The blue sky started to turn orange as the sun began to set. He is late, again. Thought Finnick. By this time, the only mammals in the park were runners and loners, and neither were after pawpsicles.

He sighed. He knew some of the runners by now, Nick would do this from time to time. There was always the "sweat pants zebra", he would get in the park around 5PM. There was also a family of rabbits that came there to jog, quite a sight to see all that ears bopping around, they would come every odd wednesday around 6PM. Then there was that old and lonesome badger, he would just sit by the pound and look at the fish swimming. He used to leave around 7PM.

The red fur caught his attention, he could almost listen to his smugness over that smile. His white shirt didn't go well with his aviators, and why the hell was he carrying that enormous paper bag?

"Sorry Big Guy, Carrots asked me to grab some groceries before getting home. How are you today?" Nick leaned on the Finnick's cart, he placed his groceries on the ground and with a discreet kick, pushed it close to Finnick.

Finnick sighed. "What gonna be today Wilde?"

"Oh, you know what I like, a blueberry one."

Finnick nodded. While with one hand he reached for a pawpsicle inside the cart, with the other he dropped a small brown envelope from his pocket inside the groceries bag. He handed over the pawpsicle to Nick. "Same price as always Wilde."

"Is that a way to treat an old friend? You're busting my balls over here!" Nick handed him a folded five dollars note.

Finnick picked the note with his left hand and slipped one of his fingers inside the fold, stealthily pulling a strip of paper and pocketing it. He reached for his coin holder but was stopped by Nick.

"Keep the change buddy, gotta keep the dream alive."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. How is Judy anyway? Heard she got into an accident of some sort." Finnick threw his parlor hat inside his small drawer, work was done for the day.

"Ah, she is all right. She has to stay home for a few more weeks still and I can take care of her in the meantime." His smile seemed a bit more fake now, Finnick noticed. "Well Fin, always a pleasure coming by, see you around!"

"See you Nick."

Nick picked up his groceries and walked back the way he came. Finnick waited for his friend to vanish in the streets to start pulling his ice cream cart. The small cart was almost empty by now, but still heavy; he would have to drag it five blocks until he could store it in his landlords garage.

He walked among the crowd, each and everyone going back to their respective homes, each and everyone unaware of one another and shuffling uncomfortably in the same direction. Some would diverge and pick the bus or the subway, some would get in their cars and become amorphous streams of light passing in the night, but not Finnick.

Animals big and small, from all corners of the world gathered there in Savanna Central. Towering builds, the greatest achievements of architecture mammal kind was ever capable of were there to his left and right. Prey and predators gathering in the same place, working together in harmony. Except when they didn't. Thought Finnick. He crossed the street, away from the crowd and took a left turn. As though a secret word was whispered, the big buildings gave away to smaller and smaller business, smaller and smaller apartment complexes. The bustling crowd would not go in there, the noise from the street traffic became just that, noise.

He could hear a small river stream that crossed under the streets there, he remembered when he was a cub and the river would overflow in the rain season. The dirt that came all the way from the then under construction Rain Forest District would stain the walls and those who had lower houses or no flood barriers would have a week of hell ahead of them.

He felt a slight nudge in his cart. He glanced back to see a red and white tail and a pair of brown rounded ears over its edge. He rolled his eyes and stopped.

A muffled chuckle sounded.

"Shut up! He'll hear us!" A voice whispered.

"Kids, I'm half ears. What've I told you already?"

A young red fox cub head popped up, his big yellow eyes showed a mix of fear and enjoyment. "You told us that we could always get pawpsicles at the end of the day!" The small head hid back behind the cart.

A second, bigger, head of a hyena cub emerged. Her dark brown eyes stood at the edge of the cart, smiling at him. "And that you can hear everything!" She also tried to hide back behind the cart, but once again her ears were too tall for that.

He tried to, but could not smile.

"Ok, you two. Out! Out! Out! How many times have I told you both that you had to ask for it?"

"Sowy Uncle Finn…" She let go of the cart and walked up to Finnick, shyly holding the edge of her pink dress. "Can I please have a pawpsicle?"

"Very well Sabrine, it's Strawberry Yogurt right?" Finnick opened the lid of the cart and reached inside it, he had safely stored their pawpsicles as to not mix them with the ones for clients.

"You're no fun Sab!" The young fox walked to the side of her friend and rolled his eyes. "Can I have my pawpsicle?"

Finnick handed Sabrine's pawpsicle and looked down at him. "Are you asking or demanding it Jack? Where are your manners?"

"Can I pleeeeeeeease have my pawpsicle Uncle Fiiiiiiiin?"

Finnick smile widened. "Now you are learning. Here you go, Mango." He handed the yellow pawpsicle to the cub.

Both their eyes shined as they devoured their sweets. "Now what do you say to me?"

"Thaaaaanks Uncle Finn" Spoke loudly and together both of the cubs, their mouths slathered with juice, their smiles wide and full of sharp teeth.

"Now go to your homes, it's getting late" Finnick resumed pulling the cart, it felt lighter now.

After two more blocks of pulling he arrived at his apartment complex garage. It wasn't fancy or clean, but his landlord agreed to keep a small freezer by his old elephant sized black sedan. The damn cart is the size of its wheel. He pulled open the garage door just enough for the cart to pass under it and walked in the dark garage. His eyes slowly got used to the dark, but he knew enough of the small place to don't bump into anything.

Finnick stored what ice cream was left of the day into the freezer and got to cleaning the cart. He had to clean out all of the water and the remaining ice. And then he had to disinfect the whole thing or a certain cop might nag him to death. Meh, hope Judy is really ok.

After everything was sorted out, he could finally rest. He locked the garage and walked to the small alley to the side of it. The lights of the street barely reached it, but he could still see a glimpse of the pitch black stains running down the walls.

A closed window would pop here and there from either sides, all barred with steel from the outside, both protecting and locking its inhabitants. Not that there was a lot to look at, the walls were 1 meter apart.

As he went along the alley the path forked to a dead end. From there he heard a low growl followed by the red light of a pipe. Finnick stopped and picked up his phone, turning his light on. Two young coyotes were illuminated, their eyes shining yellow against the light.

"Yo gramps, turn that off!" The first coyote shouted, covering his eyes.

"The hell man!" The second coyote blinked blindly, dropping his pipe with a kling. Gray powder spilled from it to the ground, the embers quickly losing their light.

"What do you think you are doing? Does your mother know you are doing this shit now?" Finnick lowered his light. He picked the pipe and smelled, it recalled him of nutmeg mixed with ammonium. "What the hell is this?"

"Oh, it's you Finnick. The hell do you want?" The first coyote asked.

"Man… my head hurts… I can't see…" The second coyote lamented, holding his head.

"Marco, I asked you a question. What the hell is this shit you are smoking?" Finnick threw the pipe against the wall, smashing it in a cloud of powder and small shards of glass.

"What the hell?! You little bastard!" Marco lunged at Finnick, his claws out.

Finnick dropped his phone, lifting his guard up. He quickly sidestepped out of the maddened coyotes reach and launched a jab to his kidneys. Marco fell to the ground, curling in pain, face to the ground.

Finnick pushed him with his foot to a seating position. He pulled his head close to him by his whiskers. "I'll ask you again. What the hell is that drug?"

"It's called fazu! Don't hurt me! Please!" Marco tried to push Finnick away, but he tightened the grasp on his whiskers.

"Who sold it to you?"

"Some ocelot called Gabor, by the docks! Let me go!" Shouted the scared coyote.

Finnick released him, Marco rubbed his whiskers. "What is your problem man? We are just trying to get our buzz in peace!"

"Shut up, you dumb fuck. What do you think Rosa will do when she finds out?"

Marco's eyes widened in fear. "Please, don't tell mama! She will kill us!"

Antonio gave loud snarl towards them both, his whole face contracted in an expression of anger and pain. Finnick and Marco jumped away from him, as the other coyote went on all fours and took a step toward them, baring his teeth.

As sudden as he snarled, he threw up towards the ground, collapsing over his pool of bile. His body stood still, only his slow rhythmic breath being heard and the acidic sickening smell filling the air. Finnick picked up his phone and walked towards the senseless coyote to check his pulse. He seemed fine.

"Take Antonio home and quit that shit. Get a whiskey next time, at least you know what you are killing yourself with." Finnick turned off his light, engulfing the alley in darkness once again. In the darkness he saw Marco's eyes swing up and down, in a nod.

Freaking wednesdays. Thought Finnick. He walked out of the forked alley and went back his way home. A little more walking and he got up to the tall door to his apartment complex. With a jump he got to the door handle and, holding himself up, he shoved his key in, twisting it open.

He jumped inside the complex, locking the door behind him. The old wooden planks creaked even under his light weight as he climbed up the stairs towards his apartment. He repeated the routine on the big door to the apartment where he lived and got in.

The world inside was adapted to his size, making him more at ease. He loosened his white apron and went for his fridge. The almost bare fridge had a beer and some margarine, the beer would have to do as dinner.

Finnick got onto his sofa and turned on the TV, but soon enough the sounds were just a buzz in his head. He sipped from the cold beer bottle, lost in thoughts. The images became a blur and, sip after sip, his conscience returned into the alley. He was like one of those kids once, he remembered.

The bottle was empty, but not his resolve. He changed into his old black shirt and brown pants, he had not worn those for many years now. He reached into the back of his wardrobe and the old dusty wooden handle met his paw. Finnick dusted the old baseball bat and as the smoothness of the wood came back to it any doubts vanished from his mind.

He had a meeting at the docks.