New Beginnings By Pent Ghelsburg
Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this work are purely fictional. Any resemblance to persons alive or dead is purely coincidental. They are the original and rightful intellectual property of their creators. I use them with permission and respect. This work involves underaged characters. You have been warned.
The precipice of reality is one of those things that can be a harsh mistress. The sometimes warm but others cold winds of choice cast their visage over every person. The weight of a decision can sometimes be heavy on a person. The importance of each option should be considered with the utmost tact and care. After all, each of them carries the substance of the future and it is that future that one can help mold into a better one.
Such is often the case in youth, where decisions are not often taken with sincerity. The breadth of the impact is never fully realized until the result is fully realized. Such is the way of innocence and naivete. This is why they should be guided with the utmost consideration for their maturity and age. But sometimes there are times when such paramount preferences must be made alone and this is what helps to build the character of a person.
Pent was a young boy who lived in the outskirts of a small community in the mountains of Quebec. The town was a quiet one that only saw foot traffic in the winter when the squalls of winter called to those who flocked to either skiing or snowboarding. At 12 years of age, the arctic fox kit lived in a small apartment complex with his younger brother and their guardians. It had been several years since the two boys had moved into the complex and they had both become comfortable with the situation.
Pent and his brother had grown up never really knowing their biological parents. Their real father and mother had been irresponsible in their caretaking and so the state had stepped in to intervene. It had been several years since that happened but neither of the boys considered their foster care in close regard. Pent’s brother, Samaliel, only really had a close relationship with each other and did what they could to get along despite the sour situation.
Pent was a few years older than his brother and to the younger cub, he was very much seen as a role model. The older fox took this role seriously and tried to act as mature as possible around the younger boy. Of course, Samaliel didn’t notice as Pent had always come across as one of those closed-off and controlled kids who very seldomly showed his emotions. However, there were some times when the stress got to him and the older fox got rather heated, especially when the younger brother was perceived to be in danger.
Pent and his brother were both enrolled at the local school. It was one of those institutions that housed every grade, but each of them was on a different part of the building. The youngest of the students were on the one side while the older students were on the other. There were only a few situations where the different groups of students came across one another. It was only really in the morning, when they arrived, and in the afternoon when they were leaving.
Pent was in the first year of secondary school now so he was in the right half of the building. The fox kit was an academic who took his studies seriously and was always keen to learn something new when it came to school. His teachers had taken note of him over the past few years and put him in an accelerated program. But there was one subject that interested in and that was Science.
The arctic fox had taken to science as he had found the subject immensely interesting. He even went out of his way to spend his free time in the lab after school. The upper-level science teachers had even gotten to know him, despite not even having them in their class. It was something he took great pride in. Many of his age-mates noticed this and as such the boy had difficulty in relating to his peers.
The kit was an introverted and blunt boy who didn’t find it easy to make friends. Even in primary school, the cub had never really made any close friends. He kept to himself and was seen as awkward by the kids who were in his grade. The only people he got along with were his science teacher and a few other trusted adults who he had in the past. The other teachers had worried about it every year but the issue had never really been resolved despite several attempts to pair him with people.
It didn’t bother Pent who went about every day with renewed vigor to learn something new. Whenever someone tried to talk to him, or bother him, the fox usually ignored them. Thus most of his age-mates ignored him and seldom tried to socialize with him. One week, while at school, Pent learned of a Science fair that the school was holding. Each year the district held the competition and the kit looked forward to it as a way to show off.
Sign-ups were held in the afternoon and Pent wasted no time in signing up. There weren’t many other kids around that took it up that early but he noticed one other boy walking away as he approached the list to sign his name. The fox scribbled his signature and walked away while thinking to himself. Already his mind was racing with possibilities of what he could do for the fair. He always aimed for first place and since he had was now in secondary school, he figured he’d have stiffer competition this year.
It was already the end of school so Pent determined he may as well spend some time in the lab today to work on whatever he decided would work on. His pace quickened as his mind became ever more excited with anticipation. The hallways of the school were almost void of other furs. While on his way to the school labs, there were only two other people who passed. But that didn’t bother him as he was intent on getting his hands dirty.
Once he arrived at the lab, he saw that it was somewhat busier today. A proctor he had seen before and was comfortable with, an older dog boy, was stationed at the front. His constant look gazed over her charges as she was a cynical old crone who considered his charges to be more of mischievous than anything else. Most of the students, except for a few of the older ones, didn’t like him. They were the only ones who knew what he was like when he found someone who looked like they were interested.
Pent walked in and waved to him. The teen barely gave him a look back and stared at him as he entered. The fox ignored him and made his way to the same table he always used. The usual students in the lab had an area assigned to them and the kit was one of the students who was there enough to get his private station. He grabbed one of the nearby school rental laptops and took it over before sitting on the stool to begin researching a project to work on.
It didn’t take him long before he found something suitable and easy enough that it wouldn’t tax the limited supplies of the school. It was a project revolving around creating a robot that responded to his commands. Pent overlooked the instructions for it and overall it seemed pretty simple. The materials were nothing more than kinex, iron, circuitry, and joints.
Pent smirked as he figured he could do some something he considered rather simple. It seemed like a more advanced version of legos to him. The school normally gave the kids them freely during lunch so the fox knew it wouldn’t be an issue. He wondered how he might be able to turn the idea into a better idea for a project. Simply displaying having a robot for display wouldn’t be enough to put into the fair. He needed it to do what he wanted After all the fox wanted nothing more than to win.
The labrador leaned back in his chair thinking to himself for a bit. While he was lazing about, he noticed another kid struggling with something he was working on. From behind the lab aid couldn’t tell what he was working on but the sound of the fist being banged on the table was unmistakable. The teen made his way over to where the fox cub was standing.
“Everything alright over here?” The older boy asked the younger one.
The fox looked over his shoulder. “Huh, yeah?”
“Well, it just looked like you were frustrated. Did you need help with whatever you’re working on?” The teen looked at the pieces strewn over the desk.
The smaller boy huffed. “I guess. I just can’t get it to move.”
“I mean it’s broken now but what were you trying to make?” The rodent picked up one of the broken pieces and examined it.
The white fox hummed. “It was supposed to be a robot cleaner.”
“I see. So were you having a problem with programming it?” The dog put down the broken piece and picked up the small computer chip.
The cub shrugged. “Yeah, I guess?”
“Right, well I can show you how to do that then you can rebuild it and you’ll have a functional robot once again.” The teen began to walk back towards his desk where his computer was waiting for him.
The fox followed behind and said nothing as he was keen on getting his problem solved. Pent was confident he could figure out the problem he wasn't averse to accepting help when things weren't going his way.
“What’s your name anyhow?” The labrador asked the younger cub.
The smaller boy turned his head to face the other. “Pent, what’s yours?”
“Oliver. Here come take a look at what I'm doing.” The smaller cub looked over the fox’s shoulder.
The teen pulled up the coding program he had used in the past and paired it with the serial code of the computer chip that the other boy was using. The software beeped twice, signifying that it had established a connection.
“So…do you want to be able to control it or do you want it to go in a set direction?” Oliver waited to see what Pent wanted to do.
The fox thought about it quietly for a few seconds before answering. “Uh…I guess controlling it would be better since I don’t want it to run into any walls or anything.”
“Alright so watch. This is a mapping sequence. You would normally enter the pattern you want it to follow but since you want it to command, you need to create a control. So the best way to do that is just to use a game controller. Since we don’t have one, we can just use a wheel and axel to provide the commands from one of the Kinex kits.” Oliver walked away from the table and went to a nearby bin where he collected the materials he thought were necessary.
Pent was silent. He had no idea so much was involved in the programming of a simple robot. The cub was impressed and couldn’t help but feel silly for how simple it seemed. It didn’t take long for Pent to come back and when he did, he immediately began tapping on the keyboard as he thought he'd already picked up on it.
“Alright, so you’re going to do this after. Attach the socket to the base of the chip and then solder the axel into the socket. Once it’s connected, you will do the same. After it’s complete you will wait until the computer is ready to receive the commands.”The fox tinkered with it in the program as a makeshift blueprint.
The fox looked at him for a second. He had never used a soldering iron before and wasn’t sure how it worked but he didn’t want to disappoint the other boy.
Pent looked at him with intent interest. Oliver could see that there was a sense of hesitation.
“Have you ever soldered before?” The teen asked while looking at the smaller boy.
Pent shook his head. “Nah.”
The dog gently took the tool from his assistant and held it. “Alright so, put the socket near the connection point of the circuitry.”
The dog looked at it. There was a small ball joint near each of the edges of the chip. He popped the opening of the socket into it, it fits like a glove. Pent aimed the soldering tool to the base of it and turned it on.
It didn’t take long for it to heat up as the metal at the bottom of it melted into the joint of the circuit. He soon handed to the cub who tried it on his own.
“Good, now attach the joint and follow up with the wheel.” Pent put down the chip on the counter.
Pent attached the two parts to the socket. “Alright, now what?”
The older boy began to punch a few keys on the computer. Before long the wheel showed some life and jittered around.
“It’s all programmed. Now you need to just pair it with a controller and wire the device properly and it should work fine.” Oliver handed the thing over to the smaller cub.
Pent smiled. “Thanks for the help. I’ll get back to work now.”
The lab aid made his way back to his table to pick up re-assemble a robot. The fox was pretty good at building things and had no doubt he could recreate it. In the meanwhile, Pent began the groundwork on his project and began testing on a few berries to determine the best subject for his experiment. By the time he worked through a half dozen, the dog was ready to call it quits. He announced that the hour was up and that the kids had to go home.
Pent huffed in frustration as he hadn’t had much time to work on his project. He wasn’t about to disobey authority though and complied with the request. The fox filed his way out of the room after cleaning up his workstation. On his way out he was stopped by Oliver who seemed to make sure to stop and say goodbye to him.
The fox put grabbed his bag from the rack and slung it behind him. Casually he started walking, not noticing the fact that Oliver wasn’t far behind him. The cub made his way outdoors to the front of the school where it was pretty much empty except for a few kids here and there. It was a late fall day and the leaves were already falling and changing color. The foliage that had fallen cascaded in the wind in waves, rolling around in spirals as a gust picked it up and passed by.
Pent made his way to the bike rack where he stored his skate bag. Many of the kids in this part of town either skated or biked to school and the fox preferred rollerblading to walking. Pent grabbed his bag from the wooden rack fixated on the fence before sitting down to put them on. Oliver stepped out from behind and began to unchain his scooter. Neither boy said anything, maintaining an awkward silence between them.
Pent placed his shoes in his back and picked himself up after lacing his skates. He was a little slower than the squirrel who was rather to get home and be done with school. The fox wasn’t’ sure why he was waiting but didn’t make a big ordeal out of it. The fox waved to his new friend and saw himself off. Oliver went his separate way curious as to the behavior of the other cub as he wasn’t quite as friendly as he first thought.
The fox’s apartment wasn’t a far trek from the school. By skate, it took him a little longer than 15 minutes. The trip wasn’t long, especially since he could jam out to the music playing out of the speakers of his phone. He had done it so many times by now that he had gotten used to the exercise that it didn’t bother him. Besides Pent was a pretty active cub who participated in hockey regularly.
When he arrived home, he sat down on the front porch of the complex to change back into his shoes. He always felt refreshed after finishing his daily skate and today was no different. Once he was changed he headed up the stairs, he opened up the door. Pent yelled inside and there was no answer. It seemed he was the first one home. He assumed that Samaliel probably had some afterschool activity since he was normally home first.
Pent put his shoes by the door and remembered he had no homework for the day. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his free time as it wasn’t common that he didn’t have something to work on. The fox decided that he would laze about and read. He ran back to their room which he shared together with his younger brother. A singular bunk bed that they shared. The room was pretty small but the fox had decorated some of it to make it his own
The cub had decorated his half with all sorts of science-related posters from the periodic table to his favorite scientists from ages past. However, his most prized possessions were his telecope and microscope. For a 12-year-old he had a quality set of equipment. He had been given it by a past teacher who upon learning about his situation, felt bad, and gifted him the items.
The fox put his shoes by the door and grabbed one of his favorite books on the cosmos. He had read the thing before but the topic interested him and he knew there would be a star shower that night. He wanted to be prepared for the event. Pent got comfortable on the bottom bunk of bed and proceeded to geek out on the book. He was so enthralled by the book that he didn’t even hear the other members of the family enter once they popped through the front door.
It wasn’t much longer before Samaliel came yelling down the hall. The sudden noise snapped Pent out of his focus and the older fox slowly got up from his bed. The cub was wondering what the commotion was about and made his way to the door before popping his head from within. Samaliel was running back and forth. The black and white fox seemed energetic and restless.
“Everything alright?” The older brother asked the younger one.
The smaller fox didn’t notice the bigger one. He had a small model plane and was acting like it was flying through the air. Samaliel was mimicking the sound of a plane to the best of his ability. Pent rolled his eyes and walked right past the other cub.
The smaller cub is knocked into the bigger one. “Oh, hey bro!”
Pent looked over to Samaliel. “Have a good day at school?”
“Yup, we got to play some dodge ball in PE today.” The little fox’s tail was visibly wagging behind him.
The white fox patted his brother on the back. “And what about your other classes?”
“We did fractions in math and earth science today.” Samaliel shrugged as he wasn’t quite as keen on academics as his brother.
Pent forced a smile. “That’s good. Make sure you do your homework. If you show me later then we’ll play some games.”
“Sweet!” Samaliel immediately stopped what he was doing and raced back towards their room.
Pent laughed and continued walking down the hall. He made his way into the kitchen to start making something to eat. It wasn't abnormal for him to be stuck with kitchen duties. Even at 12 years of age he had cooked more than most cubs his age. Still, he did it not just for himself but for his brother. It was something he had begun to take pride in.
The fox brother’s guardian was a woman he barely saw. They were a wolf but one wouldn’t know they weren’t related by just looking at them. The woman, who went by the name of Amelia, while his wife was known fondly as Amelia. Pent and Sama had been living with her for a few years now so the situation was one they had gotten used to despite her barely being home.
The kit put the stuff in the oven and walked away, making his way back towards their room. He knocked on the door and announced to him that dinner would be ready soon. The younger fox wasted no time in bursting out of their room, speeding right past the bigger fox. Pent was much more methodical about following along. Samaliel exploded into the kitchen and immediately ran over to the table.
Already there were plates placed on the wooden surface. Pent wasn’t far behind and filed in behind his brother. The two sat together and their guardians joined them shortly after. They began to eat their meal together, enjoying time as a family. The group shared stories about their days with Samaliel being the most vocal about his experiences. Pent was always the most reserved in the group and it always took some prodding to get him to open up.
When the ordeal was done the older fox had no intention to do all the chores alone. He knew sometimes Samaliel forgot this and wanted to remind him.
“Alright, so the plan is that I will do the cleaning and you can do the drying,” Pent announced as it was the usual way they did things.
Samaliel nodded and grabbed his stepping stool as he was too short to reach the kitchen table to reach it without assistance. Pent grabbed the sponge and a brush and applied some soap. One by one he started to clean each of the dishes and pans used in making the dinner.
Pent was pretty quick about cleaning each of the plates. After each one was done, he handed the glassware to his brother. Despite his young age, Samaliel was pretty careful with the dishes. Once he dried them he placed them on a plastic rack that was designed to dry anything that was missed. The fox’s made rather quick work of the chore and was able to finish it in a relatively short time.
After they finished, Pent turned off the water. The sinky was suddy with soap and just about full with the watery fuzz. The older fox walked away as the younger one leaned over and reached into the sink. Pulling out his hands, he collected a small ball of the soap fizz in his paws before throwing it at Pent. Of course, the airy substance had no real mass to it and it didn’t carry very far.
Samaliel giggled as the lofty ball fell gently to the floor. Pent looked back and saw the somewhat big ball of bubbles slowly fall to the floor. He watched as the other cub tried to pick up the thing and the suds popped upon impact. The older fox couldn’t help but smile at the younger one’s playful attitude.
“Did you finish your homework?’ The white fox asked his brother.
The salt and pepper fox nodded his head quickly. “Almost I only have math to finish. Can you help me?”
“Of course. Let’s go.” Pent took the other cub’s paw and led him back into the their room.
Samaliels half of the room was much more juvenile than Pent’s was. He hadn’t quite outgrown the whole superhero phase and had posters of his favorite Marvel characters plastered all around it and had even taken some of the older boys space.
The two boys made their way over to their smaller office desk. Already the math book was open on the surface. Pent looked over the math, which to him was simple, and quickly worked out a few of the problems in his head. However, he knew that to teach the younger boy that he would have to show him how it’s done. So taking his time, he went over the step-by-step process to explain some of the examples in the book.
It took a few minutes but when he finished, Samaliel showed that he understood by working through some of the problems on his own. The younger kit didn’t have that many problems to work through so it didn’t take long to finish the assignment. When he was done, he looked up at the older boy expectantly. Pent noticed this and knew exactly what he was expecting.
Pent smirked and headed over to the entertainment center that they had set up for the younger cub. Since Samaliel was the bigger gamer, the older fox had bought him a Switch. It was one of the few gaming units that Pent enjoyed, especially when he got to play it with his brother.
“So what do you want to play?” The older boy asked while turning on the console and waiting for it to flicker on the screen.
Samaliel did his best imitation of a martial arts move. “Ninjahhhhhhhhhh.”
Pent patted the floor next to him and put one of the controllers on the floor, waiting for Samaliel to pick it up. He scrolled through the game and found a title similar with a pretty obvious screenshot that made it apparent what it was about.
“This one?” He asked looking at the other boy, waiting for an answer.
The smaller fox plopped on the floor and immediately pushed one of the buttons on the grid of the controller.
The screen transitioned into the main menu of the game. Pent watched it figured that he had picked correctly since Samaliel had triggered the game to start. The older fox grabbed his controller and joined the smaller boy on the floor. Samaliel knew the game like the back of his hand. He knew exactly who he was picking and the moment they were on the character select screen, he went right to the character he wanted.
Pent was a little more methodical since he had never played it before, even going as far as to read each of the descriptions underneath the characters. By the time he got to the third character, Samaliel was growing impatient.
“Come on, just pick one!” The younger boy playfully shoved into the other’s shoulders.
The bigger boy just decided to pick whatever since his brother wasn’t in the mood to wait. Pent knew it didn’t matter since it was all in good fun anyway.
The screen loaded into the playfield which was a sprawling city. Pent had no idea what was going on but pushed his character forward, not sure what to expect. Samaliel was much quicker to move, able to cross across the side buildings and go up and down them without issue. The screen was split in two, so both boys could see the other characters as well as the location. Of course, It was only Samaliel who was able to use that to his advantage.
It took a little under a minute for Samaliel to find his brother. The younger fox’s character plunged into action, catapulting towards Pent’s digital avatar. Pent’s character was picked up from behind and hit with what looked like a foam bat. The character flew across the screen, looking like a flattened cartoon character after they were hit by a hammer or something of the sort.
The small character on the screen wavered a moment before inflating once again. Samaliel wasted no time in resuming his attack, this time following up with a combo that brought Pent’s character smashing to the ground. The pavement on the screen cracked and Pent began to smash buttons. His character rebounded off the cement and rocketed upward. Samaliel’s character rebounded off his own and surged forward off a nearby building.
Pent saw a button notification on his screen, he scored a counterattack causing Samaliel’s character to repel backward and slam against a light post. The metal pillar bent backward and Samaliel’s character sprung forward once again. Samaliel gritted his teeth as the battle continued to unfold. Despite not knowing what he was doing, Pent was able to keep up. The battle went on for a few minutes until the final 30-second countdown showed on screen.
When the sparring match was over, a score screen showed up. Pictures of both of the characters popped on screen and some numbers were listed underneath. It calculated the totals for a few seconds before the results were shown. Samaliel’s character was victorious and Pent’s was shown in the background in dismay. The younger fox jumped up in glee as he wiggled around in placing showing his jubilation.
Pent put the controller down and patted his brother on the shoulder. “Good match.”
“Wanna play again?” The younger boy asked as he liked to one-up the older boy.
The bigger boy shook his head. “Naw, I got homework to do.”
Pent knew this was a lie but he wanted to do other things.
“Awh…Okay. Thanks for playing. Maybe later then?” Samaliel’s tail wagged in excitement behind him.
Pent got up from the floor and handed the controller over to his brother. His brother was already starting a match and barely paying attention to the other cub and didn’t realize he was handing something off to him. The older fox just decided to lay it on Samaliel’s bed so that he could excuse himself. He made his way back to the bathroom, already debating what he wanted to do. A few options came to mind but nothing that seemed enticing.
Upon returning to their room, he plopped on his bunk and fingered through the same book that he was reading before. He realized he wasn’t really in the mood to read and wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. Looking at the clock, it seemed like there was some time left before he needed to go to sleep. Pent put the book down and just laid there for a few moments, considering what to do.
Eventually, he got up and grazed over towards their computer and put some headphones so the other cubs noise didn't bother hi,. Pent powered it on and waited for the screen to light up. While he was waiting, he rolled back in his chair and spun around. The sensation of spinning allowed for time to pass quicker. Before long he heard the familiar tone of the startup screen flair up. He returned to his computer desk and began surfing the internet with no particular goal in mind.
Before long he turned to his favorite website of science articles and started to read them. Some of them were well beyond his understanding but Pent enjoyed the challenge all the same. There were always more than a few interesting articles on the site and Pent scanned through a few of them before settling on one. It took him quite a while to get through it but when he was finally able to, he was glad that he understood it better.
Once he had finished it, he decided to play a few matches of one of the few games he liked. League of Legends was his choice game, especially when he got to play his two favorite roles. Pent was pretty fond of the yordle race and particularly liked Gnar and Kennen, though he occasionally played Amumu and Poppy whenever he got put into the jungle. He fired up the game and waited for it to load.
Pent wasn’t that great at the game and played it mostly because he enjoyed some of the character designs. It took a few minutes for the game to find a match but when it did, he was assigned the jungle. It wasn’t Pent’s primary role but he still was familiar with it so long as Amumu wasn’t banned. He picked the familiar mummy boy and waited for both teams to announce their picks and bans.
The game started before long with both sides filing into their lanes. Pent was left to himself since the jungle was expected to maintain their job. The fox had done it enough that he didn’t have to rely on anyone else. The other side attempted an invasion but timed their attack poorly. Pent was able to counter pretty easily and scored the first kill within minutes of the match starting.
Minions popped and so too did the jungle monsters. Pent began his rotation between camps, occasionally checking in on the bottom and top lanes but ignoring the middle one the first time around. When he completed his first lap, he attempted to gank an overextending player in the top lane. The character flashed in reverse and avoided the kill but was left standing with very little health.
Pent continued his pathing down the river in the middle of the map, passing through the middle lane that was void of players. The middle player on Pents team had died, making the score equal now. The fox continued to the first dragon, where the bottom group came up to help him and was squared in by the opposing side. The other team was able to score one kill while Pent’s team was able to score one.
Pent returned to base and bought some items. The rest of the match continued back and forth much of the same way, essentially exchanging kills here and there. Pent did fairly well compared to how he normally did. However, the match lasted pretty long since neither team got ahead of the other. By the time the match ended and Pent’s team was declared victorious, well over an hour had passed.
That single match had expended Pent’s patience and he felt pretty bored now despite how close the game was. He turned off the computer and changed into his bedclothes. He decided to finish his night off by trying to finish off the book that he had started earlier. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was getting late and realized he didn’t have much time to pore over it. An hour passed before he heard the familiar knock at the door, reminding him that it was time to go to sleep.
The older fox hadn't even notice that the other cub had gone to sleep. He peered over the top bunk and kissed his younger brothers forehead. Tucking him inside of making sure that he was warm for the night. Sliding back down to do his usual night time routine.
Pent headed into the shower and took a quick rinse off. His body wasn’t sore since there was no PE that day, so he was quicker than normal. Drying off was more problematic since his furled to him taking more time than he might have liked. It had been a long day and despite the book being interesting, Pent had a long day. He never abused bedtime since he was always keen on being fresh and ready for a new day in school. Turning off his light, he returned to bed and got underneath the sheet. Before long he fell asleep and drifted off to dreamland.
