Flynn Fairwarning. Bright and inquisitive, he’s a model student at the local high school. When he’s not in class, he participates in a range of extracurricular activities, such as:

School Play:- Theatre is one of the few areas in life where mass deception is embraced by non-vulpine society, so it’s naturally appealing for Flynn. He’s not shy to tread the boards, but his favourite place to be is behind the scenes. Props, scenery, lighting, effects- all of these offer endless opportunities for creativity, and Flynn is always willing to go the extra mile. Most productions would be satisfied with having props that look convincing to the audience, but Flynn is so devoted to the actors’ immersion that he ensures that even they can’t see the secret compartments, hidden openings, spring-loaded burlap sacks and other adornments that he’s added. And he’s just as invested in the audio-visual design: when a part of the stage is supposed to be dark, he ensures it’s not just dimmed but plunged into such darkness that an actor standing there wouldn’t be able to see if somebody walked right up and grabbed them. And when the script calls for a clash of thunder or cannon-fire, you can be sure it’ll be so loud it’d drown out even the most terrified scream. It’s generally agreed that Flynn’s work elevates the productions beyond the levels of most school plays, and the PTA has argued vociferously that such displays of creativity and dedication shouldn’t be curtailed by bureaucratic concerns about safety.

School Newspaper:- By the time he reached high school, Flynn had long since understood that most other species had a strange fixation on the idea of factual accuracy, so he wasn’t surprised when the school newspaper was mostly a tedious recitation of unembellished information, nor that there was little appetite for that to change. But having been taught the value of opportunism from a young age, he still found a role that he could embrace with passion: writing the horoscope page. When he took it over, readers noticed its distinctive style, including its uncannily accurate statements and predictions (especially the more doom-laden ones), its emotive and compelling language, and its unusually specific advice and instructions. He also had several questions about the horoscopes included in the biannual poll conducted by the paper, on the grounds that better understanding student attitudes towards horoscopes would allow him to improve the quality of his writing. Intriguingly, the poll has consistently found that individual students are more likely to believe in astrology after reading his horoscopes, and yet the overall proportion of students who believe in astrology has fallen year on year. Flynn has declined to publish any interpretation of these figures.

Study Groups:- Ultimately, though, school is about learning, and Flynn’s parents have been sure to instill in him the importance of a good education. Foxes generally place less emphasis on rote memorisation of specific academic knowledge like the dates of historic battles or the periodic table, and more on acquiring transferable skills such as subterfuge, persuasion, deception, manipulation, agility, stealth, problem-solving, problem-causing, and speed-eating. Flynn is no exception, and so while he maintains an excellent grade average, he is diligent in using these skills to do so, actually learning the material only as a last resort. One of his favourite methods is to join, or start, a study group. There’s an elegant simplicity to it which he appreciates- when a group of people get together to work on an assignment, no matter what the subject or how long or difficult it is, it can always be reduced to a very straightforward math problem: at the end of the session, the number of students must match the number of completed assignments. While most of his peers tackle this problem by contributing an assignment, he prefers the equally efficacious method of subtracting a student, a tactic for which the tall bookcases and narrow corridors of the school library provides many opportunities. All study groups eventually dissolve, and in Flynn’s, the individual members have a tendency to do the same.

Outside school, Flynn lives an active lifestyle. His bike lets him get anywhere in town easily, as he enjoys reminding his prey-species fellow students. He can be a bit of a troublemaker, enjoying pranks such as putting a flaming bag of what’s-left-of-their-daughter on a neighbour’s doorstep, or throwing strips of a shredded dress over the outside of their house. He’s often surprisingly slow to get away, leading to his Floyd and Fiona frequently having to deal with angry neighbours knocking on their door, something for which his parents are always grateful. By the time he gets home, the neighbour is usually knocking with equal gusto on the oven door, from the inside.

As is typical for his generation, Flynn is also very active on social media. In fact, he finds the convenience of being able to spy on, manipulate and taunt his social group regardless of his physical location so appealing that he hasn’t limited himself to a single account, instead controlling a plethora of personas which he has either created or inherited from their original owners after they (according to their posts) suddenly moved out of town. All it takes is a few clicks of claws on a phone screen to gain somebody’s trust, to learn their deepest secrets, to lure them to a secluded spot for an event or date, and to share the sight of their screaming face distending his white tummy with their friends and family.

At home, Flynn has a good relationship with his parents, based on their multiple layers of mutual deception. Fiona pretends not to know that Flynn knows where the jar of snack-mice is hidden, Flynn pretends not to know that Fiona approves of him having them as a healthy snack. Floyd pretends not to know how much Flynn admires his prey-trapping skills, Flynn pretends not to know that Floyd realises that his show of admiration isn’t a pretence. And so on. To an outsider these sorts of interactions may seem complex (although most outsiders who have witnessed it were too preoccupied trying to escape from their restraints to pay very close attention), but for a vulpine family like the Fairwarnings, it comes as naturally as plucking a chicken.

Quote: “Wanna see a neat trick? You don’t? It’s okay, that’s part of the trick!”

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At long last, I've gotten around to writing up introductions for my predatory vulpine suburbanite family, so you can officially meet the Fairwarnings! Look forward to reading more about their schemes and antics in the future.

Artwork by  Humbug whose designs helped bring these characters to life.

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