening under the store lights.
Bleh.
Thankfully, after some more searching, she did manage to find a slightly longer black coat higher up the shelf, the slightly rugged appearance definitely appealing to her.
Especially with the white zipper down the middle.
There was only one small issue, however, and it was the fact that there was no way in hell for her to actually take it off the rail it was hanging on without suddenly growing stilts from her feet.
She looked around for something to stand on for a while, all the seats around both taken and attached to the floor. Out of options, and realizing that staring at it, no matter how harshly, won't make the coat fall down out of its resting spot.
In desperation she just stood up on her toes and tried to shake the slick coat out of its containment, so focused on her goal that the sudden voice from her side made her jump in surprise, which sadly didn't help her either-
"Do you need help?"
After skipping a couple heartbeats and looking to her side, she saw the source of the voice, a weasel not too dissimilar to the one Ella was talking to, if just a bit taller, and from up close, quite a bit softer.
She was wearing a brown puffy jacket, looking really quite well on her despite Riley's usual aversion to them, going together greatly with her coat and light brown eyes, looking a bit confused as she spoke again-
"Hello?"
"O-oh, sorry, a-and yeah, guess I could some a hand here, heh..." Riley responded with a blush, looking away embarrassed as the weasel girl helped her bring the coat down, the human girl nodding slightly in appreciation.
"Th-thank you."
"No problem. First time here?"
"Y-yeah, guess I just didn't want to bother the staff..."
"Heh, don't worry, they're used to being asked for help with the stuff that's placed stupidly high. And no, don't worry I'm not one of them, just saw you needed a hand."
"Well, I could certainly use a foot of height as well." Riley chuckled at her own awful joke, thankfully joined in that by the stranger, who quickly added-
"Nah, shops just need to sort out their stuff with hanging stuff stupidly high, you're fine the way you are."
Riley could've sworn she noticed just the tiniest hint of a blush on her cheek, the thought averted by a voice from around the corner-
"Riley?"
Shaken out of her brief daze she ran up to the corner of the aisle, waving at Ella who quickly walked up to her, smiling in mild surprise at the weasel girl who'd helped her-
"Oh, hey there Maddy. Your mom's looking for you as well, guess neither of you two wanted to accidentally step into some old lady talk, heh."
"Hello Mrs. Asher!" The newly named Maddy responded with a smile as she glanced between Ella and Riley.
Ella smiled and nodded in return, inspecting the scene she'd walked into before asking Riley-
"Did Maddy help you with that coat?"
Both Riley and Maddy nodded slowly at that with a bit of a blush, trying to look away from each other.
"Oh, good, they really need to finally sort out the height of some of these, I'm so tired of having to ask an overworked clerk every time there's something good looking on a higher shelf. Had a chance to put it on Riley?" Ella continued, unaware of the slight tension between the two, Riley quickly taking off her current jacket and handing it over to the skunk mom.
The new coat fit surprisingly well, reaching halfway down her thighs, having just enough free space inside to fit a fluffy jumper underneath, without the sleeves ending up longer than her arms.
"How's it look?" She asked the assembled public, Ella nodding with a smile as Maddy spoke up-
"It looks great, all warm and snuggly."
Riley was a bit taken aback by such a positive response, a blush once more sneaking its way up her cheeks before being interrupted by Ella-
"Yep. Let's put it in the basket and head to the checkout unless you're thinking of something else. And you Maddy better find your mom, she's still looking for you you know."
Riley quickly slid the coat off, exchanging it with her current jacket before Ella walked off towards the basket, Riley scrambling back into the pleather outfit, Maddy catching her attention once more-
"So, you're Riley? Glad to meet ya!" She extended a paw towards her with enthusiasm, quickly returned once Riley was done scrambling back into her jacket, answering with confusion-
"Wait, you've heard of me?"
"In a way, my mom told me a few days ago that her old friend from high school had adopted a teen named Riley but not much beyond that, and since then I've been looking forward to meeting you."
Riley nodded at her response, two and two adding up internally as she asked-
"Was your mom on Ella's hockey team in high school?" The face of the weasel looking slightly familiar from the old photo, despite the absence of blood.
"Yeah! Well, guess you could say that your mom was on my mom's team since she was the captain, but yeah! Heh, figured she'd tell you about that sooner or later." Maddy smiled slightly as she answered, the sight making Riley share the smile as she responded-
"Well, nice to meet you too Maddy. And once again, thanks with that coat."
"Oh it's nothing Riley, don't worry. Say, wanna share phone numbers?"
"U-uh, sure, if you tell me how, heh..." She quickly pulled her phone up, quickly tapping out of the children's cartoon that was still opened and navigating over to the contact list, only knowing to proceed as far as pressing the 'New Contact' button.
As Maddy started dictating her phone number, Riley managed to tap the text field next to the icon of a mobile phone, the phone fortunately opening up the number keyboard for her to type in, just barely managing to catch up with the phone number before the first digit escaped her short term memory.
After she was done, Maddy leaned in to take a look, correcting a couple of mistaken digits before clearing her, adding another tidbit a moment later-
"Oh, if you use full names for contacts then it's 'Madeline Johnson'. Ready to give your number?"
Riley tapped the full name in as quickly as she could, unused to the tempo Maddy apparently thought she could type at. After finalizing the contact, she realized she'd no idea what her actual phone number was, looking around a bit confused before the weasel caught on-
"Oh, if you don't know your number than just try to call me and I'll save that."
With a deep breath to steady herself, she managed to stumble her way back to the call menu, selecting the freshly added Maddy and waiting for something to-
A cheerful tune chimed from Maddy's phone before being cut off with a quiet beep, the girl nimbly navigating around her own phone, Riley managing to lean in and spot her contact entry receiving a name of ".Riley Asher" before Maddy slid her phone back into her pocket.
"Heh, guess by now my mom's starting to panic about me- take care Riley, hope to chat with ya some more!" Maddy waved goodbye before running off into the shop, Riley taking a moment to snap herself out of her daze before running off towards Ella. As she made her way back over, she spotted a stand with belts, grabbing the smallest black one that didn't look too stuffy and giving it a quick check to see whether it could even tie anything to her waist before continuing her jog, thankfully managing to find Ella around halfway through the checkout queue and throwing the belt into the basket.
Apparently, she took some time in the meanwhile to get her the versions of the pants she chose without the... tail holes, the gesture making Riley smile softly as the skunk mom spoke up-
"So, how's Maddy?" Ella asked with a smile, Riley looking away with the tiniest blush before responding-
"She's alright, glad she gave me a hand with the coat and all."
Ella lifted her brows just a bit at Riley's reaction, stifling a tiny smirk, opting unusually for her not to respond, much to the girl's gratitude.
A few minutes later they were in the clear, Ella taking a brief seat on a bench before asking-
"Alright, anything else on your mind, clothes-wise?"
W-why did she feel the need to add that last caveat...
"W-well, guess I could use another pair of shoes or two, the sneakers are all I really have right now."
"Uh-oh, yeah that sounds rough. Another pair of sneakers and some solid winter shoes?"
Riley nodded, Ella begrudgingly getting up from her brief respite, heading towards a large store with more shoe boxes on display than she'd ever seen in her life up to that point combined.
Skunk mom left her to her own devices as she took a seat near the entry to the shop, Riley grasping shoe sizing enough to quickly find another pair of black and white sneakers, slightly thicker and better looking than her current ones even at their best, many months ago by now.
The winter shoes were another matter, most of the shoes her size frustratingly too narrow to feel anywhere near comfortable. A literal dozen attempts later she finally found a pair that didn't feel like it was crushing her feet in a vice. She grabbed it on the spot despite the light brown appearance not really fitting her tastes.
After all, what point is there to fancy shoes if they hurt to even wear.
With her business here done she walked back to the annoyed looking Ella, noting her fur bristling a bit as she asked quietly-
"I-is something wrong Ella?"
She snapped back towards her, the annoyance melting into tiredness as she rubbed her forehead before answering-
"N-no, nothing sweetie, just... ugh, spotted one of the bullies from Lily's class waltzing around with her friends. Pisses me off just to look at the brat."
Riley certainly could imagine.
Imagined she did in fact, a very stupid plan forming in her head, one she couldn't help but to go for, with all of Lily's former anxiety towards her lighting up the sudden fire of her motivation.
"How's she look like?"
"That awful lime green jacket, otherwise similar to you, but then again, only a bit, and in ways that don't matter in the end." Ella responded, seemingly having not sensed any ulterior motives in Riley's question.
The skunk mom got up shortly afterwards, realizing that Riley has managed to find the shoes for herself, slowly heading towards the checkout as her daughter brought up another question-
"What's her name?"
"Beatrice I think, or something to that effect. Why do you ask?"
So that I can beat her face in.
"I mean, once I end going to school I'm gonna share it with Lily and Andrew and it's probably good to keep shitty people like that in mind."
Ella nodded slowly at that, thankfully not seeing through her words with all her exhaustion.
Riley kept quiet after that, quickly going through the far less cramped check out, Ella asking her once more as they walked out of the store, her voice clearly tired-
"So, need to patch up your wardrobe on any other fronts sweetie?"
"No, don't think so, I've got shirts and underwear plenty. Guess that's all for now."
"Thank goodness." The exhausted skunk mom slipped out, turning towards the front entrance and quietly adding-
"Let's get home, god I need a nap..."
Riley nodded, walking with her until the parking lot was in sight through the glass doors before speaking up-
"Uh, I think I need to use the bathroom, m-mind taking the shoes to the car as well? I'll catch up to you at the car after I'm done."
Please work please work please work pl-
"Using an old woman like that, have you no shame-" Ella responded with a chuckle, her words clearly joking as she took the shoe boxes from Riley and guided her-
"The bathrooms are down this corridor, just look at the signs on the walls. Haste!"
Riley smiled and turned around, quickly marching deeper into the building, speeding up into a light jog as she looked around for a girl with a lime jacket. While she was well aware now that her eyesight was shite, at least she could still make out colors.
A minute or so later she'd finally spotted her sitting at a cafeteria table of some fast food place, surrounded by a couple other equally obnoxious looking tweens, one Riley could have sworn she saw her hair glitter even from a distance.
She pulled on her hood and thought through the plan of attack as she sat down on a nearby bench. While walking up to them and just socking the brat on her cheek would be the most satisfying outcome, she wasn't exactly looking forward to being apprehended by some mall cops.
She had to be a bit stealthier, catching her on her-
Her planning was cut short as she spotted Beatrice heading to the bathrooms in the corner of her eye, definitely not willing to waste a perfect opportunity like that as she followed her in.
Adrenaline surged through her as she waited outside her stall, outside of the field of view of the only camera in the bathroom, hands giddy.
A flush of water later the wench finally walked out of her stall, the lime jacket even more hideous up close. Same extended to the rest of the brat, while she definitely had more or less Riley's height and figure, everything was way opposite, from the overuse of glitter makeup, to her pixie cut being over the top perfect and almost definitely treated with hair spray.
As opposed to the only honorable hair management method, safety scissors you smuggled out of the play room.
And these shining red fake nails, ugh.
"Beatrice?" She caught her attention, the girl looking annoyed by someone daring to interrupt her like that, before the emotion was replaced by confusion-
"Who are you?" She squeaked out, taking a look at Riley, the similarities in appearance unnerving her.
Riley took a deep breath and eyed her down, right hand curling up into a fist as she calmly responded with a modified version of her original idea-
"Anthros say hi."
And landed the meatiest hook she'd ever managed in her lifetime, the tween stumbling and falling right onto the floor, thankfully not slamming her head into the tiles.
As proud as Riley was of her handiwork, she knew better than to stick around, pulling her hood back on and quickly walked out of the bathroom and into the crowds as Beatrice's confused whimpers at anyone daring to attack her like this turned into wailing since, oh right, it hurt quite badly.
Fortunately, by the time she heard her babyish cries really get loud she was already in the middle of the crowd, massaging her aching right hand with her left, the job well done making her grin widely to nobody in particular as she sped up towards the front entrance.
The grin refused to wash itself from her even as she stepped outside into the cold, managing to just barely recall the rough location of Ella's car, aided by the skunk mom herself standing outside, looking for her in slight exasperation.
"I'm afraid to ask what did you even do in there for it to take that long..." She remarked with the tiniest hint of annoyance as she sat back in the car, Riley dashing up to the other front door before she slid in herself.
"It takes a while, you know?" She answered, biting on her tongue to suppress her glee, which the tired Ella thankfully didn't notice.
"Not for me it doesn't. But anyway, let's finally get home, could definitely use a cup of tea and a nap myself, this mall always makes me feel like shit..." She remarked as she turned on the engine and pulled out of their parking spot, taking just a bit longer than usual to finally find the exit onto the main road.
Just by a minute or two.
As they drove away from the mall, Riley's grin wavered a bit as she considered what might the consequences be for that... assuming they'd catch her, which would be quite tricky given she hid her face from the camera, did it outside one's sight and was someone utterly unknown to Bea-bitch or whatever her name was. And even beyond all that, she did the right thing and that's what matters here.
Even if her hand hurt afterwards, joining her left shoulder.
Ow.