Zig Zag is Copyright © Max Black Rabbit. Sabrina, Darke Katt and R.C. are Copyright © Eric W. Schwartz. James Sheppard, Marvin Badger, Rhonda Badger, Yohni, Alexi, Michael, Esteban, Mia, Wanda Vixen and Tamara Rabbit are Copyright © James Bruner. Jean LeBrun, Francois LeBrun, Marie LeBrun, Gabrielle Ryder, Theodore Bigglesworth-Farthington von Salzburg the Third, Roxanne Bigglesworth-Farthington von Salzburg, Timothy Bigglesworth-Farthington von Salzburg, Malcolm Grazer, Doctor Lupin, Doctor Fox Jones, William Pongo, Captain Archibald, Peter Spermophilus, Miranda Spermophilus, Leo Leon, Vincent Leon, Abu-Yusuf, Sergeant Otetiani, Lieutenant Black, Julie Black, Miriam Redtail, Lizzy Doe, Emma Grey, Rowena Spyke, Jeremy Mustela, William White, Hannah Vulpes, Professor Nutkin, Professor Moose Nicholson, Professor Verner Schnauzer, Professor Erica Belge, Charles 'Mouse' Mombay, Ulf Søndergård, Paul Donkey, Harley Davidson (Not the motorcycle manufacturer, obviously) and Pethouse Magazine is © Joan Jacobsen, 2005.
Legal Notice: This story is Copyright © 2005 by Joan Jacobsen. This story may not be sold or used for commercial profit in any form or fashion. This story may not be modified in any way. This story may not be posted on a mirror site or any other Internet site without the written permission of the author. This story may not be distributed on print, magnetic, electrical or optical mediums.
Permission to use characters that are Copyright other individuals was obtained prior to the appearance of said characters.
The author, Joan Jacobsen, hereby asserts moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
This is an independent work of fiction with no connection whatsoever to Max Black Rabbit, Eric W. Schwartz, E.S. Productions or James Bruner and is in no way meant to imply any connection with Max Black Rabbit, Eric W. Schwartz, E.S. Productions, or James Bruner. This story contains characters created by Max Black Rabbit, Eric W. Schwartz, James Bruner, Tigermark and Silver Coyote. Events and characters occurring in this story should not be considered part of the storylines for either 'Zig Zag', 'Sabrina Online' or 'Sabrina Online - The Story'.
In fact, as far as 'Zig Zag', 'Sabrina Online', 'Sabrina Online - The Story' and 'Zig Zag the Story' are concerned, this story does not exist. The artists disavow any knowledge of and do not officially sanction the events in this story.
Hanging out
Jean looked around the living room with a big smile. Everything was just right. The snacks were done, the drinks were cooling down in the fridge, the stereo was playing lowly in the background. The place was scrubbed clean. She had changed clothes and Esteban was doing so at that very moment. Her makeup was done. There wasn't a single thing wrong.
Well, except for the fact that the guests weren't there yet, but they'd be arriving any moment.
Esteban came out of the bedroom. He was wearing a nice new pair of black jeans, a white muscle-shirt and a white dress shirt, casually left open and tugged into his pants. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.
Jean practically purred at the sight. "You know, if you looked any better, you'd be illegal," she said and winked.
"Look who's talkeeng, chica," the wolf grinned and leaned over, kissing her nose.
"Well, I guess we're all set and ready then?" the vixen asked.
Esteban nodded and looked around. "Si. The fingerfood ees done, dreenks are meexed and een the freedge...we're readee," he said and put his arms akimbo, looking at the apartment, clearly satisfied with what he saw.
Jean smiled. It wasn't every day she threw a party, but it wasn't every day she had a job to celebrate, either. She'd have loved for Gabby and Yohni to be able to attend but the two of them had left the day before for their vacation. She'd tell them both when they arrived and called back to let her know they were safely there.
Despite not having lived with Gabrielle for two years, they still kept in nearly daily touch and Jean had made sure that the equine would call once they were safely in Copenhagen. The first leg of their long trip through Europe.
"Do you theenk we'll get to see Emma's boyfriend at last?" Esteban asked.
"I honestly don't know. She's dated him for what...four months? Five? We still haven't met him. I did tell her she was welcome to bring him. I mean...you know...I'm happy for her and all, but I am starting to wonder what kind of fur this fellow is," Jean said, thoughtfully.
"Si...me too. I mean, I like your amigas, chica...a lot een fact. I like both Leo and Fox too, for that matter. I theenk the whole SNF idea ees great, to be perfectly honest. Eet geeves me some great feesheeng compadres," he grinned. "But I am wondereeng about thees meesteree fur too."
Jean nodded and shrugged. The SNF had been a good idea. The 'Society of Nerdy Femmes'...a sort of anti-sorority made up of herself, Emma Grey, Miriam Redtail and Lizzy Doe. The most unlikely bunch of society-femmes in the history of the university. But they'd been good for each other and had all brought significant professional aspects to the group that the others had benefited from. Jean had brought her critical mind and her sponge brain. Emma had brought her complete understanding of historical and scientific research theories. Miriam and Lizzy had brought calm and fire respectively. They evened each other out perfectly. Lizzy was the type to get the group fired up and working...Miriam the one who worked everyone's adrenalin out with a cup of herbal tea and some sitar-music. They'd helped each other through uni, and their friendship hadn't diminished afterwards.
They still saw each other quite often. Miriam and Lizzy would gladly bring their boyfriends around, since they both got along famously with Esteban. Like the wolf had said, they went fishing together. Whatever males did when bonding. They'd watch football games too. That, to Jean was the ultimate proof of male-male friendships. Sit down with a six-pack and a football game, cheering for opposite teams without getting into arguments was something only friends could do. Jean had tried asking Emma about her boyfriend too, but the mink was quite secretive about him. Knowing how introverted she'd been about her love-life since Jean met her, the vixen didn't think it was out of character for her to keep this to herself. At least not for a while but she was starting to wonder. Emma had spent a lot of time convincing herself she wasn't worth dating. Even though she'd opened up a lot after falling in with the other SNF femmes, she still lacked the self esteem to see why anyone would want to date her.
It wasn't that Emma was an unattractive femme. She wasn't. She was fairly ordinary, but could be quite pretty with a minimum of work, and she had gotten better at that over time. The real problem was, that she simply couldn't see it herself, nor did she believe she possessed any traits that any male would like. It had gotten to the point where Jean was gearing up to bring Emma to 'Satyr'...the local gay/lesbian bar...just to see if that might work. Then, Emma had turned up, all smiles and a bundle of giggles, saying she'd started dating someone.
That was more or less as much information as they'd gotten out of her since. They'd learned he was a weasel, and that his name was Jeremy Mustela. That was it.
Perhaps tonight would change that, Jean told herself, without really thinking it was going to be that way. In any event, there was a party to be held and she was looking very much forward to it.
"Maybe we should make sure those drinks really are mixed right?" she asked, looking at Esteban again.
"Ahh, good idea. I am thirstee too," the wolf grinned and went to the kitchen to get something for the both of them.
###
Looking out the window, Gabrielle couldn't see anything except darkness. It was very late evening where she was. Past eleven PM, in fact. She didn't feel it was that late, though. Her internal clock still said it was late afternoon. Next to her, Yohni was looking through the tax-free catalogue. The mongoose had stumbled onto the perfume section and now she was trying to decide what to buy.
The sun had set over an hour earlier. Almost two in fact. It was a bit strange to fly along the time-zones, Gabrielle thought. She'd be landing in a place seven hours ahead of what she felt the time was. It wouldn't be long, either. They'd be landing in less than twenty minutes, in fact. They had long since passed over the British Isles. The night had been very clear, and cities were lit up beneath them. Yohni had leaned over her to see. Gabrielle had liked that moment. She'd slipped an arm around the mongoose and just held her gently. She felt the same way she always did around Yohni. Warm inside. Happy and content. In love. The scent of Yohni's hair in her nostrils had made her smile. The view wasn't important anymore.
She looked out the window again. A coastline was coming up ahead. It was pretty clearly lit. A small city was lit up beneath. The harbor area was ablaze like a Christmas tree with all kinds of lights from ships of all sizes at anchor. Gabrielle realized the plane had come down far enough that she could distinguish ships down there, despite the darkness. No doubt they would soon be coming in for the landing.
The voice of the captain calmly informed the passengers that there might be a little turbulence ahead, and that everyone was advised to fasten their seat belts. Gabrielle immediately did so and reached over, fastening Yohni's next. The mongoose looked up and smiled.
"Did I miss something?" she asked.
"Oh, just a lot of turbulence coming up and for you to fasten your belt. Which I've now done for you," Gabrielle grinned. "Found anything you like?"
"Plenty. But you know...I'm thinking it's better to buy tax free on the way home. With what we have left. We'll have more to spend for the shopping sprees," Yohni said and closed the catalogue.
"My goodness, I think that's the first time I've heard you say anything like that," the equine said and blinked. Then she smiled and leaned over kissing Yohni's cheek. "Well, we'll be landing soon. What do you say we get our stuff to our hotel, then find some of the local nightlife and wear ourselves out rapidly? So we get a good night's sleep?"
"Sure. It's a way of avoiding the worst of the jetlag, I guess. We'll wake up fresh tomorrow morning local time, and have plenty of time in Copenhagen. What's the place like anyway?"
"Well...to be perfectly honest, I don't know what to expect. My knowledge of Denmark is pretty limited. Supposedly it's a very nice city though. I asked Jean but you know how she goes about finding information..." Gabrielle grinned and shook her head.
"Oh good grief, a four hour lecture on the history of Denmark, I take it?" Yohni asked, laughing quietly to herself. "Yeah, I know. Jean's great but she's such a geek sometimes."
"It's part of what makes her the fur she is. I should've expected it. Oh, and it wasn't four hours. Just a two hour, ultra-condensed version. It was pretty damned interesting at times," Gabrielle said and smiled widely.
Yohni nodded. She could believe that. Before she could answer, the airframe rumbled and shook as the plane hit turbulence. The mongoose swallowed and sat up straight, clutching her seat. "I hate this," she mumbled.
Gabrielle reached over and took a hold of her girlfriend's paw. "Squeeze as hard as you need to, dear. It's just turbulence..." she said, softly.
"Isn't there anything in the world that can make you lose your nerve, Gabby? Gahhh...it feels like the plane is going to shake itself apart," Yohni said, squeezing Gabrielle's paw as hard as she could.
"Yeah. If someone hurt you...that would make me lose my nerve, Yohni. But I'm pretty sure we'd see a lot of panic going on if the plane was in any danger. We'll be fine. See...? The shaking stopped already. Close your eyes...imagine you're sitting in a roller coaster in an amusement park. Whenever we hit turbulence, we're going downhill...whenever things are smooth, we're going up," the equine said, trying to ignore the fact that Yohni was squeezing her fingers to pieces.
Yohni nodded and closed her eyes. It took a moment, then she smiled and relaxed. "I read there's a really old amusement park in Copenhagen...one of the oldest in the world. Maybe we can go there?" she asked.
"I saw that in the brochures too. The Tivoli. We'll definitely go if you'd like to. I was kinda hoping for it. It looked like a fun place," Gabrielle grinned. This was good. The mongoose was thinking of something else than the turbulence now.
The plane hit another bump, but this time, Yohni just grinned. Apparently, she was riding that roller coaster behind her closed eyelids. Overhead, the intercom came to life as the pilot in both English and what Gabrielle assumed to be Danish, informed the passengers that the weather over Copenhagen was presently good, and that they'd be coming in for a landing in less than ten minutes.
The filly reached up and stroked Yohni's cheek, smiling a little. "It won't be long now," she whispered.
Yohni nodded and gave Gabrielle's paw another squeeze.
###
The party had started nicely. Most of those invited had arrived more or less on time and by now, furs were spread out around the living room, in chairs and on the couch. A few were standing or getting something in the kitchen. Esteban was talking to his fishing buddies. Zig Zag was entertaining Lizzy and Miriam with tales of her first years with ZZ Studios. Everything looked good. Even Peter and Miranda Spermophilus had managed to come. That was always a little tricky as they had a fifteen months old daughter to take into consideration. But they'd found a babysitter for the evening. Peter was the policefur who had lost a paw while trying to apprehend the retrogressing fur who was attempting to reach Jean two years earlier. By now, he occasionally found time to go bowling with Esteban and Leo. All in all, the atmosphere was fine, the guests were having a good time and Jean found herself relaxing against the windowsill. There was just one thing nagging her.
Emma hadn't turned up.
Nor had the mink phoned to let her know she couldn't make it. That was really what worried Jean. Emma was a stickler for that kind of detail. She knew her friend hadn't simply forgotten, either...they'd spoken about the party that same morning.
There was nothing she could do about it anyway. Perhaps something urgent had come up.
There was a knock on the door. Jean barely heard it over the talk in the room, but it was there. She turned and headed to the front door, opening it.
Emma was waiting outside. She looked ill. Beside was a young, male weasel.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Jean...I..." the mink began and sighed, looking down. "We had to go by the hospital before coming."
Jean blinked and looked concerned. "It's okay, Emma. The hospital you say? What happened? Come on in...please..." she said, nodding to the weasel as well. "I assume you're Jeremy? We've all been hoping to meet you at long last."
"That'd be me," the weasel answered, offering a paw. "Pleased to meet you at last. Don't worry, Emma's fine. She had a nasty experience coming home to change for the party, is all. Some jerk parking his car didn't see her in the rear view mirror and opened the door just as she passed it on her bike. She took a nasty tumble and we went by the hospital to have her looked over," he explained.
Jean gasped but shook the offered paw. "That's terrible. Did you get hurt?" she asked and looked back at her friend.
Emma nodded a bit and stepped inside. "I got a couple of bent ribs and I'm black and blue everywhere. I'm...lucky I wore my helmet," she said, quietly. Almost haltingly. "I'm sorry if I'm not much fun tonight..."
Jean thought about giving the mink a hug, but thought better of it. Bent ribs and hugs didn't go well together. She remembered only too well how she'd felt for weeks after being assaulted. Breathing was painful and laughing was a nightmare.
"Emma...if...if you'd rather go home and rest, you know...it's okay? Are you sure you're up to this?" the vixen asked, gently putting a paw on her friends shoulder. She could swear she saw tears forming in the minks eyes. She could understand why. It had probably been a really frightening experience.
Jeremy reached out and took Emma's paw in his, giving it a little squeeze. "I told her the same thing..." he said, shrugging. "But she wanted to come, and...well, I would like to meet all of you at last. You'll be okay, dear. It was just a bad experience."
The weasel's voice was kind and reassuring.
Jean nodded. "Okay. But if you feel like going home early don't stay just to make anyone else happy. And if you feel you need to lay down a bit, let me know, and you can use the bed, okay? Fox is in there if you need to talk to someone who can help you work through this too. Goodness, Emma...you're lucky. What if a car had come by just as you fell?" she asked.
Emma just nodded, quietly. "I really need to sit down a little," she said. Her voice was very low. Clearly, her chest was hurting.
"Come on, this way..." Jean said and gently guided the mink into the living room. She looked around for a place to sit but every seat was already occupied. She'd have to get everyone's attention.
Clearing her throat, loudly she tried to. It wasn't that easy.
"EVERYONE...please, I need your attention for a moment," she said, raising her voice.
The conversation died down and every fur in the room looked at her. Most smiles vanished immediately at the sight of the vixen's serious expression. Something obviously wasn't quite right.
There was no reason for suspense, and Jean simply waited for the noise in the room to settle, before speaking up again. "Emma has had an accident earlier today," she said, quietly. "As you can see, she's right here, so it isn't life threatening, but she's been to the hospital and she's in some pain and needs to sit down. If one of you could please vacate a seat, so she can have it, it'd be really nice of you. On the flip side, she's brought Jeremy, so we finally have a chance to get to know him."
"Please, have my seat," Leo said and got out of his chair. "It's probably better not to sit on the couch where you could get bumped by the fur next to you."
Emma managed a grateful smile and sat down in the seat Leo vacated. The lion looked worried, but turned his eyes towards Jeremy. "You must be the lucky fur who finally managed to run off with Emma then?" he asked, smiling and extending a paw towards him. "I'm Leo Leon, officially Lizzy's better half..."
"I heard that," Lizzy said, grinning from the couch.
"And now I'm in a lot of trouble," Leo chuckled. "Anyway, it's good to meet you at long last, Jeremy. We were wondering if you didn't want to see the rest of us."
Jeremy smiled back and shook the paw offered. "Not at all. I've just always had other arrangements whenever a chance came up. Work, you know," the weasel said and smiled amiably. "Anyway, it is good to have faces to put on all of you at last. Admittedly, there's one face in this crowd I did know in advance...Emma, you never told me you hung out with celebrities," he grinned.
Emma managed another little smile but winced and put a paw to her side. "I don't see Zig Zag very often...mostly when Jean has all the girls over for a fun evening. Typically when the males go fishing or bowling or something," she explained.
"How come I just knew he was referring to me?" Zig Zag asked and finger-waved at Jeremy.
"I think most males of my generation at least know your face," Jeremy said with a crooked smile. Then he looked back to his girlfriend. "Emma, can I get you something?" he asked, concerned. "Something to drink perhaps?"
The mink simply shook her head. Her eyes were closed but she looked like she was recovering slowly. "It'll be okay. It was tough climbing the stairs that's all," she said, at last. She smiled a little, trying to disarm everyone's worries.
Fox Jones sipped his drink. He was standing by the stereo where he had been talking to Esteban. He stuck his free paw in his pocket and looked at Emma for a while. Clearly, the mink had experienced something very unpleasant. She tried to put it off as physical pain but the fox knew better.
"Emma...did they let you talk to a counselor at the hospital?" he asked.
The mink looked up with a jerk, shaking her head. "No...no, I didn't need one," she said. "I just fell on my bike...rode into an open car door that's all," she explained. "It just happened...so fast."
Fox nodded again. "I see. Well, you know you can always talk to me if you need it," he said, kindly. It was obviously better not to force the issue. He could always try to talk to the mink later on when the experience was a little more distant.
The mood had gone quite somber after Emma's and Jeremy's arrival. Miriam and Lizzy had left the couch to check up on their injured friend. Conversation had mostly died down. There was an awkward feeling hovering in the room in general. Leo tried to find the right words to start up a new line of conversation with Jeremy, but it just didn't seem right.
Esteban cleared his throat and stepped into the middle of the room. He looked nervous. His paws kept moving from his pockets to his sides and back again. He scratched his neck once or twice, smiling uncertainly.
"Can I have evereeone's attenteeon?" he asked. He felt like the inside of his throat had gotten covered in sandpaper in a matter of seconds. "I theenk now that we've all been shocked by some bad news...and Emma I reallee hope you'll get better fast...maybe eet's time for sometheeng to laugh at?"
Zig Zag just leaned back, drink in one paw. She crossed her legs and half lidded her eyes. A little smile played over her lips.
A general murmur of consent rose from everyone else.
"What're we going to laugh at though? Are you going to drop your pants or something, Esteban?" Leo teased and poured himself a new drink from the punch-bowl.
"Aww, Leo, geeve the lobo a break, no?" Esteban whined. "I'm tryeeng to be sereeous for once..."
"Ahh, so there's the joke..." Leo chuckled, dryly.
That got a good round of laughter. Esteban smiled and rubbed his neck, his other arm akimbo, trying to find a facial expression to suit the situation. He waited patiently until the laughter had died down. In truth, it gave him a few much needed moments to gather up his thoughts. Not to mention his courage.
"When evereeone ees done laugheeng at my expense as usual, I do have sometheeng to say..." he chuckled as the laughter died down. "Sometheeng eemportant."
Zig Zag just nodded, sipping her drink. No one noticed. Everyone else was looking at Esteban. She didn't have to though. She knew perfectly well what was about to happen.
The maned wolf scratched his neck again, grinning nervously. "Well, I've known a few of you for a long time, so...you know I'm not too good weeth words," he began. "I keep sayeeng the wrong theeng at the wrong time. Usuallee, you all end up laugheeng though. Just for once een my life I'm goeeng to try to say the right theeng at the right time. Eet's been a couple of years seence all thees started, no? Eet deedn't even start weeth me. Eet started weeth a certain potranca who's on her way to Europe right now. Walkeeng eento your office, no, Jefa?" he said and gestured towards Zig Zag.
The skunk simply nodded and smiled. "I guess that's where it all began, yes. Asking for a job, to get even with her parents. I think I had a hundred reasons not to hire her, and I still took a chance. Good thing too, hm?" she asked and smiled crookedly.
"Si...that was a good theeng for a lot of reasons. The best reason for me, though, was that Gabbee brought Jean to a partee not long after. At the studeeo. Marveen had threatened to tackle anee of the cast who made a pass on her. And what Marveen tackles...Marveen breaks!"
"Just ask Gabrielle's dad if anyone's in doubt," Miranda chuckled and sipped her drink. Images of a thoroughly destroyed antique table came back to her. Marvin had prevented Gabrielle's father from striking the filly by performing a flying tackle at him, bringing the both of them down on top of the table. The noise had been deafening. The destruction of property total.
"Preciselee, Meeranda. Good example. Well, as the eveneeng progressed, I thought eet'd be rude not to talk to thees new femme who'd been hauled along for the eveneeng. So I sat down weeth her and...I guess I said all the wrong theengs at the wrong time again. She nearlee ran off, evereeone. I swear, she deed. Got up to leave but I asked her not to..."
"That's all right, Esteban," Fox grinned and lifted his glass. "We're males. We're not supposed to know what to say to femmes. It's scientific fact, take it from someone who knows."
Everyone chuckled again and Esteban gratefully used the brief pause to get a deep breath of air. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous but he felt like he was about to faint.
"I got her to stay though," he continued when everyone had gone quiet again. "I guess for once I said some of the right theengs then. So...she sat down and I got up to leave, before I gave Marveen a reason to break me."
The room was quiet. Every pair of eyes in the room was directed at Esteban. The only one who really seemed to understand what it was all about was Zig Zag, who simply emptied her drinks glass and leaned back again, still smiling.
Esteban put a paw into his chest pocket, getting something to hold in the palm of his paw. "She sat down...and I got back up," he repeated, almost as if to himself. Then he turned and looked at Jean. "Maybe eet's time I got down again."
Miriam blinked and looked at Lizzy. The doe just smiled. A really wide smile that kept growing.
"I know the laws of thees state ees a load of eentollerant garbage, chica...but I don't need the law to tell me who I can or can't fall een love weeth. I've tried findeeng the right moment for thees a dozen times alreadee and sometheeng always came up. Well, now there are weetnesses. For some strange reason, that makes eet easier..." Esteban said, quietly as he approached the vixen. Then, very slowly, he sank down on one knee and looked up at her.
Jean felt her throat constrict and her breathing stop for a moment. She had hot and cold flashes.
Esteban looked up at her with an expression on his face she knew she'd remember even if she grew to be a hundred and fifty years old. He looked scared. And happy. And nervous. And exhilarated. All at the same time. He swallowed, just once, to clear his throat. Then he opened his paw, showing the ring he had just taken out of his pocket. He waited just a brief moment to let it all sink in with Jean, before he asked.
"Weell you marree me?"
From somewhere, very far away, Jean heard her own voice answering.
"Yes..."
###
Gabrielle stepped out of the airport bus and looked over her shoulder. Yohni was right behind her. The mongoose smiled brightly and dug into her purse, nodding to let the filly know she had her passport ready. The night sky was crystal clear. Gabrielle looked up at it and sniffed the air. It was surprisingly crisp and fresh. What boggled her, though, was that she could see the stars above absolutely clearly. She'd noted, as they circled to land, that Copenhagen had looked quite different than she had expected, from above. There was no brightly lit skyline. The amount of light was fairly constant from a very large area. There were a few places that were brightly lit but they looked more like parks than tall buildings. In fact...there hadn't seemed to be a skyline like the one in New York. Flying out, she'd marveled at the sheer size of the World Trade Center. The towers had looked almost impossibly large. This place had nothing like that.
The city wasn't so brightly lit that the night sky became invisible. At least not here...at the far end of the airport. It'd probably be harder to distinguish if they got closer to the main buildings. It did seem to be quite large. The airport bus had taken a good ten minutes to drive from the runway to where they were now.
She reached out behind herself, slightly, and felt Yohni's paw in her own. It felt nice to have firm ground under her hooves again, too.
"Shall we go get our passports checked, then?" she asked and looked at the mongoose.
"Sure. I wonder how long it'll take. I've never been to Europe before. You think they'll be really thorough?" Yohni asked.
"Dunno, really. I guess we'll find out," Gabrielle said and headed inside.
She looked from side to side. The airport looked like any such place would. Long hallways with a glass wall on one side and a white wall on the other, regularly interrupted by some advertisement in a plethora of colors. Usually it was pretty hard to figure out what the ad was meant to sell, if it wasn't for the strategic placing of a logo or brand name. Furs were already walking along. Most of them in the same direction. Gabrielle figured it was best to follow the general flow.
"How are we going to get from here to Copenhagen itself?" Yohni asked. "I mean, I noticed we're at least five or six miles out from the city itself."
"You know...I'm pretty sure that Danes have figured out the concept of taxis or subways, Yohni," Gabrielle grinned and shook her head.
The mongoose laughed and nodded. "Probably right. Sorry, I'm asking stupid questions. It's all a little exciting that's all. Imagine that...we're in Europe."
"First trip outside the United States?" a friendly, male voice asked from behind the two of them. It was slightly accented.
Gabrielle stopped and looked over her shoulder. Behind her, a canid tipped an imaginary hat and smiled politely. He looked like a mixture of a German shepherd and a wolf. He was too big to be a German Shepherd and he had yellow eyes, but his markings weren't out of the ordinary. If he came from a mixed species background, it was harder to tell than in most cases, Gabrielle thought. He might simply be bigger than most German shepherds she knew of.
"Didn't mean to intrude, ladies...but I'll be happy to show you where to go to catch a taxi or where the S-trains leave from. No point in sprinting around Kastrup Airport for two hours trying to find the right exit. This time of night, most furs here would just be grumpy and not much help if you asked for directions," he said and shrugged.
Gabrielle stopped and let go of Yohni's paw, extending it towards the large canid to shake. "That'd be very nice of you, sir. And yes, it's our first trip outside the US. What's an S-train though?"
"The forerunner of a subway. They're building a real one, though. They've had S-trains here for sixty years or so...I guess everyone thought there was no need to replace them with something underground," the canid said and took the offered paw, shaking it. "My name's Ulf. Nice meeting you both."
Yohni smiled and looked honestly relieved. "It's nice to see the local furs are friendly at least," she said and nodded. "I'm Yohni, the tall, dark and gorgeous one is Gabrielle."
"We don't bite...in general," Ulf grinned and offered his paw to Yohni as well.
The mongoose shook it and laughed softly.
Gabrielle hiked her bag up a bit to get the strap comfortable over her shoulder. "Well, let's go find the passport control, shall we? Just so we don't get separated, I guess it's best if we stay together until we get out of there. Once again, it's really nice of you to help, Ulf...but you know we're going to have to pick up our luggage too, before we leave?"
"That's fine. So do I, after all. I'm in no particular hurry. I've been in New York for three weeks so I've gotten used to Eastern Standard Time. It's still five in the afternoon for me," Ulf said, smiling. "It's this way, anyway...we have to turn left down here."
They took the turn and walked in silence for a short while. Gabrielle took time to look at the airport interior again. Everything seemed quite classy. Not to mention the shops she could see on the other side of the windows looked extremely expensive and high class. It was not the place to start spending obscene sums, she knew that. There'd be plenty of chances to shop later. Not to mention to see the sights.
The passport control came up and the three furs took a place in the queue. It wasn't terribly long, and it seemed to be moving forward fast enough. It wasn't long before a friendly looking lynx behind a reinforced glass window asked Gabrielle to place her passport on a revolving plate. She did so and observed as the lynx flicked through it fast. He looked up, quickly checking that the photo was really of her, and then let her have her passport back with a smile.
"Welcome to Denmark, Miss Ryder. Have a pleasant stay."
"Thank you," she answered, took her passport and headed through the checkpoint.
Yohni and Ulf joined her on the other side in moments.
"That was quick," Yohni commented.
"They see tens of thousands of passports every day...they're good at seeing if something's wrong," Ulf said with a grin. "This is the biggest airport in northern Europe...as they like to brag. No one ever seems to define what exactly constitutes 'northern Europe', though. North of what?"
Gabrielle laughed and hiked up her bag again. "Isn't that always the way? Oh well...let's figure out where to get our luggage."
Ulf looked up at a monitor and pondered a moment. "This way," he said and pointed to the right. "It's on a conveyor belt down here. Anyway, mind if I ask...how long are you two in Copenhagen for?"
"Just five days. We're on a grand tour of Europe," Gabrielle answered.
"Yup. From Copenhagen to Berlin. We'll be seeing Paris, Milan and Rome as well," Yohni explained and put her passport back in her shoulder bag, closing the zipper securely.
"All the major fashion sites," Ulf said and grinned. "Not my thing, ladies, but at least I know that much. Shame you're not here for longer, I could've shown you a few sites."
"Well, five days is still five days. We'll be staying at this hotel..." Gabrielle said and looked in her bag for a notebook. She opened it and showed it to the canid.
"I see. Hrm...d'you have a pen or something? I can write down my number. Feel free to call in case you need a guide. I've got a few days off and at least my internal clock will be on the same time-zone as yours," Ulf offered.
Yohni found a pencil in her bag and handed it to Ulf with a crooked grin. "You work fast," she said, a teasing note in her voice.
"Not at all. I promise...no ulterior motive here. Just trying to be helpful," the canid chuckled and wrote down an eight digit number as well as his name.
Gabrielle looked at it. "Ulf...gahhh...I'm not going to try to pronounce that last name. How do you say that letter? And that one??" she asked and blinked.
"Ulf Søndergård," he grinned. "I don't expect non-Scandinavians to be able to..."
"I'm not even going to try," Yohni mumbled. "I'd fracture my tongue."
They laughed at that and waited a short while before the luggage started arriving along the conveyor belt. It was the type found in all airports. Set up in a circle going back and forth as many times as needed for everyone to get all their bags off it. Ulf looked at the amounts of bags the two femmes were getting and scratched his neck. Then he beckoned for them to wait a moment and headed off. A minute or so later, he returned with a large, flat push-cart.
"There. Makes it easier. Let's get this to a taxi and let the taxi-driver sweat, putting it all in the back," he chuckled.
Gabrielle nodded and began putting both hers and Yohni's bags on the cart. Ulf beckoned for them to follow and pushed it towards another hallway. He seemed to know where he was going. Gabrielle reminded herself to ask their new friend how often he flew back and forth to be this familiar with the airport, at a later time. She'd more or less made up her mind to take him up on his offer to play guide for her and Yohni. It'd make things easier by far, to have someone knowing the city to help out. If nothing else, it'd drastically lessen the chances of falling into tourist-traps.
They passed through a narrow, curving hallway. Two signs above told furs who had something to declare to go right, those without to go left. Ulf shrugged and headed left.
"I haven't got anything this time. I do sometimes buy a few extra bottles of something nice while I'm abroad but not this time," he explained. "I'll wait on the other side if you two have anything to declare?"
Gabrielle shook her head. "Not yet. We didn't spend all our money on the plane over here," she grinned and followed the canid.
A couple of tired looking airport tax-officials waved a few furs aside as the three of them passed through the area. They weren't waved over though. Once through, a sliding door opened up into a huge glass hall. Gabrielle smiled. The exit was visible from there.
"Seems we managed, first try," Yohni grinned and pointed towards the doors too.
Ulf smiled. "Time to find a taxi. Shouldn't be hard, even at this time of night."
He led the two femmes through the front doors and looked around. Then he pointed towards a very large group of cars. Each had a lit up sign saying 'Taxa' on top.
It took a moment before it sank in. Then Gabrielle blinked and looked at Ulf. "Are you serious?"
"What do you mean?" the canid asked.
"Look at'em. That's a Mercedes...most of them are in fact. Those are luxury cars...you use those for taxis??"
"Yep. The taxi-companies get massive discounts and tax write-offs for their cars. They might as well buy big, comfortable ones then," Ulf said with a grin. "I should know. I'm an accountant."
Yohni laughed. "I think he's an expert, Gabby. Let's just find a taxi, shall we? I want to get to the hotel and get our room."
Gabrielle shrugged and nodded. "I guess I can see the point in that," she admitted and smiled. She let Ulf flag down one of the waiting cars.
A few moments later, their luggage was being loaded into the trunk and they got comfortable in the back of the car. Ulf held the door for them, smiling.
"I'll see you later then, I hope. Feel free to call if you want me to show you around tomorrow. Most places are closed on Sundays of course. But there are plenty of nice things to see in Copenhagen on a Sunday if you know where to go, and I do," he winked.
Then he closed the door and waved goodbye to the two, before heading off to find a cab for himself.
Yohni smiled. "What a nice guy. A real gentlefur. Those are rare."
Gabrielle nodded. "I think we were very lucky to run into him. It'll probably make things a whole lot easier on the both of us," she said and leaned forward. She showed the note with the name of the hotel and the address to the cabby, who smiled and nodded.
Yohni leaned in against the equine and sighed, contentedly. Gabrielle put an arm around the shorter femme and kissed her hair. Outside, the street lights zipped past as the taxi moved through the traffic towards it's destination.