Chapter 25: Arc 2, - 3: Vexing Tribulations
The figure lying on the sofa burped awake, startled by the sudden shout. He stumbled out, falling onto the wooden floors knocking the glass bottles into each other.
His dazed eyes looked up from the floor—grumbling. He saw Hotaru, "Akaren...?" he mumbled, only seeing the hues of red through his eyes.
"Don't you dare say her name," Hotaru dusted off the sofa, patting it violently over the fallen body. She moved away, allowing him to stand up; the other three still stood at the doorway.
He stood only a smidgen taller than Hotaru—maybe if he stood straight there would be a difference. Eyes of brilliant blue, but the whites were reddened and wrinkles aged. His body was skinny, clothes on the baggy side; not because of fitness, but out of malnourishment.
His hair- no, almost-fur was brown filled with greys. His nose was more on the wolf-side, a tiny spot of black at the tip that went back into skin like a mole; his ears longer and tail larger than Hotaru's.
The ends of his nails were more like claws, yellowed from improper care. A messy beard needing a shave, head of fur needing a haircut.
Only upon closer inspection of the half-human, could anyone tell his hair was fur, as opposed to Hotaru whose hair was hair, fur only upon her ears and tail.
Speaking of the redhead, her tail and ears were spiked up, fur standing on its end. Hotaru was not even facing her friends in the moment.
"Hotaru," he called, "Come on firefly, don't be yelling," her father's ears twitched.
Her fur seemed to spike higher, fangs in a grit, "Don't call me that," she pointed. "You're not supposed to be here, you're going to get arrested for being a squatter."
She sniffed the booze in the air, "Did you get into a damn bar fight again?" she scowled at the purple-black around his one eye.