A rather crisp breeze was the culprit unsettling the leaves. They probably would have fallen off of their own accord soon enough but the gusts were just enough to unsettle the brownest ones. Despite their crunchy state, they still twirled gracefully and their landing was gentle; more of a coming-to-rest. One such leaf happened upon a hedgehog. He probably saw it coming but decided the addition of a leaf-hat to his prickly ensemble would certainly be an addition worth having. He shuffled along with his newly acquired fashion statement, feeling quite put together now.
Torrance was quite dapper as far as hedgehogs go (and as a species, they have a fairly dapper tendency anyway) although his was a different groomed to the traditional. He wasn’t one who considered himself perfect in his original state. That is to say, he was open to change and improvement which is why he enjoyed picking up activities wherein there’s quite a lot of room for growth. For now, though, Torrance was a happy wanderer.
He gave a cheeky grin as another leaf attempted a landing. One hat was quite enough for the hedgehog, though, so he gave a quick dodge. Unfortunately, it was somewhat unsuccessful as he wasn’t the most coordinated front to back. He dodged spectacularly well with his front two paws but had stopped half way and neglected the back two, resulting in a matching butt flap to his hat. His smirk vanished as his mouth slowly rounded, showing the gap between his two front teeth (a trait most coveted in hedgehogs and which Torrance generally tried to show off when he could, although now it was unintentional). His eyes followed suit and widened as he twisted around to try for a view of his rump. Not being the most flexible of mammals, he failed in this endeavor, and the one following it in which he attempted to remove the newest fashion statement. His front paws were quite short though, and could have barely removed the hat, never mind reaching all the way to his matching butt flap. Realising just how much of a failure this attempt was, Torrance abandoned his effort and decided the best he could do would be to go with the leafy twinset.
He continued to wobble on down the usually dusty path. It was fairly firm now though as a combination of rain from the day before and a cold night had worked to harden the dirt so his little feet didn’t kick up the dust they had over the summer. Torrance walked this path nearly every day as a way to ensure he left his burrow at least once. He wasn’t the kind of hedgehog who could wallow away underground and sleep. That’s not to say he was a particularly active individual but suffice it to say he liked to get a bit of fresh air on a consistent basis, hence the walk. Torrance liked a good change of scenery so these strolls were a chance for him to get away from his burrow-mates and socialise with other friends (the borough was quite clicky).
The Lower Aingelton Borough (LAB) joined forces thinking that a larger group could make a better borrow. It also gave them a degree of separation from the Upper Aingelton Borough which, as far as the boroughs went, had a bit of a reputation. LAB didn’t want that association and, in fact, Torrance helped negotiate the split. He would never speak ill of the UAB community but suffice it to say they didn’t embody the same level of dapper standard held by the LAB hedgehogs, nor did they care about their appearance as far as Torrance could tell.
As Torrance continued down his path, which actually mirrored the outermost tunnel of LAB, he contemplated, as he often did, the idea of moving the whole borough above ground. There was quite a large aboveground root network which provided a certain degree of cover but the down side was the fact that they had settled in a valley of sorts; not particularly deep but enough to get trapped if a fox happened to turn up. With the burrows, it was a simple enough matter to curl up and roll down the gentle slope to one of the tunnel openings. Torrance, in his experience, could usually out-roll a running fox but if he were in the position of needing to run out of the valley, he felt fairly certain the fox would win the race. He was also fairly certain the rest of his borough wouldn’t be huge into the idea since they liked the cozy, warm atmosphere of the underground.
“Torrance — “
Torrance jumped which got his little heart going rather quickly but did have the benefit of shaking free his butt flap. He spun around fully this time (now aware of exactly how far around he could crane his neck). Behind him stood a moderately large badger whose nose was much too large for his face.
“Ah Lorrance, what a lovely surprise! I wasn’t expecting you until Tuesday” Torrance answered, his voice even squeakier than usual.
“Thoz, did I get ya?”
“Yes you did ‘get me’ but that’s quite alright.” Torrance squinted up at the badger. He hadn’t quite realised how sunny it was until he was forced to look upwards.
“Tho… wha’re you ’thaying?” Lorrance replied with enthusiasm but just contained enough to keep from shocking the little hedgehog again. His nose had a tendency to get in the way of his “S’s” but he felt it gave him a certain bumbling charm, not that he could have changed it anyway. Torrence had certainly recognised the bumbling when he met Lorrance back when the badger was a young, nameless, and even more clueless little cub. Hence, the name Lorrance. Torrance quite liked his name, he felt it suited him. So, a variation seemed like the best option anyone else could hope for, since the best was already taken.
