This is the first time I've really tried to write about another person's character from their perspective. I'm not entirely pleased with it yet but at the very least it's some form of practice. It's HARD to do!

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Bobby Baylor exited his room, neatly dressed in his jacket with combed hair and headed to the living room to prepare some breakfast. As he entered, the softened volume of the TV brought him to attention that his younger brother, Marcus was awake. Sitting across the television on the comfortable sofa was his sibling, playing the recently released Skyrim.

“You’ve been doing nothing at all since we’ve gotten back from Santa Ana,” he remarked to Marcus, who proceeded to shrug, eyes focused on the game.

“I went to practice, I ate, I slept, and won a game with the champions last year.” He retorted. It wasn’t a sharp one, so it only prompted an eyerolling from his elder brother.

“Had breakfast?” he asked, walking over to the kitchen counter to take out fresh slices of smoked salmon from the wall fridge.

“Yeah, salmon and toast,” Marcus nodded. “It was rare to get that stuff in Pittsburg,” he added. Bobby acknowledged with a nod, remembering that this apartment was only housing one bear just a few months ago. He smiled warmly as he shoved bread into the toaster and poured himself some milk.

“Mom called last night after you hit the hay,” Bobby grinned from the counter. Marcus paused and looked up to him, curiously.

“What’d she say?”

“She says you should call once in awhile,” he chuckled. Marcus only shuffled slightly in his chair.

“We still keep in contact,” Marcus meekly said. “She’s so clingy, sometimes…I forget to call her every so often and she thinks I forget about her.”

“Yeah well, you know her,” the elder bear kept that warm smile of his, feeling a bit homesick from the idea that her mother was without either of her cubs. Marcus only nodded, proceeding to unpause his game. “Anyway, she just asked how we were doing. I think she was more excited than I was when she heard you were playing for Alaska again.”

“Pittsburg wasn’t bad, but damn was it hot. I’m glad I got traded back.” The younger polar bear sled further into his chair.

Toast was done, and Bobby slapped some butter and laid the salmon over it, adding a few spices and tomatoes. “We have a game against them sometime in December,” he recalled, bringing the plate up to the table. “I think Feres wanted to have a talk with you about a promo deal with trading cards,”

“He talked to me about it already, I signed up for it. We’re just waiting on the OK from the other players involved,” Marcus idly made his character ride a horse through what looked like a large field of grass and snow.

“What’s the deal about?” Bobby bit into his salmon toast.

“A limited edition card of me and the other players – uh, what were their names, Girau-Girau and Ross? That got traded over; we’re gonna be in our jerseys from last year and this year on each side.” He smiled at that, proud of the idea that he was involved in a market deal. Bobby only smiled back as he couldn’t help but share in the pride with his brother, munching on his breakfast as he watched him play.

---

“What’s your plan later?” Bobby asked Marcus, turning the corner and piloting the car into the entrance of the Alaska Airlines Arena.

“Uh. Cliff and I were going to go to the arcade,” he answered. “He offered me a lift, too, so I got some way to get back.”
Bobby nodded in approval. “Oh, that’s great. Cliff’s a fun person to hang out with. He’s pretty quiet though, well, he was last year, but he just takes awhile to open up.” The polar bear chuckled to himself, drawing a parallel between the lynx and his younger brother. It made sense they’d be quick to befriend each other, having similar tastes.

“What’ll you be doing?” Marcus asked back.

“Rodger and I were going to go check out some smartphones, actually.”

“At 5th avenue?” the younger’s eyes lit up, briefly.

“No, Rodger says he knows a place down at the 36th.”

“Oh. Well, tell me what’s it like later.”

The car comfortably found itself seated in the designated parking as the two exited and headed to the locker rooms.

---

Cliff tilted his head in confusion. “Really?” his high-pitched voice echoed through the basketball court.

Rodger nodded. “If you set up your router like I told you, you’re going to be able to squeeze a bit more speed out of it because the security checks would take less bandwidth.”

“I had no clue. I remember one time I heard about that, but it made no sense on how to do it. Thanks, Rodger!” the lynx smiled.

“No problem – hey, still up for coffee Friday?” the husky grinned, leaning against the wall.

“You bet!” the silver-brown fur earflicked happily. “Always up for trying new places,”

“It’s about time Alaska had another coffee addict, heh,” he remarked. “I had no idea you were into it.”

“I didn’t realize that you were either. What’re the odds?”


The lynx’s ears flattened as the shrill whistle rang through the entire court. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the Baylor brothers running in, just in time. As the players walked over to their coach to hear of their training duties today – and probably a plan for them tomorrow to fly to Dakota for their next game, Cliff nudged playfully at Marcus’ side.

“What kept you?” he grinned.

“Skyrim.”

Cliff chuckled with an amused purr. “Of course,”
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FBA ©  buckhopper
Alaska Arctics ©  jtigerclaw, managed  rainwhisker
Cliff Matthiews ©  rainwhisker
Thumbnail ©  christaphorac