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 8
Monday, February 15th, 2016
“I don’t want to talk to you right now,” Alex said, repeating the phrase Mom had suggested yet again while sitting down next to the hybrid and pulling out hir sketchpad and pencils. It was a useful phrase; it was short, polite, and usually shut people up real quick. It was also absolutely true, in this case.
Being cheated on had hurt. Worse, it made hir angry... at Azalea, at Heath, and at hirself. The tigress couldn’t trust hirself not to snap at Azalea, especially if she brought up what had happened. Alex didn’t want to hear her excuses; Azalea could easily have pushed Heath away in that photo booth. Azalea obviously had feelings for Heath and vice versa. And history too. Now that shi was thinking about it, it was sort of inevitable that Azalea would fall for him, once he made a move. It was just bad luck that he’d done so while they were dating.
While going through the still-life drawing exercise that Mrs. Stanton had set up for their class assignment, Alex let hir mind wander. Did Heath even know that Azalea was trans? It certainly hadn’t seemed that way at the arcade, when he’d asked if shi and Azalea could have cubs, before saying they should stick to their own species. If he didn’t know Azalea was trans, he was going to dump her the minute he found out, since he clearly thought having cubs was important and he certainly wasn’t going to get any children from Azalea.
If he did know, then he was just a racist, manipulative piece of shit looking for a piece of ass to stick his dick in. Either way, Azalea was getting the short end of the stick. Either she was going to get dumped again, or she was going to wind up dating or married to an asshole who would jerk her around to get what he wanted. Some cruel, vindictive part of hir was gloating that Azalea would get screwed over in the end, punished for being a cheating bitch. The rest of hir felt sick for feeling that way, almost enough to want to puke. Heath was the one who deserved to be punished, not Azalea; she’d already been screwed over badly enough, being born in the wrong body.
After the bell rang, Alex stood up and started shoving hir drawing pad and colored pencils into hir backpack, glancing over at the field mouse with green hair in the corner of the room. Shi’d caught the field mouse staring at hir and Azalea a few times, usually the latter, but it seemed like Willow had spent the entire period glaring at hir, and it was sort of creeping hir out.
The tigress looked back down at hir backpack and zipped it up, then walked out of the art room, not saying anything to Azalea or anyone else for that matter. After making a quick stop at hir locker to make sure shi had all the books shi’d need for homework, shi continued outside to catch the bus back to Winter Creek.
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Alex faced hir father across the gym mat in their garage, both of them dressed in karate outfits and wearing thick pads and helmets. Shi didn’t care that he was almost two feet taller and over twice as big; right now the young tigress was angry and wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of something. Unlike Mom, Dad wouldn’t trip or throw hir if shi did something stupid.
“Hajime,” Raenne called out, watching from one side of the mat.
Alex darted forward, feinting with a front-kick. David reached down to grab hir foot just as Raenne constantly told him to do, rather than blocking, only to get kicked in the side of the head as Alex used hir momentum to deliver a stunning roundhouse. He dropped hir to the floor and shi quickly kicked at his legs. As he needlessly bounced backwards, shi rolled away, getting back to hir feet.
David followed, stepping close to hir and throwing a side kick, only to grunt as his daughter ducked and landed a punishing jab to the inside of his thigh. He barely got his hands between them as shi threw two punches at his stomach. Sometimes fighting a small opponent was harder than a big one, he quickly realized, at least when you weren’t trying to simply crush them.
David jerked his knee forward, hitting his daughter in the chest and knocking hir back, then double-stepped back to the center of the mat, wincing as his thigh let him know it was definitely bruised. He watched as Alex zig-zagged across the mat towards him, then jumped at the last second, spinning around and throwing a hook kick at him. He definitely wasn’t expecting hir to get that kind of height, or use a hook kick, and barely managed to get his arm up in time to block.
His daughter barely hit the ground before twisting in place and throwing a reverse kick straight at his balls. Also not something he’d been expecting, and it hit hard enough that he was pretty sure he was gonna be out for the count, despite the cup he was wearing. David stepped back fighting back nausea as his wife yelled “Yame!”
“Dangit, David! You need to stop treating Alex like shi’s made of glass. Shi can take a punch or two,” Raenne said, stopping her rant as her husband collapsed to his knees on the mat. “Well, I guess I don’t need a henderson tool after all,” she muttered as he fell over on his side, then turned to her daughter. “Excellent. Did you have a plan for what to do if he hadn’t grabbed your leg for the front kick, and counterattacked?”
Alex looked up at hir mother and blinked. “Uhhh...”
“I thought not. If someone blocks that, they can punch you in the chest, so always keep your hands up. Now, why the hell did you kick your dad full-force in the balls? You know he won’t be able to keep sparring after that, even wearing a cup.”
Alex frowned, looking at hir father who was still crumpled on the mat. A look of shock ran across hir face as shi realized what shi had done. “Oh, shoot. I am so sorry, Dad.”
David groaned. Whatever he was trying to say was completely unintelligible.
“You weren’t even thinking about sparring, were you? I bet you were thinking of that kid from the arcade, Heath or whatever his name was.” Raenne said, glaring at her daughter. The look of embarrassment and contrition on Alex’s face was proof enough that she’d been right.
The older tigress sighed. “Alex, karate is dangerous. You can accidentally kill people with it. Never, ever use your full force, except in self-defense. You just used it in anger against your father. We’re done for today.”
Alex had the good grace to bow, saying “O yurushi kudesai, sensei.” Shi bowed again as shi stepped off the mat, realizing just how badly shi had fucked up.
Raenne tilted her head to one side, watching as her daughter walked stiffly across the garage and up the stairs to the main floor. The tigress was bemused at the fact that Alex had used the correct apology in Japanese for both the situation and the setting. She didn’t even know that Alex knew that particular apology, and wondered where shi had learned it. After a moment she knelt next to her husband, helping him upright, hoping he wouldn’t puke after getting kicked in the balls. She had enough puke to clean up as it was.
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Tuesday, February 16th, 2016
A black Nissan SUV slowly pulled into a freshly painted parking spot, and a moment later both Raenne and Alex stepped out of the vehicle, shutting the doors as they stepped out onto the recently poured asphalt of the small angled parking lot that ran alongside the road. The sun was still barely visible above the mountains to the west, but it wouldn’t be for much longer.
The two tigers checked to make sure there was no oncoming traffic before crossing the street to the matching angled parking lot on the other side, then up a half-flight of stairs. The six-foot wide stone staircase led to a flagstone courtyard in front of where the dojo was going to be built. A low-grade ramp for wheelchair accessibility occupied another ten feet next to the stairs.
Alex stopped and ran hir hand over the brushed aluminum pipes that made up the handrails to either side of the ramp, brushing the thin layer of ice off them. Then shi looked out over the huge flagstone courtyard that had been laid out in a semi-random rectangular pattern. It was about half the size of a basketball court. The waist-high walls that ran around the outside edge of the courtyard were surprisingly even and flat, despite being constructed of random chunks of stone, and were topped with the same flagstones as the courtyard.
“See the walls? We had some experts fly out from Japan to build them. It’s called anouzumi,” Raenne explained. “It’ll last for centuries, same as the rest of the courtyard. It’s all sourced from the quarry about twenty miles from here.”
Alex meandered around the dormant trees that had been planted every six feet along the edge of the courtyard inside the walls. The trees were only a few feet taller than shi was. “Are those the pink flower trees, like in anime and stuff?”
“Yes. Kwanzan cherry trees. They’re native to Japan,” Raenne answered before turning and walking over to the cement pad on the far side of the courtyard from the stairs. The right side of the foundation had a forty by thirty-foot long pit, nine-feet deep. The left of the foundation was piled with massive logs, wooden beams, stacks of 2-by-4s, steel I-beams, sheets of plywood, and crates of clay roofing tiles.
“Here’s where the Dojo’s going to be built. Two levels plus a basement. The upper level will be an open atrium, but smaller than the main level. The basement’s going to have two bathrooms, a locker room, storage room, utility room, a lounge with a kitchen, and a private room for us.”
The younger tiger followed hir mother across the courtyard over to the cement slab, looking down into the pit, then peering past the far side of the concrete pad where a backhoe and a pair of crane trucks loomed.
“Don’t get too close. You could accidentally break something falling that far, and there’s pipes and stuff coming out of the cement floor,” Raenne warned.
“I won’t, Mom,” Alex said, glancing down into the basement area. “This isn’t very far from home, is it?”
“No, not too far. If you go straight north through the woods from home, the road over there is the first one you’ll run across. The dojo here is exactly three miles from that point. About a one hour walk, or a half-hour run,” Raenne explained.
“Huh. Was that all you wanted to show me?” the younger tigress asked, yawning.
“Yep, that’s it,” the older tigress said, turning and striding across the flagstone courtyard again. “I just wanted to show you before it snows. There’s a blizzard coming through on Thursday.”
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Wednesday, February 17th, 2016
“Is it alright if I leave Alex here alone? I’ve got some shopping to do before that storm rolls in tomorrow,” David said from the doorway, watching as his daughter Alex walked into the psychiatrist’s office.
Dr. Everett waved his paw. “Totally fine. That’s what most of my patient’s parents do,” the portly skunk replied. The moment that the larger tiger left the clinic lobby, he stepped back into his office and closed the door, quickly walking over to the computer chair in front of his desk and taking a seat. He snagged his pen and the small book full of notes he’d taken during interviews with the Andreyev child. A post-it note on the cover read ‘Anger Management’.
“So, last week we finished talking about the ethics and legality of your grandparents actions, and got to talk with your mother about her side of the story from when she was a child,” the skunk said as he pulled open the notebook. “I must say, your mother is a very interesting person. I’m glad I had the opportunity to talk with her.”
Alex looked up from hir feet as shi finished taking hir shoes off, then swung hir feet up, laying down on the small couch and staring up at the ceiling, just now noticing that the ceiling tiles had been painted in a strange swirling pattern using two slightly different shades of near-white paint.
“Yeah, I thought she was just a karate teacher until last year, when I found out she was an Army Ranger and used to fight terrorists and rescue hostages and stuff like that,” Alex replied, staring at the ceiling. Shi grinned. “It was kinda cool to find out my mom’s a superhero.”
“Tell me a bit about Karate. I’ve never done it, so I don’t know anything about it. She said she’s teaching you, right?”
“Eh, before she started teaching me I kinda thought that karate was all just standing around practicing punches and kicks, since that’s what the kids in her classes did whenever I was there,” Alex said. “But it’s different for me; she got me started with kumite early on. That’s the Japanese word for sparring. So I’m learning how to use karate in a real fight better than most kids.”
“You fought off the horse who tried to rape you,” Dr. DeLeon pointed out. “Which I doubt many kids your age could do. Clearly learning karate has been beneficial.”
Alex visibly winced at the memory of tearing Henry’s eye out and blood spattering the inside of the SUV. That wasn’t something shi wanted to remember.
The skunk leaned forward, spotting the child’s shudder. “Alex, you did the right thing, fighting him off.”
“I know,” the young tigress said. “I just... I don’t like thinking about it.”
“That’s understandable. I wouldn’t either. So, let’s talk about something else instead,” the skunk suggested. “How is school going? What about your friends?”
Alex rolled to hir side, facing away from the skunk. Shi didn’t particularly want to talk about what was going on at school. Having to sit with Azalea in art and theater classes at the end of the day made hir want to scream or cry, shi wasn’t sure which.
“It’s obvious there’s something going on at school that’s stressing you out, probably with one of your friends. I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but... I’m willing to listen if you do. It might help you sort your feelings out,” the skunk said gently, leaning back.
Alex blinked. He did have a good point; Shi was still in turmoil over Azalea cheating on hir. The young tigress rolled onto hir back. He was going to ask hir about all the details anyway, so shi might as well lay it out quickly. “I started dating Azalea just after Christmas. We went to the arcade after having a sleepover at her house this past weekend. Another jerboa she knew, named Heath, was there. Along with a tiger from school, named Ravi. We got split up and Heath took Azalea to the photo booth while I was playing video games with Ravi.”
Alex clenched hir paws in anger, stopping when shi felt hir claws dig into hir palm-pads. “They were kissing in the photo booth. Like, seriously? We had sex like twice the night before and again that morning and she’s in the photo booth tongue wrestling with someone else? And I have to sit next to that bitch in class now.”
Everett blinked as the story went from PG to NC-17 in like three sentences. Now he had a lot of questions, the least of which was how to address the anger problems that hir mother had called to warn him of. “Hold that thought,” he said, rapidly writing what the young tigress had said in his notebook, wishing he’d been recording the conversation on tape. Then he flipped to the front of the notebook, double-checking Alex’s age. Ten years old. He flipped back again while looking up at the child on his couch. This was going to be one hell of an interesting therapy session.
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Friday, February 19th, 2016
Snow crunched underfoot as Alex trudged uphill through the woods, heading east towards the service road that led up to that crotchety old badger’s house and the aspen grove with the abandoned cabin. Occasionally clumps of powdery snow fell from the trees around hir, disturbed by the noise shi was making. One of them hit hir helmet before sliding down the back of hir coat. Shi growled and stopped to shake it out so it wouldn’t melt and get hir fur wet.
Two minutes later, the young tigress reached the edge of the service road. Shi smiled to hirself; it was exactly as shi had hoped, covered with over a foot of pristine powder. Hir own private ski run. The only thing missing was a lift. Shi turned to the right and continued following the service road uphill towards Mr. Dowdy’s house. Ten minutes later, shi came to a stop as shi reached the end of the service road. The only sign the old badgers home was occupied was the plume of smoke coming out the chimney. The scent of pine smoke tickled hir nose.
Alex planted hir snowboard in the snow, looking over at the house. On a whim, shi walked over to it and up the stairs, then knocked on the door, then took off hir helmet and goggles and waited for a bit. Eventually the door opened, revealing an old honey badger in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers. He glared at hir. “You again! What do ye want? One o’ ye didn’t fall down a hole again, did ye? Damn fool cubs,” he grumbled with an Irish accent.
The young tigress shook hir head. “No, sir. I just wanted to make sure you were alright, with the snow storm and all. Do you need anything?”
Aengus Dowdy squinted down at the tiger cub, then glanced at the service road. Other than the footsteps leading to his stoop, the solid foot of snow covering the service road was completely undisturbed for as far as he could see. There wasn’t a snowmobile or any other kind of vehicle, and he lived a good two miles outside of town. The child must have literally hiked all the way from town to check on him. He wasn’t quite sure what to think about that. “No, lass. I... I don’t need anything. But thank ye for checking on me,” the old honey badger said, trying to be polite. It was the least she deserved after hiking two miles to check on an old man. “Do ye want to come inside, warm up?”
Alex shook hir head. “No, sir. I’m fine. Have a good day,” shi said, waving and turning and stepping back down the stoop.
“Ye as well, lass,” Aengus said, closing his door. He stepped to one side and watched from his window as the girl strapped a helmet on and trudged back across the snow. She picked up a snowboard that he hadn’t seen and strapped her feet into it, then did a few awkward hops to build momentum before picking up speed, disappearing from view. He frowned, still unsure what to think about the fact that the young tigress had hiked at least two miles through the snow to his house to check on him.
Alex couldn’t help but grin as shi picked up speed, heading down the service road. Shi hadn’t realized how much shi had missed snowboarding. As the wind began to whistle past hir ears, shi lifted twisted hir feet, turning to the left until the board was perpendicular to hir path and then reversing the angle until shi was facing the opposite direction, riding switch. Not that anyone would ever be able to tell shi was riding switch; shi rode duck stance.
Shi pulled a switch another two times as shi headed down the service road, a broad smile spreading across hir muzzle. Shi did a few wide carving S-turns and then tried rapidly switching, practically spinning like an upside-down helicopter as shi raced down the snow-covered service road.
Wondering if shi had the strength to do it, and if the powder itself was dense enough to jump on and get any kind of air, shi did a few standing jumps, then tried a mid-air switch. After pulling a shockingly easy one-eighty, shi tried again, almost getting a full three-sixty. After recovering from the near fall, shi tried again, leaning back to get a good ollie, jumping as high as shi could. This time, shi managed the full three-sixty, and it was easy.
Grinning with pride, shi did the ollie three-sixty again, over and over. After pulling ten consecutive three-sixties, shi straightened back out until hir head stopped spinning, then did it again in reverse. Whooping with excitement, shi continued to race down the service road. Trees flew past in a blur.
Wanting to see just how fast shi could go, shi bent hir knees, staying as low as shi could and held hir arms out for stability. Tail whipping in the wind, the young tigress practically flew down the steep service road, going well over the posted speed limit as shi raced downhill, heading back towards Winter Creek.
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Saturday, February 20th, 2016
“I hope shi’s home,” Azalea muttered. A shaky, small paw came up and knocked against the door. After what had happened at the arcade, coming back to Alex’s place like this felt weird, but she knew that it needed to be done.
Perhaps twenty seconds later, the door opened, revealing a tall, muscular white tiger dressed in black slacks and a matching turtle-neck. If he’d been wearing a shoulder-holster, he could have been mistaken for a professional hitman.
“Um, Mr. David… Can I speak to Alex? Is shi home?” Azalea asked, looking up at the tiger. “It’s kinda important,” the half-squirrel added quietly.
David wasn’t particularly interested in letting Azalea hurt Alex again; it had been three days before Alex had gotten past the sullen anger over what had happened last weekend. He glared down at Azalea. “Couldn’t you have talked to hir at school?” he asked, then shook his head. “Nevermind, I know you didn’t have school the last two days. I’ll go ask if shi is willing to talk,” he said, closing the door perhaps a tad harder than he should have. As he walked upstairs to get his daughter, he felt slightly guilty about leaving the child shivering in the cold.
The jerboa-squirrel hybrid’s ears folded back so far they looked fused to her skull. She had been anxious, just wanting to make things right again, but after the look David had given her, she was scared. More than anything, she wanted to turn tail and leave. If not for Heath’s presence, she would have.
Azalea wasn’t sure if Alex would even come to the door, much less if Alex would accept her apology. As she stood there, shivering, this entire idea began to seem like more and more of a fool’s errand. Letting out a sigh, she muttered “I’m sorry,” and turned away from the door, heading towards the stairs that led down to the driveway.
The door opened before Azalea could walk more than a few feet. Alex stood in the doorway, wearing hir black skirt and hoodie, face devoid of any kind of expression. “Azalea? What are you doing here?”
Azalea’s ears perked up at the sound of the tigress calling her name. She stopped and spun back around, only for her ears to drop as she heard the rest of the question. Her tail followed suit, hitting the porch deck with a soft thump. “I... Can we talk? Maybe over ice cream or something?” the half-squirrel asked, looking at the tigress. “I’m… I just really want to make things right. I’ll pay.”
Alex peered at her ex-girlfriend, watching as the half-jerboa fidgeted with her paws, noticing they were completely devoid of paint. The tigress stared at the rodent for a few seconds before looking down at the ground and sighing. “Fine. If you want to talk, we can talk. Come on in.”
“I know that you hate me and all, and I know I deserve it. But, I’m not the only one that wanted to talk….” Azalea said, glancing over her shoulder at the stairs leading up to the porch as a jerboa boy walked up them.
“I’m sorry that we had to come to your house like this, but we didn’t think you’d let us get two words in if we approached you at school,” Heath said as he reached the porch deck. “I know you hate me and I know that I deserve it too. I know I did this the wrong way and majorly fucked up.” The jerboa took a deep breath. “You have every right to be mad at both of us, but I was the one that caused all of it. I’m the one that earned your anger. At least forgive Azalea.”
Alex grit hir teeth when she saw Heath walk onto the porch, fighting the temptation to kick him in the dick. Shi looked back towards Azalea. “I don’t hate you, Azzy. Actually, I still like you. But Heath was right, we’re not meant for each other as mates,” Alex said tersely.
The tigress turned to the jerboa. “As for you… Yes, I hate you. You’re an intolerant, racist, manipulative liar who’s willing to destroy two people’s relationship to try to get into someone’s pants. You lied about my reaction to Ravi, you lied about not getting between us, you lied about caring for her like a sister, you lied about what you were doing in the photo booth, and you lied to try and cover it up,” Alex said, reciting the litany of Health’s misdeeds that hir therapist had pointed out, ticking the list of lies off on hir fingers.
“Yes, I know that I’m all of those things. I know that I lied, I know that I did was wrong, and I know that I fucked up,” Heath admitted. “You two were far better friends than I could hope to be with her; she won’t have me as a friend now. As for the racist thing… I was brought up in a home where you could be friends with anyone, but you only dated and mated within your species.” He paused, taking another breath.
“When I saw you two together, all the feelings I’ve had for her since elementary school just welled up and I was... envious.” Looking down at his feet, Heath kept going. “So I’m here, apologizing, trying to make myself a better person. Maybe one day I can be good enough for someone like Azalea.” He looked up at Alex. “So... I deserve everything that you throw at me.” He spread his arms and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Alex snorted; it was obvious Heath was just trying to get back into Azalea’s good graces, and eventually into her pants. The tigress desperately wanted to plant a kick between the boy’s legs, but Mom and Dad had drilled hir over and over this past week just how important it was to never, ever use force against someone for anything other than self-defense. “If you want to be a better person, you can start by not lying to people. Including yourself, about your reason for being here.”
“I’m telling the truth about why I’m here.” Heath protested, opening his eyes and lowering his arms. “I came here with Azzy to say that I’m sorry for all that I did, and that I’m going to do everything to be better. Please, just give me a chance to show you that I can be something other than a lying, racist, girlfriend-stealing little shit.”
The tigress stared at him for a moment. “Okay. Fine. If you want to be a better person, I’ll give you a chance. But I won’t forgive you, and I’ll never forget,” Alex said. Shi wanted to say more, but was afraid shi’d lose hir temper. The incident at the arcade had taught hir a valuable lesson on self-control. Shi had spent most of the walk home trembling with the realization of how close shi had come to killing him. Shi owed Ravi for saving both their lives, ‘cause if shi had killed Heath, shi could have wound up in juvenile detention or worse.
“That’s all that I wanted,” Heath said, smiling. “I’ll show you that I can change, and that I am.” He lifted his paw, holding it out to the tigress. “To new beginnings?”
Alex peered at him for a second, then reached out and took the boy’s paw, holding it for a second. As much as shi hated him, a small portion of hir was actually kind of glad that he’d done what he had. Ever since hir visit to the Philadelphia Zoo with hir grandparents, shi had been worried about the scarcity of hir species. Heath may have been an asshole, but there was at least one very good reason for ‘dating and mating within your species’ as he put it. And now, Alex knew there was at least one tiger, here in town no less, that was hir own age... and shi owed Ravi, big time. “To new beginnings,” Alex said.
“Thank you,” Heath said, smiling and nodding to the tigress. “It means a lot that you’re giving me another chance. Well, I will leave you two to talk and such.” They let go of each other’s paws and the jerboa turned to leave.
“Alex, I’m sorry too,” Azalea spoke up, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry for letting him kiss me while we were dating.” The hybrid looked up at the tigress, her ears still folded back, tail laying flat in the snow dusting the porch.
Alex watched the jerboa walk away, then glanced back at Azalea. “I accept your apology. We can’t go back to being lovers, though.”
“I kinda thought as much,” Azalea said, looking back down at the ground. “I can understand why. I’m not worthy of someone as amazing as you. I just want to be friends again, like when we first met.” She sniffled, using a paw to wipe her eyes.
“Damnit, Azzy! I didn’t break up with you cause you’re not worthy of me,” Alex yelled, angry that Azalea would even think something like that. “I broke up with you because you cheated on me, and that hurt, right here,” shi continued more quietly, tapping a fist against hir heart. “When you’re in a relationship with someone, you don’t do stuff with other people. It’s like saying they don’t matter to you,” Alex said, blinking back tears. “By kissing Heath, you were saying I don’t matter to you.”
“Well, you do matter to me,” Azalea said, tears spilling down her muzzle as she realized how badly she’d hurt the tigress. “I’m sorry for hurting you.”
“You matter to me, too, Azzy. You’re the best friend I’ve got that’s not a thousand miles-”
The moment Alex said she was hir best friend, Azalea threw her arms around the tigress and held on for dear life, shaking as she started sobbing. “You’re one of my best friends too. I thought that I would go crazy without having you to talk to. School sucked so bad, sitting next to you and knowing I couldn’t talk to you,” she said, her voice muffled by the tigress that she clung to.
After a few moments, Alex returned the hug. Shi knew shi had been mean, giving Azalea the silent treatment when shi had known the hybrid was sorry and wanted to apologize to hir. But it had hurt, badly, when shi had seen those pictures of Heath kissing Azalea. It had reopened the same gaping wounds in hir heart that Elizabeth had torn open, so many months ago. Hopefully Azalea would realize now just how much it hurt someone to cheat on them and never do it again. As much as shi wished Heath would learn that, shi doubted it.
Tears welled in the tigress’ eyes as Azalea shook in hir arms. It felt like something eased inside Alex’s chest, and shi realized how much shi had been hurting hirself by shutting Azalea out of hir life. The calculated, deliberate cruelty of the silent treatment had hurt hir almost as much as it had hurt the squirrel in hir arms.
“Alex... I think your parents hate me now,” Azalea said, pulling back to look up to the tigress.
Alex swallowed the lump that was forming in hir throat, and blinked a few times. After a few moments shi shook hir head. “They just don’t want me to get hurt again. That’s all.”
“Well, they don’t have to worry about me doing that again,” Azalea said, hugging the tigress tightly again, before pulling back to wipe her eyes. “Ummm... my paws and tail are cold.”
“I figured they were. That’s why I said you could come in to talk,” Alex said with a small smile. “Let’s go inside, bushy butt.”
“I would like that.” The hybrid’s tail perked up causing a little flurry of snow to come with it. “Can we have some hot cocoa and ice cream?” she asked, smiling for the first time in a week.
“Yes, bushy butt,” Alex said, stepping back for a moment. Shi quickly turned and pushed the side door open, stepping inside and pulling Azalea with hir. The tigress stepped to the side and slapped a button next to the fireplace, then quickly walked across the room to the thermostat and punched the temperature up another five degrees. The HVAC down in the garage rumbled to life.
As Azalea closed the door and took off her boots, Alex jogged over to the kitchen, grabbed a pair of mugs and filled them with tap water before putting them in the microwave. The sound of clinking silverware and the scrape of tin against granite followed as Alex pulled out the hot cocoa.
Azalea walked over and sat at one of the stools next to the kitchen island, watching as Alex started measuring out hot cocoa, a dash of cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg into a small dish, then pulled a container of heavy cream out of the refrigerator as the microwave dinged.
“I’m sorry for refusing to talk to you, Azzy. I knew you wanted to apologize, but... I was angry, and hurting, and I wanted to hurt you back... and I still want to hurt Heath. You have no idea how much I want to kick him in the balls,” Alex said as she pulled the mugs out of the microwave. She turned around and set them on the kitchen island and started adding her special cocoa blend and a dash of heavy cream. “Anyway, It was petty and mean of me, and I apologize. I was actually trying to work up the courage to call you and apologize when you knocked on the door.”
Azalea sat in silence for a moment before nodding her head.
Alex finished fixing the hot cocoa and pushed one mug across the island. “Come on, let’s go cuddle in front of the fireplace while you warm up. Then we can go upstairs and play video games or something. I got a copy of Tekken 6 to practice on so that I might stand a chance against Ravi, if I ever meet him again.”
“You’re gonna have to put a heck of a lot of time into that if you want to stand a chance against him. He beat the pants off me, and I have literally every top score on Tekken 7 in the arcade. He’s a wizard,” Azalea said, picking up her mug of hot cocoa and following Alex across the room to the coffee table in front of the fireplace.
Alex set hir hot cocoa down on the coffee table and grabbed the blankets off the couch, loveseat, and lounge chair. Shi quickly tossed one onto the floor in front of the fireplace, then put one around Azalea’s shoulders before tossing the last one over hir own and sitting down. “There. Sit down and warm up. And tell me how you know Heath. Do you know Ravi?”
Azalea carefully folded her legs and sat down on the blanket next to the tigress as she started to regain feeling in her hands, wrapped around the mug of hot cocoa. Flames flickered in the fireplace. “So, Heath and I were in the same classroom at Johnathan Adams Elementary School...”
__________________________________________________
Alex tossed the second Xbox controller over to Azalea as shi walked over to the sofa and sat down next to the squirrel-hybrid. After a moment of fumbling through the game’s menu system, shi started up local versus mode and started scrolling through the characters to select. “So, what character should I start with?”
“Jin Kazama. He uses karate. I figure since you’re learning that, it’s a good first pick,” Azalea said while scrolling down to the bottom and picking a literal feral bear character.
“Wait, how did you know I’m learning karate?” Alex asked, turning to look at Azalea with a raised eyebrow.
“I saw the karate uniform hanging in your closet, a long time ago. Black with a white belt,” Azalea replied, smirking. “The logo on the lapel is appropriate.”
“Logo? What... Oh, the Shotokan tiger.” Alex snorted. “Yeah, I was a white belt months and months ago. I’m up to orange belt now,” shi said, turning back to the screen and selecting the Honshu Wolf character that Azalea had recommended. “And I’m starting to learn bo staff.”
“Oh, so you’re learning the way of the scratching post?” Azalea asked, smirking as Alex started scrolling through the list of stages.
“I’ll use you as a scratching post,” Alex threatened, choosing the Mystical Forest stage.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” Azalea said as the stage loaded and the two characters appeared, doing their signature intro moves.
After the game announced ‘Round One’, Alex pressed a few buttons watching as her character did a few punches and kicks.
“Why don’t you start by pausing the game a moment and checking out the combo list,” Azalea suggested.
The tigress did exactly that. Hir muzzle hung open as shi continued to scroll down, realizing just how many combos there were. “Seriously?!” shi asked, incredulously. “There’s gotta be a hundred combos here.”
“That’s why you find one character you like and stick with it,” Azalea replied.
Alex sighed. “This is gonna take forever.”
Two hours later, Raenne knocked on the side of the guest bedroom door frame. “Hey girls. Is Azalea staying for dinner?”
Azalea looked up at the older tigress, then turned to the younger one. “Can I?”
Alex met Azalea’s gaze, confused. “Of course you can. Don’t you want to?”
The half-squirrel’s eyes started watering and she set her controller down. “I do,” she said, sniffling and leaning over to wrap Alex in a hug. “Thank you.”
The tigress looked up at hir mom. “Can Azalea spend the night, too?”
Raenne narrowed her eyes. “That’s... up to you.”
“We may not be dating anymore, but we’re still friends,” Alex said, defensively.
“Ooo-kay.” The older tigress shrugged and turned to head back downstairs.
“I told you... your parents hate me now,” Azalea whispered.
“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to them,” Alex said, setting down hir controller to hug Azalea in return. “You only let someone kiss you, and he pressured you into it. Heath’s the one they should be hating. I’ll explain everything to them. You just stay here.” Alex squeezed Azalea tightly and then hopped up from the sofa, heading out the door.
