CAUTION: This story contains implied sexual activity between minors, mild violence, and profanity. Reader discretion is advised.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Masala Chai
by IndigoNeko and TaintedThylacine
Chapter 6
Sunday, February 7th, 2016
“Okay…” Azalea said as she stepped into the kitchen. “No catnip tea, right?” she asked, looking at her mom. “I don’t want to repair the walls again. This time it’ll be your turn.”
“Don’t worry sweetie,” Cora said with a snicker. “Besides, if you’re not careful, you’ll be the one that gives hir a contact high.”
“How would Alex get a contact high off of me?” Azalea asked. “It’s not like I rub catnip on me.”
“No, but you drink it,” Cora said. “And certain activities in bed involving muzzle love…”
“Mooom!” Azalea protested with a huff. After a moment she tilted her head and asked “Is that even possible?”
“I would think so,” Cora replied. “Back in the day, I was dating a feline girl, and well… Catnip infused lip gloss made every kiss one to remember.” The jerboa smiled.
“Mom, I don’t even...” Azalea said, shaking her head. “Give me bad ideas, why don’t you?”
“Oh trust me, there is a lot that I can tell you about,” the jerboa said with a smile, only to be cut off by a knock at the door. “But that’s for later. Door, bushy butt.”
“Who is it?” Azalea asked as she walked over to the door, the hybrid peeping through the little hole in the door.
“It’s Alex,” the young tigress said loudly, hir parents walking up behind hir and stamping their boots on the cement patio to get the snow off. Both David and Raenne wore a baby carrier on their chests.
“Was starting to wonder when you’d show up,” Azalea said as she unlocked and opened the door for the family of tigers. “Welcome to our home.”
“Thanks,” the young tigress said, stepping inside and bending over to take hir hiking boots off.
“Hello, Azalea,” David said, standing just outside the door as he waited for Alex to finish taking off hir shoes. “Sorry we’re late. Some idiot who doesn’t know how to drive in the snow fishtailed going around a corner in front of us and blew a tire when he hit the curb. Alex here wanted to play the good samaritan and make sure they were okay,” the white tiger explained as he took off his bomber jacket and hung it on the coat rack before taking off his shoes as well.
“Hey, it’s good karma,” Azalea said, smiling as she watched the tigers step inside.
“Ii-wy em hotep,” a voice called from the kitchen. “Come in. I know it’s got to be cold out there,” Cora said as she walked into the living room, smiling at the family of tigers.
“Thank you,” Raenne said, stepping in after her husband and nudging the door behind her. “It’s in the teens right now. There’s a few spots that were icy, so we had to watch our step. The last thing we want is to take a fall while carrying the little ones,” the tigress said, taking off her jacket and putting it on the coat rack next to her husband’s. Then she straightened her dress and bent over to take off her hiking boots, following Alex’s lead.
“Wow… That’s a lot of candles and stuff,” Alex said looking around at all the small statues and candles on the console tables against the walls. “You’ve done some serious redecorating.”
“We do it every month,” Cora said, walking over to the tigers and peering at the tiny bundles they were carrying. “Oh my Gosh. They’re adorable,” the jerboa gushed with a wide smile. “One with white fur and one with orange. Guess we know who takes after who.”
“Yeah, though I guess they decided to do a gender-swap or something,” Alex said. “Nicholas takes after Mom and Katherine takes after Dad.”
“Why don’t we get them settled somewhere safe. On the couch, I guess?” Cora suggested. “Unless you’d prefer to put them on a bed in one of the bedrooms...”
“The couch is fine,” Raenne said, smiling as she and her husband removed their baby carriers and gently set them down next to each other on the sofa.
Cora walked over to the coffee table and sat down on one of the pillows that had been arranged around it. “Also, it seems that bushy butt forgot to mention that the Feast has religious connotations to it. I understand if you all would be a little… iffy on it.”
“We can just have a little dinner, if you all are uncomfortable with that,” Azalea said as she sat down at the coffee table with her mother, watching her cat cautiously slink under the table in search of attention. She reached down and gave it a few scritches.
“But if you all want to see something new, you’re more than welcome to,” Cora said with a nod.
“Well, I know Alex has shown some interest in Wicca and Druidism, but this looks Egyptian,” Raenne said, motioning to the various items on the tables against the walls. “So I’m guessing that ‘ii-wy em hotep’ is an Egyptian greeting. Do you worship the ancient Egyptian deities?” the tigress asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes. That we do,” Cora said with another nod. “Our little holy trinity,” the jerboa said, motioning to the console table nearest to them. “Bastet, Sekhmet and Ra.” She pointed to the three larger statues that sat on the table. “Each month we like to get together as a family, maybe bring some friends over, and have a Feast in honor of them, and just as another way to celebrate life.”
“Huh. I thought you were Wiccan or something, Azzy. You certainly know a lot about it,” Alex said, taking a seat at the coffee table.
“Nope. I just like to study ancient religions,” Azalea said as she stood up. “Anyone like something to drink?”
“As long as you’re not worshipping Apep...” Raenne replied, sitting down on a pillow at the coffee table. “And if you’ve got iced tea, I’d love some. As long as it’s not catnip tea.”
Cora tensed up when she heard that. “Well I guess that cat’s out of the bag,” the jerboa said, laughing nervously.
“My poor walls,” Azalea called from the kitchen. “So iced tea... anything else? David? Alex?”
“Tea is fine,” the white tiger said as he walked around the living room, looking at the altar that they’d set up on a console table.
“Yeah, tea is good,” Alex said, standing up again and bouncing over to the kitchen where Azalea was. “Even catnip tea, if you’re willing to repair the walls again,” shi added with a smirk.
“I’m sure that your mom would live up to the nickname ‘murder mittens’ if I did, and I’m too good looking to be mauled,” Azalea said with a little snicker as she made glasses of iced tea for everyone, handing a few of them to Alex, then grabbing a small bowl of chocolates before heading back to the living room.
“You know I still have a video of the damage Alex did to the walls. I just wished I had a video of Alex acting like a giant kitten,” Cora said, smirking.
“Probably best that you don’t,” Raenne said. “No proof that it ever happened. I’ve got to see that video though. When that came up this morning I couldn’t imagine what that looked like.”
“Heck, I’m kind of shocked that Alex is even affected by catnip. Not many anthro felines are,” David said. “It’s a pretty uncommon heritage trait.”
“Well, it was interesting, for sure. Alex started by saying something about dragons in the kitchen,” Azalea said, setting the bowl of chocolates down at the table along with the bottles of tea. “After running a few laps around my room chasing one of those feathered cat toys, shi face planted into the wall.” The jerboa-squirrel hybrid laughed as she took a few of the chocolates and dropped them into the small dish in front of the figure of a black cat.
“I’m starting to think that Alex is seriously accident-prone,” Raenne said. “It seems like shi has been injuring hirself pretty much continuously since the middle of last year. Broken leg in May, broken ribs in June, mauled by a feral mountain lion in September, a bad fall on Halloween, then being kidnapped and getting a concussion last month…”
“You know, you could just cover hir in bubble wrap,” Cora said with a little snicker as she held out her phone to the tiger mom, playing the video of the devastation that the catnip-fueled tiger had wrought on the walls.
“Jesus,” the older tigress said. “I’m shocked your neighbors didn’t call the police and report a murder in progress… What the hell? Some of these claw marks are nearly horizontal. Was shi running along the walls?!”
“We never really figured out how shi did it, but yeah. Alex was literally running along the walls,” Azalea said with a little snicker as she got up and slipped out of the room, before returning with a cat toy consisting of a feathered string on a stick. “All ‘cause of this,” she said, wiggling the feathered toy at Alex, smiling.
Alex stuck hir tongue out at the jerboa-squirrel hybrid, then took another sip of tea. “So what’s with all the statues and candles? And who are they?”
“That would be the altar that we set up to pay honor to the three Egyptian gods we worship. Each one of them likes different things…” Azalea explained, setting the toy down and pointing at each of the statues in turn. “This is Bastet, the Goddess of music, family, cats, love, and fertility. She likes finer things, dark chocolates and liquors. This is Sekhmet, the Goddess of fire, war, dance, and medicine. She likes good foods and strong beers. Last is Ra, the God of the sun, and father to Bastet and Sekhmet.”
“I’m starting to think that people in this town have never driven in snow before,” a voice called out as the front door opened. “Oh, Ii-wy em hotep,” the squirrel said as shi stepped to the side to let another young jerboa-squirrel hybrid inside. “You must be Alex’s dad,” shi said, nodding to the white tiger. “I’m Beth.”
“Hello everyone,” the teenage hybrid spoke up, kicking her shoes off. “I’m Jenny,” she said, adding her coat to the ones on the rack.
“Hello again, Beth. Hi Jenny,” Raenne said, waving at them from where she was sitting at the coffee table.
David took a few steps over to Beth, holding his paw out. “Nice to meet you. I’m David.”
“The pleasure is ours,” Beth said looking up to the tall white tiger. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said, taking his paw and giving it a good shake. “Welcome to our home.”
“Holy crap,” Jenny said, looking up to the white tiger. “You are tall. I thought Azzy was joking when she said how tall you were,” she said blushing a little before walking over to take a seat at the coffee table, looking over at Alex.
“Hello again, Jenny,” Alex said, raising hir half-empty glass of tea.
“So you’re the girl that’s knocking boots with my sister, and got her all flipped around,” Jenny said with a little giggle. Azalea promptly slapped a paw against her forehead at that.
“Herm, not girl,” the young tigress corrected, looking up at hir friend’s older sister. “Though I usually dress as a girl at school. The boy’s uniform doesn’t fit me very well,” shi added, glancing down at the ‘Hello Kitty’ baby-doll tee and black capris shi was wearing.
“I’m not worried about whatcha got in your undies, so long as you’re good to her and no one gets knocked up,” Jenny said with a little snicker. “I’m not ready to be an aunt.”
“You know, I know where you live,” Azalea threatened, looking at her sister. “So be nice.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault that you’re head over heels for hir,” the older sister said with a smirk.
Both David and Raenne smiled at the friendly bantering between siblings. “I know Azalea’s in sixth grade with Alex. What grade are you in, Jenny?” Raenne asked curiously.
“Me? I’m in tenth grade,” Jenny replied.
“So... sweet sixteen, huh? Got your driver’s license yet?” David asked, sitting on the sofa next to the coffee table, just behind where his wife was sitting at the coffee table.
“Almost. I’m studying for my driving permit. Don’t worry moms, I’m not going to be a bad driver like these other people,” Jenny said.
“You won’t be driving my car,” Cora said, standing up. “Pardon me...I need to check on the food.”
“Don’t worry. I might let you drive mine,” Beth said.
“So, you’re sixteen... I’m guessing that Azalea’s twelve?” David asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, sir,” Azalea said, letting out a little squeak as her pet cat climbed into her lap. “I turned twelve back in April.”
“Wow, I forgot you were that much older than me,” Alex piped in, looking over at Azalea. “Almost two and a half years…”
“You’re ten? Jeez, talk about moving fast,” Jenny spoke up, giggling a little.
“Wait, Alex is how old? And having sex? I mean I thought Bushy butt was a little young, but...” Beth trailed off as Cora walked back into the room, drying her paws on her apron.
Raenne put one paw over her eyes, and David coughed. “That’s a long story,” the white tiger said. “I can explain the entire thing in detail if you want, but the long and short of it is that hir best friend back in Oregon is a stoat-ferret hybrid with a couple of weird heritage traits. She has to have sex on a regular basis when she’s in heat, or die from estrogen toxicity.” He sighed. “Once Elizabeth found out that Alex is a hermaphrodite, well, you can guess what happened,” David said with a shrug. “You can’t close Pandora’s Box after you’ve opened it.”
“That explains a little more, but Raenne promised she would spill all the deets at some point,” Cora said, slipping back into the kitchen.
“Huh,” Beth murmured. “I think I could use a beer,” the malabar squirrel said, getting up and walking over to the kitchen. “David? Raenne? Would either of you like one?”
Azalea’s pet cat, Micro, cautiously climbed out of her owner’s lap as she spotted Alex’s tail twitch periodically on the floor under the coffee table. A moment later, Alex jerked as shi felt something bat at hir tail and looked under the table. Shi smiled and started swishing hir tail around, watching Micro try to catch the fluffy appendage.
“I’ll be fine with tea, thanks.” David said, watching as Alex twitched hir tail around, letting the cat chase it.
“Same,” Raenne said, leaning down to see what was making the noise under the coffee table. “Huh. Cute cat. I still wonder if we made the right decision taking that stray to the shelter.”
Alex glanced over at hir mom. This was the first shi had heard about a stray. Hir ears perked up.
“Definitely. A family of felines keeping a cat as a pet...” David said, shaking his head. “It just strikes me as odd.”
“Any more odd than the fact that we worship cats?” Beth asked as she rejoined the group, opening the beer that she went after.
“Well, worshipping cats just makes sense,” David said, buffing his claws on his shirt. “We are the superior-OW!” The tiger yelped as his wife reached over with her own claws out and grabbed his thigh. “Sorry. Bad joke,” he apologized, rubbing his leg through his jeans.
“Awww. Having a pet cat can’t be that weird. I could help Alex train it like I did with Micro,” Azalea said pointing at the cat that was chasing Alex’s tail.
“If you trained that cat… Do you think you could help train Alex?” Raenne asked with a grin.
“Mom!” Alex protested.
“I did,” Azalea said, reaching under the coffee table and picking up the cat. She set Micro in Alex’s lap. “One sec.” She said as she stood up and slipped off to the other room.
“Awww,” the younger tigress murmured as the small black cat in hir lap turned around once and lay back down. “It’s almost as cute as the kitten Lizzy got for Christmas, and much more polite. That little fiend literally crawled up my leg. I do not recommend letting a feral climb up your leg.”
“I’m back.” Azalea said, holding her paws behind her back. “This is the only thing that you really need to train a cat,” she said, holding out a spray bottle. “Isn’t that right Alex?”
Alex rolled hir eyes. Shi didn’t remember a spray bottle, but Azalea had been teasing hir with them ever since the catnip incident.
“It works wonders for getting them to stop clinging to pillows, or to wake them up,” Azalea said, smiling and pointing it at her. “Roll over, sit, make cat sounds,” Azalea said, giggling.
“You are such a dork,” Jenny spoke up, shaking her head a little. “Alex, like, nibble on her ears or something. That will make her behave.”
“Oh, I found out about that last night,” Alex said, flashing a quick grin at the squirt-bottle wielding hybrid across the room. “Among other things.”
“Oh God. You two actually did it? I guess Alex got a little surprise,” Jenny said with a snicker.
“Hey! It’s not that little,” Azalea protested, obviously affronted. “Besides, it’s not the size of the boat, but the motion of the ocean that counts.”
“Behave, you two,” Cora chastised her daughters. “Dinner is ready. I have everything set up for you to make your own gyros,” the jerboa said.
“Come on, kitten,” Azalea said, holding her paw out to Alex.
“Which one?” Alex asked, looking down at the cat in hir lap.
“Well, I would say the one that I sleep with, but that’s both of you,” Azalea giggled. “You, silly.”
Along the counter in the kitchen were large bowls with meat, tzatziki sauce, red onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and feta cheese. Next to the bowls was a platter with pita bread and at the end were several spice shakers.
“I think that you overdid it again, sweetie,” Beth said as she walked about the kitchen making her plate. “There’s enough here to feed an army.”
“Well, pardon me,” Cora replied, poking her tongue out. “I was cooking for a family of tigers, something I haven’t done before. They might eat like an army,” the jerboa said, following her wife around the kitchen, putting together her own gyro.
“Well, look at it like this: no one has to cook for a day or two,” Jenny said, smiling as she joined the group, building her gyro.
David and Raenne patiently waited for the others to go through, shooing Alex in to make hirs before they made their own.
“You know, I wonder… Do evolved cows and chickens get upset, knowing that we’re eating their feral cousins?” Alex said as shi scooped some of the meat into the pita bread.
“Some of them definitely do,” David said, “I know that they were behind a lot of the animal rights movements… the ones that led to the open-pasture legislature back in the 1930s. That’s why it’s illegal to have farm animals caged-”
“David,” Beth interrupted, peering at the tiger with a calculating expression. “You wouldn’t happen to be a lawyer, would you?”
“No. I just know a lot of random trivia,” the white tiger apologized. “I’m actually a software engineer,” he said as Raenne started making her own gyros, piling them high.
“I was not expecting that. You’re in far too good of shape to be a software engineer,” Beth said, walking over to the dining table. “I was going to tell you to come by the law firm that I work at.” Shi sighed. “Oh well.”
“Don’t fret, Mom,” Azalea said as she went into the dining room. “You’ll find someone to fill that office one day,” she said, sitting down at the dining table and waiting for the others to join.
“At this rate, it’s going to be after I finish school. Then I will take it,” Jenny said, joining the group at the dining table.
“So you want to be a lawyer?” Alex asked, walking out of the kitchen with hir own plate and taking a seat next to Azalea.
“Yes,” Jenny said, nodding. “Going to work for the rights of people everywhere.”
“I’d like to be a doctor,” Alex said. “One of those doctors that ride around in ambulances.”
“An emergency medical technician,” Raenne said as she walked over to the dining table, followed by her husband.
“I’m going to be a painter,” Azalea spoke up, nodding.
“That’s code for slack-ass,” Jenny said, then squeaked as a paw hit the back of her head.
“Mouth,” Cora said as she set her plate down before coming back with a glass that had something that looked like chocolate milk. “I’ve told you before, you shouldn’t be cursing and painting isn’t a slacker’s job. It’s long hours and a lot of work.”
“Sorry, Mom,” Jenny said, folding her ears down.
“Okay… David, Ranne, do you mind if we lead our prayer? Or would you rather have your own?” Beth spoke up.
“You can,” David said, taking a seat at the dining table. “We’re not particularly religious; too many gods and goddesses to choose from, now that I’m no longer a member of the Catholic Church.”
“You can always join our little temple,” Cora said with a smile before taking a deep breath. “Homage to Thee, O Sekhmet-Bast-Ra, Thou Mistress of the Gods, Thou bearer of wings, Lady of the crowns of the South and of the North, Only one.” She spoke in a warm, almost relaxing voice, leading the group through the prayer before concluding with a loud, happy “Senebty!”
“Dig in, everyone,” Beth said, lifting up her glass of wine.
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Wednesday, February 10th, 2016
Doctor Everett DeLeon had never before felt quite so crowded in his office, watching from his computer chair as the two adult tigers set down their baby carriers, taking a seat at the sofa while their daughter Alex climbed onto the recliner in the corner.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Andreyev,” Everett said, forcing a smile while trying to fight off the instinctive urge to drop his pants and spray the room that was occupied by large, dangerous predators. “I’m glad you accepted my invitation.”
“Well, if you think it’ll help Alex out somehow, then I’m more than happy to attend a session or two,” the tigress said, adjusting the black dress she was wearing.
“I do,” the skunk confirmed, adjusting the gold-rimmed bifocals perched on his muzzle. “Alex grew very attached to hir grandparents over the short period of time that shi spent with them. Being deeply attached to someone isn’t a bad thing, but the grief that accompanies their loss can be. I think it might help Alex here to overcome that grief if shi better understands the type of people they were, and why you didn’t want hir to see them in the first place.”
The tigress sitting on the couch leaned forward, glaring at the doctor. “So you want me to besmirch hir memory of hir grandparents in order to help hir get past the grief over their loss?”
“I wouldn’t have put it quite like that, but... Yes. It’s important to understand that nobody is perfect. Try as we might, most people do things that are morally or ethically questionable. Sometimes we don’t have a choice,” Doctor DeLeon said. “From what Alex said, your parents didn’t have a choice when they abused you. I think it might help you as well, to go over your memories with a fresh perspective, understanding that your parents had no choice.”
After a moment the tigress leaned back. “Are you absolutely certain you want to do this? My childhood was... bad. Very bad. I’ve never told Alex any of it and only told David here a small portion of it.”
Doctor DeLeon leaned back in his chair, reconsidering if this was the right thing to do. After a few seconds, he nodded. “As long as we all keep in mind that your parents had little choice in the matter. The Brotherhood threatened to kill you if your parents didn’t do as they asked. I think it’ll help you even more than your daughter.”
“Very well then.” Raenne closed her eyes for a moment, then sighed and looked down at the floor. “My very first memory was when I was maybe three years old, being held down by my brother. Ivan stabbed my hand with a hot poker that had been sitting in the fireplace. Father and a few other men stood around, watching while I screamed and Ivan laughed.”
Everett winced as Raenne held out her left paw, showing off an inch-long teardrop shaped scar while her husband hugged her. He mentally said a prayer that this session would provide the older tigress with some measure of comfort as the story continued, growing steadily worse with every minute.
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Thursday, February 11th, 2016
Alex sat in silence on the school bus, staring out the window as they made the long drive from Winter Creek to Prairie Flats. Shi had woken up three times that night between the nightmares and Katherine and Nicholas’s cries. For the first time in over a month, the nightmares hadn’t been of the shooting or sitting in silence, surrounded by death. No, this time the nightmares were of what Mom had gone through, being tortured or raped dozens of times and being forced to watch other people be tortured or killed.
Finding out what hir mom had gone through had put a totally different spin on hir grandparents being the sweet, old tiger couple that shi remembered. They had also been ruthless members of the Russian Brotherhood, performing heinous acts either at the behest of the Brotherhood or even of their own will. It was painfully obvious that some of the horrible things Mom had gone through were acts of either unjust punishment or outright neglect.
Dr. DeLeon had obviously not expected what Mom had gone through to be as bad as it was, and the session had gone over an hour past their usual time as the psychiatrist tried to do damage control. Even Alex had realized that much. Still, it had obviously helped Mom somewhat. Mom had spent most of the evening with a happy smile on her muzzle while they’d cuddled, purring for the first time that Alex could remember.
__________________________________________________
Friday, February 12th, 2016
Alex tucked the polished staff under hir arm, standing at attention while trying to ignore the chill of the cement under hir the pads of hir feet. After being reminded just how harsh life could be, shi had rededicated hirself to the martial arts training, spending hir spare time practicing in the garage instead of wasting it on video games. Shi never, ever wanted to be left helpless in the hands of someone as cruel and vindictive as hir uncle Ivan. The mere thought that someone like him was out there, somewhere, rather than locked up in prison, was enough to raise the fur on the back of hir neck.
As shi waited for Mom to call out the name of the kata, snow drifted down around hir, landing in tiny clumps on hir black gi that slowly melted, leaving the fabric damp. It was a struggle to keep from yawning despite being in the middle of karate practice; the twins had been waking up at odd hours throughout the night and their piercing cries were enough to wake hir from a sound sleep even with hir door closed. Shi was looking forward to spending tomorrow night at Azalea’s house and hopefully getting some uninterrupted sleep.
“Shushi no Kon,” Raenne called out from her position in front of the garage door.
“Shushi no Kon,” Alex echoed. The young tigress bowed, then brought the staff up from under hir arm with both hands, swinging it up and around, in nearly a full circle. Shi stepped to hir left while holding the staff with hir right hand, bringing it up again before gripping it with both hands to swing it down again in a crushing motion. Turning to hir left, shi angled the staff and thrust it downwards as if to slam the tip into someone’s feet.
Raenne occasionally blinked as snow drifted past her eyes, watching as her daughter went through all thirty-eight moves of the bo kata. The young tigress didn’t have the speed yet that would come with practice and familiarity, but shi definitely knew all the moves in the kata, and seemed comfortable now with swinging the long staff around.
Given how quickly Alex was learning all the karate moves and kata, Raenne had no choice but to add the weapon forms into her daughter’s training regimen to keep hir from getting bored. The ISKF regulations weren’t exactly super-strict about time in grade at the early Kyu ranks, but there was a minimum two year requirement before progressing to 3rd kyu, working out to an average of 3 to 4 months per rank, and Alex would grow bored doing the same moves over and over. Raenne sighed as her daughter finished the kata. “Okay, let’s head back inside. It’s getting cold out here.”
By the time Alex hit first Dan, Raenne had no doubt her daughter would be proficient with every single weapon Raenne was qualified to teach. She could take her daughter shooting some time, she mused, but given what shi had gone through a month ago, firearms might be a no-go. Raenne held the door open as her daughter darted inside, wondering which weapon to teach Alex next. Now if only she could find Alex a serious sparring partner that was hir own size...
__________________________________________________
Sunday, February 14th, 2016
“Brushing your teeth in the shower isn’t that weird. I mean, it’s a time saver. That’s helpful when you sleep in like me,” Azalea said as she stepped out of the shower, using a towel to dry off a bit before stepping into the fur dryer where Alex had been moments ago.
“It’s only a time saver if you’re going to spend that time in the shower anyway, and it’s a waste of water,” Alex said, rolling hir eyes as shi picked hir brush up off the counter. Half hir sentence was drowned out by the noise of the dryer kicking on. Knowing that there was no way shi was going to win this argument, the tigress sighed and started brushing hir fur out, starting with hir snow-white head-fur and working hir way down.
Moments later, the jerboa-squirrel hybrid stepped out of the dryer, now dry and much fluffier. “Well, I know it’s kinda weird, but I didn’t have a choice when we lived in the apartment. With one bathroom in a house with three other people, you learn to adapt,” Azalea said as she picked up a brush and started smoothing out her tail fur. “Aaalex sweetie, my tail needs some lovin’.”
Having just finished brushing out hir own fur, the tigress turned around to help brush Azalea’s impossibly fluffy tail. “You know, this would be far more manageable if you trimmed it back a few inches. Having a tail with foot-long fur all over it is absurd. Even if it does make for a nice blanket.”
“The blanket part is the reason that I don’t trim it,” Azalea said, chittering happily at having her tail brushed. “I mean, in spring and summer I do keep it trimmed. Trust me, there are times that I get fed up with it and I’m tempted to shave it.”
“Like when we went hiking around Halloween?” the tigress asked mischievously. “I remember how long it took to brush all those burrs out, even if you don’t.”
“Or the time that we went out in the snow, and I brought half of it back with me,” Azalea said, letting out a sigh. “You know… Do you think it would kill me if I shaved this thing?” Azalea asked, wiggling the tip around a bit. “I know I would miss the brushing.”
“Oh no, it wouldn’t kill you,” shi replied. “But I’d laugh at how silly you’d look, and get to spend the extra time brushing out my own beautiful tail.” Another minute passed in relative silence as Alex continued to brush Azalea’s tail out, making sure it was shiny, smooth, and free of tangles while the half-squirrel pulled her clothes on.
“You two better not be doing what I think you are,” A voice called out, followed by tapping on the bathroom door.
“I’m brushing Azalea’s tail, you pervert!” Alex yelled in response, recognizing Jenny’s voice.
“Besides, we did that earlier,” Azalea added with a grin. “What are you doing up here, anyway? Go back to the basement where you belong,” she called out before looking over at the tigress. “I’m all set, you?”
“Almost,” the tiger cub replied, dropping the brush and picking up hir lycra shorts and sports bra. “Give me a few moments to get dressed. Don’t forget that Spironolactone I gave you. They don’t work unless you take them every day.”
“I know, Mom…” Azalea replied sarcastically. Turning and grabbing the little bottle of pills, she fiddled with the top a moment before shaking one of the small white pills out and popping it into her muzzle, leaning over at the sink, tail wagging as she drank from the sink. “There we go. Ugh, gross. That aftertaste... it’s like toothpaste that’s gone bad or something.”
Alex rolled hir eyes yet again as shi finished getting dressed, snapping the button on hir black skirt and then pulling on a babydoll tee with the One Republic logo.
“You might want to wear something warm; it’s a bit of a walk from the game shop to the arcade,” Azalea said, looking at her mate as she pulled her long sleeve shirt on.
“Meh. I brought my jacket. It’s on the coat rack in the living room,” the tigress replied. “Besides, the cold doesn’t bother me. You know that.”
“Lucky. I get cold. That’s like one of the best reasons to have you in my nest: you’re warm,” Azalea said, opening the door and stepping out of the bathroom. They stopped in Azalea’s room to grab her wallet and Alex’s backpack before Cora drove them to the game shop to meet up with Jennifer Morton, the white-furred rat they ate lunch with at school.
__________________________________________________
Alex followed Azalea into the game shop, immediately wrinkling hir nose at the distinct smell that shi remembered from the last time shi had been here, like a cross between a library and a locker room. Plastic tables and folding chairs had been set up to cover nearly every square inch of spare room that wasn’t occupied by tables that were overflowing with stacks of board games and boxes of comic books.
The nearest wall was covered by bookshelves crammed full of tabletop gaming manuals. Just past it was another wall covered by hundreds of plastic miniatures in small clear plastic packages, hanging on wall hooks, and racks of tiny jars of paint and painting supplies. The opposite wall had a long glass display case filled with cards from various collectible card games from Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon to Magic: The Gathering.
The game shop was surprisingly crowded for a Sunday morning. Unsurprisingly, Alex, Azalea, and Jennifer were the only girls there, and technically half of the three weren’t really girls. Not only were they the only girls, they were also the youngest, and among the skinniest. Alex followed Azalea over to the table where Jennifer was sitting, sorting through cards in a long, narrow box. The rat looked up as they pulled folding chairs out and sat down at the table. “Took you two long enough. I’ve had to decline three duels already,” Jennifer said. “Not that it matters, none of them are worth my time, unless they have the guts to play for ante.” She sniffed with disdain while looking around the game shop at the various people there.
The rat promptly pulled two decks of cards out of the box, each card wrapped in plastic sleeves. “Oath of the Gatewatch came out three weeks ago, so all this stuff is old news to me, but you said you wanted to learn the new metas, so... I’ve got Eldrazi, Affinity, and Infect-based decks. You want to play, Alex?”
The tigress shook hir head. Shi had no idea what Jennifer was talking about. “No, thanks. I’ll just watch you two play. Maybe you can explain the rules to me as you’re playing?”
Jennifer looked at the tigress in disbelief, as if shi was a total dunce. “You’ve never played Magic: The Gathering?”
Alex shook hir head, then brushed hir snow-white hair out of hir eyes. “No. I usually just play video games or board games. There’s a few tabletop games that Dad taught me, but he said he didn’t want me to get into Warhammer or Magic, because they’re expensive or something.”
Jennifer frowned and nodded. “That’s... totally understandable, actually. Alright, I’ll explain the rules as we go.”
Ten minutes later, Alex was starting to understand the appeal of the game. There were literally hundreds of different cards, all of which were themed to fit some strange fantasy land called Zendikar. There were far too many rules to keep track of though. Actually, that wasn’t quite right; there weren’t that many rules, but each card did it’s own thing, and keeping track of all of them seemed utterly impossible. At least the artwork was cool. Shi had spent the last five minutes pawing through Azalea’s box of cards, looking at the sometimes beautiful, sometimes hideous pictures.
Suddenly the light went dim and Alex looked up. A pudgy kangaroo in jeans and a t-shirt and a white owl in khakis and a polo shirt stood next to the table, holding boxes of their own. “We heard you only play for ante,” the kangaroo said. “And that you’re good,” the owl added.
Alex wrinkled hir nose. The kangaroo definitely needed some deodorant. Shi was starting to understand why the shop smelled the way it did.
“You heard right,” Jennifer said, nodding. “Care for a duel? Two-vee-two, first card ante?”
The two boys glanced at each other, smirking. “Absolutely,” the kangaroo said, pulling out the last chair and taking a seat while the owl grabbed a chair from another table and pulled it over. A moment later they’d laid cloth mats across the table and were busy shuffling decks of cards. Alex watched as they finished shuffling. “Hey, dumbass,” Jennifer snapped. “Opponent cuts, especially on ante games.”
“Geez, kid,” the owl replied, handing his deck over to the rat. “You should watch your language, or your mom might wash your mouth out with soap.”
“I’m not the one who needs soap. He does,” Jennifer shot back, jerking a thumb at the kangaroo before picking up half the deck and putting it on the bottom. “Seriously, use some deodorant.”
A series of “Ooohs” echoed from around them. Alex looked up, realizing that they were at the center of a ring of kids and even some adults who had come over to watch the game.
Blushing with embarrassment, the kangaroo also handed his deck over to be cut. A moment later they each rolled a twenty-sided die to determine who went first. Azalea started, setting the top card aside for the ante, then drew seven more cards.
Within the first five turns, Azalea was at half health, getting pummeled by the two boys, who’d decided to focus on the half-squirrel first. Two turns later, Azalea set her hand down, out for the count. Apparently that didn’t matter, as both boys groaned as Jennifer set a card down. Alex leaned over, reading the name: Kozilek, the Great Distortion. Its power and toughness were the highest shi had seen on any creature so far.
Two turns later, both boys threw down their cards in disgust at having lost so quickly. Jennifer gave an evil smirk and picked up the two cards they’d drawn for the ante. “I’ll be here all day if you want to play again,” the rat said in a saccharine voice.
