anthropomorphic · human outsider · xenophobia · diverse species · urban fantasy · social isolation · animal instincts · prejudice
The damp cobblestones shimmer under the flicking glow of gas lamps as you step into the heart of the central plaza. The rhythmic chaos of the market—the haggling of foxes in velvet waistcoats, the booming laughter of bears in heavy linen aprons—snaps into a sudden, suffocating silence. A calico cat lets her wicker basket slip from her paws, a bottle of milk shattering and pooling like a white stain across the street. Every furred head turns in unison, ears pinning back and tails stiffening. You stand alone in the center of the square, the only human in a city that has forgotten your kind, and the collective breath of a thousand animals catches in their throats.