CAUTION: This story contains implied sexual activity between minors, 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.
Assam Chai
by IndigoNeko
Chapter 1
Monday, May 30th, 2016
An oddly androgynous Siberian tiger cub in a black karate gi knelt in seiza on the vinyl mat at the front of a Japanese style dojo. The child clenched their teeth in pain as their knees met the padded floor. A few yards in front of them, smoke wafted up from the stick of incense that burned in a bowl atop a stone block, swirling in mesmerizing loops through the air. Tendrils of smoke drifted down the front face of the polished stone altar before pooling on the polished wood floor.
The young feline ran one orange and black striped paw across their forehead, brushing back the unruly mop of snow-white hair that had fallen in front of their eyes. The tiger stared at the grey haze in the air, trying to meditate during the few minutes remaining before class started. If someone had been observing them, that watcher could be forgiven for being confused whether the young tiger was either male or female, since they were technically both. ‘Shi’ was a tetragametic chimera; The result of fraternal twins, male and female, fusing into one being while still within the womb.
Alexandrea Andreyev closed hir eyes, ignoring the scent of sandalwood that tickled hir nose along with the ache in hir left wrist and right knees. The latter was the result of trying to learn how to ride a bicycle. Shi had discovered it was somewhat challenging earlier that afternoon while using an old yellow Cannondale borrowed from the owner of the local bike shop. It hadn’t taken more than fifteen minutes to learn the hang of it, but had fallen a half dozen or so times.
It had taken Alex almost as long to convince hir dad that shi was fine after one particularly bad fall. Shi knew exactly how much a broken leg hurt, thanks to a snowboarding accident over a year ago on Mt. Hood, followed later by several broken ribs inflicted by a trio of bullies at hir previous school. The sore wrist and knees weren’t even close to that level of pain.
The bike in question had been the perfect thing to learn on, since the half dozen or so scuffs that shi had added to it wouldn’t be noticed among the hundreds that already decorated it. By mid-afternoon, shi had been comfortable enough on it to take it out into the woods past the sign that marked the end of the street in front of their house... one of the very last houses on the northeast edge of the Aspen Glen neighborhood of Winter Creek.
All these thoughts drifted through Alex’s mind before slowly settling like the haze of incense that drifted down the front of the stone block in front of hir. For a moment hir mind was blank. Then the faintest rustle of cloth from behind hir drew hir attention, causing hir ears to swivel backwards like turrets. Shi knew only one person at the dojo who could move with that degree of stealth. Shi opened hir eyes, still staring ahead at the smoke that swirled through the air above the incense bowl.
“Good evening, Owen-san,” Alex said, without turning, to the black panther who knelt to hir left, since he was technically lower-ranked than shi was. Shi idly rubbed one end of hir newly-won purple belt between the pads of hir finger-tips.
“Good evening, Alex-senpai,” Dafydd Owen replied, sitting comfortably in seiza a few feet to one side of the ten-year-old tigress. While the panther was a black-belt in Wado-Ryu Karate, he was a white-belt in Shotokan Karate, and used the appropriate honorific for hir in this class... Just as Alex would soon be calling him Owen-sensei when shi was a student in his classes.
Knowing that the older gentleman preferred to spend an extra minute in meditation before class started, Alex refrained from asking the question that was at the forefront of hir mind right then, namely when he would start teaching Kenjutsu, as he’d agreed almost a month ago.
A minute passed in silence before the panther shifted slightly, a sign that Alex recognized now to mean that he’d finished his meditations. Shi was about to open hir mouth to speak when shi heard the door at the base of the stairs behind them open, and flicked hir ears backwards out of instinct to hear them. Several other students, all of them wearing white belts with their black gi uniforms, began jogging up the stairs from the downstairs lounge and locker rooms.
Alex kept hir ears angled backwards, listening to make sure that each of the students paused at the edge of the mat to bow before walking across it to where shi and Dafydd knelt. A moment later the sounds of their passage were followed by the rustle of cloth as they knelt as well, lining up near the front of the class on the opposite side of the panther from the young tigress.
Among those students was another young tiger, but of Bengal descent rather than Siberian. Ravi Bassi was three years older than Alex. Ravi’s younger sister Aruna (who was prohibited from participating in physical activities like Karate for medical reasons) was a year younger than Alex. Neither of the Bassi cubs had so much as a hint of the russet-orange colored fur that nearly all tigers had (including Alex). Both of them were called ‘white tigers’, despite the bold black stripes that decorated their fur, just like their mother and grandmother... But not their father, strangely enough.
Supposedly white tigers were extremely rare, accounting for less than one percent of both the Siberian and Bengal tiger populations according to the information Alex had read on the internet. But over half of the immediate family members in the Andreyev and Bassi families had white fur with black stripes, rather than the usual orange-and-white with black stripes, strangely enough.
Alex, Ravi, and Aruna had been thick as thieves for two months now. And as of two weeks ago, Alex was officially dating them with their parents’ consent. Yes, both of them. At the same time. According to Ravi, they were a ‘polyfidelitous trio’. The thought was enough to set Alex’s tail to quivering.
Alex had been on cloud nine every minute of those two weeks... up until falling off the bike that afternoon. The fact that their parents had forbidden them from revealing their relationship to anyone outside their immediate family didn’t dampen hir joy in the slightest.
Much heavier footfalls interrupted Alex’s reverie. Shi didn’t even need to hear his footsteps to know exactly where hir father was as he strode across the mat; shi could feel them. Dad was easily half a foot taller than anyone else in the dojo and, despite having hardly an ounce of bodyfat anywhere on him, probably weighed half again as much as anyone else... except possibly Owen-san. David was also a white tiger, but of Siberian descent rather than Bengal. As the highest-ranked student in the class, he knelt to Alex’s right, the gym mats creaking under his weight.
The last one to cross the dojo was Alex’s mom. The older tigress didn’t stop until she stood in front of the bowl of incense. “Welcome everyone,” she announced. “As most of you already know, my name is Raenne Andreyev, though in class you should call me Raenne-sensei. Today we have some new students with us, so please be patient as I explain how classes typically go before we begin. Shotokan karate classes usually begin by kneeling, which is called ‘seiza’, in a line in order of rank, with highest ranking students to the left...”
__________________________________________________
Kayson lay atop the comforter on his bed, sick with worry that Dad still hadn’t shown up by bed time. The young monitor lizard tried to tune out his mother’s voice... tried not to puke up the pork chops he’d had for dinner. Mom had been making phone calls for nearly two hours. Now there were a pair of police officers downstairs.
“No, he’s usually home by seven o’clock at the very latest. If he’s going to be later, he always calls,” his mother was explaining to the officers. “He said he’d be at our son’s little league game, but he didn’t show up. I thought he might be working late again... he’s been swamped at work since his partner was murdered, but he’s not answering his cell phone...”
“Kay-kay?” a soft voice asked from the entrance to Kayson’s bedroom.
Kayson rolled over and looked up at his doorway. “Yes, Emmy?” he asked, noticing that both his younger sisters were standing there in their nightgowns, clearly ready for bedtime. Figuring this might be a long conversation, he sat upright and scooted so his back was against the headboard. “Come in.”
Emily hesitantly stepped into her older brother’s bedroom, flicking her forked tongue out to taste the unfamiliar air. “Where’s Daddy?” she asked, her voice even higher pitched than normal. “He was going to read us a bed-time story.”
“I don’t know, Emmy,” Kayson answered as Madison stepped into his bedroom as well. “I don’t think Mom knows where he is either. That’s why she called the police. So they can go find him.”
The look of fear and worry on their faces tugged at his heart. He wished he had an answer for them. Normally his sisters were just annoying, but right now... he knew they needed comforting. Sighing, Kayson motioned his sisters over. “Come on up,” he said, shifting to one side to make room for them.
Madison helped her younger sister up onto the bed, then climbed up as well, being careful not to accidentally tear the comforter with her claws. Emily crawled into Kayson’s lap while Madison sat next to him.
“Would it help if I told you a bed-time story instead?” Kayson asked. “I’m not as good at stories as Dad is, but...”
“Uh-huh,” Emily replied, nodding her head slightly while looking up at her older brother.
“Hmm, let’s see. You know Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Rapunzel... Did dad tell you about Jack and the Beanstalk?” he asked, getting a nod from Madison while Emily shook her head.
“Emmy doesn’t know that one yet. Is that one okay, Maddy?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s okay,” Madison replied, straightening her nightgown.
“So... Once upon a time there was a boy named Jack. He lived with his mother in a small cottage. They were very poor and had nothing to eat. The only thing they owned was a cow, who gave them milk...”
__________________________________________________
Several miles southeast of the Pullman home, a muscular tiger in a leather jacket was currently leaning over a monitor lizard dressed in a business suit and trench coat. The lizard was currently stuffed in the trunk of his own car, spitting out fragments of broken teeth. A sizable puddle of blood had seeped into the grey fabric lining the underside of the trunk.
“Finally awake, eh? Sorry about this, but your secretary wasn’t very accommodating and I can’t wait two months for an appointment,” the Siberian tiger said, conversationally. He had a slight but noticeable Russian accent. “What a surprise, running into you in that parking garage. Not the best place for a business meeting, though.”
The tiger paused, holding up a snub-nosed GP100 revolver. “I’d have thought shooting potential clients would be bad for business. But what do I know?” He shrugged, then pocketed the pistol, waiting until the monitor lizard looked up at him before asking “Do you know who I am?”
It took Heinrich Pullman a minute for his concussed brain to come up with an answer, and longer to explain through his shattered front teeth. “You’re a tiger...” he said, intermittently panting. “I a-hume that you’re relay-ed... to one of da two tiger familie’... ‘at are client’ of ours.” As he finished speaking, he looked up and suddenly remembered that the tiger standing over him had punched him in the face and knocked him out cold. That explained the broken teeth. The tiger was probably the one who’d stuffed him in the trunk of his car, too.
“Two families of tigers?” The big tiger asked, clearly surprised. “Interesting. But yes, you are correct. My name is Ivan Kaminski.”
The tiger stood straight, looking down at Heinrich and waited for a moment before speaking again. “I’m curious about this other family of tigers... but business first. Your firm has been handling my parents’ estate since they were murdered in January. I must admit, all of this came as a shock to me when I found out about it a few months ago. You see, I thought my sister killed them... twelve years ago.”
Heinrich stared angrily up at the muscular tiger standing over him, still a bit addled. The tiger was right though; Pullman & Pratt was handling the Kaminski estate, though Allan Pratt had been the Kaminskis’ primary attorney. Heinrich had just recently become aware of the Kaminski account after Allan Pratt had been found murdered in their office a few weeks ago. Before he could say anything, the tiger spoke up again.
“Now. You are going to tell me everything you know about their deaths, their wills, their estate, and most importantly why their estate isn’t mine,” Ivan said, snarling on the last word.
Even before he did it, Heinrich Pullman knew it was a stupid thing to do, but he did it anyway. He spat another chunk of broken tooth out of his bloody mouth, hitting the tiger dead in the center of the white tank-top he was wearing under his leather jacket. Heinrich found out a moment later that he had drastically underestimated just how stupid of a decision it was... and how vindictive the tiger could be.
__________________________________________________
After the karate students had finished practicing basic strikes (called kihon) and longer combinations (called kata), David took a quick break to check on the babies in their makeshift nursery under the dojo before returning upstairs to spar with Dafydd. While the panther was restricting his moves to those that he had ‘learned’ over the past month, he still had the speed and coordination of his Wado-Ryu black belt training, and made an excellent sparring partner for the larger white tiger. Alex paired off with Ravi, who had spent an extra hour every evening sparring with hir for the past month. The extra sparring had been to help Alex prepare for a karate tournament that was scheduled for the middle of next week.
Raenne had the rest of the white belts practice simple strikes and blocks with each other, spending the next fifteen minutes supervising them. Following kumite, they had a brief cooldown, lined up in order of rank for seiza, and had another brief period of meditation before reciting the dojo-kun and giving their final bows. Alex stayed behind for a moment, massaging hir sore wrist and knees before following the other students across the gym mat to the stairs that led to the lounge and locker rooms.
By the time that Alex stepped into the locker room, Dafydd had already pulled out his clothing and taken his karate gi off. “Owen-san?” shi inquired, walking over to the older panther. His pelt was criss-crossed and dotted with numerous scars, but Alex knew better than to ask about them. Shi knew from experience that scars sometimes held stories that were uncomfortable, or even painful, to remember. The scars on hir forearms suddenly itched, as if to remind hir of that fact.
“Yes, Alex-san?” Dafydd asked, pulling on his shirt.
“When were you planning to start Kenjutsu lessons?”
The panther glanced down at the tigress. “This Wednesday,” he said, carefully folding his gi. “The uniforms just arrived today.”
“Uniforms?” Alex asked, wondering why he’d ordered uniforms when they already had karate gi to practice in.
“Kendo-style gi and hakama,” Dafydd explained. “They’re not the same as the karate gi. I ordered them in various sizes because I wasn’t sure exactly what size you’ll need... or will grow into.”
“Oh,” Alex said, blinking as shi processed that. “I guess I’ll need to change uniforms between classes...”
The panther gave a nod of confirmation as he finished folding his clothes, then looked over at the other young tiger who had stepped over. He raised one eyebrow at the boy.
“If you’re willing, sir, could I attend your class as well?” Ravi asked.
Dafydd glanced over at Raenne, both eyebrows raised in question.
“As I said, the dojo is yours from six to seven,” Raenne said, shrugging off the top of her karate gi and taking a flannel shirt out of her own locker before pulling it on over the tank top she always wore under her karate gi.
“Two things: First, I do not have an extra spear-haft for you. Second, I suppose I should charge a fee for students and uniforms. The same as Sensei Raenne’s classes will do.”
Ravi’s face fell; he already wasn’t looking forward to telling his parents that he’d have to start paying for karate lessons again. Asking them to pay for kenjutsu lessons as well would break the proverbial bank.
Noticing Ravi’s consternation, Raenne shut her locker and turned to face the jaguar and the two tiger cubs. “Ravi, if you are willing to come fifteen minutes before classes each day and clean the dojo, then I will sponsor your classes.”
Sighing with relief, Ravi turned to the older tigress. “Thank you, Raenne-sensei,” he said, bowing to her.
“As for the other spear-haft, I could use my bo-staff until we get another,” Alex suggested hesitantly. “It’s not as long as a spear, but it’s close enough.”
Dafydd frowned, then nodded. “That is acceptable.”
__________________________________________________
Ginnie Miller walked out of the dojo and across the dojo’s flagstone courtyard with the peculiar gait most evolved birds had, a carry-over from their wild ancestors who had long tarsometatarsus bones and much shorter femurs. Their peculiar skeletal structures forced most evolved birds to use a fully digitigrade stance, rather than the plantigrade or semi-digitigrade stance that most evolved mammals had adopted. The young thrush’s gait was even more awkward than normal; it had been a long time since she’d had such a thorough workout... if ever.
Surprisingly, over half the class had been adults rather than all kids like she’d expected. This clearly wasn’t a barely-disguised daycare for soccer-moms; it was an actual martial arts dojo, for people who actually wanted to learn karate. The speed at which the old panther and the big white tiger had been sparring was more than a little frightening... though the tiger was a black belt and she assumed the panther was one as well, probably in some other martial art style. She was reasonably sure she’d have been killed if either of them hit her full force.
The other two kids around her own age, both tigers, were a purple and white belt. They didn’t pull punches with each other at all... and the younger tigress with the purple belt moved almost as fast as the older panther and tiger did. If not for the pads they’d been wearing, she was sure both of them would have been bruised black and blue from head to toe. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be good enough to spar with them.
While the teacher, Sensei Raenne, had given the four advanced students an occasional sharp rebuke while they’d been sparring, the tigress had been very kind and patient with the rest of them, walking them through each move step-by-step with a smile on her muzzle. Ginnie had been paired with a much younger snowy owl named Jadyn, who was just as awkward as one would expect of an eight-year old. He was clearly trying his best, though, and some of his unvarnished observations had been enough to make Ginnie giggle.
Hank was standing next to his car, watching as Ginnie slowly and carefully walked down the steps from the courtyard to the parking lot. “Hey Chiclet!” he called. “You okay?” he asked, sounding concerned at how slowly she was moving.
“Yeah,” Ginnie replied, carefully stepping over to their SUV. “Just... tired. I was exhausted halfway through the class. You wouldn’t think practicing punches and kicks would be that hard, but if you do them fast enough it’s a serious workout.”
The older bird pulled open the car door and climbed inside, carefully fitting his tail-feathers through the gap under the back-rest before buckling in. Her father waited until Ginnie was buckled in as well before turning the ignition. The engine rumbled to life and he turned the lights on; it had been dusk when he’d dropped Ginnie off and it was full dark now. After adjusting the radio and selecting a classical music station, he looked in the rear-view mirror and slowly backed out onto the service road. Ginnie closed her eyes and leaned back against the car seat as classical music filled the car cabin. She didn’t even realize it when she nodded off.
__________________________________________________
“It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight,” rang out in the quiet bedroom, followed by the rest of the iconic chorus to the song by Survivor. Elizabeth Stouffer’s head lifted like a furry brown and white periscope from a sea of fur, plushies, and pillows. The stoat-ferret hybrid quickly spotted the relatively new smartphone sitting on her nightstand and picked it up. After she read the name of the caller, she immediately swiped to one side to accept the call and held the phone up to the side of her head. “Lexi?!”
“Hey Lizzy,” the familiar voice on the other end of the line said. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Alex asked.
“Nope,” the little stoat replied. “We just finished, actually. We were-”
“Staaaahhhhp,” Alex interrupted, sounding slightly grossed out. “I don’t want to hear about what you and Chris do with each other at night.”
Elizabeth giggled, causing the exhausted-looking yapok next to her to raise their head with a curious expression. “It’s Lexi,” the stoat said quietly, then scooted further up the bed to sit against the pile of pillows at the head. “So what’s up? How are things with those two tigers you mentioned last time? Eh... Ravi and, uhhh, I forget her name.”
“Ravi and Aruna,” Alex supplied. “Actually, that’s why I called. Can... uh... can you keep a secret?” the tigress asked. “Cause you didn’t do so well keeping your big secret last year.”
The stoat’s expression turned serious, and she frowned. “I... think so?” she said, hesitantly, then looked down at the yapok dozing next to her on the bed. “Yes. I can keep a secret.”
“Good,” Alex said, sighing with relief. Then she whispered “Cause I made a promise not to tell anyone that Ravi and Aruna and I are dating. It’s a secret ‘cause they’re siblings. I figured that if anyone would understand, it would be you.”
“Oh my God,” Elizabeth said, big black eyes going wide as she realized the full implication of those three sentences. She smiled, suddenly filled with joy for her best friend; Alex deserved some happiness after all that shi had gone through over the last year. The little stoat felt her eyes start watering and a tear dripped down her muzzle, relieved that her best friend finally had a happy ending of hir own. “Are they... Are you happy with them? Do they get along with each other?”
“I am,” Alex said, purring loudly enough to be heard over the phone. “I’m very happy with them. They got along well to begin with; now they get along even better. I think we’ll be happy with each other for the rest of our lives.”
__________________________________________________
Tuesday, May 31st, 2016
Alex awoke to the sound of a sharp ding, the text message notification from hir phone. The tigress rolled over in hir bed glancing over at the phone on hir nightstand, blinking blearily. According to the clock on hir phone it was almost eight in the morning. Shi sat up and stretched, yawned, and scratched an itch on hir head, wondering why it was so late. Shi’d gone to bed at ten, like usual, and was normally awake by six at the latest.
The tigress picked up the phone and unlocked it, checking hir messages, suspecting it was Ravi... but it wasn’t. It was from the group chat with the Bus Stop Gang.
( I’m bored. Anyone wanna hang out? )
Alex tilted hir head, wondering which of them had sent the message; shi didn’t have any of their phone numbers on hir contacts list yet, except for Jerome. Shi quickly tapped out a message.
( I’m free. Who’s asking? ~Alex )
A moment later the reply came in.
( Jason Myers. 48 Chestnut St. )
Alex blinked; shi hadn’t really hung out with the beaver much, except during the Beltane festival. Jason was a bit spastic... he probably had ADHD or something. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to hang out with him for a day, the tigress threw aside the covers and slid off the side of the bed. Shi winced slightly as hir wrist started aching... followed immediately by hir knees as hir feet touched the floor.
The tigress paused for a moment to pull on the oversized t-shirt that was sitting at the foot of the bed; hir parents didn’t approve of running around naked, especially now that they had security cameras in the house. Yawning again, exposing two pairs of very large fangs, Alex padded out of hir bedroom and into the bathroom. It had originally been connected directly to hir bedroom as part of the master suite, but Mom and Dad had some construction people move the doorway so that the bathroom opened out into the upstairs hallway when they were installing the fur dryers.
After taking hir hormone pills and using the toilet, Alex padded downstairs in search of hir mom... eventually finding her doing laundry in the downstairs hallway.
“Morning, Mom,” shi said, walking over and giving her a hug. After getting a squeeze in return shi stepped back, asking “Could I go over to Jason’s house? He’s the beaver kid who rides the bus with me in the mornings. I dunno if you met him at the Beltane festival...”
Raenne paused for a moment, frowning slightly. “I think I remember seeing a young beaver about your age... Do you have his address?” she asked, picking up a damp shirt and tossing it into the dryer.
Alex nodded. “48 Chestnut street.”
“Hmm, Chestnut street’s in walking distance,” Raenne said, nodding slightly. “Sure, you can go. Just text me his name and address before you leave and be back home before lunch.”
“Is it okay if I bike over there?”
Raenne squinted at Alex. “If you wear your helmet, yes.”
“Thanks Mom,” Alex replied, turning and walking back into the kitchen to snag a cup of peach yogurt for breakfast. Shi peeled the foil top off and licked it straight out of the plastic cup with hir long tongue while walking back upstairs. Peach yogurt always reminded hir of hir best friend, Elizabeth Stouffer. The little stoat-hybrid lived over a thousand miles away now, back in Oregon.
After reaching hir bedroom once again, Alex paused for a moment to text Jason, saying that shi was going to take a shower and then bike over, then sent Mom his address. Then shi finished the last of the yogurt, making a mental note to give Lizzy a call before bed that evening... It had been a few weeks since they’d last talked.
__________________________________________________
Ginnie rolled over in her bed, surprisingly stiff. Her muscles didn’t want to work. It hadn’t been quite so bad when she’d woken up after midnight to use the restroom and get something to eat. After that she’d stayed up for another couple of hours watching youtube videos before going back to bed. But now... It was a struggle just to move.
Her legs felt kind of like jello as she stood up, making her way to the closet to get out a vest, skirt, and underwear, then went across the hallway to her bathroom. After using the toilet, she pulled out the tri-fold mirror above the sink. As usual, her feathers were a mess. She sighed and pressed the switch on the steam generator sitting on the counter, then pulled out the gallon jug of distilled water from under the sink.
The young bird carefully poured a half cup into the generator’s reservoir before capping the jug and putting it back. After it had warmed up, she plugged the feather-iron’s hose into the steam generator and got to work, clamping individual feathers for one second each before using her fingers to smooth out the split and warped barbs along each vane.
Five minutes later, Ginnie felt presentable enough to step out of the bathroom; she’d take a shower before bed tonight. By the time Ginnie reached the kitchen, she’d come to the conclusion that Dad was probably out shopping or something. Mom, as usual, was at work. Pulling open the pantry, Ginnie glanced over the labelled plastic containers in the pantry with dozens of different kinds of nuts, seeds, dried fruits and berries, beans, and whole grains. Sighing, she looked over them for a moment before settling on soy beans for protein and dried strawberry chips for flavor.
Walking over to the kitchen counter, she quickly dumped about a half cup of each ingredient into the blender before returning the containers to the pantry. The high-speed blender made a powdery slurry out of the beans and fruit in a matter of a few seconds, and she added some milk and ice cubes from the fridge before blending it for a few more seconds.
Another two minutes later, the blender was clean and Ginnie was sucking strawberry smoothie through a wide flat straw, one specially made for beaks. After walking into the living room, she lay down on the sofa and started flipping through the hundred-plus music video channels on the television, searching for something to sing along with.
__________________________________________________
Thirty minutes after Jason had texted hir, Alex arrived at what her phone said was the destination. On the east side of the street was a fairly average looking two-story house with tan-painted siding and brown trim. Shi quickly spotted the number ‘48’ next to the front door under the front porch. The house was very similar to most of the buildings on the street and actually looked identical to a few other houses, except with different paint colors. Shi wondered if these were some of the ‘cookie-cutter houses’ that Dad had mentioned at one point. A boxy burgundy Ford Escort with peeling clear-coat sat in the driveway; a relic from the previous century.
Alex carefully dismounted the beat up yellow Cannondale, not wanting to fall and hit her knees again, and unwrapped hir tail from around hir waist. Spotting a blue Huffy mountain bike that lay on the lawn and figuring that was as good a place as any, the tigress rolled the yellow bike up the driveway, then carefully tilted the bike over to lay it on the lawn as well. A porch swing hung from rusty chains next to the front door, swaying slightly in the morning breeze. Alex took off hir black and orange helmet and knocked on the front door, waiting for a moment.
The front door opened, revealing a matronly-looking beaver in jeans and a t-shirt. Alex tilted hir head, frowning slightly as the woman looked familiar... the waitress from Mel’s Diner. “Nadine?” shi blurted before realizing that probably wasn’t the best introduction.
The beaver smiled, revealing a pair of orange-tinted incisors. “Yep, that’s me. I take it you’re here to play with Jason?” she asked.
Alex nodded hir head. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I figured,” Nadine said, stepping to one side. “Come on inside. What’s your name, dear?”
“Alexandrea Andreyev... but I go by Alex,” the tigress said, tucking hir helmet under one arm and stepping inside, noting the wood-panelled walls and teal-colored carpet.
“I love your skirt, dear,” the beaver said, closing the door behind the young tigress.
Alex glanced down at the black pleated skirt in question, having forgotten that shi was wearing it. “Uh... Thanks. My grandparents got it for me. It’s from Saks Fifth Avenue.”
“An expensive gift,” Nadine commented. “Jason is upstairs in his bedroom. It’s the first door on the right,” she said, pointing at the staircase just behind her.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Alex said, looking up the stairs and watching the woman for a moment as Nadine walked over to the sofa in their living room and sat down, using a remote to turn on the old CRT TV sitting in the heavy oak entertainment center on the far side of the room. The tigress headed up the stairs, feeling like she’d somehow walked onto the set of ‘That ‘70s Show’.
The sound of rock music and metallic grinding noises came from the open doorway to the right near the top of the stairs. Alex looked in, taking in the messy bed, various piles of clothes on the floor, desk covered with papers and pencils, and wooden dresser with another CRT sitting atop it. The source of the sounds was the skateboarding game on the TV... the one that Jason was currently playing from where he was sitting on a pillow on the floor.
“Hey,” Alex said, knocking on the door frame, looking Jason over. As usual he was wearing torn jeans, Airwalk shoes, and a t-shirt with NOFX in green on the front. Alex assumed they were a band, but shi had never heard of them.
Jason’s head jerked slightly as he looked over for a split second before turning back to the game. “Hey Alex, c’mon in. You ever played Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater?”
The tigress stepped inside, careful not to step on any piles of clothes or other potential landmines. “Uh... No? Not that I know of,” shi said, watching the TV screen where a wolf riding a skateboard was doing a grind along a metal guard-rail in some kind of industrial park.
“I play this all the time,” Jason explained. “Mom won’t let me get any airsoft guns to go play with Jerome and his high school friends, and it’s not like we’ve got a skate park in town. It’s a forty-five minute drive to the nearest one in Prairie Flats... so...”
“Airsoft guns?” Alex asked, wondering what he was talking about.
“Yeah, they’re fake guns that shoot plastic bullets. They hurt, but they won’t break skin. Gotta wear goggles though or you could lose an eye,” the beaver explained, still focused on the video game.
“Huh.” Alex blinked at that, wondering why anyone would deliberately play a game where you shot each other with plastic bullets that hurt. Instead shi asked about skateboarding. “So there’s no place to skateboard around here?”
“Well, I mean you can skate on the street, but there’s no place to practice tricks out here, cause the park downtown has those ‘No Skateboarding’ signs all over. And Mom’s not gonna drive me down to Prairie Flats every day to the skate park. She’s got work most days, so we only go on Sundays. She gets some shopping done, I get a couple hours of practice in...” The beaver shrugged, eyes still glued to the TV screen.
Alex didn’t quite know what to say to that. “I didn’t know... I’ve never tried skating.”
The beaver paused his game and slowly turned his head to the tigress like he hadn’t quite heard what shi had said. “You’ve never tried skating?” he asked, one eyebrow cocked.
Alex shook hir head, wondering if shi had said something wrong. “Noooo...”
The expression on his face shifted from confusion to disbelief. After a second he blinked a few times, slapped his wide, scaly tail on the floor, then stood up. “Let’s go,” he said, grabbing a pair of skateboards from behind the door and passing one of them to hir. He took a step towards the door, paused, then turned and grabbed a small duffel bag as well, and glanced at the helmet under Alex’s arm. “That’ll do,” he said, stepping out of his bedroom and heading downstairs.
Puzzled, Alex followed the beaver boy downstairs. Shi had a feeling that shi was about to get a lesson in how to ride a skateboard. After the falls shi’d taken yesterday, shi wasn’t sure if shi was up for it. As shi headed downstairs, shi caught Nadine looking up at hir with a curious expression. The tigress glanced down at the skateboard shi was holding and then back at the lady on the couch and shrugged; shi was just going with the flow.
“Just a moment, Jason,” Nadine called out as her son reached the front door. “Has Alex ever skated before?”
“No, Mom,” Jason said, pulling open the front door. “I’m gonna teach hir.”
The matronly beaver frowned. “You make sure she’s wearing all the pads, wrist guards, and helmet. Be careful and go slow, for heaven’s sake. Girls are more fragile than boys, you know...”
“Alex isn’t a girl, Mom,” Jason said, stepping out the front door, not bothering to explain.
The way Nadine’s jaw dropped and the look of confusion on her face made Alex smile. Fighting back the urge to snicker, shi explained “I’m a hermaphrodite, ma’am.”
The beaver’s mouth formed a small ‘O’ as the confusion slowly faded. Alex stepped out the door and closed it behind hirself before Mrs. Myers said anything else. Then shi started giggling. “Oh man, Jason... The look on your mom’s face when you said I wasn’t a girl was hilarious.”
“Well, I mean... You’re not,” the young beaver said, totally serious. “You have a bigger dick than I do,” he added, irritably.
“I’m sorry,” Alex apologized. “I honestly didn’t know it was that big when I told you...”
“S’okay,” Jason said, waving one paw dismissively. “At least now I know for a fact that I’m not the smallest in the group,” he added while dropping the small duffel bag and pulling out various pads. “Get over here and let’s get you padded up. You’re gonna fall a few times, but if you’ve got the pads it won’t hurt that much.”
A minute later, Alex had kneepads, elbowpads, and her helmet on and was listening as Jason explained the differences.
“This one is a standard popsicle board,” he said, pointing to the skateboard that he was holding. “There’s a few that are smaller or slightly wider, like the mini cruiser or surfskate boards. The one you’ve got there is a freeride or downhill board. The wheels are wider and closer to the ends. There’s also several that are longer, like a freestyle dancer board, twin tip, and LDP boards. I think there’s also something called a pintail that comes to points at either end... but I’ve never seen one in person.”
Alex knew shi wasn’t going to remember all of this, but nodded anyway. All shi’d gotten out of that was that his board was a popsicle and hir board was a downhill.
“The shorter boards like mine are for tricks like jumps, ollies, kickturns, pops, grinds, switches, fakies, nollies, etcetera. The longer boards are for cruising, carving, and bombing hills, ‘cause you’re less likely to get death wobbles at higher speeds,” Jason continued to explain.
“Like snowboards?” Alex asked.
“Exactly. Now...” Jason stopped and looked up at hir. “Hold up. Do you snowboard?”
“Yeah,” Alex nodded quickly. “I love snowboarding.”
“Oh. Well, shit...” Jason muttered before continuing. “This is exactly like that, except you can’t slide sideways... except when you’re grinding on something between the wheels, like on a guardrail or a curb,” he said, walking over to the street and dropping his board. He stepped on it and pushed off with one foot. “You can only go forward and backwards ‘cause the wheels only let you go straight. Other than that it’s the same; if you want to turn you lean to one side, or you can step on the back end to lift the front wheels up, but that’s a bit more advanced. It takes skills. C’mon!”
Alex followed suit, dropping hir board to the ground and stepping onto it. The board shifted forward slightly, just like a snowboard would in a rut, only not as smoothly. The stance was narrower than on a snowboard, but not by much. Shi pushed off with one foot, getting a bit of speed, then repeated the action before stepping onto the board. Shi leaned slightly... but the board didn’t want to turn like a snowboard would, and shi stepped off it. “It doesn’t want to turn.”
“Lean less with your body and instead use your heels and toes. You can even do it at really slow speeds. Watch,” Jason explained, coming to a stop. He showed how the board itself flexed under him when he shifted his weight to either side, then pushed off a bit to show the same thing while moving.
Alex frowned but tried it, feeling the board flex underneath hir feet. The skateboard could turn pretty sharply, actually. Shi pushed off the ground a few times for speed and tried the same thing. The balance wasn’t quite the same as snowboarding, but it was pretty close. Shi pushed off again, picking up even more speed, and tried shifting from heel to toe as shi went down the street, just like shi would carve when going downslope. It wasn’t exactly like snowboarding... but it was close enough. A smile slowly spread across hir muzzle and shi pushed off a few more times, gathering speed.
